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Home > Books & Reviews > Pagan > Mini-Reviews: Pagan Books Search

Mini-Reviews:
Pagan Books

Here are some some mini-reviews of Pagan books. These reviews are shorter and somewhat less detailed than our full reviews.


Exploring Native American Wisdom


Author: Fran Dancing Feather and Rita Robinson
Trade Paperback, 250 pages
Publisher: New Page Books
Publication date: January 2003
ISBN: 1564146251
Price & More Info: Click Here


Exploring Native American Wisdom: Lore Traditions, and Rituals That Connect Us All is about discovering "our divine selves by a series of native activities." In this book, Fran Dancing Feather and Rita Robinson attempt to bring the benefits of Native American spiritual practices to the non-native masses. The chapters of this book cover creating circles of power, gathering medicine, calling for wisdom from the seven directions, using a talking circle to find solutions to problems, seeking visions, purification, totem animals, and more. If you are interested in incorporating ideas from Native American spiritual practices into your life, this is a clearly written guide.

As I know very little about Native American spiritual practices, I cannot comment on the accuracy of the material in this book. I can say that it is readable, interesting, and not aimed at a Native American audience. It appears to draw material from different tribes and I imagine a Native American would find this somewhat strange. -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire

The Lore of the Bard


Author: Arthur Rowan
Trade Paperback, 366 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn
Publication date: April 2003
ISBN: 0738702854
Price & More Info: Click Here


Authur Rowan, a member of the British Druid Order, has written a lengthy book on Celtic bardcraft, The Lore of The Bard: A Guide to the Celtic & Druid Mysteries. This book both attempts to explain Celtic mystical lore (as the British Druid Order understands it, I assume) and attempts to relate it to modern psychological and scientific concepts. As usual in such books, quantum mechanics comes up and Rowan doesn't butcher it any more than most occult authors do. However, the main thrust of the book is on bardcraft: poetry, music, and the telling of myths.

This is a long, but readable book. As I'm not a Celtic scholar, I really do not know how accurate it is. However, the scarcity of academic references in the bibliography and some of the material on the British Druid Order web page makes me suspect that this may not be a book that most Celtic Reconstructionists will embrace. However, even so, it seems to be an order of magnitude more useful to the average Pagan reader than books like The 21 Lessons of Merlyn. -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire

Maiden Magick


Author: C.C. Brondwin
Trade Paperback, 221 pages
Publisher: New Page Books
Publication date: April 2003
ISBN: 1564146707
Price & More Info: Click Here


Maiden Magick: A Teen's Guide to Goddess Wisdom and Ritual is a book about Goddess spirituality for teenage girls, presented as if written by "your very own Clan Mothers, the ancient Celts of the Goddess Clan." The Goddess spirituality presented in this book is vaguely Wicca and somewhat Celtic -- and definitely aimed at teenage girls. It presents an eclectic mixture of magick, spirituality, psychology, and just plain old good advice aimed at helping a young woman grow and mature within a Pagan framework. A good amount of basic and somewhat eclectic Pagan knowledge gets passed on in the process, but I'm not sure that teaching Paganism is really a major goal of this book.

This book is somewhat different than many of the "Wicca for Teens" books I've read. It's not mainly about magick or religion, it's about growing up into a capable adult woman via Goddess spirituality. Those looking for spells to attract popular boyfriends or to control their school bus driver -- or for detailed religious instruction -- will be disappointed. While I think a bit more in the religious instruction department would be nice, I think this is a book that many parents on a Goddess-oriented Pagan path will want to consider as a gift for a daughter entering her teen years. -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire

SuperSleep


Author: Teri D. Mahaney
Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Citadel Press
Publication date: January 2003
ISBN: 0806523360
Price & More Info: Click Here


The back cover of SuperSleep: The Ultimate Power to Change Your Life says this book will teach the reader to "Dissolve blocks to success and fulfillment in your personal relationships, career, and life. . .while you sleep!" I'm not really sure why I was sent this book for review. There's nothing really magickal or Pagan about the techniques discussed in this book: recording affirmation-like scripts on tape and playing them while one sleeps. While I don't believe the scientific community thinks this technique has a lot of merit, I know people who swear it works for them -- and many more for whom it doesn't seem to work.

Mahaney's book isn't hard to read, especially as over half the book is scripts to be recorded for specific issues (everything from anger management to healing to making cold sales calls). This book seems really about the power of thinking positive and convincing your inner self to do so as well. Some of the scripts might also be helpful for those who use affirmation magic, but have trouble thinking up really positive affirmations. -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire

Witchcraft: An Alternative Path


Author: Ann Moura
Trade Paperback, 252 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn
Publication date: March 2003
ISBN: 0738703435
Price & More Info: Click Here


Ann Moura, best known for her Green Witchcraft books and her revisionist history book, Origins of Modern Witchcraft, has written a very basic introduction to Wicca and witchcraft with Witchcraft: An Alternative Path. This book is a fairly typical Neo-Wiccan 101 book. In the first half of the book, Moura discusses the basic beliefs of Wicca as well as the Wiccan Gods, Esbats, and Sabbats. Short and simple rituals are provided. The second half of the book is devoted to magick. There is a long chapter on creating spells and a chapter with example spells and basic information on a number of methods of divination. The book concludes with a list of deities, a glossary, and a bibliography.

While this is really just another in a long line of Wicca 101 books, I was pleased to note that the author toned down her revisionist history claims and did not constantly knock other religions as she has in some of her other books. Unlike the fairly complex and ceremonial rituals in her Green Witchcraft series, the rituals in Witchcraft: An Alternative Path are short and simple. This isn't a bad Wicca 101 book, but there are many better ones on the market. -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire

How to be a Ghost Hunter


Author: Richard Southall
Trade Paperback, 165 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn
Publication date: April 2003
ISBN: 0738703125
Price & More Info: Click Here


Richard Southall, co-creator of Haunted Parkersburg Ghost Tours of Parkersburg, W.V., shares practical advice for the beginning ghost hunter with personal acconts from the author's experiences in investigating hauntings in How to be a Ghost Hunter. While this book is a bit on the thin side, it contains quite a bit of useful information for someone who wants to investigate a supposed haunting. It discusses the various types of ghosts and spirits, outlines a four-phase method of investigation, how to try to catch a ghost on film or the sounds one makes on tape, ghost hunting equipment, and forming a group to conduct investigations.

While this book is far from a complete guide to paranormal investigations, it is a fair introduction to the subject. There is room for improvement, but the basic ideas are sound. Using this book as a guide will help the beginner avoid some of the basic pitfalls that I've seen when someone decides they are going to investigate a reported ghost without any idea of how to conduct an investigation of any type -- or the amount of work one requires. -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire

Celtic Astrology


Author: Phyllis Vega
Trade Paperback, 255 pages
Publisher: New Page Books
Publication date: July 2002
ISBN: 1564145921
Price & More Info: Click Here


Phyllis Vega's book, Celtic Astrology: How the Mystical Power of the Druid Tree Signs Can Transform Your Life, gives the reader an analysis of each of the 13 "Druid Tree Signs" (and the Nameless Day) of the Celtic calendar. If you know a person's birthday, you can discover their tree sign and learn something about what this system says about their personality. Of course, tree signs are as broad as sun signs in astrology -- a huge number of very different people fall into each sign. Checking the tree signs of a few people I know showed this system to be about as accurate as sun signs. This book goes further by giving an analysis of each tree sign/sun sign combination and provides special exercises and rituals for each tree sign/sun sign combination.

This book is written in a friendly, easy to read style. While sun signs are very superficial astrology, a surprising number of people do use them as clues to dealing with people. I suspect anyone who does so will find this book interesting. As the sun sign tells how a person deals with the outer world and the tree sign tells how a person deals with the inner, spiritual world, the sun sign-tree sign combination does provide more information from a birth date. I personally doubt that the ancient druids would recognize much of this system but it is still interesting and workable. (Truth in reviewing note: The reviewer is a long-time friend of the author.) -- reviewed by Randall Sapphire


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