D' Aulares' Book of Norse Myths

Usually, a book review from me is a good thing.  I share volumes that I love and leave the ho-hum ones on the shelf.  Today, however I am going to share a book that I recomend you DO NOT buy.

A few months ago, I purchased D'Aulares' Book of Norse Myths with a preface by Michael Chabon through Amazon.  I can remember reading the Greek version of this book in grade school and loved it, so when I found this I thought I just had to have it.  Wrong!

The book features Norse deity and their adventures, but cloaked in a very Christian bias.  The preface includes some thinly veiled negativity toward our ancestral faith and the first two chapters are presented with such a Christianised slant that Superman insists they give him the creeps.  Further accounts are not exactly correct, but there is little harm in them and most mythologies for children have to be edited a bit.  The final chapter,however, is completely Christian propaganda and should and will be avoided at least in our house.

Since this book is paid for and on our bookshelf, I do read it to the children, but I read very slowly and do a lot of improvising.  Mostly, we look at the beautiful colored pencil illustrations and tell the story's for ourselves.

With all the good books available in our time, I would certainly recomend that this not be one you spend your hard earned money on.  Study the Eddas and Sagas or which ever classical stories build the framework of your faith and retell them yourself.   Work as a family to create an illustrated collection of your favorite tales and bind it into an heirloom tome.  You Tube has some great book binding tutorials.  Teach your children, but do it on your terms.  

Green WitchCraft by Ann Moura (Aoumiel)

I can't believe I am just now getting around to reviewing Green Witchcraft by Ann Moura (Aoumiel)!  It is the third book I delved into when first exploring my own witchy-ness and it runs neck and neck with Scott Cunningham's Earth Power in the race to be my favorite book.  For a magickal person looking for an intuitive, earth based path this book is essential.  Aoumiel shares three generations of witchy wisdom and lays out an easy to get started outline for ritual while sharing bits of witchy history along the way. 

When I opened this book, I knew that I had no interest in organized Wicca.  It just didn't suit me, but I had no idea where to go from there.  This text is what gave me the confidence to define myself as a witch and to initiate ritual practices.  I refer to it often and have used it in conjunction with another of the author's works as a magickal textbook of sorts.  There is so much to learn from this book, that it is once again on my reading list for summer. 

 

Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You by Nancy Tillman

 

 

At our house, Wherever You Are My Love Will Find You  is what I think of as "the blessing book."  The littles and I read it nearly every day and although it is not specifically a Pagan book I find it to be jam packed with magick. 

 

The beautiful rhymed verses read like a sweet love spell and even Little Moon who is not very story friendly at this point seems compelled to sit and listen.  On it's own it is a lovely story, but infused with a parents love and fervent intentions it becomes a powerful blessing.  I use it on a daily basis, but it would also make great text for a new birth blessing ceremony. 

The Good Spell Book-Love Charms Magical Cures and Other Practical Sorcery: Gillian Kemp

The Good Spell Book was given to me nestled into a box of random books on divination and magick and I very nearly bypassed it as just another bit of frivolous writing.  Although my first response was to file it in the bookcase and forget about it, I kept finding myself drawn back to this book.  It's beautiful cloth binding and comfortable heft kept asking me to open it up and explore.  Once I did, I was delighted. 

This little volume is densely populated with bits of Romanie folk magick and spells.  It is fun and friendly to read and the handwritten notes in the margins give it a very personable feel.  The intent behind this volume feels very sincere and  accessible. 

The test of any spell book is of course it's spells and this one could almost be viewed as a simple primer on earth magick.  I have adapted a several of the spells and practices for my own use and been very happy with the outcome.  The simple folksy manner of these workings make them ideal for the magical mother looking to infuse her home and the lives of her children positive witchy energy. 

Circle Round: Raising Children in Goddess Traditions: Starhawk/ Baker/Hill

Holiday traditions and meanings are something most of us learn a little at a time as we grow up.  The holiday is celebrated every year with little variation and in true child's form we soak it up and make it our own.  We don't question what these special days are or why we celebrate them, they are simply a part of our life and we believe that we understand them almost instinctually.  So when the world changes and we are left to discover a whole new tradition on our own, books like Circle Round are essential. 

I originally bought this book as a parenting tool, but have found it to my personal favorite to facilitate my own learning on the topic of Pagan holiday's and celebrations and believe me it is one of many books I have that address the topic.   Trying to implement a new celebration into the life of a family can be frustrating and awkward at times, but the ideas and activities given in Circle Round really make it fun and easy.  As an adult, I have gained so much better understanding of the celebrations by reading the holiday section of this book, I sometimes forget that it contains a plethora of other information as well.  It has chapters on basic traditions (circle casting, centering), a full section on activities to teach about the Elementals, and another section covering a child's growth and the rites of passage between infancy and adulthood.  Well written stories and songs (with music) accompany many of the topics to help facilitate memory in a positive way. 

To be completely truthful, I have not sat down and read this book in its entirety and I doubt that I ever will.  For me, it is more of a reference book to be returned to again and a again for ideas and inspiration.  I am really looking forward to using it frequently with Miss Busy and the new baby when they start to explore the natural world and their own place in the grander scheme. 

Earth Power by Scott Cunningham

Amazon stock photo

Awhile back, I found an old copy of this book and devoured it in an afternoon.  I won't go all cliché and say that "it changed my life," but it was a real eye opener.  I was on a path to perusing Druidry and picked this book up out of curiosity just to find that I couldn't put it down.  By the end of the second chapter I knew I was a witch.  Not going to be a witch, but a witch.  Unbeknownst to even myself, I had been practicing Earth Magic for years.  If I had been asked about it previously, I would have probably laughed it away, but I always knew there was power to draw from nature if you only knew how to ask.  It was an intuition that I credited to the native Sioux in my ancestry.

Unlike Mr. Cunningham, I do not (even now) prescribe to Wiccan ideals, but this book is invaluable none the less.  It would certainly be the first book I handed to a seeker of magic.  The writing is beautifully simple without diminishing the power of the topic and leaves even the most timid reader feeling that magic is within their realm of possibility.