Recommendations for The Well-Read Pagan

At the Pagan Canon panel at Gaia Gathering, I promised to put the list of my own recommendations for the well-read Pagan onto my blog. Well, here it is. Obviously, it's not comprehensive. Also, from a book perspective I didn't include any of the "usual suspects" that often come up. For more of my musings on books, check out the posts categorized/tagged under "books" on this blog.

Amanda's Picks for Gaia Gathering Book Panel
There were a few ways I could approach the question, “What books should be occupying the bookshelves and minds of well-read, thoughtful Pagans of the 21st century?” In putting together my “picks” for this panel, I considered writings that would be of interest to most thoughtful Pagans regardless of their path or tradition; and I paid particular attention to where I perceive knowledge-gaps. I also took into account that this was a panel, so that other panelists were likely to mention some of the “usual suspects”. Finally, I find that some of the most exciting and thought-provoking writing on or about contemporary Paganism is currently happening in blogs, not in books. This is where all those “201” and “301” discussions are taking place. I’ve listed only ones with a broad appeal, but dig around: thoughtful, well-written, tradition-specific ones abound as well.

Books: 
Gosh picking just 3 was hard. 

• The Paganism Reader by Chas Clifton and Graham Harvey (eds) 
• Seeking the Mystery: An Introduction to Pagan Theologies by Christine Hoff Kraemer 
• The Earth Path by Starhawk 

Top 10 Blogs 
Selection was based on their thought-provoking nature, quality of information, frequency of posting, and pertinence to a wide-spectrum of Pagan paths. I also sorta cheated by lumping the Patheos blogs and other blogs together.

• Any of the Patheos.com Pagan blogs, but specifically these ones: 
• Sermons from the Mound by Christine Hoff Kraemer and Yvonne Arburrow 
• Including Paganism by Aiden Kelly 
• Under the Ancient Oaks by John Beckett
• Raise the Horns by Jason Mankey  
• Story Archeology by Chris Thompson and Isolde Carmody  
• Bishop in the Grove by Teo Bishop  
• Arkadian Anvil by Sam Webster 
• The Wild Hunt edited by Jason Pitzl-Waters
• Broomstick Chronicles and Witch at Large by M. Macha Nightmare  
• Spirit Cuts Life: Rooted Heathen Living by Henry Lauer 
• Rogue Priest  
• Gangleri’s Grove by Galina Krasskova  
• The Witch of Forest Grove by Sarah Lawless **Canadian** 

Canadian Blogs 
Since only one Canadian blog made my top 10, I thought I’d list the Canadian blogs that I know about which seem to have some substance to them. 

• Walking the Hedge by Juniper Jeni
• Christian Witch by Adelina St. Clair 
• 49 Degrees: Canadian Pagan Perspective by Diane Morrison (Sable Aradia) 
• The Northwest Passage by Brendan Myers  
• Another Pagan Blog by Rhi 

Most Excellent Post Day

Yesterday I was thrice blessed with deliveries from Canada Post.

I finally received the latest edition of The Pomegrante. The issue came out before Yule, but for some reason it always takes months for it to make its way across the pond and through my mail slot.

I also received the latest issue of Witch Eye and some books of poetry, which were also having problems getting into my hot little hands.

Then, Canada Post delivered New Age and Neopagan Religions in America, which has been sitting on my wish list for a while now. (And yes, the postman did come three times yesterday.)

Dark Moon Magic

Dark moon magic is magic that's performed on the dark moon. This is the period (about three days) when the moon is not visible because it is in between the sun and the earth. Some folks believe that this is a very good time to do 'banishing' or 'destructive' magic, like getting rid of things we don't want. Also since it is that liminal time between death and rebirth, it can be a very powerful time to transformation magic that focusses on death and rebirth. Some people also believe that the dark moon is the ideal time to explore 'the mysteries' or the unseen. This makes it a good time to do 'inner' work and shadow work, or working with 'other worlds'.

Gail Wood's Sisters of the Dark Moon (Llewellyn 2001) works specifically with dark moon energies. It is intended to be used over a period of a year and offers meditations and rituals for 13 darkmoons. I find it is from a Wiccan perspective.

For inner or shadow work (and not necessarily dark moon work), Dark Moon Mysteries (Llewellyn 1999) and Apprentice to Power (Crossing Press, 2000) by Timothy Roderick are both excellent. They are also from a Wiccan persepctive. I also like The Mist-Filled Path by Frank MacEowan (New World, 2002), which offer a 'Celtic-Shamanic' perspective, with hints of eco-psychology influences, on inner-work. Plus there are a number of books on shadow-work from a Jungian perspective (the concept of the shadow, I believe, is actually Jungian). Owning Your Own Shadow by Robert Johnson (Harper 1993) is a slim book that discusses the concept of 'the shadow' in accessible terms. It's from a predominantly Christian perspective.

I don't recommend embarking on shadow work on your own, but these books can give you a bit of perspective on the concept. I'm not up on spellcrafting or ceremonial magick books, but I'd be surprised if there isn't anything out there that looks at the spellcasting or magic specifically from a lunar phase perspective. You might want to try looking at some books on biodynamic planting (planting with the moon phases). I suspect the underlying principles of why it is better to plant and prune at different moon phases will be similar to the underlying principles of spell casting by different moon phases; but don't quote me on that.

Book Musings
The delivery of my latest book has got me musing about the types of Neopagan books currently available, and which ones are best for which audiences. For example, which books are good for someone interested in learning more about Neopaganism or specific traditions? Which ones are good for someone wanting to take a forray in the spiritual world of Neopaganism him- or herself? Which ones are good for intermediate or advancing seekers? And what about specialty books for those on specific paths?

I still consider Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon an excellent starting place to learn about Neopagan traditions and history. Pagans and Christians by Gus DiZirega is also an excellent book for explaining Neopaganism to someone who is curious about it. I also like The Paganism Reader put out by Routledge, and of course Hutton's Triumph of the Moon.

Hmm. I have to give this more thought.

New Book!
My postman just delivered a review copy of Between the Worlds: Readings in Contempory Noepagnism, edited by Sian Reid at Carleton University. I'm so excited!

Cyberhenge Review

Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet
by Douglas E. Cowan
Routledge, 2005
ISBN: 0-415-96911-5; $35.95 CDN

Written by a non-Pagan religious scholar, Cyberhenge explores contemporary Neo-paganism through its presence on the Internet and looks at the Internet as a modality for modern Neo-pagan innovation.

The vast majority of the book is handed over to examining the way Neo-pagans view the Internet and how it appears to have impacted Neo-pagan belief and practice. To do this Cowan draws on Internet sources as well as books written by Pagans about Pagans and the Internet (some of which are reviewed in this issue). He examines computer-mediated community, cyber-covens, virtual reality versus online activity, online ritual and its evolution over the past few years, online teaching, cyber-identity, and Neo-paganism as an “open-source religion.” To my surprise, I personally found it made for fascinating reading.

Cowan also examines a variety of different types of Neo-pagan web presences, from virtual covens and discussion groups, to personal pages and resource-based websites. He observes that there is an “appearance of far more activity online than the substance of that activity warrants.” (p 116) Although there are some well-run and maintained resources, he finds that much of the Pagan web consists of vast wastelands of outdated websites, unused discussion groups, and the beginnings of projects that never really got off the ground. He also describes the content on many websites as “shovelware,” a term used to describe unoriginal and generic content simply used to fill up a website or CD-ROM (ie, quantity over quality).

Cowan does not assume that the reader is intimately familiar with either Paganism or the Internet. Throughout the book Cowan takes the time to discuss contemporary Neo-pagan culture as well as technology terms in sufficient depth that the reader is able to understand the concepts being examined without feeling lost or overwhelmed. The result is that Cyberhenge gives almost as much insight into Neo-Pagan culture as a whole, as it does into Neo-paganism on the Internet. Highly recommended.

This review originally appeared in the Midsummer 2005 issue of WynterGreene.

Review: Gaia Eros

Gaia Eros: Reconnecting to the Magic and Sprit of Nature
By Jesse Wolf Hardin
New Page Books, 2004
ISBN 1-56414-729-0

Gaia Eros is a collection of essays by Jesse Wolf Hardin, a writer, artist, activist and practitioner of Earth-centred spirituality. Wolf is the founder of the Earthen Spirituality Project, a river-canyon sanctuary in New Mexico where he has lived for over 20 years developing rich relationships and a deep sense of harmony with the land. There are 38 essays in this book. Each logically flows from the previous one, but they were all independently written and stand solidly on their own.

Gaia Eros is a book to be savoured. The prose is eloquently and thoughtfully crafted: each word and combination of words carefully chosen for their meanings as well as their emotional responses. At the end of each essay, I found myself wanting to close the book and simply reflect upon the words and thoughts presented before moving on to the next one.

In Gaia Eros, Wolf chooses to use the term New Nature Spirituality (NNS) to describe a collection of spiritual paths that form relationships with, and draw insight and instruction from, a living and inspirited earth. NNS, he says, encourages an interactive relationship with nature, not just the observation and study or it, nor the simple celebration of it.

Through personal anecdote and reflection, Wolf inspires the reader to move beyond the way he or she views the planet and foster a new, deeper relationship with the earth: One that is conscious, active, responsible, supporting and interdependent. He also suggests extending this relationship to others in our lives, and offers suggestions on how to do this.

A couple of aspects of the book did present problems for me. Because Wolf’s style of writing is informal and poetic, it means that he writes mostly in sentence fragments. This probably wouldn’t bother most readers, but the editor in me was increasingly distracted by it. Also, the last few essays are longer and more political. While still inspirational and often very worthy of reflection, they also sometimes bordered on preachy, especially when the focus of the essay was more about our responsibility towards the land than with seeking and building relationships.
Despite these drawbacks, Gaia Eros is an excellent book that easily belongs on the bookshelf of anybody seeking to connect more deeply with the living earth.

© 2005. This review originally appeared in the Ostara 2005 issue of WynterGreene.

Review: Witching Culture

Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America
By Sabina Magliocco
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004

Witching Culture is the first ethnography that looks specifically at the roles of anthropology and folklore in Neo-Paganism and revival Witchcraft, from historical roots to modern ritual creation and cultural politics.

An established anthropologist, Magliocco first become interested in Neo-Paganism in the mid-1990s when she started studying the use of folklore and cultural appropriation in Neo-Pagan ritual. While participating in a Reclaiming ritual during the course of her research, she had an extraordinary experience, one that changed both herself and the course of her research. She eventually underwent initiation in a Gardnerian Coven, as well as undertaking training in the Reclaiming tradition of Witchcraft.

In Witching Culture, Magliocco asserts that “Neo-Paganism represents the most important folk revival movement since the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s” (Magliocco, p7), and proceeds to examine the Neo-Pagan movement in North America from the perspective of both a folklorist and anthropologist. She also examines the cultural mixing of spirituality and belief in American Neo-Paganism, as well as her own observation and theory that religious ecstasy is the key uniting experience of American Neo-Pagans.

To do so draws upon her own extensive participation in Neo-Pagan culture, primarily in the San Francisco Bay area, the narratives and experiences of others, as well as the works of other established scholars of the Neo-Pagan movement. She also makes wide use of non-Neo-Pagan-specific anthropological literature pertaining to religion, ritual, construction of identities, culture, and folklore.

Magliocco is careful to define her use of terms and labels throughout the book. In doing so, she introduces readers to the term ‘Witchen,’ an adjectival form of ‘Witch’ commonly used among San Francisco Bay-area Pagans to describe those practising traditions of Witchcraft as opposed to Druidism, Norse Paganism, etc.

Witching Culture is one of the best-written and most-comprehensible academic books on Neo-Paganism that I’ve had the pleasure of reading in a long time. Magliocco provides a wonderful mix of personal narratives and academic thought, often seamlessly weaving the two together without losing academic credibility. Her first chapter on the study of folklore and reclamation of Paganism should be, in my opinion, a must-read for any serious student of Neo-Paganism, as should be the second chapter on Pagan community.

© 2005 . This review originally appeared in the Imbolc 2005 issue of WynterGreene.

Review: Black Magick Woman

Black Magick Woman: The Sinister Side of the Song of Solomon
By Janet Tyson
EcceNova Editions, 2003
ISBN 0-9731648-5-9, 196 pages

You may never look at the Song of Solomon the same way again. Traditionally thought of as a love song or a symbolic tribute about God’s love for Israel, Janet Tyson, a Fellow with the University of British Columbia, takes you on a whole new and unorthodox interpretation of this classical Hebrew tale.

In Black Magick Woman, the Egyptian Priestess Bathya is portrayed as a seductress casting spells and using sorcery to get what she wants most from King Solomon: his royal bloodline. The song, Tyson claims, was originally intended to convey to Israeli men the dangers of women, especially foreign women. It also might have been a lesson to keep the Jewish blood pure. As times changed, so did the interpretation of the song.

Tyson goes through each line in the Song of Solomon in great detail, getting right down into the symbolism, incantations, and other cultural, historical and religious aspects. This makes the work an awesome academic accomplishment and a fascinating read. It also somehow manages to accomplish this with an easy style that doesn’t send the reader’s head spinning, like so many academic books do. Overall, whether you are familiar with the Song of Solomon or not, Black Magick Woman is highly recommended.

© 2004 . This review originally appeared in the Summer 2004 issue of WynterGreene.

Review: Handfasting

Handfasting: A Practical Guide
By Mary Neasham
Green Magic, 2003
ISBN 0954296311, $26.95

Handfasting: A Practical Guide gives a good solid overview of handfasting, including historical roots, traditions, rituals, ceremony planning, ritual logistics, and modern spiritual considerations. It looks at betrothals, as well as handfastings for set periods of time, for life, or for eternity. It also includes information on handparting and unbinding rituals. Although written for a British audience, it works just fine for Canadians as well.

For clergy, the author goes through ritual structures and standard stuff like that. However she also touches on the role of the Priestess, the differences between a spiritual and non-spiritual ceremony, as well as practical considerations like whether to raise energy during the rite, and how, considering that many participant may be non-pagan.

For the celebrating partners, Neasham describes many different historical types of rituals, and gives tips on planning, preparation, location, altar set-up, music, feasting, and much more. The book even has some blank planning pages with key words on each page to help get you started.
This is the first book that I’ve seen that really takes the reader through the historical roots of handfasting, as well as different handfasting traditions over time and geography such as Medieval Druidic, Celtic, Viking, Irish, Saxon, and Tudor Weddings. To my delight, the author starts her section on history with a disclaimer, stating that “like many ancient British customs and traditions, the origins of handfasting are hard to pin down with any degree of chronological accuracy,” reminding readers that in questions of history nothing is known absolutely and the best we can do is to look critically at the evidence available.

Another unique section in this book is one devoted to tying the handfasting knot itself, and the different symbolisms that could be worked into the different types of knotwork. This section could have used some illustrations though, especially for the more complicated knots.

The author has done such a good job pulling the content of the book together, it is a real shame that the editing is truly horrendous. Sections of text are occasionally ambiguous, and I found myself rereading passages to make sure that I understood them properly. Worse yet, in some places the text refers the reader to earlier information that was must have been removed in the editing process, or simply not included to begin with, making the book read like a second draft.

Apart from the poor editing, which really detracted from my enjoyment of the book, Handfasting: A Practical Guide is very good with lots of interesting information and food for thought for people planning or considering a handfasting ceremony, whether spiritual or reconstructionist, as well as for Pagan clergy asked to Priestess the event.

© 2004. This review originally appeared in the Midsummer 2004 issue of WynterGreene.

Review: Joining Hearts and Hands

Joining Hands and Hearts: Interfaith, Intercultural Wedding Celebrations
by Rev. Susanna Stefachi Macomb
Fireside (Simon & Schuster), 2003; $22.00
ISBN 0743436989

This book was an absolute delight to read and explore. Written from an interfaith perspective, Joining Hands and Hearts explores the religious, spiritual, cultural and personal aspects of marriage. It then takes you through some of the practical matters of the creating and planning a ceremony, including working with family and friends.

Next comes the part of the book I liked the most. Well over half of Joining Hands and Hearts is devoted to exploring various marriage rituals and wedding traditions across world religions and cultures. If you are interested in world religion and customs, then this book is worth buying for this information alone, regardless of whether you are planning a handfasting or wedding. If you are in the process of planning an eclectic or multifaith ceremony, then this book is a real gem and a great starting place for ideas and inspiration.

To help put the customs in context before they are presented, a brief yet informative description of the history and beliefs preceeds each section on the 14 religions covered. The cultural information is more general and does not provide as much context, but is just as interesting nonetheless. Wedding traditions that occur in some form across many religions or cultures are also discussed, and handfasting is included in this category. However, Neo-Paganism is not specifically addressed. Also included are selected readings and vows ranging from traditional religious ones to the words of modern poets, authors and philosophers on matters of the heart. All in all an excellent book.

© 2004. This review originally appeared in the Midsummer 2004 issue of WynterGreene.