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Book Review – Astrology for Real Life: A Workbook for Beginners-A No BS Guide for the Astro-Curious by Theresa Reed
Book Review Astrology for Real Life A Workbook for Beginners-A No BS Guide for the Astro-Curious by Theresa Reed 288 Pages Theresa Reed has given us a gift! Astrology for Real Life is a practical, funny and accessible guide to astrology for those who want to dip their toes into their relationship with the heavens. Practical? Yes! The very first thing Reed teaches is how to create your own natal chart on-line! She walks us through it step by step. I have read many astrology books for beginners; this is the first one I have encountered where the author explains where and how to truly start learning about…
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Book Review – Herbs of the Southern Shaman by Steve Andrews
Book Review Herbs of the Southern Shaman by Steve Andrews 152 Pages Herbs of the Southern Shaman is Steve Andrew’s follow-up to Herbs of the Northern Shaman and makes an excellent companion to it. This is a well-researched overview guide to entheogenic plants which grow in the Southern Hemisphere. It is a small book, 152 pages, that contains a wealth of information about more than 50 “teacher” plants we commonly associate with altered consciousness, like peyote and ayahuasca, and those we are more likely to find in the kitchen, like nutmeg. There is a bit of overlap with the Herbs of the Northern Shaman that Andrews references, as plants like…
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Book Review – The Hidden Meaning of Birds: A Spiritual Field Guide Explore the Symbology and Significance of These Divine Winged Messengers by Arin Murphy-Hiscock
Book Review The Hidden Meaning of Birds A Spiritual Field Guide Explore the Symbology and Significance of These Divine Winged Messengers by Arin Murphy-Hiscock 240 Pages When first seeing this book, I was instantly reminded of my many Peterson’s Field Guide books to birds of various locations. Like the reliable Peterson’s series, The Hidden Meaning of Birds provides illustrations, physical descriptions, preferred environments and habitat ranges for over 50 birds from around the world. It also invites us to connect with birds as divinatory messengers, opening us up to another layer of relationship with them. I have watched birds as message bringers for a long time. I’ve gone on omen…
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Book Review – The Mythic Journey: Use Myths, Fairy Tales and Folklore to Explain Life’s Mysteries by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke
Book Review The Mythic Journey Use Myths, Fairy Tales and Folklore to Explain Life’s Mysteries by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke 240 Pages This lovely collection of myths, fairy stories and folklore is brought to us by Liz Greene and Juliet Sharman-Burke, who collaborated on The Mythic Tarot. It appears to be a re-working of the book originally published in 2000. The tales included continue to inform our psyches today as the authors see with the eye of the mythic imagination past form into the heart of being. The stories included in the book come from many cultures and traditions: Buddhism, the Old Testament, ancient Greece, Minoan Crete, Maori…
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Oracle Deck Review – Oracle of the Radiant Sun: Astrology Cards to Illuminate Your Life by Caroline Smith and John Astrop
Oracle Deck ReviewOracle of the Radiant SunAstrology Cards to Illuminate Your Life by Caroline Smith and John Astrop This is a reprint of the original Oracle of the Radiant Sun deck which was difficult to find and quite pricey. It is visually lovely 84-card deck accompanied by a 144-page book, nicely boxed with a woodcut sun graphic that is also the card back. The oracle is in 7 suits, one for each of the 7 ancient planets and luminaries: Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Each suit has 12 cards, with a card for each placement of the suit’s planet in the 12 signs of the zodiac.…
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Book Review – Shamanic Plant Medicine-San Pedro: The Gateway to Wisdom by Ross Heaven
Book ReviewShamanic Plant Medicine-San PedroThe Gateway to Wisdom by Ross Heaven 144 Pages San Pedro: The Gateway to Wisdom is one in The Shamanic Plant Medicine series authored by Ross Heaven. Each book introduces a plant medicine teacher and medicine ally. This well-written, accessible book introduces us to the Cactus of Mystery, San Pedro, native to the Andes and used by Andean shamans in healing ceremonies. Mr. Heaven, who died in 2018, has left us with a practical and nuanced introduction to San Pedro. The book gives us an overview of the plant’s history and the lore relating to its sense of mystery, which certainly drew me in to…
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Book Review – Secrets of the Combined Astrology: The Full 144 Combinations of the Chinese and Western Zodiac Signs by Zakariya Adeel
Book Review Secrets of the Combined Astrology: The Full 144 Combinations of the Chinese and Western Zodiac Signs by Zakariya Adeel 760 pages This is not a book you will read cover-to-cover. It is an encyclopedic reference – over 750 pages – pairing and describing the 144 combinations of the 12 Western astrological signs and the 12 Chinese animal archetypes which are used to designate each year. The author, in the Acknowledgments, states that it took 9 years to put the book together. He admits to a fascination with Chinese astrology since he read Theodora Lau’s Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes when he was a child. Adeel has paired each…
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Book Review – The Mother Mantra: The Ancient Shamanic Yoga of Non-Duality by Selene Calloni Williams
Book Review The Mother Mantra: The Ancient Shamanic Yoga of Non-Duality by Selene Calloni Williams 160 pages The Mother Mantra: The Ancient Shamanic Yoga of Non-Duality opens a path for people interested in the exploration of “reality” as a dream, an illusion. It guides us through the process of “reabsorbing reality,” of examining our everyday lives and beliefs, and re-imagining who we are in a fresh way, more deeply connected to our full and true selves and to the wisdom of Nature. Selene Calloni Williams has studied psychology with James Hillman and Buddhist meditation in Sri Lanka with a root teacher. She is an initiate of Shamanic Tantric Yoga and…
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Book Review – Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans: Using the Planets and the Stars for Effective Spellwork, Rituals and Magickal Work by Ivo Dominguez Jr
Book Review Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans: Using the Planets and the Stars for Effective Spellwork, Rituals and Magickal Work by Ivo Dominguez Jr 216 pages For all you workers of magick who have avoided digging into astrology because it is so darn complicated, hesitate no longer! Ivo Dominguez, Jr. has created a very practical, basic and down-to-earth reference book that I, a practicing astrologer, find chock full of useful information. I am also a beginning user of magick and have started weaving astrology into that practice. This book has really opened my eyes to all the ways to work with the energy of the heavens outside of the…
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Oracle Deck Review – Odin and the Nine Realms Oracle Cards by Sonja Grace
Oracle Deck Review – Odin and the Nine Realms Oracle Cards by Sonja Grace A 54-card set This deck and accompanying 144 page guidebook comprise this visually striking divination tool containing images and channeled information from Sonja Grace’s spirit travels with the Norse gods. She describes her spirit travels to the Nine Realms of Norse cosmology and her meetings with the gods in the guidebook’s prologue, then she brings the gods and the Norse world to life in the cards with her simple yet iconic, bold and gorgeous art work. Grace created the cards from her memory of how the gods and realms appeared to her. She is of Norwegian…