{"id":18342,"date":"2019-05-01T01:10:16","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T06:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=21259"},"modified":"2019-05-01T12:32:55","modified_gmt":"2019-05-01T17:32:55","slug":"book-review-the-seasonal-soul-illustrated-by-teagan-svyny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2019\/05\/01\/book-review-the-seasonal-soul-illustrated-by-teagan-svyny\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Review – The Seasonal Soul: A Mystic\u2019s Guide to Inner Transformation Written by Lauren Aletta, Illustrated by Teagan Svyny"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Book Review<\/strong>
The Seasonal Soul<\/strong>
A Mystic\u2019s Guide to Inner Transformation <\/strong><\/em>
Written by Lauren Aletta<\/strong><\/em>
Illustrated by Teagan Svyny<\/strong><\/em>
Chronicle Books<\/strong><\/em>
303 pp.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe\nSeasonal Soul: A Mystic\u2019s Guide to Inner Transformation\u201d comes to\nus from the author and illustrator behind the lovely Lumina Tarot,\nand it\u2019s just what you\u2019d expect if you\u2019re familiar with that\nTarot. It is a lushly illustrated book which explores the themes of\nwinter, spring, summer, and fall through a collage of visualizations,\nmeditations, self-care rituals, and musings. The book\u2019s structure\nis simple and its goals are clearly laid out: to use awareness and\nobservation of the seasons as a template for personal growth, and to\nuse nature as your guide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many exercises to choose from in each season, and they contain suggestions for activities, journaling prompts, meditations, and more. These exercises center around self-exploration, personal growth, or intuitive connection to self. Svyny\u2019s illustrations are beautiful, and make reading the book a real pleasure; although it\u2019s completely black and white, the book was clearly printed with visual impact in mind, and the result is effective. There is a visual treat on every page of natural imagery, quotes, and other illustrations rendered in watercolor and ink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately,\nthe book does have a few problems. Aletta\u2019s decision to write in\nthe second person is questionable; I found it off-putting to be told\nwhat I was supposed to be feeling, particularly when the author\u2019s\nlived experience only aligned with my own on rare occasions. It felt\nforced to me, and I didn\u2019t feel like I could \u201cplay along\u201d to an\nemotional narrative that didn\u2019t ring true. Additionally, much of\nthe advice contained in the book seems to involve adjusting one\u2019s\nown attitudes about life and feelings about things, which I fear may\nencourage spiritual bypassing more than spiritual growth; there is\nlittle material here that will guide a seeker through the deep\nmysteries of life, or help them deal with serious challenges. While\nthere is nothing wrong with developing a positive attitude towards\none\u2019s daily life, there are many problems which a positive attitude\ncan\u2019t solve, and this book doesn\u2019t really delve into difficult\nquestions or serious craft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aletta\ndiscusses meditation, crystal use and chakra energy work at some\nlength. While much of this information is accurate according to\ntradition, it is disappointing to note that she doesn\u2019t mention the\noriginal names of the chakras or discuss their origins in her\ndescriptions. There are many chakra-like systems in the world, but\nthe symbolism and type of chakras discussed make it clear that Aletta\nis working with the Tantric Chakra system. The roots of this system\nare in Hindu esoteric tradition and Vedic literature, but the\ncultural origins of this system and their literary source are not\nmentioned anywhere in this book. I know it\u2019s almost pass\u00e9 to crow\nabout cultural appropriation, but in this case the problem is easily\ncorrected with as little as a footnote or bibliography, so there\u2019s\nno excuse for their absence. Additionally, the critical disconnection\nfrom the origins of these mystical traditions deprives them of power\ndue to their lack of context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are looking for light-hearted spiritual exploration, eye-popping illustrations, and heart-centered positivity to act as your spiritual cheerleader, this might be the book for you. There are some good suggestions here, and it would make a great companion for journaling with prompts, or as a source book for an ongoing meditation and visualization practice. If, however, you are a seeker who desires spiritual growth that grows from deep roots and ancient traditions, you may find yourself disappointed by the lack of context and type of material presented here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Seasonal Soul: A Mystic’s Guide to Inner Transformation on Amazon<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

***<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About\nthe Author:<\/strong>\n \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sarah\nMcMenomy <\/strong>is\nan artist and witch. Her craft incorporates herbalism, spellwork,\ntrance, divination, auras, and more. Her work can be found at\nhttps:\/\/sarahmcmenomy.tumblr.com<\/a>\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Review The Seasonal Soul A Mystic\u2019s Guide to Inner Transformation Written by Lauren Aletta Illustrated by Teagan Svyny Chronicle Books 303 pp. \u201cThe Seasonal Soul: A Mystic\u2019s Guide to Inner Transformation\u201d comes to us from the author and illustrator behind the lovely Lumina Tarot, and it\u2019s just what you\u2019d expect if you\u2019re familiar with that Tarot. It is a lushly illustrated book which explores the themes of winter, spring, summer, and fall through a collage of visualizations, meditations, self-care rituals, and musings. The book\u2019s structure is simple and its goals are clearly laid out: to use awareness and observation of the seasons as a template for personal growth, and to use nature as your guide. There are many exercises to choose from in each season, and they contain suggestions for activities, journaling prompts, meditations, and more. These exercises center around self-exploration, personal growth, or intuitive connection to self. Svyny\u2019s illustrations are beautiful, and make reading the book a real pleasure; although it\u2019s completely black and white, the book was clearly printed with visual impact in mind, and the result is effective. There is a visual treat on every page of natural imagery, quotes, and other illustrations rendered in watercolor and ink. Unfortunately, the book does have a few problems. Aletta\u2019s decision to write in the second person is questionable; I found it off-putting to be told what I was supposed to be feeling, particularly when the author\u2019s lived experience only aligned with my own on rare occasions. It felt forced to me, and I didn\u2019t feel like I could \u201cplay along\u201d to an emotional narrative that didn\u2019t ring true. Additionally, much of the advice contained in the book seems to involve adjusting one\u2019s own attitudes about life and feelings about things, which I fear may encourage spiritual bypassing more than spiritual growth; there is little material here that will guide a seeker through the deep mysteries of life, or help them deal with serious challenges. While there is nothing wrong with developing a positive attitude towards one\u2019s daily life, there are many problems which a positive attitude can\u2019t solve, and this book doesn\u2019t really delve into difficult questions or serious craft. Aletta discusses meditation, crystal use and chakra energy work at some length. While much of this information is accurate according to tradition, it is disappointing to note that she doesn\u2019t mention the original names of the chakras or discuss their origins in her descriptions. There are many chakra-like systems in the world, but the symbolism and type of chakras discussed make it clear that Aletta is working with the Tantric Chakra system. The roots of this system are in Hindu esoteric tradition and Vedic literature, but the cultural origins of this system and their literary source are not mentioned anywhere in this book. I know it\u2019s almost pass\u00e9 to crow about cultural appropriation, but in this case the problem is easily corrected with as little as a footnote or bibliography, so there\u2019s no excuse for their absence. Additionally, the critical disconnection from the origins of these mystical traditions deprives them of power due to their lack of context. If you are looking for light-hearted spiritual exploration, eye-popping illustrations, and heart-centered positivity to act as your spiritual cheerleader, this might be the book for you. There are some good suggestions here, and it would make a great companion for journaling with prompts, or as a source book for an ongoing meditation and visualization practice. If, however, you are a seeker who desires spiritual growth that grows from deep roots and ancient traditions, you may find yourself disappointed by the lack of context and type of material presented here. The Seasonal Soul: A Mystic’s Guide to Inner Transformation on Amazon *** About the Author: Sarah McMenomy is an artist and witch. Her craft incorporates herbalism, spellwork, trance, divination, auras, and more. Her work can be found at https:\/\/sarahmcmenomy.tumblr.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}