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Book Review-The Tradition of Natural Taoism: The Way of Free and Easy Wandering in Oneness by Jason Gregory
Book Review The Tradition of Natural Taoism: The Way of Free and Easy Wandering in Oneness By Jason Gregory Publisher: Inner Traditions 224 page E-Book Release Date: September 9th, 2025 After a short winter break, I’m back at it tons of reviews to get out to you all! First up, The Tradition of Natural Taoism. For those who have been following my articles, I’m sure this is no surprise, as I spent much of the summer working with Taoism and Buddhism. This book introduces the reader to applicable, easy practices to be at one with the all. The way of nature, or Tao, is distilled into modern concepts, and modern life is applied…
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Book Review — Plant Energy Medicine: The Guiding Voice and Healing Vibration of 58 Plants by Rhonda PallasDowney and Sandi O’Connor
Book Review — Plant Energy Medicine: The Guiding Voice and Healing Vibration of 58 Plants by Rhonda PallasDowney and Sandi O’Connor Publisher: Healing Arts Press, a division of Inner Traditions International 320 Pages Release Date: July 8, 2025 I feel like I’m super lucky to get to review some amazing books, particularly ones about nature, plants, herbalism, and other “green” magic-associated topics. This volume, which promises to explore a whopping 58 plants, is, unsurprisingly, very enticing to me. The book starts with some beautifully moving song lyrics by Kate Watters, and a foreword by Rosemary Gladstar, of the Science and Art of Herbalism course. The introduction explores synchronicity and the…
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Book Review — The Divine Nature of Plants: A Medical Intuitive’s Guide to Plant Spirit Medicine by Laura Aversano
Publisher: Destiny Books, a division of Inner Traditions 288 Pages Release Date: July 8, 2025 Content warning: This book contains extensive writing about mediumship, aka, speaking to the dead, including deceased children. If you’re a regular Pagan Pages reader, you know I love plants. I write the column Notes from the Apothecary and love to explore the ways we use plants as medicine, food, and magical companions for all sorts of everyday aspects of life. That respect for plant medicine comes from a scientific viewpoint, for example, looking at the folklore medicine of plants or what Mrs Grieve wrote in her Modern Herbal, and seeing how modern research now backs…
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Book Review-The Call of the Old Gods: My Occult Journey on the Pagan Path by Christopher McIntosh
Book Review The Call of the Old Gods: My Occult Journey on the Pagan Path By Christopher McIntosh Publisher: Inner Traditions 264 Page E-Book Release Date: May 6th, 2025 The Call of the Old Gods is a well-written memoir from one of my favorite Pagan and Occult authors, Christopher McIntosh. Instead of telling you what to do, he relays the experience to you, as well as the academic background, to inspire the reader to form their own practices, etc. This book, instead of his usual, scholarly approach, focuses on a well-storied life full of trials, lessons and friendships. McIntosh has lived a long life and has had the opportunity to encounter…
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Book Review-The Languages of Magic: Transform Reality through Words, Magical Symbols & Sigils by Toby Chappell
Book Review The Languages of Magic: Transform Reality through Words, Magical Symbols & Sigils By Toby Chappell Publisher: Inner Traditions 338 page E-Book Release Date: April 8th, 2025 The Languages of Magic was on my “must-read” list and it did not disappoint! Toby Chappell delivers an examination into the magical world of language, semantics, sound, symbol and word. Magic, spells and incantations are have their root in the power of words; words change our perception, impact our reality, and most importantly, for purposes of this book, on our magick, too. Spells of the spoken kind are often incorporated into other ritual actions, which complete an objective. If we take the approach…
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Book Review-The Sword of Song, Called by the Christians The Book of the Beast by Aleister Crowley, edited and annotated by Richard Kaczynski
Book Review The Sword of Song, Called by the Christians The Book of the Beast By Aleister Crowley, edited & annotated by Richard Kaczynski Publisher: Inner Traditions 407 Page E-Book Release Date: April 8th, 2025 I am so excited to present this particular book review to you. I often don’t announce it, not out of shame, but rather because his influence is so immense in my magickal and spiritual, even philosophical beliefs and practices, that I often neglect to recognize just where those views came from. To clear up any confusion, as I myself am feeling rather Crowley-esque today, I am a huge fan of Aleister Crowley’s work, in all of its contexts. I’ve heard…
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Book Review- Theurgy: Theory & Practice: The Mysteries of the Ascent to the Divine-Homeric Epics, the Chaldean Oracles, and Neoplatonic Ritual by P.D. Newman
Book Review Theurgy: Theory & Practice: The Mysteries of the Ascent to the Divine-Homeric Epics, the Chaldean Oracles and Neoplatonic Ritual By P.D. Newman Publisher: Inner Traditions 211 Page E-Book Release Date: December 5, 2023 Theurgy: Theory & Practice is a book that covers a complex subject that’s made even murkier by the numerous traditions that practice it, within the occult and magickal worlds. For those who don’t know, Theurgy is the act of ascent to, and union with, the divine, by whatever name(s) you may call it. Theurgy is one of the first ceremonial practices I learned, and has formed the backbone of my practices since I began my theurgical…
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Book Review-At The Borders of the Wondrous & Magical: Nature Spirits, Shapeshifters, and the Undead in the Never Ending Middle Ages by Claude Lecouteux
Book Review At The Borders of the Wondrous & Magical: Nature Spirits, Shapeshifters, and the Undead in the Never Ending Middle Ages By Claude Lecouteux Publisher: Inner Traditions 273 Page E-Book Release Date: January 7th, 2025 At The Borders of the Wondroud & Magical: Nature Spirits, Shapeshifters, and the Undead in the Never Ending Middle Ages is another wonderful addition to the body of Claude Lecouteux’s work, compiling folklore, magic, grimoires and more from many different periods of history, from more Archaic periods, to the Modern period, specifically as they spread throughout Europe. This book encapsulates a fascinating examination of spirits-where they be of land, of the dead, or something else…
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Book Review-Jim Morrison, Secret Teacher of the Occult: A Journey to the Otherside by Paul Wyld
Book Review Jim Morrison, Secret Teacher of the Occult: A Journey to the Otherside By Paul Wyld Publisher: Inner Traditions 256 page E-Book Release Date: September 10th, 2024 Jim Morrison, Secret Teacher of the Occult: A Journey to the Otherside by Paul Wyld is a fascinating look into Jim Morrison’s life, and his exploration of the Occult and Hermetic mysteries, coinciding with his musical career and well-known use of psychedelics and other drugs. The book covers Morrison’s life from early childhood, his adolescent and college years, where he began experimenting with LSD, and his career with The Doors and the numerous debacles thrown his way by the Establishment through law enforcement…
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Book Review- Shamanic Teachings of the Condor: Encounters with the Mystical Traditions of the Andes by Martha Winona Travers, Ph.D.
Photo Credits: Stock Photo from Publisher, Shamanic Teachings of the Condor Shamanic Teachings of the Condor: Encounters with the Mystical Traditions of the Andes by Martha Winona Travers, Ph.D., is a 170 page book, published by Bear & Co., an imprint of Inner Traditions Publishing. Shamanic Teachings of the Condor is not an outsider attempt at assimilating an indigenous people’s beautiful, and ancient, beliefs, but rather, an open-hearted account of decades’ experiences with what the Andean kichwa people refer to as an iachak, or medicine person/shaman. The wise one who taught, and developed a positive relationship with Travers, was Taita Alberto. Throughout the pages, you can feel, and I will make use of that word a lot in…
