Hidden amongst the Silver Ravenwolf and Scott Cunningham books on the “Wicca” shelf of your metaphysical bookstore, I hope you are lucky enough to find a copy of this excellent book by Australian author Ly De Angeles. It’s a different style of book that offers an alternative view to the way witchcraft is normally practiced. How is it different? That’s hard to explain, but it isn’t a “beginner’s guide to Wicca”, and it isn’t an “advanced students only” manual – it’s just completely different to anything else I’ve read on the subject!
The title and the blurb on the back cover suggested that this book was “infused with a masculine sensibility”, however I didn’t find that there was a huge emphasis on the male side of the Craft. Sure, there was a chapter that described about a dozen Celtic gods, and this included ways that you could utilize their energies in spells or ritual work, but the majority of the book was geared towards witchcraft in general, without having an obvious focus on gender roles.
I felt that this book provided a reasonable sense of balance to the (predominantly) female bias that is found in most volumes on the subject of witchcraft. As she says in the introduction, “...without a deep understanding of her Brother/Son/King/Consort/Champion – the witch’s God – the world is a sad and unbalanced place...”
Ly De Angeles gives the reader a modern perspective of witchcraft – with a Celtic twist. The highlight of the book is the seasonal rituals – Ly De Angeles has produced a magickal narrative that leads us on an urban-style ritual journey through the Equinoxes and Solstices. These are GREAT! The writing style, content and ingenuity surpass any other ritual ideas that I’ve ever seen in any other book. The author has successfully broken free from the standard format, and with the use of story-telling, she has produced meaningful rites that are a joy to read. And I’ll be putting them into practice as soon as I can!
One of my complaints about this book is that unusual terms such as Déithe (Gods) and draíocht (magic) are liberally sprinkled through the text, without any reference to their meaning. Fortunately the author includes a glossary at the back of the book so that you can discover what she is talking about. The only other negative comment is about having “filler” chapters about the tools of the witch, and the invocation of the pentagrams - subjects that are covered in books for beginners, and which are out of place in a book such as this.
Sometimes it seems more like a collection of essays than a book with any sense of continuity, but there are many chapters that stand out brightly, glowing like the eyes of the Wild Gods which she writes about so eloquently. On the whole, this is an entertaining and rewarding book.
Author Ly De Angeles
Published by: Llewellyn Publications 2004
The title and the blurb on the back cover suggested that this book was “infused with a masculine sensibility”, however I didn’t find that there was a huge emphasis on the male side of the Craft. Sure, there was a chapter that described about a dozen Celtic gods, and this included ways that you could utilize their energies in spells or ritual work, but the majority of the book was geared towards witchcraft in general, without having an obvious focus on gender roles.
I felt that this book provided a reasonable sense of balance to the (predominantly) female bias that is found in most volumes on the subject of witchcraft. As she says in the introduction, “...without a deep understanding of her Brother/Son/King/Consort/Champion – the witch’s God – the world is a sad and unbalanced place...”
Ly De Angeles gives the reader a modern perspective of witchcraft – with a Celtic twist. The highlight of the book is the seasonal rituals – Ly De Angeles has produced a magickal narrative that leads us on an urban-style ritual journey through the Equinoxes and Solstices. These are GREAT! The writing style, content and ingenuity surpass any other ritual ideas that I’ve ever seen in any other book. The author has successfully broken free from the standard format, and with the use of story-telling, she has produced meaningful rites that are a joy to read. And I’ll be putting them into practice as soon as I can!
One of my complaints about this book is that unusual terms such as Déithe (Gods) and draíocht (magic) are liberally sprinkled through the text, without any reference to their meaning. Fortunately the author includes a glossary at the back of the book so that you can discover what she is talking about. The only other negative comment is about having “filler” chapters about the tools of the witch, and the invocation of the pentagrams - subjects that are covered in books for beginners, and which are out of place in a book such as this.
Sometimes it seems more like a collection of essays than a book with any sense of continuity, but there are many chapters that stand out brightly, glowing like the eyes of the Wild Gods which she writes about so eloquently. On the whole, this is an entertaining and rewarding book.
Author Ly De Angeles
Published by: Llewellyn Publications 2004
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