The Great Encyclopedia of Faeries by Pierre Dubois

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684869578
• ISBN-13: 978-0684869575

I received this book from a friend who was giving Pagan books and things from her sister to other Pagans since she herself is an atheist. It was in the stack, I honestly hadn't looked at it until recently. I've always been quite skeptical about Faeries/Faerie Wicca and anything related to it. Whenever I've picked up a book about it to browse in the book shop, I always found that it was too "Tinkerbell" and Disney for me. (I don't own either of those, by the way!!!) I was hoping that I'd feel differently about this book, so I tried to give it a chance, I really did.

The first thing that somewhat bothered me about this book was how they tried to present it as an ACTUAL encyclopedia. When writing about stuff from folk lore and fairy tales, I prefer my books to actually state that they are anthologies, or something of the like, to show that they are a collection of stories. As far as the stories included in the book go, they actually are pretty decent at going through European and nearby folk lore to show the Fae in all their mystery. The illustrations are mediocre at best. I've seen some gorgeous fantasy art between gaming conventions and various Pagan stores I've browsed. If these pictures were prints, I wouldn't be bothering to buy them to put up on my walls. The drawings are more sketches hastily filled in with water color, versus actual drawing that would give life to the pictures, and are a completely different style from the beautiful images on the cover of the book. 

I know this is my shortest review yet, but there is so little content to actually review! My advice? Definitely don't consider this a source for any magical practices, but, it is a sort of cute kitschy coffee table book if you get it cheap enough, and certainly not at the $25 MSRP.

Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot by Lisa Lenard and Arlene Tognetti

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Alpha; 2 edition (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592570666
• ISBN-13: 978-1592570669

Because of the important role this book has played in my life, I need to start this review out with my first time reading the book. I purchased this book and a mini Rider-Waite traditional deck back in the late spring of 2007. I was just finding myself as a Pagan, and my life was in utter turmoil. I was in an unhealthy relationship, just barely an adult at 19, and foolishly thinking I could handle anything. The unhealthy relationship took a turn for abuse, and I ended up at rock bottom. I'm lucky to be alive today. I chose to sign myself into a mental health ward to get away from all the negative influences in my life to try and turn my life around. Looking back, I realize it was the first step on my journey into not only adulthood, but to becoming true Pagan. I was finally growing into a spiritual person and not just a child dabbling with things I only barely understood. The only items besides clothes I took into the hospital with me were that deck and this book. Whenever I wasn't in therapy, I read and read, drinking in all the knowledge and desperately hoping that it could give me the answers I needed. My very first reading I did the day before I left the hospital. It told me that I'd have a long and difficult road ahead, but if I stuck to my therapy I'd be ok. I wasn't ready to hear something like that. Almost five years and countless mistakes later, I realize that reading was the absolute truth. I can look at it with the jaded eye of experience, and cringe at all the times I should have followed that reading's advice. Rereading this book has been not only a learning experience with the Tarot, but also a reflection to the most painful time of my past. I'm happy to say that this book and I have stuck it through, and we're both still in one piece.

Anyway, onto the bones of this review. From the introduction, you can notice the authors trying to make the topic of Tarot approachable and welcoming, despite how intimidating it may seem to have to "memorize" meanings to 78 different cards. They use a lot of pop culture references, such as Glinda and Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" by Frank Baum, and quite a few others as you go throughout the book. The picture quality isn't the best, but enough to get the idea of the Rider-Waite cards to the reader. I highly advise having the deck next to you to actually be able to see the symbols. Honestly, the italics use is far too heavy, as is the use of exclamation points. It feels campy versus a serious introduction. But, there is some wisdom slightly hidden among the fluff.

The book is divided into a few sections to make understanding the Tarot easier. Section one is probably the most fluffy of all the book. It's the introduction, explaining about the history of the Tarot images and other oracles, such as the I Ching. I personally really liked the section on Tarot and Psychology in Chapter 2. The use of archetypes pervade literature and entertainment, and the fact that the authors used examples from Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien, The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum, and Star Wars by George Lucas is a great way for people to relate to archetypes without having studied any mythologies extensively. The emphasis on Tarot being a journey through the cards as we journey through life is nice, but there is too much repetition of the idea without new ideas being introduced with it. Getting into chapter 3, I frankly was a bit annoyed about using the Aces as "yes" cards along with the 9 of Cups. Nine of Cups is frequently used as the "Wish Card" and seen as the querent receiving their desires. Aces frequently are the card of beginning, and what it begins depends on the suit of the card. I felt how they wrote it was misleading and confusing for a beginning student. One of the good points about that chapter was the emphasis on making the question for the reading a "how" versus a yes/no. Frequently new students to the Tarot come and think the cards can answer everything for them, or they want validation of their ideas with a yes or a no. This at least helps to dispel that idea from the start. Further on in the chapter in a section about Tarot and its therapeutic benefits, there is a reference to Tony Soprano and his therapist from the show The Sopranos, formerly on HBO, which only serves to muddle the point by showing an unhealthy therapy relationship versus a healthy one. Granted, a few sentences later they use how incorrect that therapy dynamic is to illustrate how a bad tarot reader can steer you wrong just as a bad therapist can do the same. It still doesn't change how useless the reference feels. 

Section Two I feel is the most valuable section of the book. It gets into the symbolism of the cards, and is the main reason why I like this book. The charts in Chapter 4 for colors, symbols, and ties to mythology are short, but a good starting point for starting to look at the cards as not only pretty pictures but images with symbolic meaning. Chapter 5 divides the Major Arcana into four arcs, describing each a time period in a person's life, from beginner, to intermediate, to struggle, to enlightenment. I agree with the section on Tarot life cycles to a point. You can't really put ages where certain Major Arcana cards will usually show up. It depends on the person and their life journey. Some of the exercises in this chapter are valuable, such as finding the cards that draw and repel you and trying to figure out why. That's a pretty standard Tarot exercise that you'll find in many different books. The section about how the cards are neutral gets a little sickly sweet to the point I reach for my toothbrush in fear of a cavity. Chapter 6 gets into how to use the Tarot and has some good ideas, but some of the ideas come across as commands and now, as a more experienced reader, turn me off and quite frankly irritate me a bit.   The authors discuss how you need to "season" your cards and how to clear them of negative energy ick. They make no mention of their being multiple ways of doing this and to find the way that works best for you, they just say their method like it's the only method in the universe! Barring that, the rest of the chapter is actually pretty decent about starting to learn to read the cards. 

Parts 3 and 4 begin the sections of the authors' interpretations of the cards. The only things I like about the interpretations are the discussion of the symbolism and how it relates to the meaning of the card and the list of archetypes under each Major Arcana card. The rest is just standard, run-of-the-mill meanings that you could find in any little white book included in with your deck of cards. The examples they give in Chapter 7 for how to combine card meanings in the reading are ok, but they are just the interpretation and not really going into the details and how to figure out the method for blending meanings and seeing how the cards work together. 

Each part of the book has a little cartoon on the cover page. The one for Part 5 not only irritates me, but would probably irritate any reader with a set of ethics. The quote reads "I was going to a psychiatrist to learn about myself, but instead I saved a few bucks and bought a Tarot deck." Never, under ANY circumstances, use Tarot to replace help from a medical professional, including therapy. I mentioned earlier how I started reading this book and learning the Tarot while receiving such therapy myself. There is no replacement EVER for it. Now, getting on to the actually chapters, it's pretty generic and there were no glaring errors that I noticed. It's quite obvious that the authors are experienced readers and this section was where they felt more comfortable, and it's a little bit more complex, rightfully so, than the rest of the book. 

My overall reaction to the book? While this book may have helped my sanity during a dark time, I'm past it. Anyone who has basic knowledge of the Tarot will probably find this book stifling, irritating, juvenile, or all of the above, but a beginner might get some useful knowledge out of it if they take it with a hefty hunk of salt. It'll cut down the sweetness at least. 

21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card by Mary K. Greer

Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (May 8, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0738707848
ISBN-13: 978-0738707846

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for quite some time. I always wanted to get around to reading it, but kept forgetting to actually go back and read! A tarot discussion group on Facebook(tm) that I participate in frequently brought up this book, and this time I made sure I actually read it!

The book is set up as a series of steps to help the reader open up their mind to new and innovative interpretation techniques when performing a card reading. All of the exercises in the book are based off of an initial card pulled in the first exercise, with the recommendation to write down your results after each exercise. There are two levels of exercises included in each step: Apprentice and Adept. The Apprentice steps are quicker and more superficial versus the very deep reaching Adept exercises. My card that I pulled was The Tower from my Halloween Tarot deck, my favorite deck for the past 4 years. To be honest, some of the exercises were a bit more challenging because I drew a Major Arcana card and would have gone a bit easier if I had drawn a Minor, especially the sections on mode and suit.

This book is a long term read. I tried doing the exercises back to back, and my brain just couldn't take all of the information at once. I felt muddled and foggy after trying to plow through 5 of the exercises in a row. I'd honestly recommend doing an exercise a day/week/month. Use whatever time frame works best for you, but don't overload yourself with trying to go quickly through this book. The exercises go very in depth and challenge your viewpoints and the standard interpretation methods at first, but then she shows you how to combine methods seamlessly together in a very complex interpretation method. After the first few exercises, I just read through them so I could get a feel for the rest of the book. I think that it's great that she has so many different methods to use, but certain people might feel overwhelmed with trying to incorporate everything into a reading. If you used all the techniques on each card in a 10 card spread like the very popular Celtic Cross, you could be there for a day, at least.

Quite a few people that have spoken about the book and reviewers feel that this is a good beginning book to learn the Tarot. While I can see their reasoning behind this, I have to say I'm happy to be a more experienced reader with picking up this book for the first time. This book has the high chance of befuddling a person new to the Tarot with much more depth and things to look for than they are really ready for. This book, in my opinion, is a good intermediate level book. Read a few basic books, such as Complete Idiot's Guide to Tarot, which I will be reviewing soon, to get a few basics, then use this book to challenge yourself to go further.

One of the very slight downsides to this book is how many different decks she uses as examples throughout the book. While this does give great examples for comparison between different artists to help the reader look closer at the symbolism and imagery of each deck, it also encourages the reader to start collecting decks. Many of my fellow Tarot enthusiasts will agree that once the deck addiction has started, it doesn't stop easily! There is nothing wrong with collecting decks, but be prepared for your bank account to mysteriously drop while the postman brings more and more packages to your door.

Overall, I love using all of the techniques for doing a reading for myself where I don't mind taking the extra time and effort to really look deeply into it and find answers. For professional readers or those who read at parties, I would recommend getting the book for picking a few of the techniques to supplement your reading, but would also hold back and not do too many. Burn out is pretty easy if you try to do too many exercises or techniques at once. But, Mary Greer really encourages your thought and reading processes to a higher, more intricate level. I liked how she challenged me and pushed me further than I had really thought about with a card. Some experienced readers will note that a few of the exercises, particularly the ones on numbers, modes/suits, and symbols, will include some techniques you have already been using when reading. This book gives a new, creative look at the meanings of the cards, encouraging you to find your personal meanings and not rely on the book meanings as much. Just the few techniques I already went through have helped my reading to me more spontaneous and more intuitive.



If you really want to take the time and effort over the course of a few weeks or months and greatly change your view of the Tarot, I highly recommend this book.

If you want to get a copy of Mary's book for yourself, please click here to go to Amazon.

Magick for the Kitchen Witch by Deanna Anderson

I sent out a message to several Pagan oriented discussion groups that I actively participate in yesterday asking what book they would recommend as the start of this brand new venture. To my delight and surprise, one of the members not only had books to recommend, but sent me e-copies for me to read! At first, when talking to her in the group, I hadn't recognized her name. Once I started reading her first book, I realized that I have actually seen it on shelves! I'll admit the feeling was a bit surreal. Before this, I had heard of Kitchen Witchery, and I've dabbled a few times myself in healing spells mixed into food. Once I opened this book, I just could NOT put it down.

The preface to the book is something a lot of people skip over. As a die-hard book lover, I always read it just to get some insight into the author. The preface is very short in this book, compared to others I have read, but it touched me far more than any other I have read. Deanna begins the book with the only logical thing to begin with: her story. What makes this different from many other Pagan books out there, and I know everyone reading this can relate, she isn't telling you her story to pat herself on the back. She is very straight forward and leads you into an intimate friendship where she carefully shares her story with you about her path to Paganism and Kitchen Witchcraft. There was no proclamations of being a Witch Queen of several covens, or saying something ridiculous like she is the best herbalist that knows the secrets lost for thousands of years from Native Americans. She just tells her very normal, unextraordinary, history.

This same simple, yet not simplistic, writing style continues into the book. This book is NOT like the rest of Pagan books you'll end up reading. Everyone expects, or at least I do, when I pick up a book on magick to find a lengthy introduction to the history of Wicca/magick/etc., then a few gems of information scattered about page upon page of self-promotion. Now, I completely understand and agree that books, besides the facts, are based in the author's opinion. Hearing the author essentially say how awesome they are is the fastest way to get me to hate a book. Deanna, however, is different. While most books are all that rubble with a few rough tiny diamonds mixed in (if you are really lucky), Magick for the Kitchen Witch is full of wonderful, shiny, pretty bits of information that just made my brain sing as I read each page. Her book is not what most people expect, and I think that's why it got the few negative reviews on the Barnes and Noble listing. Those people are obviously looking for cookie cutter Paganism, which you won't find here.

One of the complaints I noticed on the book listing on B&N was how Deanna is "just regurgitating" stuff from other books. I wish I could make it quite clear to those reviewers the difference between what would be essentially plagiarism and what Deanna does which is called CITING her sources! I was impressed and incredibly pleased that Deanna was not shy about including authors and book titles that she felt would help me as the reader along my quest for more knowledge. What made me even happier is that she didn't hide the bibliography in super tiny print at the end of her book. She proclaimed it just the same as the rest of the text, openly and honestly. Throughout the book, such as in the section on food where she discusses different single serving soup recipes, she states exactly where she heard of the idea from and then explains her ideas and her recipes. A lot more Pagan authors could do to follow her example and give credit where credit is due IN TEXT versus just a bibliography that leaves the reader guessing what ideas are truly the author's and not someone else's with a slight spin. I know this seems like a bit of a rant about citation, but considering how many English papers and other research papers I've had to write in high school and college, citation is incredibly important to me. If I can't avoid citing my sources in my paper's body, I don't think authors should be able to either.

Deanna Anderson's book Magick for the Kitchen Witch is an insightful, intimate book that makes you feel as if Deanna is sitting right beside you showing recipes and ideas from her own Book of Shadows and telling you how she thought up her ideas. The scattering of old wives' tales and mythology make the book engaging and interesting. While others may consider some of her tangents off point and irritating, I find them charming and appropriate, considering Kitchen Witchery is steeped in those very traditions. Overall, I highly recommend this book for not only any Kitchen Witch, but any Pagan who wants to "turn the mundane into magick" (1).

If you want to purchase Deanna's book, please go here to Barnes and Noble's website.

(1) Anderson, Deanna. Magick for the Kitchen Witch. Mount Airy, NC: New Gaia Press, 2009.

Welcome!

Welcome everyone to The Pagan Book Nook! One of the things I've noticed as a book lover and as a Pagan is the lack of book review sites for books within the Pagan spirituality. This site is an attempt to fill that gap. I have over 100 books in my collection, so we'll have some material for quite a while! Also, as I'm a Tarot enthusiast, I will be including a seperate Card Corner post discussing different Tarot topics and any Card of the Day drawings I do. Thanks for your support! Since this is a brand new blog, what would all of YOU like as the first book review? Leave your answer in the comments!