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Book Review – The Warrior’s Meditation by Richard L. Haight
Book Review The Warrior’s Meditation by Richard L. Haight Published by Shinkaikan Body, Mind, Spirit LLC 198 Pages Published: December 2021 “To get a picture of the Warrior’s Meditation, imagine a battlefield scenario with a single Samurai stands surrounded by multiple opponents. A novice’s attention would jump from opponent to opponent in an anxious attempt to defend himself. Such a strategy soon tires the warrior, who will be defeated. An expert warrior will spread his attention evenly in all directions but still experience anxiety as he mentally plans his strategy. His thought and anxiety may be his downfall if his opponents are truly skilled. A master’s attention, like…
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Book Review – Confronting the Crisis: Essays and Meditations on Eco-Spirituality by David Sparenberg
Book Review Confronting the Crisis Essays and Meditations on Eco-Spirituality by David Sparenberg Publisher: Moon Books 112 Pages Publication Date: November 1, 2021 Confronting the Crisis is a small volume of collected essays, meditations and occasional verse by ecosophist, poet and shamanic storyteller David Sparenberg. The subject of the essays range from the nature of humanity’s current relation with nature to the nature of reality itself, but the common thread throughout, weaving in and out of focus, is the looming specter of what Sparenberg calls Earth Crisis. Earth Crisis is the culmination of all the crises that we are currently facing: climate change, environmental disasters such as ubiquitous…
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Brambling – A Poem for the First Harvest
Brambling Caught red handed, Well, purple really, Juice dripping down Guilty chin. Bucket half full Promising wine, crumbles pies All lies If I don’t stop eating them Along the trail. These jewels are not just mine I share them with Doves, pigeons, blackbirds Lon Dubh shouting As I invade His sacred space. So I leave enough To feed the feathered folk Even knowing this means Imminent purple plopping On the bonnet of my Long suffering vehicle. Dodging nettles Spiky brambles Benevolent thorns They take my juice As I seek theirs. Caught red handed Purple hand gang States the seven-year-old As we fill our…
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Book Review – Consorting with Spirits: Your Guide to Working with Invisible Allies by Jason Miller
Book Review Consorting with Spirits: Your Guide to Working with Invisible Allies by Jason Miller Published by Weiser Books 240 pages Publication date: May 1, 2022 I’ve been a student of Jason Miller’s Sorcery of Hekate course over the last few years, and have already read his Protection and Reversal Magic; The Sorcerer’s Secrets; Sex, Sorcery, and Magic; and The Elements of Spellcrafting, so it should come as no surprise that I was pretty excited to receive his latest book, Consorting with Spirits. If you’re familiar with his other work then you’re probably already familiar with some of the content of this book, as much of his written…
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Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times
Celebrating the Old Ways in New Times for August 2022 (Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash) Bright Blessings! Lughnassadh is upon us, the first harvest of the Wheel of the Year, and I don’t know if I have ever felt less like writing about harvest before! Something is weighing on my mind heavily I feel needs written about and writing about harvest being all about how we reap what we sow, and to keep working hard at our goals will take a different tone this time. This is the hottest Summer I can ever remember having in Central Ohio and I know why it’s happening. Global Warming. Yes,…
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Book Review – The Modern Art of Brujeria: A Beginner’s Guide to Spellcraft, Medicine Making, and Other Traditions of the Global South by Lou Florez
Book Review The Modern Art of Brujeria A Beginner’s Guide to Spellcraft, Medicine Making, and Other Traditions of the Global South by Lou Florez Publisher: Ulysses Press 192 Pages Publication Date: May 31, 2022 I like how he writes. Before I took the book review, I had read the ‘look inside’ portion available at Amazon and I liked what I saw. You will find inspiration here from Latin American and Afro-Caribbean regions written in a very readable style. There are tips for ancestral communication, instruction for spiritual cleansing, various types of candle magic, and oh so much more! Lou Florez is not a beginner. He has studied with…
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Book Review – Pagan Portals: Aos Sidhe- Meeting the Irish Fair Folk by Morgan Daimler
Book Review Pagan Portals: Aos Sidhe Meeting the Irish Fair Folk by Morgan Daimler Publisher: Moon Books 104 Pages Publication Date: August 1, 2022 The Pagan Portals range from Moon Books is a popular and wide range of introductions to various topics connected to Paganism. Morgan Daimler’s latest instalment in this series explores the Aos Sidhe – who they are, how they fit into folklore and mythology, plus the many different beings that can be classed as Aos Sidhe. For those that don’t know, Aos Sidhe are the “folk of the fairy mounds,” Irish beings often called fairies, the Fae, or more cautiously and safely, the Good Neighbours.…
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Book Review – Sacred Sex: The Magick and Path of the Divine Erotic by Gabriela Herstik
Book Review Sacred Sex: The Magick and Path of the Divine Erotic by Gabriela Herstik Publisher: TarcherPerigee 352 Pages Publication Date: July 12, 2022 “Sacred Sex: The Magick and Path of the Divine Erotic” is a complete guide to making sexuality a central part of any spiritual practice. Conversational and straightforward, Gabriela Herstik defines sex as “anything with the potential to bring you an expansive sense of pleasure, with the possibility of orgasm.” A devotee of the Goddess of Love and Lust, she defines “sacred sexuality as a spiritual philosophy and practice rooted in conscious pleasure, and connection to the sexual self as a path to inner wisdom,…
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Book Review – Becoming the Witch: The Art of Magick by Danae Moon Thorp
Book Review Becoming the Witch: The Art of Magick by Danae Moon Thorp Published by Llewellyn 408 Pages Published: September 2021 “Becoming the Witch leads you from the origins of Witchcraft to the secrets of sacred thinking and beyond. In a distinct, almost lyrical tone, Danae Moon Thorp teaches you what every beginner must know when starting on the Witch’s path, including the elements, spells, tools, deities, rituals, and more…” Becoming the Witch: The Art of Magick by Danae Moon Thorp is separated into nineteen (19) chapters replete with dozens of spells, an Appendix of Correspondences and a bibliography containing enough reading recommendations to keep a new witch quite…
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Book Review – The Yorkshire ‘Av’mal by Dan Coultas
Book Review The Yorkshire ‘Av’mal by Dan Coultas Publisher: Independently Published 69 Pages Publication Date: June 12, 2022 Lissen up yuh daft apeth, an’ let mi tell thi… about a new book that manages to combine one of the most well-known and celebrated parts of the Poetic Edda with a quirk of the English language known widely across the North of England but perhaps not very much anywhere else, these days. What language am I talking about? It’s the striking and, in the opinion of myself and many others, very beautiful Yorkshire dialect. My opening sentence was a little snippet of Yorkshire, written phonetically – more or less.…
