Sacred Land

With a subtitle like “Intuitive Gardening for Personal, Political & Environmental Change”, the author had quite a big job ahead of her. Fortunately for her readers, Clea Danaan lived up to her promise and delivered a book that is set to change the world, one garden at a time.

There’s only 230 pages of text, but it’s packed with tips on how to create healthy, ethical, organic gardens, while developing a spiritual connection with the land at the same time. It reveals the secrets of creating great compost; has some great tips on water conservation; and shows how to save seeds for next year’s planting. And I know that pagans will enjoy reading the chapters on how to connect with garden Goddesses. Clea includes information on the Goddesses “to inspire your spirit, and to awaken the power of myth”. Her descriptions of those deity that are linked to the earth, to herbs, and to fertility, remind us how easy it is to connect to the divine while we undertake our everyday chores in the mundane world. And Clea’s meditations upon the elements help to bring about a stronger connection to the life-forces within your own back yard.

The author’s aim was to show us how to garden spiritually, because while we’re tending our own backyards, we’re also helping to slow down global warming, and we’re creating strong and healthy communities. We’re told that gardening with a sense of mindfulness and awareness helps us to recognise our gardening allies: birds, spiders, worms, ants, snakes, bees and bats. And we’re reminded to acknowledge the gnomes, faeries and goddesses of the land at the same time!

This is a lovely book (printed on recycled paper) which is filled with interesting and inspiring facts, and it offers plenty of practical tips for working within our current problem of water restrictions, and the ever-present dilemma of overcoming garden pests in environmentally friendly ways.

There’s a lot that I like about this book, and only a few things that annoyed me. The first thing that irritated me was that the content of Sacred Land is strongly geared towards feminist readers, with wording such as “my gardening sisters” being used quite often. In the introduction, the author explains that she writes, “for women who are rediscovering the power of the sacred feminine in their lives, and who want to use that power to create positive change in the world.” Hey Clea, men like their gardens too! Without that balance of male and female energies, the garden isn’t going to grow very well.

The other thing that bugged me was the layout and design. Each page is divided into two columns. Since this book is small in size, it means that you only get 4 or 5 words to each line! And many of these words are hyphenated because they can’t be squeezed into such a small area.

Having said that, this book helped me to realise how judgemental and critical I’ve become as I’ve grown older. The disdain that I had for this book when I looked at those columns, swayed me into disliking it before I’d made it past the introduction. But when I delved into the first chapter, the concept of looking at the garden in a more meaningful and pagan way grabbed my attention, and I found myself liking the clever, wholistic approach to this subject. One example of how Clea takes a simple concept and gives it relevance to pagans is with the subject of the humble worm. She reminds us that worms are sacred to Hermes. After a brief description of Hermes, she suggests that when you see worms, ask yourself, “In what ways might worm energy help you in sifting through your own life and bringing about transformation? How might they bring nutrition and balance into your garden - the one in the soil and the larger garden of life?”

Another thing that I liked was that amongst the information about the seasonal festivals, Clea included the dates for the Southern Hemisphere.

“The garden can be a powerful tool for personal, political, and environmental change. This book is a beginning place, a launching point for your own sacred work.” This quote from the author is a fair summary of her reason for writing “Sacred Land”, and it gives the reader an indication of the spirit and enthusiasm within Clea herself.

Sacred Land is a good addition to any Earth-loving pagan’s library. Clea’s reverence for the garden, which she regards as “a living altar”, is quite obvious, and it’s infectious too. This is a book that will send us back into our backyards and veggie patches with a sense of purpose; and with a desire to create a better world from the ground up.

Title: Sacred Land
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
Author: Clea Danaan
ISBN: 0-7387-1146-2

Radical Gratitude

Can you imagine what it would feel like to be in a family that was dragged from home at gunpoint, and loaded onto a crowded railway carriage (meant for cattle) and sent to an unknown destination? Can you honestly comprehend what it would be like to be crammed into one of those filthy cattle cars for three weeks, with no heating, no food, and only a hole in the floor to use as a toilet? And what if when you arrived in Siberia, your grandfather chose not to eat, so that you would have more nourishment, and you watched him sacrifice his own life through starvation.

My immediate response would be of bitterness towards my oppressors, but Andrew Bienkowski found that this horrifying experience brought him many gifts... and one of those gifts was the grace of “radical gratitude”. As he states in this enlightening book, “Once we learn to actively seek reasons to be grateful, we suddenly find them everywhere. And when we learn to focus intention on our own gratitude, gratitude becomes a way of life and our efforts to help others become natural and spontaneous. Once you have learned to access the healing power of radical gratitude, you will find that the fullness of life greets you at every turn.”

This is an inspiring book on many levels, and its spiritual lessons are portrayed through unforgettable examples. As the title suggests though, the underlying theme of this book is gratitude. It reminds us that despite our circumstances, we have much in life to be grateful for. “Even a colourful butterfly flitting past, the discovery of a delicious mushroom, a handful of wild strawberries, or the beauty of a spider’s web covered with morning dew was a cause for gratitude in Siberia. It was a chance to celebrate the beauty of life, of nature, a reminder that there was still good in the world.”

Elsewhere in the book we are told, “The gifts were small, but they were everywhere, as they are today. The key is to learn to look for them and to be open to them. Siberia is where I developed my intense love of and respect for nature, which has become a source of great happiness in my life.”

This book is really three books in one volume. It’s a story of how a family overcame extreme hardship and adversity that was inflicted upon their body, mind and spirit. It’s also a New Age book that focuses on spiritual values such as love, courage, kindness and compassion. And finally, this book is like “The Road Less Travelled”, because Andrew Bienkowski is a clinical psychotherapist, and he takes the reader through case histories that illustrate practical guidance for living a more peaceful life, with greater well-being. Oh, maybe there’s a fourth aspect of this book too... the author loves quotes... he seems to have been collecting inspirational quotes all his life, wondering when he’ll get the chance to use them, so he does that here... using them on almost every page!

The main reason why the author published his experiences of life in Siberia, was so that you “can become inoculated against the dissatisfaction, disassociation and despair of modern life. That you can trust yourself to help your friends and loved ones in ways that you felt were not possible before. That you will learn to feel and recognise your own healing powers and use them to make the world a little bit better, one person at a time.” If people take the time to truly listen to the messages in this story, there’s no doubt that the world will end up a better place, just as Bienkowski has intended.

Radical Gratitude is not a pagan book, yet it is, in so many ways. It shows the importance of recognising our connection to nature and all that is. It’s uplifting, thought provoking, and provides a spiritual treasure-trove of inspiration. I hope we hear more from him in years to come.

Published by: Allen & Unwin
Authors: Andrew Bienkowski and Mary Akers
ISBN: 9781741754223
RRP: AUD$22.95

The Shining Isle

I’d been looking forward to more tales of The Travelers (a group of magical beings who roam around the countryside in human form) and Ly de Angeles has delivered another exciting story that I was reluctant to put down. I’ve previously reviewed two of her previous books, When I See the Wild God, and The Quickening. This one features the same characters, but also brings some new people into the spotlight, including Scathach, a warrior princess brought over from the Otherworld.

This book has a great premise: Inishrún is a mysterious island which is a gathering place for the clans of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the mighty Fey Folk. It has been invaded by capitalists who don’t understand its significance - and the gods and goddesses have to intervene to stop the magic of the place from being polluted by greed and ignorance.

Reading The Quickening first would give you a better idea of who the characters are, but The Shining Isle is also a novel that stands alone in its own right. Ly de Angeles has written an adventure novel that brings the Celtic Gods and Goddesses to life in front of your eyes, and you’ll get shivers across your neck as you feel their presence within the exciting plot developments. Highly recommended to those who like to see the Old Gods alive and busy in the world around us – laughing, making music, and totally involved in love and war!

Author: Ly de Angeles
Published by: Llewellyn Publications, 2006
ISBN: 0-7387-0834-8

When I See the Wild God

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 Quickening

As a rule, I’m not really into fiction novels, I’d rather have my nose buried in a reference book any day! But when I found one that was written by an Australian witch (Ly de Angeles) I thought it was worth a look, and after reading through ‘The Quickening’ in one sitting, I was so glad that I did.

In this book she has weaved an urban fantasy about the Sídhe (pronounced Shee) who travel around the country awakening the magickal powers of those who have forgotten their true nature. These Travellers are from the clans of the Tuatha Dé Danann - the mighty Fey Folk - sometimes known as ‘fairies’, but you’d have to be very brave to call them that!

Herne the Hunter (with dreadlocks!), Brighid (a fortyish woman with tattoos on her face) and She who is only known as ‘the Great Mystery’ - work together with a group of musical and magickal friends to discover who is responsible for vicious attacks on various spiritual centres across the city.

I’d met these characters before, in another book by Ly de Angeles called ‘When I See the Wild God’ – which was reviewed in the Lughnasadh 2005 edition of Silver Wheel. That book was a modern perspective of Celtic witchcraft, in which she described how to utilize the energies of the Celtic Gods in ritual work. The people in ‘The Quickening’ formed part of the storyline that was the basis of the seasonal rituals in the ‘Wild God’ book. And now, they’ve become part of a larger, more involved story and with this extra room for character development, they’ve become even more endearing.

Ly de Angeles was initiated as a witch when she was 17 years of age, and became a High Priestess in 1980. She draws upon her experiences of magic and the Otherworlds to create an engaging plot that has all the elements (excuse the pun) that appeal to pagans - and the writing style is quite lyrical at times. Here’s an example... “Shadows, shadows - lithe and swift - surrounded him, all unseen, all alert to danger - earthy graces loving the man they ran with, creating a deeper darkness to protect him.”

In the story, beings from Celtic mythology, and practitioners of Vodoun, Shamanism, Wicca and Shinto all join forces in an unusual saga of Good versus Evil. But in true magickal style, those on the side of ‘Good’ tend to play rather rough, knowing that in the eyes of the gods, the end always justifies the means! They also get help from a flock of birds that are aptly named ‘the Conspiracy of Ravens’ and the conversations between the birds are clever and amusing.

Make sure that you refer to the glossary at back of the book, as many unusual terms are used in the story, but this also adds to its sense of authenticity. The characters are quiet well-rounded. You view some of the bad guys in a different light when you read of the sadness in their souls which drives their negative behaviour patterns. And the gods are shown to have weaknesses too, with bickering and pettiness surfacing occasionally.

This is a highly enjoyable book that brings the Old Gods and the Fey Folk to life. Ly de Angeles has created a series of loveable characters that will stay in your heart and mind long after you’ve put the book down. You won’t look at the world in the same way after you’ve experienced it through the eyes of this author!


Author: Ly de Angeles
Published by: Llewellyn Publications, 2005
ISBN: 0-7387-0664-7

The Outer Temple of Witchcraft

Christopher Penczak has created a series of impressive guidebooks for those beginners who are taking their initial, tentative steps along the Wiccan path. The first book was called ‘The Inner Temple of Witchcraft’, and this dealt with meditation and the inner work required for magickal practice. It covered the historical and philosophical concepts of Wicca, and included an understanding of the terminology used.

The next book in this five-volume series is ‘The Outer Temple of Witchcraft’, and this focuses on creating sacred space, Wiccan rituals, understanding the elements, and learning spellcraft. It’s set up as 12 lessons (a lesson/chapter for each month of the year) culminating with a test and a self-initiation ritual to the level of priest or priestess. I like the sense of discipline that he encourages, and the book is filled with lots of examples and stories of his personal experiences. The ritual chants at the end of the book are also a welcome inclusion.

Unlike many books that simply tell you that a witch must have this or that, in order to really be a witch, Christopher’s approach is more simple, practical and meaningful. For example, when writing about altars, he states: “It reminds a witch that everything is sacred. It represents what the witch is working on, in the inner and outer worlds. If you leave a candle burning for a current spell, that is where your sacred attention is focused. If you put something on it to represent your inner learning, such as a particular herb or stone, you are emphasizing those lessons in your own inner sacred world. You see it every day, and every day, you rededicate yourself to the spiritual path simply by acknowledging it. By making a space for it in your home, you are symbolically making a space for the life of a witch in your life. Every action is powerful and symbolic, not only affecting our subconscious mind, but also energetically affecting us and our environment for the better.” Beautiful!

And there’s a sentence in lesson six (Divination of True Will) that I really like. It goes like this: “Divination, like meditation, is a form of learning to listen.” But that’s the only sentence that I like in that chapter! I don’t have a problem with authors wanting to include a chapter on divination in their guidebooks, but why do they think that in one chapter they can teach their students how to use all forms of divination? It takes Penczac only 9 pages to explain all there is to know about tarot, and many of those pages had me growling with frustration at his lack of research on this subject. Grrrr!

The Outer Temple of Witchcraft has more substance than Silver Ravenwolf’s beginner guides for teen witches, and this series is probably even better than Scott Cunningham’s respected titles! I liked the meditations, exercises and homework at the end of each chapter - I feel that these would definitely deepen the reader’s understanding of each lesson. But there’s not a lot of new material here – not much that you can’t find in other books, however the author does package the information well. You’d have trouble finding a more comprehensive workbook for a newcomer who is wanting steady guidance into do-it-yourself Witchcraft training.

Author: Christopher Penczak
Published by: Llewellyn

Night of the Fifth Moon

When I am reviewing a book, there are two main signs that show I’m enjoying what I’m reading...
1) I forget to jump off the train at the right station because I’m so engrossed in the story.
2) There’s bits of paper sticking out of the book, so that I can refer back to interesting pieces of information.

While reading Night of the Fifth Moon, I missed my train station twice in the one week; and the book had so many pieces of paper sticking out of it, that it looked like the top had been caught in a shredder! This novel is supposed to be for young readers (the 10 to 14 age group) but it’s definitely going to appeal to book lovers of any vintage. Especially if you have an interest in paganism.

The story is about a group of Irish children (about twelve years old) who have been sent to the local druid as foster children. They each aim to become the anruth, an assistant to Faelán, the druid of the forest. This adventure novel is set in Ireland, sixteen hundred years ago, a time when lifestyles were harsh and basic, and when the druids were the most important people in the villages. The whole community, even the king, listened to his words of wisdom, and feared his magic.

The title refers to the challenge that Faelán offers the fosterlings. For the following five months he will teach them the skills of druidry, but at the time of each new moon, one will be sent back to his or her original home, until only one remains. From Samhain Eve to just beyond Imbolc, we journey through the challenges set to the fosterlings.

Modern day truths and homilies are included in this story, encouraging young readers towards better manners and an awareness of the consequences of their actions. For example, after a lesson on being receptive to the spirits and energies around them, Faelán mentions, “Ordinary mortals smash through this world, disturbing and destroying for their own needs. But a druid tries to be part of the Greater Harmony.”

I was also impressed with how the author managed to give me an understanding of the Ogham script, without compromising the readability of the story.

The book has 243 pages of large print, making it easy for kids to read. My only criticism is that I felt that some of the words were beyond the scope of an average child’s vocabulary. I don’t know too many kids who would know the meaning of expostulated, foment, and lour.

“Fortune favours those who recount a tale faithfully,” says Faelán in this story, and therefore fortune must favour this author, as this is an imaginative story that is told in the best of Bardic traditions: offering excitement, moral lessons, heroes, villains, surprising twists, and a satisfying conclusion.

Author: Anna Ciddor
Publisher: Allen and Unwin Australia
ISBN: 9781741148145
RRP: AUD$15.95

About the author: Anna Ciddor lives in Melbourne, and is also the author of the Viking Magic fantasy series, which includes: Runestone, Wolfspell, and Stormriders. Since 1989 she has had over 50 books published.