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    #16
    Re: Little bit lost....

    Major neo-pagan/occult/Wiccan/psion/etc publishing company. Hmm, on names to avoid, run away and hide when confronted with books by Silver Ravenwolf.
    life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

    Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

    "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

    John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

    "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

    Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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      #17
      Re: Little bit lost....

      What about Steve Blamires? He wrote Magic of the Celtic Otherworld: Irish History, Lore & Rituals. It was published by Llewellyn, though....

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        #18
        Re: Little bit lost....

        Don't know the name off hand. He may be an exception to Llewellyn's norm, he may not.
        life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

        Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

        "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

        John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

        "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

        Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


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          #19
          Re: Little bit lost....

          He's big on using Tools. He does admit that one doesn't need them, but claims that most new spellworkers will need to start with them to focus. He calls them Magical Weapons, though. He also focuses alot on "Otherworld Journeys"-- essentially meditations/astral walks, from what I understand, which is admittedly very little. +

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            #20
            Re: Little bit lost....

            My advice? Take everything with a grain of salt. Everything. Some of your best resources can be books on myth, anthropology, and archeology from your public library, even if you're not interested in literally reconstructing ancient belief, because they ground you in what we know actually was done, what our best guesses are as to the why and how, and hone your bullshit meter. It makes it much easier to make choices from there about what you personally, choose to believe, and the leaps you are and aren't willing to make.
            Great Grandmother's Kitchen

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              #21
              Re: Little bit lost....

              Does he use classical elements (earth/air/fire/water/ sometimes spirit) much? If so, I'd start looking for additional sources and doublechecking him. If memory serves (and I'm not anywhere near an expert on the Celts then so it might not), then that region was not big on classical element use and he's borrowing from western ceremonial and some Wiccan practices. Past that, I'm pretty sure that you should not be seeing the Wiccan Rede or Law of Threefold Return. Either of those mean he's tying Wicca in. There are other more specific errors that he may make but I'm not familiar enough with him or the Celts to comment too much.

              EDIT ADDITION:

              DR's advice is sound. A quick glance at a review has me mildly leery and in the end it really is safest to look for historical and archaelogical info for most branches of neo-paganism. The pagan/new age section of most bookstores tends not to be filled with accurate history.
              Last edited by MaskedOne; 25 Sep 2011, 08:35.
              life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

              Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

              "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

              John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

              "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

              Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


              Comment


                #22
                Re: Little bit lost....

                Originally posted by DeseretRose View Post
                My advice? Take everything with a grain of salt. Everything. Some of your best resources can be books on myth, anthropology, and archeology from your public library, even if you're not interested in literally reconstructing ancient belief, because they ground you in what we know actually was done, what our best guesses are as to the why and how, and hone your bullshit meter. It makes it much easier to make choices from there about what you personally, choose to believe, and the leaps you are and aren't willing to make.
                Yep. This. I'm not a reconstructionist and while I respect anyone who wants to do that, it's not for me because I'm very much grounded in the modern world and I feel that practices from the past don't translate enough into what we know now or how we live. BUT I do read a lot of these sources, because I feel you can really only make something your own when you know what you're working with. It's arts....you can't design clothing if you don't know how to work with fabric, and you can't write music if you don't know how chords and harmonies work, etc.

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