Hello again my dears,
It is safe to say that we are officially in my favorite time of the year-autumn! And with that of course comes the second largest American holiday - Halloween!
And before I jump in I want to apologize for cutting it so close with this review. I got the lion's share of it done a couple of weeks back but the Universe has been keeping me on my toes and I have been doing my best to keep up! Following shortly will be my article about this upcoming (or you know, right around the corner!) turning of the wheel, Samhain!
Now, being a pagan, I am usually too busy focusing on Samhain to recognize Halloween on the 31st of October, but I am trying to be better about merging the worlds as it were. One of the best ways I can think of doing so is by getting a wide understanding of both aspects of this special day.
I've had this book for a few years and have only read it once, I thought now would be the perfect opportunity, and another excuse to perhaps add this book to my suggestions list. Which one of these days I might actually get around to make...
Anywho! The book being reviewed today is The Pagan Book of Halloween: A Complete Guide to Magick, Incantations, Recipes, Spells, and Lore by Gerina Dunwich. This title was published in 2000 with a whopping 176 pages prior to the bibliography and index to which it doesn't quiet reach 200 pages.
I do want to throw it out there that she does mention some Wiccan
perspectives, but the book itself is not written from a Wiccan stand
point. I really felt as though the book was written from as unbiased
position as possible - which I think is important when you're looking
for general information.
One thing that I not only enjoy as a reader but appreciate as someone who has done my homework; is the way that the author addresses the facts regarding the early days of Samhain in Ireland when it was being practiced by ancient Druids.
She doesn't use flowery language to explain why the Druids had human and animal sacrifices, she just explains it. She doesn't point fingers at the offenses of the early Roman church against the people of Western Europe after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the empire; she gets straight to the heart of the journey of this ancient holiday.
Rather than spending an exorbitant amount of time with dates and names that might not be remembered later, she gives us the highlights, which might seem lazy to some, but from where I'm sitting curled up with my kitty and some tea it makes the information a bit easier to take in, and return to at a later time so that if there's something specific that catches one's attention, it's not like diving into a giant pool of information which can be difficult to navigate.
Dunwich spends a chapter discussing variations of this holiday celebrated throughout the world. One such holiday that seems to have grown popular in pop culture has been Dia de los Muertos, and their tradtional sugar skulls.
I really enjoyed that she took the time to shine light on how this is not just a holiday for North America, but that there is a world wide observance when it comes to honoring the dead; painting that much of a broader picture for this mystical day.
She even spends a couple of chapters going into the history and associations of common figures we see during the commercialized Halloween; Jack O'Lanterns, scarecrows, ghosts, vampires and of course, she spends a decent chunk on witches.
Along with touching on olden day divination practices, there is a small section for spells, ritual ideas, and recipes to round out the book.
Over all I really enjoyed reading this little book. It's a great way to introduce beginners to this ancient holiday without overwhelming them and potentially scaring them to death.
(Sorry, I had to sneak one joke in there.)
I hope you have enjoyed this book review and I hope that this was helpful!
I'm looking forward to talking about Samhain with you, the article should be live tomorrow along with a fun announcement!
Take care loves!
In light and love,
Thealynn
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Thursday, October 29, 2015
Monday, August 3, 2015
My First Book Review! Celtic Magic by DJ Conway
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
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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