Last week I read Fifty Years in the Feri Tradition by Cora Anderson. It contain both more and less information than I expected. It covered some subjects that I was surprised it covered, and left out some things that I thought would be there. It was very well written, and I recommend it to anyone interested in Feri Witchcraft. It's now available on the Kindle (that's how I read it). I found the part about fairy creatures very interesting, and the part about the spheres. Some of the book was the same material in Etheric Anatomy: The Three Selves and Astral Travel, but most of it was new to me. Overall, the book gave me a better perspective on the Feri Tradition, explaining some things that I didn't understand or didn't know. Her rants were amusing. She writes in a very down to earth manner that's easy to connect to. You can almost hear her speaking through her writing. I greatly enjoyed the book.
FFF,
~Muninn's Kiss
Monday, 26 July 2010
Thursday, 1 July 2010
Book Reviews - Evolutionary Witchcraft, Kissing the Limitless, the Chicken Qabalah...
A while ago, I finished reading both Evolutionary Witchcraft and Kissing the Limitless by T. Thorne Coyle. Until recently Thorn taught Feri Witchcraft.
Evolutionary Witchcraft is basically a primer on Feri Witchcraft with a bunch of things specific to Thorne thrown in. None of the material was new to me (except the parts specific to Thorn), but it gave me a new perspective, because Thorne comes at the Feri material from a different angle than the other sources and teachers I've had interaction with. The book is well written and would be a good book for anyone interested in Feri but not having access to a Teacher. It is written to let the solo practitioner have access to the non-initiarary Feri teachings.
Kissing the Limitless is more of a guide to mysticism (primarily pagan mysticism) in general. Thorne makes an effort to make the book accessible to people of many traditions, though much of it is coloured by a Feri perspective (I don't consider this a bad thing). Though it needs better editing, this book is also well written. I enjoyed it more than Evolutionary Witchcraft, mostly because it was more imagery and lore than a howto. It has three sections, represented by the Star Goddess, the Divine Twins, and the Peacock God, thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The first section talks about the Nothingness of the creator, the Great Zero, and coming to know this Limitless. The second section talks about the duality of the Divine Twins, and the duality in our lives. The third section talks about the Twins coming back together to form the Peacock God, creature of Self and Beauty, and about us bringing our dualities back into oneness within us. It was a great book.
Yesterday, I finished reading the Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo Duquette. It is a good summary of Qabalah (Kabbalah) from a Ceremonial Magic and pagan point of view. It covers the basics, but leaves out a lot of things that I find important. I'll name a few, and some personal preferences of mine. The talk of the souls leaves out the Yechidah (this lack is mentioned in the introduction), which is the highest part of the soul, the Divine Spark, the piece of the Divine within us, the upper part of the Yod (he includes the Chiah and relates it to the whole of the Yod instead of the lower part of the Yod). I rather like the discussion of the Yechidah. :-) In the discussion of the Sepher Yetzirah, I thought he simplified it a little too much. I liked the Ten Command-Rants. In the discussion of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph-Beth) he used the Western layout of the Hebrew letters on the Tree (of course! This is from a Ceremonial Magic point of view, and they use that layout.); I prefer the Hebrew layout. I like having the three Mothers be the three horizontal paths, laid out so fire is at the top, the air, then water. I like Heh being the first path, connecting Kether and Cohkmah, breath from breath, and Vev (And) connecting Kether to Binah, creating the duality with the And. I like Daleth and Gimel, the poor man and the rich man chasing after the poor man to give to him, being opposite one another. Over all, it was a good book and worth the read. There were some very humorous parts, and some very enlightening parts. I'm glad I read it.
FFF,
~Muninn's Kiss
Evolutionary Witchcraft is basically a primer on Feri Witchcraft with a bunch of things specific to Thorne thrown in. None of the material was new to me (except the parts specific to Thorn), but it gave me a new perspective, because Thorne comes at the Feri material from a different angle than the other sources and teachers I've had interaction with. The book is well written and would be a good book for anyone interested in Feri but not having access to a Teacher. It is written to let the solo practitioner have access to the non-initiarary Feri teachings.
Kissing the Limitless is more of a guide to mysticism (primarily pagan mysticism) in general. Thorne makes an effort to make the book accessible to people of many traditions, though much of it is coloured by a Feri perspective (I don't consider this a bad thing). Though it needs better editing, this book is also well written. I enjoyed it more than Evolutionary Witchcraft, mostly because it was more imagery and lore than a howto. It has three sections, represented by the Star Goddess, the Divine Twins, and the Peacock God, thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. The first section talks about the Nothingness of the creator, the Great Zero, and coming to know this Limitless. The second section talks about the duality of the Divine Twins, and the duality in our lives. The third section talks about the Twins coming back together to form the Peacock God, creature of Self and Beauty, and about us bringing our dualities back into oneness within us. It was a great book.
Yesterday, I finished reading the Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo Duquette. It is a good summary of Qabalah (Kabbalah) from a Ceremonial Magic and pagan point of view. It covers the basics, but leaves out a lot of things that I find important. I'll name a few, and some personal preferences of mine. The talk of the souls leaves out the Yechidah (this lack is mentioned in the introduction), which is the highest part of the soul, the Divine Spark, the piece of the Divine within us, the upper part of the Yod (he includes the Chiah and relates it to the whole of the Yod instead of the lower part of the Yod). I rather like the discussion of the Yechidah. :-) In the discussion of the Sepher Yetzirah, I thought he simplified it a little too much. I liked the Ten Command-Rants. In the discussion of the Hebrew alphabet (Aleph-Beth) he used the Western layout of the Hebrew letters on the Tree (of course! This is from a Ceremonial Magic point of view, and they use that layout.); I prefer the Hebrew layout. I like having the three Mothers be the three horizontal paths, laid out so fire is at the top, the air, then water. I like Heh being the first path, connecting Kether and Cohkmah, breath from breath, and Vev (And) connecting Kether to Binah, creating the duality with the And. I like Daleth and Gimel, the poor man and the rich man chasing after the poor man to give to him, being opposite one another. Over all, it was a good book and worth the read. There were some very humorous parts, and some very enlightening parts. I'm glad I read it.
FFF,
~Muninn's Kiss
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