Magickware's Pagan Book Review

Posted By magickware on November 26, 2009



If you are a fan of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night Dream, you’ll fall in love with this book.

Even readers who are not fans of old Bill’s works will be drawn into he improbable world where Titania and Oberon are real beings.

As the days draw close to Samhain, the door between the world of Fea and mundane New York City widens just enough to let all manner of fairy folk access to the mundane world from their other worldly realms. The hole in the wall between the worlds is guarded by human changelings. Human children stolen form their parents of ages past brought up in the Fea realms and taught to defend the gap in the gate.

Things get really interesting when the heroine, Kelley Winslow, comes face to face with the truth of her parentage. She falls in love with one of the changelings, Sonny Flannery, and as things progress from bad to worse realizes that the world she knows and even the people in it are not at all what the seem.

I completely enjoyed this fantastical tale. William Shakespeare’s tales are the basis for the story premise, but the author jumps off the deep end from there in her execution of a believable modern day explanation of old Bill’s plays.

Fans of fairy lore and old English plays will be well please to pick up this book.

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Tags: children's book review, Fairy, Fiction, Shakespeare, Young Adult

Posted By magickware on November 6, 2009

Beloved bard SJ Tucker and her Northwest bandmates come out with their first studio produced album with this long awaited CD.

Band members SJ Tucker, Betsy Tinney and Alexander Adams serve up a combination of hilarious and naughty in their August 2009 release Mythcreants.

Fans of Ms. Tucker will recognize some old favorites such as An Alligator in the House, but the versions on this new CD are slightly different from past renditions.

The CD play list is as follows:
1. Chickies in the House
2. Alligator in the House
3. Taglio!
4. Creature of the Wood
5. Daughter of the Glade
6. Tough Titty Cupcakes
7. Carousel
8. Mushroom Song
9. Water’s in the Hold
10. Dryad’s Promise
11. Tam Lin
12. Ballad of the Boy Cat

I listened to the album a multitude of times trying to pick my favorite, only to decide on one song, then hearing the next and having to declare that to be my selection. I couldn’t do it.

The voices, the instrumentation and the variety of musical rhythm and verse are extraordinary. Some of the offerings have so many layers of yum, it’s hard to focus on either the words or on the melodies together. I found I had to take each section in small bites so I could savor the entire experience.

The album ends on a rather off-color if hilarious note with The Ballad of the Boy Cat. Parents of younger children might find the meaning behind the song a bit embarrassing to explain, but they’ll have trouble doing so as they gasp for air from laughing.

Tricky Pixie bills themselves as gypsy, celtic folk rock for naughty punk faeries. Mythcreants certainly lives up to this description. A delightful combination of fun and frivolity, I highly recommend running out and getting this album as soon as possible. It is available as both a download or a hard copy CD.

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Tags: Celtic folk rock, music review, Mythcreants, Tricky Pixie

Posted By magickware on October 29, 2009

The story opens with an image of 3 ladies. The accompanying text says “Ladies of light and Ladies of darkness…” Both the text and imagery are things that a Pagan child can identify with.

The end of the opening page has the line “this is a prayer for a blueberry girl.” While Pagans don’t specifically pray, the story reads like an incantation one might find at a Paganing or Wiccaning ritual. That is why I am including it in this book review.

Fantasy artist, Charles Vess, illustrated the book with whimsical and colorful images. There are girls of all types who frolic and tumble on the pages.

Many of the short verses can be seen as having a connection to Wiccan ideals. I think this book would make a good welcoming gift to a newborn girl in many Pagan families.

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Posted By magickware on August 18, 2008

Sea Magic: Connecting with the Ocean’s Energy $15.95 US ISBN13 978-0738713533 197 pages Llewellyn Worldwide

I grew up on the East Coast spitting distance from the Long Island Sound. Until my move to Missouri in 2000, I had always lived within the reach, sound and smell of the ocean. So when I saw this book I got very excited. One of the things about living in the Mid West I have never been able to get used to was not having the sea close by.

Ms. Kynes has penned a thorough guide to connect with the mystical magic of the deep salt waters of the world. With chapters titled such things as “The Call of the Ocean” and “The Moon, Meditations and Everyday Life,” she has shifted the shore inland to any one who hears the siren’s song.

The chapters are broken down into manageable bits that include journaling exercises, meditations and facts and fiction about all things oceanic. Deities, mythological creatures, seashells and sea animals are all in this small but fact-filled book. And for those of us – like me – who are days away from the nearest seashore, she has included instructions for bringing the coast to our daily existences.

My only complaint about this book is the endless lists of correspondences or items without any break. It really is a personal preference, because I am sure some people find these things very useful, but for reading purposes, they can become tedious and dull. I’d love to see more anecdotal passages included in these sections to liven them up. In the back matter are a couple of appendices (one for ‘mind mapping’ and one for runes and ogham) and a bibliography for further study.

Recommended.

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Posted By magickware on March 30, 2008

Nine Designs for Inner Peace: The Ultimate Guide to Meditating with Color, Shape, and Sound
$24.95 US
ISBN13 978-1594771941 192 pages
Destiny Books (Inner Traditions)

Nine Designs for Inner Peace is a wonderful introduction to Yantra drawing, painting, chanting and meditation. Everything is clearly described with instructions that are easy to follow for even a non-artist.

Part 1 of the book explains the why and how of creation of Yantra art and meditation. The nine Yantra designs each have their own chapter in the mid section of the section. Color plates through out the book clarify the instructions on drafting and painting each design. And for those who don’t feel up to the challenge of starting the designs from scratch, line art templates are provided in the appendix.

Part 2 delves into the background of Yantra practice. History and personal practice are both touched upon briefly. There is also a chapter on where and how to bring the Yantra colors into your daily life, such as the best day to wear red and where to hang the finished art in your home for best effect.

As an artist, I am very visual and think mostly in pictures and colors. Meditation has always been a bit of a struggle for me. Until this book came along. What was once a mystery has moved into the realm of possibility. Creating and coloring a Yantra design for a specific meditation has been a spiritual awakening. Daily meditation is no longer a chore but an anticipated retreat from the cares of daily life.

My only complaint is the discrepancy between the written word and the color plates in some of the color descriptions. Perhaps as an artist, I am being too fussy, but I found it confusing when the suggested color materials didn’t always match up with the sample pictured. In the long run, I suppose it doesn’t matter. The practice of drawing and painting with the prescribed chants more than makes up for such slight errors in color matching.

If traditional meditation has always left you with a feeling of frustration this book may open up new avenues for quality time with your Higher Beings.

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Posted By magickware on February 19, 2008

Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey by Ellen Evert Hopman
$18.95 US $21.95 CAN
ISBN13 978-0-7387-1262-8 360 pages
Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd. www.llewellyn.com

A masterful written, fictional, love story based in third-century Ireland, this book animates the basic life style of the ancient Celts. Penned along the same lines as The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Priestess of the Forest examines historical class systems, symbols and life passages as seen through the eyes of the Druid class.

The author, Ellen Evert Hopman, currently the co-chief of the Order of the Whiteoak (Ord na Darach Gile) masterfully moves from writing non-fiction to this historical fantasy. Her aim was to engage the reader while teaching the ways of Druidic practice, ancient Celtic daily life, rites and rituals.

The story begins with the main character, Ethne, alone in her woodland hut. Her peace is shattered when a seriously wounded Fennid warrior is brought to her for healing. As she battles to keep him from death, she falls in love with him and he for her as he regains his strength. Unfortunately for them, the world they know is being invaded by a new religion, one that demands they leave behind their own beliefs and practices.

As with all good narratives, there are good guys and bad guys. Ethne is asked by the high Priest and Priestess to become the King’s bride. As Queen, they hope she will keep the Druidic ways strong in the land. Since we know the book is a historical fiction, the new religion of Christianity will win out in the end, but I kept hoping for a different conclusion. In the end the bad guys win, but Ethne’s personal story has a happy, if bittersweet, finale.

I was fascinated by the brief author interview, which followed the story. Ms. Hopman goes into detail about historical Druids as well as their modern day counter parts. She hopes that this book will be used to further teachings of the rites and passages she included as samples throughout the story line. Also included in the book’s back matter is a very useful recommended reading list of books divided by various categories.

If you are looking for some light reading, but want more than a bit of fluff, this is the book for you. This is a masterfully crafted tale that teaches as well as entertains.

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Posted By magickware on February 4, 2008

The Metaphysical Book of Gems and Crystals
$24.95
ISBN 159477214-2 (ISBN13 978-159477214-6) 312 pages
Healing Arts Press (Inner Traditions) www.healingartspress.com

This book is beautifully presented with full color images of each crystal or gem on its own description page. The book is divided into three sections. Part one lists chemical composition, color, principle deposits, hardness and density immediately under the image. Following that are brief paragraphs with bold headings of ‘Etymology and General Description,’ ‘Therapeutic Uses,’ and lastly, ‘Zodiac Correspondences.’ These listings are generally between two and three pages. Some include additional images of the rock being discussed. This section makes up the bulk of the book. Also in this section are chapters on the use of, and care of crystals.

Part Two is devoted to correspondences of the charkas, colors or zodiac. Part three is devoted to the treatment of specific conditions be they physical, emotional or spiritual.

For the most part I found the images, although beautifully presented, useless. Some show raw crystal, some show finished stones and others are very tight shots of the striations of the stones, more like modern art than useful in identifying that particular specimen.

Some entries contained contradictory information. For example in alabaster under therapeutic uses one paragraph says “The calcium contained in alabaster would be as effective as talcum, but because it’s often impure and can contain other, more toxic substances, it’s better not to use it.” In the paragraph immediately following, powdered alabaster, diluted in water, is recommend as a daily dosage for a week to relieve mood swings.

I found the book difficult to use unless one is already familiar with each stone or gem. Part three lists each entry by condition rather than by stone, so if you have a stone but don’t know what its particular uses are, you need to read each entry to see if your stone shows up under a particular condition.

The portion of the book devoted to charkas was interesting, as were the color language and zodiac entries but at almost $25 for this book, aren’t enough to justify the expense of a purchase.

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Tags: book review, crystals, gems, new age

Posted By magickware on November 25, 2007

Magical Child Books is hosting another contest. This month they will be holding a drawing to give away an autographed copy of “Brother Wind, Sister Moon” by Patricia Telesco. Visit Magical Child Books‘ web site and enter the contest for your chance to win.

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Tags: Children's Book, contest, free, Telesco

Posted By magickware on July 25, 2007

Merry Hi Dear Readers,

You may be wondering where the new book reviews are. I find that as a new author/illustrator myself, that gobs of my time are devoted to marketing my own books, as well as developing the newest book for release. (Watchers due out in mid 2008.) Seeing as there are only 24 hours in a day and I need some of them to eat and sleep, something had to give. And what has had to give has been my leisure reading time.

Yup you heard me, I did the reading and review writing in my spare time, and now I have less of it, so it’s taking me a long time to read any recent books, and even longer to get their reviews written and posted. I am hopeful that I will be able to return to a regular schedule of reading and writing reviews, but until that time, when ever that might be, new reviews will be few and far between.

Wish me luck with my new books, and with my upcoming ones as well. Blessings!

Lyon

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Tags: book review on sabatical

Posted By magickware on July 14, 2007

Composing Magic: How to Create Magical Spells, Rituals, Blessings, Chants, and Prayer
This is the first book I have had the pleasure to read which really gets into the nitty-gritty of putting words to paper for ritual and ceremonial uses.

As a children’s book writer, I have read my fair share of writing manuals, including books on poetic forms. Many of them left me scratching my head and wondering if I had any grasp on the English language at all or if I should just throw in the towel and let someone with a Masters degree in English Lit have all the fun.

Ms. Barrette’s book wasn’t one of these. Her descriptions of the differing forms of poetry and prose was accessible to anyone in plain, sraight-forward description. Each form was demonstrated by an example, many of which were the author’s own creations, as well as examples from more famous authors’ writings. What I especially liked was the inclusion of the historic and cultural explanations of each form of writing. The author also commented on how the form could best be used in a Pagan setting.

Each chapter examines a particular topic or form of writing, followed by a series of exercises meant to encourage the reader to use the knowledge from the chapter in a constructive and practical manner. Each chapter builds on the ones previous, with the suggestion to return to earlier exercises with the newly acquired information.

The final chapters in the book encourage the writer who wishes to become published with practical and down-to-earth advice on this tough but rewarding occupation.

The book contains footnotes, a bibliography and an index. At less than 300 pages, the book is small, but jam packed with tons of useful advice and examples for the person who wants to create truly magical ritual form.

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