Hey lovies,
Today I want to do something a little different, because I am writing my first book review! Just for the record this is nothing official, I'm not being asked by anyone to do so. My hope is that as I am expanding my knowledge and read more spiritually based books I want to share them here so that others might have a some sort of reference.
I want to do this review for two reasons:
Number one: Finding books that have what we consider to be worthwhile information can be tough. Especially when a lot of places don't necessarily carry the kinds of books you might be interested in. I am incredibly fortunate that I live close to a bookstore that carries books from every genre and sub-genre that a person can imagine, so I really have no restrictions on what kinds of books I can get my hands on.
For so many of us, ordering on the internet is really the only option, and while that's a great option, sometimes it doesn't work out. The book is damaged or it's not what we thought it would be like, or we don't want to or can afford to pay an arm and a leg for shipping. And then at the end of it all, what if we end up not liking it?
I don't know about you, but I don't know many people who order from online and then pay to return it in addition to what they paid to get it.
Number Two: Much shorter answer-I just think it'll be fun.
I was gifted the book Celtic Magic by DJ Conway. Prior to reading this book, I didn't have a lot of knowledge of this author; I'd heard of her a couple of times, and I did inherit a tarot deck that she co-created which I use for the monthly tarot card.
Before jumping in too far I thought it would be helpful for me to know a little bit about the author, and to my surprise, the most information I found was from Wikipedia...
I want it to be know that I tried several other sites before resorting to Wiki. There seems to be a running joke that because Wiki is editable by anyone, that there is a bunch of misinformation-my stance is that for everyone trying to fudge up Wiki articles, there is someone who is there to fix them.
Either way, here are the pages I was able to find.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._J._Conway
http://www.faeryshaman.org/djconway.htm
Now, onto the review itself.
When I originally sat down to write this review I was really excited about it because this little book had been waiting on me for a couple of months and I was finally able to get to it. I wanted this review to be in depth and fully explanatory, but before I was even fifty pages in I was on my fourth page of all the things I took issue with or disagreed with, or was just flat out confused by.
Rather than have you sit and listen to me rant for potentially ten pages I thought it would be easiest to provide the main points why I would not recommend this book, but before doing so I will point out a couple of things that I tried to keep in mind as I read through this book.
The first thing that I tried to keep in mind is that this book was published 25 years ago. Even though the history of the Celts including some traditions and their belief systems are still somewhat mysteries to us, I think it's safe to say that we knew considerably less 25 years ago then we do now.
The second thing I tried to keep in mind is that this book is very small, and when I say small, I mean short. The entire book is 206 pages including the bibliography. If I'm being brutally honest that should have been a warning sign.
As far as why I did not enjoy this book, and why I would not recommend it-I promise I will try to keep this as short as possible.
Overall I didn't enjoy her writing style. She writes with a lot of, 'you should' and 'you must' and for me personally speaking, being someone who doesn't follow a specific path, feeling as though I am being told what to believe rather than being provided with a suggestion or a perspective makes it a take difficult to get into the book itself.
The first thing that really got to me was that the writing is kind of all over the place, there's no feeling of a concise flow from one subject or idea to the next. It's very choppy.
In the second chapter of the book she brings up Wicca, and there is no real reason provided as to why. As you get a little further into the book you see it much more and it's made clear that this book is written from a Wiccan perspective-or in an effort not to generalize, in the author's perspective as a Wiccan.
This wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact that there is no forward, no introduction, and no preface to inform the reader of this fact.
I went into this book expecting to learn about Celtic magic and tradition, not how you can use those things in your Wiccan path which is the tone this book takes on.
The other major theme that I found throughout the book that I would say I had the biggest problem with was that she writes in absolutes throughout the book. She randomly throws out 'facts' and makes a lot of claims without explaining where they come from and without anything to back up or support them.
Over all I was very disappointed and ultimately refused to finish reading the rest of the book. It is not one that I would recommend and would even go so far as to encourage anyone interested to avoid it.
I want to make it clear that I don't have anything against the author herself. Again, this book is almost thirty years old and what was considered acceptable for these kinds of books was probably very different.
I would be willing to look into one of her more recent books to see how she evolved as a writer and as a spiritual practitioner, and would be even more interested in learning how she went about writing this book.
If you're curious to see what else I've read this year, you can head on over to my Facebook page and give it a Like so that way you can see my reading lists as well as get updates about what's happening Through the Secret Door.
If there is a title that you would like me to read and possibly review you can leave me a comment below or send me an email, or you can even write to me on Facebook.
As of right now I do not have a book lined up to read next but I will be sure to let you know what it is soon.
I hope you all had a wonderful Lughnasadh\Lammas and Blue Moon-if this is your first time here I would encourage you to follow the links so that way you can get all caught up.
I'll be starting my research for Mabon here soon, seven weeks should be enough, right?
Sending you all light and love,
Thealynn
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