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Book Review – Pagan Portals- Guided Visualisations: Pathways into Wisdom and Witchcraft by Lucya Starza
Book Review Pagan Portals: Guided Visualisations Pathways into Wisdom and Witchcraft by Lucya Starza Moon Books 83 Pages Let me begin by giving some background on the ever-growing list, currently 56+ strong, of titles published by John Hunt Publishing under their sub-division of Moon Books and entitled Pagan Portals. As the title of the series of books suggests these books provide foundational information relevant to the nuances of developing a pagan practice. Each title is concisely written by adept practitioners offering enough meat on the bones to satisfy both the novice and the more experienced practitioner. I’ve had the pleasure now of reviewing several of these titles and…
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Book Review – Pagan Portals: Seeking the Primal Goddess-The Magic and Mystery of the Hearth Fire by Mélusine Draco
Book Review Pagan Portals Seeking the Primal Goddess The Magic and Mystery of the Hearth Fire by Mélusine Draco 96 Pages The opportunity to review this book peaked my curiosity due to my recently growing interest in studying ancient goddess cultures within European traditions from historical, anthropological, and archaeological lenses. Draco’s book is an interesting blend of locating the goddess across history as well as in modern pagan practices. I especially enjoyed the sections on the hearth fire’s connection with the goddess and–in my interpretation of this section–an undercurrent of feminism that has endured through the ages. The images that sprung to my mind of women tending sacred…
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Book Review – Pagan Portals: Loki – Trickster and Transformer by Dagulf Loptson
Book Review Pagan Portals: Loki Trickster and Transformer by Dagulf Loptson 104 Pages Pagan Portals is a series of introductory volumes, each designed to be a doorway into the title topic, and to encourage the reader to find out more if they are so inspired. Dagulf Lopston has added to the growing collection with his new book on Loki, with the subtitle Trickster and Transformer. The book works through who Loki is, plus includes ways to honour the deity and even how to become a dedicant of Loki. I’ve been interested in the Norse gods since I was tiny. In fact, my first book on Norse mythology was…
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The Bee – An Excerpt From Pagan Portals: Celtic Witchcraft by Mabh Savage
The following includes an excerpt from Pagan Portals: Celtic Witchcraft by Mabh Savage An animal that has had many sacred associations throughout the aeons, yet is mentioned all too infrequently in Celtic texts, is the bee. We know the Celts ate honey and drank mead, so they must have had skill with bees, yet it is rarely written of by the scholars of the middle ages who gave us most of the Celtic literature we now refer to. The bee is a dangerous animal that simply needs to be respected. Yes, a bee can sting you and undoubtedly it will hurt. It can even kill, if you are sensitive…
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Book Review – Pagan Portals-Thor: Meeting the Norse God of Thunder by Morgan Daimler
Book Review Pagan Portals: Thor Meeting the Norse God of Thunder by Morgan Daimler 104 Pages The Norse God, Thor is probably one of the most well known. You don’t have to be a pagan or mythology buff to have the general story of this God of Thunder who is part of the curriculum as first introductions in elementary school, and woven into much of secondary teaching. Apart from that introduction, movies and comics have made Thor a symbol of strength, courage and let’s not forget some very appealing eye-candy. But, in the reading of Pagan Portals-Thor: Meeting the Norse God of Thunder by Morgan Daimler, these images…
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Book Review – Pagan Portals: Australian Druidry- Connecting with the Sacred Landscape by Julie Brett
Book ReviewPagan PortalsAustralian DruidryConnecting with the Sacred Landscapeby Julie Brett 129 Pages “For those who learn to listen, the land itself speaks…Modern Druidry in any landscape is a process of finding a personal connection with nature and spirit, and is a tradition that is evolving and changing as we explore…[O]ur only authority is our relationship with the Earth and with nature. That relationship is our guiding principle.”-Julie Brett This book is not just for Australian Druids! It will be interesting to folks practicing earth-based spirituality all over the world. It provides inspiration for how we can work with the land to alter spiritual tools and maps to make them…