Book reviews

CICO Books 2019 Empower your life with Sophrology by Philip Carr Gomm really is one of those books that ‘does what it says on the can.’ So, if you don’t meditate, but suspect that your experience of life would be better if you did; if an underlying feeling of stress is...

  ‘As there are billions of souls/There are billions of ways to grow’ (Rumi) prefixes the introduction ‘Sex on the Beach or Death in the Afternoon? A mixology for the spiritual speaker’: this writer understands a good hook, has an open, original approach and eclectic tastes. His lifetime of reading...

This book begins with the author, in the Bardic Grade, being told to write the book by a Yew tree, so the reader could be forgiven for re-writing the title of the book from the outset to ‘of course trees talk!’ It is really a book about the author finding...

  Yale University Press 2009 ISBN 9780300144857 (491pp) This long-awaited book is a tour de force. Interpretations of Druidry through the ages, treated to scrupulous scholarly dissection, in a masterly fashion. The first chapter, the raw material, should be required reading for all who have ever given credence to the...

(House of Anansi Press: ISBN 978-0-88784-766-0)Have you ever wondered why we place our four elements in the cardinal directions? Is it simply because we have inherited the Western Mystery Tradition? Water is in the West because, er, the Atlantic Ocean is in our (European) West? We can make good arguments...

Very rarely do I read a book that I think of as essential reading for everyone. But this is one such book. I have to thank Damh the Bard for reviewing it in one of his blogs. His review piqued my interest and I ordered the book immediately. Having just...

By being at one with the natural world, by paying homage to the sun, by centring our lives around Spiritor the Goddess, we can work together in community.~ The Druid Animal Oracle, Philip and Stephanie Carr-Gomm,writing about the bee. You may well drink mead in ritual. You may well light beeswax...

The Shamanic Mysteries Seriesby Nina Milton I thought I would take some time off to read fiction for a change. I started reading The Shaman Mysteries series because the books stated clearly that the author was a druid, and they had been endorsed by Ronald Hutton. I loved the first book, In the Moors,...

MUSIC MAGIC(K) – A GUIDEBY ENTAR TELLIMARRËN This short book, 91 pages, is packed with expert knowledge around using music as a form of magic. It is well written, easy to understand and everything is explained with examples given. The author uses the English language and the study of words...

Scottish Folk Tales (Lomond Books ISBN/EAN: 9781842042472) £3.99 Lomond Books neglected to tell us who compiled this excellent work of Scottish stories but whoever s/he is we owe them a debt of gratitude. If you’re a teller looking for a source of traditional tales peopled with kelpies, brownies, fair folk...

Pembrokeshire Folk Talesby Christine Willison(The History Press ISBN 978 0 7524 6565 4) I found this very Bardic lovely little book in the visitors centre Haverfordwest. We had travelled to take part in a dog agility competition that was part of the Pembrokeshire county show. Having left home in a...

The Wisdom of Birch, Oak and Yewby Penny Billington.(Llewellyn Worldwide) I don’t know about you, but I haven’t got time any more for those endless books on recycled occult lore that I devoured in earlier years. I like practical down-to-earth material that actually helps me grow and learn, and that’s...

Mysterium ~ Beyond the Cutting Edge of Scienceby  Anthony Burns I loved this book, which provides enough basic information to enable the reader to explore the rapidly evolving areas where hard core science is moving ever closer to the spiritual and super natural. Anthony Burns has achieved the near-impossible feat...

Exploring Avebury ~ The Essential Guideby Steve Marshall(The History Press, 2016) pp143A snip @ £ 1 4. 9 9! This remarkable book, beautifully illustrated with over 400 photographs, maps, diagrams & timelines, would be well worth purchasing for the pictures alone: the stunning photography complements & enhances the text, while...

This Ancient Heart: Landscape, Ancestor, Selfeds. Paul Davies & Caitlin MatthewsForeword by Graham HarveyAfterword by Ronald HuttonMoon Books, Winchester (UK) & Washington (US), 2015.£8.99 UK, $14.95 US198 pages This book explores how we humans in the 21st century relate to the spirits of the lands in which we live, their...

The Handbook of Urban Druidryby Brendan Howlin Druidry is a spirituality that is associated with being in the beauty of nature but what happens when you live in an urban environment, which is where the majority of people live? Does Druidry also have a message for people in this situation?...

A review by Matt McCabe of The Druid’s Primer by Luke Eastwood Moon books ISBN 978-1-84694-764-3. Starting out along the Druid path can offer retail opportunities galore: ‘should I get a Jedi robe?’ ‘do I need a golden sickle?’ In the business of the ‘new age’ everyone’s trying to sell you something,...

A Review by Jacki Woolmington of Wood Wisdom by H Catherine WatlingISBN 1-86163-281-9 Capall Bann Publishing This is a book and card set designed to be a companion to exploring the sacred forest – both in the inner and outer worlds. 22 trees are explored with stories, rituals, meditations, poems and illustrations...

Penny Billington reviews ‘A Lie of the Land: An Under the Field Guide to the British Isle by Ian Vince This is the book I’ve been waiting for. Believing that magic springs from the soil, that our locality, our region, our land grows us as surely as it does potatoes...

Sam Callow reviews ‘The Isles of the Many Gods’ by David Rankine and Sorita D’Este Having been drawn to Druidry through a keen interest in the ancient history of Britain, especially its cultural and spiritual heritage, this book was a welcome find.David and Sorita have put a great deal of...

by Maria Ede-WeavingDruidry is a fast growing tradition and whether by necessity or choice, many of its practitioners walk the path alone. Sharing a tradition and its spiritual practices with others can be richly rewarding but it is not for everyone and Joanna van der Hoeven’s latest book The Awen...

by Maria Ede-Weaving Druidry teaches us to honour death and to remember the dead with reverence. However, for most of us, our wider culture has hidden much of death’s processes from view. The physical realities of this most inevitable and unavoidable rite of passage have been obscured and this has...

Nimue Brown reviews ‘Storytelling for a Greener World: Environment, community and story-based learning’ by Alida Gersie (Editor), Anthony Nanson (Editor), Edward Schieffelin (Editor) – Hawthorn Press ~  While this isn’t written as an explicitly Druidic book, this is an excellent text for the aspiring bard. It includes a wealth of...

by Rebecca Beattie Moon Books, Winchester (UK) & Washington (US), 2015 £4.99 UK, $9.95 US 132 pages. This little book is a joy to read, delving into the lives and works of some well-known, and many lesser-known, British and Irish literary figures in search of the origins of contemporary Paganisms....