Back in 2008, Llyn Roberts and Robert Levy saw their book – Shamanic Reiki – go into print. At that point it was fair to describe it as follows “Shamanic Reiki introduces techniques that healers and Reiki practitioners can draw on to tap ancient healing wisdom,” and to describe it as introducing concepts. In the years since then, not only has Shamanic Reiki been a massive bestseller, but it has become a much more familiar concept, with many practitioners worldwide. There’s a Shamanic Reiki Worldwide website – https://www.shamanicreikiworldwide.com/ There are of course all kinds of lineages dep ..read more

Druid-psychologist Phillip Carr-Gomm’s most recent book, The Winged Psyche (Oak Tree Press, 2018), is unique amongst his published oeuvre. Here he presents his account of encounters with an Otherworldly being (or beings) that he can only describe as angelic. Philip recorded responses to questions he posed about some of the big questions: the purpose of life, who we are, and what happens to us upon death. Here follows an excerpt concerning the purpose of life: If you want to know what the purpose of your life is, ask first why it should have just one purpose. Try it in the plural: What are its ..read more

Pagan Portals – Manannán mac Lir by Morgan Daimler – unravelling the mystery, magic, and myth of Manannán. Here’s an excerpt from the preface: The Celtic gods have often held a place, as in paganism, as one of the more popular and more often written about pantheons, yet it can be a challenge to find information on any single deity beyond the basics. Part of this is because of the simple fact that ‘Celtic pantheon’ is a misnomer and what we find in many books under that heading is actually a mish-mash of deities from different Celtic cultures that have been lumped together. From a historic pers ..read more

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction to Lee Morgan’s sorcerous primer – Standing and Not Falling… My first teacher was hardline about a lot of things. It was his belief that you couldn’t practise witchcraft, or any type of occultism for that matter, if you were suffering from mental illness or addiction. Like many purists he was himself a disappointment in these arenas, because close inspection yielded the fact he was addicted to cigarettes, junk food and bossing people around. It may have been him who first drew my attention to the Agrippa quote that heads this book. After two deca ..read more

Here’s an excerpt from the introduction to Keeping Her Keys – an introduction to Hekate’s Modern witchcraft by Cyndi Brannen. Overview of this Book And here you are, reading this book. That’s the last time I’m going to call it that because this is really an introductory course to Modern Hekatean Witchcraft. You probably have your own story about how you found Hekate. Perhaps, like me, She found you when you needed Her the most. This is a common theme from the countless stories I’ve heard about when Hekate calls a devotee for the first time. She stands at the gate, extending a new key. It is up ..read more

Whovian Druids may be unaware that there is a Doctor Who adventure involving the Good Neighbours: Autumn Mist by David A. McIntyre (1999, BBC Books). I recently finished reading it for the first time. The book features the Eighth Doctor, as portrayed by Paul McGann on television, radio, and on licensed audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions. In Autumn Mist, the Doctor and two companions arrive in the TARDIS on a World War II battlefield. A German army has captured one of the Fair Folk for use as a secret weapon. As anyone familiar with the lore might predict, this soon goes pear-shape ..read more

The universal power of dominant feminine energy that our Stone Age ancestors revered as the Great Mother became split in two with the arrival of the patriarchal Bronze Age that followed. Mother Goddess nurtured and protected humanity who saw themselves as part of the fertile nature they existed in and not apart from it as we are today. When the goddess was cut in two, change and progress was born for humanity to deal with setting us on a path towards long-term settlement giving rise to farming and industry, city-states and nations. The primordial feminine force of the original goddess became ..read more

Over the last couple of years I have much enjoyed the Pagan Portals series from Moon Books. They are very brief introductions to a wide range of topics. Usually around eighty pages, they can theoretically be read in one sitting. I would not recommend that though. The books I have read in the series have been thought-provoking and profound. I have had to take time to savour it in order to engage with the material. Such was also the case with the recent title, The Urban Ovate, by Brendan Howlin. Howlin is a Senior International Tutor for the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), and the volu ..read more