There's something about a storm...

There's something about being alone in the house with the wind roaring through the woods behind us that has me thinking witchy thoughts. There's incense burning on the altar, and a shelf full of witchy books to read. But I've realized I have no general witchy books. All my general pagan books are about specifics. Encyclopedias of goddesses, books full of prayers, books about witchy housecleaning or herbs or tarot or astrology. I don't have any general witchcraft books. So I'm searching Amazon for interesting books. Not that I have the money to buy them right now, but perhaps the library has some of them?

So far I've been looking at Ann Moura's Green Witchcraft series, but I think it might be too wiccan-y for me.

I've also been looking at Lora O'Brien's Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch and A Practical Guide to Irish Spirituality.

Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions looks really interesting. The same author has published Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation as a sequel.

I've heard conflicting reviews about Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft, but I guess it has to be a classic for a reason, right? And of course there's Silver Ravenwolf's Solitary Witch: The Ultimate Book of Shadows for the New Generation which is also a little iffy to me.

Anyone have any recommendations for general pagan/witchcraft references?

Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America is another one I'd like, but it's more a recent history of the people, and not so much a reference on the religion itself.

Book Review - Celtic Fairy Tales

Celtic Fairy Tales (Dover Children's Classics) - collected by Joseph Jacobs

I really enjoyed this short book of fairy tales. They are told in a conversational, story-telling style, making it a wonderful book for reading to children, or to memorize the tales to tell in some other setting. It includes some well-known stories, such as "Connla and the Fairy Maiden", where Connla rides with the fairies and steals the maiden they wanted to steal, and winds up marrying her; or "Fair, Brown, and Trembling", a celtic take on Cinderella. 


I particularly enjoyed "A Legend of Knockmany", though I've read it before. It's the story of how Oonagh, Fin M'Coul's wife, scared off Cucullin by pretending Fin was his own infant son. (All spellings from the book.) Upon seeing how strong the "baby" was, Cucullin realized the father must be immensely stronger than he himself was, and fled.

There are lesser known stories in the book as well, like "The Shee an Gannon" where a young man must discover what stopped Guragach Gaire from laughing in order to win the hand of the princess. I also enjoyed "Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree", in which a man's first wife is murdered by her mother out of jealousy over her beauty. His second wife revives his first, helps her kill her mother, and the two of them live happily with the husband ever after.

Some of the stories are simply re-tellings of other stories, like "Conall Yellowclaw" where a man disguises himself as a sheep to get out of the cave of a blind cyclops. Just like Odysseus and Polyphemus.

Overall, a very enjoyable book.

Thursday Book Review: Goddess Spirituality Book

Goddess Spirituality Book: Rituals, Holydays and Moon Magic by Morgan, Ffiona published by Daughters of the Moon Paperback, by Ffiona Morgan

So the first thing that annoyed me about this book was the purposeful misspellings. I mean, Holydays on the cover, IN THE TITLE, first. Throughout the book we get "womyn" and "wimmin" and "womon" - pretty much anything without "men" in it. I mean, I understand some Dianic traditions feel the need to erase every instance of "men" from their worship, but really. It's how the word is spelled, get over it. /end grammar nazi

OTHER THAN THAT, heh, this was a decent book. There are many rituals, and many ritual suggestions, all throughout the book. It's really the main purpose of the book, given that the sections are as follows:
The Magical Path
Elements of Ritual
Specific Rituals
Sacred Wheel of the Year
Lunar Magic

The rituals are almost always geared towards groups, but there are a few solitary rites, and as always, you can customize them to fit your needs. I found the "Elements of Ritual" section particularly interesting; it teaches how to prepare both yourself and your space for a ritual.

Overall I'd say if you can find it for a decent price, it might be worth picking up, unless you're a grammar/spelling nazi like I am, then skip it. Reading it will just irritate you.

Thursday Book Review: Goddess Aloud!

Goddess Aloud!: Transforming Your World Through Rituals & Mantras, by Michelle Skye


Another goddess book by Michelle Skye, and well written and informative again. This one focuses more on rituals and mantras, as the title says. And instead of focusing on each goddess, there are sections divided up by category, with suggested goddesses. The sections include Peace, Caring for the Environment, Love, Self-Love, Forgiveness, Healing, Growth, Hope, and Spirituality.

Peace, for example, includes sections on Pax, Our Lady of Fatima, and Branwen, while Forgiveness includes Tlazolteotl (the Aztec Eater of Filth), Mary Magdalene, and Arianrhod. Each chapter is concluded with a ritual on that subject.

The rituals are very thematic, and mostly simple and easily customized. For example, the ritual for "Caring for the Environment" involves going outside, meditating under a tree, tying a ribbon around it, and watering it.

Overall, another wonderful book from Michelle Skye!

You can see my Master Book List with links to previous reviews here or from the link in the upper right sidebar to "Witchy Books."

Thursday Book Review: Goddess Afoot!

Goddess Afoot!: Practicing Magic with Celtic & Norse Goddesses, by Michelle Skye

I found this book a lot of fun. There are large sections on twelve different Celtic and Norse Goddesses, including Arianrhod, Blodeuwedd, Cessari, Eriu, Macha, Frigga, Sif, Skadi, and others. The individual sections have backgrounds on each goddess, meditations on the goddess, pathworking suggestions, invocation and magic activity suggestions. Magic activity suggestions are divided into separate categories; you might have candle magic, or written word magic, or physical magic. I like that she covers some of the lesser-known goddesses.

I really enjoy all of Michelle Skye's books I've read so far; she has a nice style, and provides a lot of information and suggestions. Highly recommended.

You can see my Master Book List with links to previous reviews here or from the link in the upper right sidebar to "Witchy Books."

Thursday Book Review: The Red Book

The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark, by Sera Beak

I love this little book. It's a very eclectic little book, drawing from Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, Carl Jung, and the author's own personal experiences. It travels from altars, to subways, to yoga. With section titles like "But Mom, Jesus did it too" and "Free to be me means Free to be you" it's a delightfully random little book full of juicy tidbits. Chapter titles include:
Light the Match: Set Your Intentions Free
The Beaming You Who: Gods, Goddesses, and the Blind Man's Elephant
Are You Really Gonna Eat That?: Grazing at the Spiritual Buffet, respectfully
Sacred Lipstick and Cosmic Lattes: 1001 Ways to give Prayer a Makeover
Divine Winks: The Universe Wants Your Attention, Will You Wink Back?
Peeling Your Onion: Who Do You Think You Are?
Open Up and Say Ahhh: Sex, Spirit. The Twain Shall Meet - Under Your Covers
Roar: Finale (Like Red Wine Spilled Onto a Mattress)

And the chapters are just as creative and interesting as the titles! An excerpt about the goddess:

THE BIG G, WITH BREASTS
The Goddess. The divine Feminine. The Big G with breasts. The one who has, religiously speaking, really gotten the shaft. And this planet's only now beginning to realize that nobody puts Mama in the corner.

The book is at times irreverent, lighthearted, and dead serious. Full of creative ways to center yourself and reach for the divine within. I really do love this book. Oh, and the last chapter is full of additional books and resources to keep you going.

Book Review: The Kitchen Witch Companion

The Kitchen Witch Companion: Simple and Sublime Culinary Magic by Patricia Telesco

Straight up, this is an AWESOME book. The first few chapters deal with the mythology of the kitchen and the magic of cooking. Things like how the Scottish avoid singing while baking bread, and the myth of faeries churning butter. There are awesome quotes, like the following:

"And, indeed, is there not something holy about a great kitchen? The scoured gleam of row upon row of metal vessels dangling from hooks or reposing on their shelves till needed with the air of so many chalices waiting for the celebration of the sacrament of food. And the range...like an altar, yes, before which my mother bowed in perpetual homage, a fringe of sweat upon her upper lip and the fire glowing on her cheeks." - Angela Carter

 or

"A dining room table with children's eager, hungry faces around it ceases to be a mere dining room table and becomes an altar." - Simeon Strunsky

Part 2 of this book gets into the real meat of the thing (pardon my pun!) - it's full of recipes. Useful recipes for many occasions. With small additions such as stirring a certain way, or saying a short incantation over one step. Really, it serves to make you more aware of the cooking process. You're not just creating something to subsist on; by infusing it with intent, with love for those who you'll be serving it to, it becomes something magical. I highly recommend this book; whether you are a witch who loves to cook, a witch who'd like to bring a little bit of magic to a mundane task, or a cook who is beginning to learn magic, this is a wonderful book.

Book Review: Goddesses for Every Day

Goddesses for Every Day: Exploring the Wisdom and Power of the Divine Feminine around the World by Julie Loar

This is a book much like Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Goddess, (Review) in that it is set up in a one-page-every-day format. The difference is that instead of a piece of poetry or song and a few paragraphs of thought, each day of Goddesses is simply a blurb about a goddess. They are organized by astrological sun sign, so for example, January 20 through February 18th are Aquarius goddesses. Or goddesses the author felt fit the Aquarius archetype. The goddesses come from all religions, all across the world. It's a fun book for simply learning more about different goddesses. I quite enjoy it, even if I don't pull it off my bookshelf very often.

Book Review: Book of Hours - Prayers to the God

Book of Hours: Prayers to the God by Galen Gillotte

This is a companion book to Book of Hours: Prayers to the Goddess by the same author. (Review) Where the Goddess hours book has morning, evening, and night, Prayers to the God supplies the afternoon prayer. It also has prayers for the pagan holidays, moon phases, and sun phases. (Dawn, Zenith, Dusk) However, this book also has something a little different; "Common of a man's heart" and "Common of a woman's heart". For the man's heart, these include prayers for different phases of a man's life; Poet, Teacher, Magician, Priest, Hermit, Lover. The woman's heart includes Passion, Emptiness, Despair, Intimacy, and New Beginnings. The last part of the book are some miscellaneous prayers for life events/phases.

Overall, another well-done book, and thought not quite as good as Prayers to the Goddess, it is a perfect companion.

Book Review: Book of Hours - Prayers to the Goddess

Book of Hours: Prayers to the Goddess by Galen Gillotte

This is another book of prayers, but they are arranged in a book of hours format; morning, evening, and night prayers for each day of the week. There are also morning, evening, and night prayers for all the pagan holidays and moon cycles, as well as some miscellaneous prayers for times of our lives.

They are really quite beautiful prayers, and if you are disciplined enough to sit down and pray at each of those times every day, this would make a wonderful addition to your meditation.

An example: Monday Morning

Introit: (To be said before Morning Prayer every day)
Hail Bright Maiden of quicksilver delight,
shine upon me
Thy morning blessing, which,
like the new dawn, refreshes my Spirit and
lifts my heart with song.
Blessed Be.


Monday's Prayer:
Lady, 
You dance on hilltops in eternal disarray,
Springtime entangled in
Your hair, eyes sapphire ice
glowing to soft rain.
Like birdsong Your voice, or
crystal's silver song;
Your laughter shakes the trees -
The earth gladdens.


Monday's Meditation:
Morning is just another face of night; if morning was a part of you, what would it look like? Feel like? We carry our mornings within us - let them out.


Daily Affirmation:
In the name of the Maiden: I will choose joy today.


Closing Prayer:
Thanks to Thee Bright Maiden for Thy care,
for green laughter and fire-edged dew, and
for Thy blessing, a most precious jewel.
Blessed Be.


I particularly like the daily affirmations. I mean, what a way to start out Monday morning. "In the name of the Maiden: I will choose joy today." 


This book works particularly well alongside Book of Hours: Prayers to the God by the same author, (Review) as that one contains afternoon prayers to the god. So you have morning, afternoon, evening, and night prayers.

Book Review: Magical Housekeeping

Magical Housekeeping: Simple Charms and Practical Tips for Creating a Harmonious Home by Tess Whitehurst

This book was a touch too "fluffy bunny" for me. Anytime a book tells me to envision pink light filled with rainbow sparkles shooting from my hands, I tend to go "wait, what?" but it did have some redeeming qualities! There's a very good chapter on aromatherapy, with recipes for combining essential oils with rose water into mists to spritz around your home. There are interesting tidbits scattered throughout the book on getting rid of clutter, using incense and statuary to good effect, cultivating houseplants, and other interesting bits. There's a ritual for blessing your broom (or vacuum!)

Chapters include Clutter Clearing, Cleaning, Space Clearing, Harmonious Positions, The Three Secrets Empowerment, Gemstones, Plant Allies, Animal Allies, Sacred Smoke & Aromas of Power, and Blessings, Protections & Other Rituals.

Overall, I'd say unless you get a good deal on it, don't buy this book, but it might be worth a read.

Book Review: A Pagan Ritual Prayer Book

Pagan Ritual Prayer Book, A by Ceisiwr Serith

This one is quiet similar to A Book of Pagan Prayer by the same author, (Review) though I think he means these to be used in more formal settings - in rituals. Really, they're pretty interchangeable. It's just more prayers. Sections in this book include "Beginnings," "The Home," "Callings," "Praise," "Consecrations and Blessings," "Times of the Day/Month/Year/Life," and "Endings."

There are prayers for healing, prayers for travel and safety, prayers for inspiration. Nearly anything you can think of to pray for is in this book.

A few examples:

An "Urban Prayer"
In the midst of a busy city, the gods crowd close,
each asking for worship,
the gods of each and all.
You are so many that I can't begin to honor you one by one:
take these words as a gift to you all.


To Air Spirits:
The Spirits of Air play about this plane as it flies.
May they seek their fun in keeping its flight smooth
rather than tossing it around.
May they compete among themselves to see which of them can best succeed in this.


"For help for a scientist"
Apollo, Lord of Truth, may I see into the truth when I perform my research today.
Apollo, Lord of the Good, may I create beautiful theories from it.
Hermes, god of trickery and speech, may I see beyond the obvious, no matter how attractive,
and convey it to others in attractive words,
although under your friend Apollo's watchful eye;
may the attractive be True, may the True be Good.

Book Review: A Book of Pagan Prayer

A Book of Pagan Prayer by Ceisiwr Serith

This is an awesome little book that inspired me to write prayers of my own, as well as alter a few of the prayers in the book to fit my needs. Part 1 is just About Prayer - with reasons why we do it, ways to make it special, things like that. Part 2 gets into actual prayers. It's divided into sections such as "Prayers for the family" "Prayers for times of day/times of the month/times of the year" "Petitionary Prayers" "Praise Prayers" "Thank you Prayers" and others, so it really covers a wide variety of prayers.

Here is the "Prayer for an Insomniac":

From the deep emptiness of a sleepless night,
my pleas are sent to the gods of sleep.
To the givers of dreams I call,
to those who come in the night, not as dangers,
but as bringers of peace.
Come to me, as I lie alone in the dark.
Slip quietly through the night and place your hands on my brow,
soothing me gently until I slide into sleep.


It really is a wonderful book, with a LOT of different prayers in it. I highly recommend it if you're looking for, well, prayers. It's a great jumping off point to write your own, as well.

Book Review: The Goddess Path by Patricia Monaghan

The Goddess Path: Myths, Invocations, and Rituals by Patricia Monaghan

This book is very similar to Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Goddess by the same author (review here) in that it draws from many different traditions to show different aspects of the goddess. What this one does, however, is instead of daily meditations, it's separated into 20 chapters. Each chapter focuses on a different goddess, providing snippets of poetry, myths, rituals, and explanations of the goddess and what she stands for. At the end of each chapter is a list of questions to ask yourself to better relate to the lesson each goddess has to teach. The goddesses included range from Isis to Oshun, from Kali to Brigid, from Artemis to Kuan-Yin to Gaia.

Chapters are generally organized as follows:
Bits of poetry/song
Myths and Meanings
Symbols
Feasts
Suggestions for Invoking
Questions and Activities

I really enjoy this book for learning more about the goddesses, as well as the ideas for rituals involving them.

Book Review: The Goddess Companion by Patricia Monaghan

Goddess Companion: Daily Meditations on the Goddess, by Patricia Monaghan

This is one of the first pagan books I bought myself, and I absolutely love it. It has an entry for every day of the year; its subtitle is "Daily Meditations on the Goddess."

An example of a day:


February 16 


The flood receded, leaving swamps
where life emerged anew like seeds
sprouting in a mother's womb.
It was just like spring, when peasants
overturn the soil to find a world
of creatures there, as though the earth
itself crept and wriggled and was alive.
Life begins in heat and water,
those apparent opposites that stir
creation. Thus the sun, rising on 
the flooded earth, brought forth new life.
 - Ovid, Metamorphoses


In the myths of many cultures, the earth is destroyed - often by a flood - and then reborn, re-made. So it was in Greek and Roman mythology, which told of a great flood that only the woman Pyrrha and her mate Deucalion survived. Told by an oracle that she would bear children from "the bones of her mother," Pyrrha figured out that her mother being the earth, the bones would mean the rock skeleton of the planet. Throwing stones behind herself, Pyrrha produced an entire new race of humans to repopulate the earth.


After the destructive flood, the earth replenished itself anew. Such myths capture the special freshness of spring, when all seems reborn. In our own lives, too, we will find times when an order is overturned - a job or love lost, a home transformed - but new order emerges from the ruin. Trusting in such rebirth is difficult, but every spring reminds us that renewal is an inevitable part of life.

Each day in the book brings a quote from ancient poetry or song or religious text about some aspect of the goddess. Some days it's Horace or Homer, some days it's a Lithuanian Folk song, or an Indian prayer to Kali. I love how it draws from such widely different traditions to show different faces of the goddess. This is a book I crack open not-quite-daily, but at least once a week, and whenever I need goddess. I have quotes from this book written out on paper and posted all over my house.

It's quite seasonal; it doesn't have days of the week, but it does go by dates, so you'll find things about spring in February, March, and April. Entries about depression and the dark of winter in December and January. Entries about death and ancestors in October.

I highly recommend this book; it is well-written, insightful, and well-researched.