Approaching Epona

Alongside my personal projects (finding a suitable illustrator for "Little Lizzy Witch", finishing the first draft of "A Magickal Scrapbook" and constantly refining the "Tarot of the Yellow Brick Road") I have been busy with several small collaborative writing projects.

One of the most exciting and challenging of these has been the Naming the Goddess Project. 

Organised by Trevor Greenfield for Moon Books (an imprint of John Hunt Publishing) the project invited authors to submit essays on various Goddesses and I was selected to write about Epona.

Epona has been a part of my life for more about 10 years now but my personal relationship with her has always been more instinctual than intellectual and so the challenge for me, with this project, was to bring more history to the article and less personal, emotional, stuff. This was hard to do especially when I think about the first time I "saw" her...

I attend a twice annual Pagan camp and part of this camps tradition is to perform a ritual to Epona, at dawn, on the Saturday. Now I am not known for my early rising and so had not really expected to be awake at 4 in the morning to take part, but as it happens I didn't need to be…

Around 4 am I was laying in my sleeping-bag, asleep but I became aware of a distant drumming and although I remained in my tent I saw in my minds eye, a rolling fog coming towards my tent, across the field, and in this fog were the images of pale coloured ponies. The drumming became louder and I realised that it was the sound of galloping hooves. Suddenly they were surrounding me and I seemed to be outside with them. A woman, made of the same grey mist as the horses, held her arms open to me in a welcoming gesture, she seemed to be waiting for me to say something but as I went to speak the vision cleared, I was back in my tent, in my sleeping bag and I could hear the ritualists finishing up outside and chatting as they moved back to their own tents to make breakfast or grab a few more hours sleep.

You can read more about Epona and other Goddess in "Naming The Goddess" coming 2014

https://www.facebook.com/NamingTheGoddess

'Naming the Goddess' is a new community book from Moon Books featuring contributions from over 75 writers. Part 1 features a series of critical essays discussing contemporary Goddess issues. Part 2 is a Spiritual Gazetteer of over 60 popular Goddesses. 'Naming the Goddess' will be published in 2014. 

Book Recommendation - The Last Observer - Out Now!

The Last Observer: A magical battle for reality

Written by this months guest author Dr Gary Michael Vasey, The Last Observer is out now and is a must read book with believable characters and a good plot which takes the reader through a twisting tale of quantum physics and mystical magic.

Synopsis.

The Last Observer is a compelling tale of magic, alternative realities, murder and conflict. An ordinary man is abruptly dragged into the middle of a violent struggle between black and white magicians who both seek to use his extraordinary powers of imagination and observation. He soon learns that reality is not at all what it seems before being called upon to play a decisive role in determining whose reality will prevail.

Features a preface by Anthony Peake - author of Is There Life After Death? and many other books.

PUBLISHED BY: Roundfire Books

AVAILABLE: August 30^th, 2013

AUTHOR BIO:  Dr. Gary (G.) Michael Vasey writes extensively across a number of disparate areas in which he has a passionate interest. He is the author of over 200 articles and several books on the energy & Commodities industry, two books of poetry, and several books about magic and our ability to shape reality. He now lives in Prague in the Czech Republic, but is British by birth and hold US citizenship meaning he pays taxes twice.

LINKS

Author website: http://www.garymvasey.com

Author Blog: http://www.asterothsdomain.com

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Dr-G-Michael-Vasey/e/B00B8NWTWA/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4?qid=1378725797&sr=1-4

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Last-Observer/418556618230291?ref=hl

Twitter page: https://twitter.com/GMVasey

Publisher website: http://www.roundfire-books.com

Book Review: Kitchen Witchcraft, By Rachel Patterson.

Kitchen Witchcraft, By Rachel Patterson.

This book is part of the Moon Book collection called "Pagan Portals" 

On the surface you might think that this book has nothing to offer the experienced craft practitioner but I can guarantee that there will be a nugget of gold to be found by all who read it

As I have come to expect of a book published by Moon Books, this book is well presented and well written, the author has a personable style and writes with familiarity over formality, a quality I enjoy in this kind of book. The reader feels as though they have popped in for a cuppa at Rachel's house and are being given a little tour of her kitchen and garden. 

I would recommend this book to those taking there first steps into kitchen craft as it is in my option one of the better guides available, and for others with more experience in kitchen craft I would still recommend it, especially if they own other Pagan Portals books and wanted to add to their collection.

This book should live somewhere easy to reach, once you start using these techniques for a more Magickal life you will dip back into these pages again and again. 

Book Review: A Deed Without A Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft

A Deed Without A Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft

By Lee Morgan

Reviewed by Arietta

( www.facebook.com/Arietta.smallsongs )

I was unsure what to expect of this book.... 

As a Wiccan, I was worried that this book might just be a dig at those of us whose traditions do not have an unbroken lineage to trace back though. However, thankfully and surprise, my fears were unfounded, and this book turned out to be a real find!

"A Deed Without A Name" is in fact a delightful mix of historical and anecdotal tales, sharing information on the origins of the Witch in every form, including a look at the misuse of the word and what the word can mean to different people.

The bestiary section was an especially interesting read giving an insight into the many and varied "creatures of the night" which have been recorded and connected with tales of witches.

The author has drawn on the writings of Eva Pocs, Emma Wilby & Carlos Ginzburg, to name a few, and has put their work into her framework and context,  building upon it to great effect.

Whilst the £11.99 price tag for a paperback of less than 200 pages might seem a bit much for some, I find that the collected knowledge within those pages is honestly priceless and I would recommend anyone with an interest in the craft of the wise to take a look at this book. Be you a seeker or a sage you will find something new in here.

    

A Deed Without A Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft is available from Amazon worldwide

Book Review: Journey to the Dark Goddess - How to Return to Your Soul

As promised and in a refreshing change from blathering on about the books and projects I am working on, I have recently been given the opportunity to read some other people work and I would like to take the time to share this experience with you...

First up was "Journey to the Dark Goddess" by Jane Meredith.

This is a book which is long overdue, being one which takes the sometimes scary concepts of looking within oneself, of the long dark night of the soul and of the Dark Goddess herself and puts them in an accessible but beautifully written book.

 I could not put it down and devoured it in a couple of days. I then went back and read it again in a more piecemeal fashion, dipping in and out of gloriously enveloping and descriptive stories of ancient Goddesses and Jane Meredith's easy to follow rituals. Rituals which I felt had a strong grounding in reality whilst still being wonderfully mysterious and magical.

I enjoyed the layout of the book too, it being split into four sections each dealing with a different stage of the journey 

I really don't want to say too much more as the authors words speak to the reader of a deeply personal amd individual level... but I highly recommend you grab a copy for yourself...The author bares all and dares the reader to do the same!

"Journey to the Dark Goddess" is published by Moon Books and is available in paperback and ebook.