The Cauldron: A Pagan Forum

by Stephanie Wood.

Anyone read it? I bought it for the kindle on a whim (celebrating new jobbage with small kindle book splurge, ironic considering my new job will be with amazon. Lolz).

So far it seems okay but I've just dug into the intro. I don't expect it to be at all academic and do expect it to be a neo-wicca perspective but I thought it might be useful in my exploration of The Morrigan.

Thoughts? Warnings? Opinions?

Well the publisher is Llewellyn, and I don't mean to be literally judging a book by it's cover, but if this was a military uniform inspection, that would be the first visible thing to be alert about. I really don't know anything about the author. It says she's a priestess, not naming a tradition, but is emphasising 'Celtic witchcraft.' She's also ordained by the Universal Life Church, which is something anyone can do over the internet. There's nothing to really judge by, because those about the author bits are always meant to be taken with a grain of salt themselves. The only other thing I see is the misconception advertised about the Mór-Ríoghain having a personage as the Arthurian Morgan le Fay, but it could be dead on otherwise.

The author has a blog, which looks alright, but that's all I can tell. If you're already expecting a Neo-Wiccan perspective, then I don't see anything wrong with it. Hearing others' interpretations of the Gods can really help ours, and we're all capable of taking in what we see as beneficial, and discarding what's not. I haven't read it, so you would be able to tell me more about it Let us know how you find it.

Woodfield, not Wood, apparently - I've never heard of her or this book, but I tracked it down on Amazon and made use of the "look inside" function to glance around.

My guess is that you're going to spend a lot of time annoyed at it.  (Possibly getting the Kindle version was non-ideal - at least with a hard-copy book you can throw it across the room as often as you need to;).)  OTOH, what it lacks in quality it makes up for in quantity; there's enough material there that - especially given what your expectations are - there's a good chance you'll find something of use.  Whether there'll be enough somethings, or sufficiently useful ones, to make it worth the purchase price and the reading time remains to be seen.

It looks like something I'd advise a novice to steer clear of, but from what I've seen of you, you're accustomed to the use of salt in reading pagan books.

Sunflower

 
Heh yeah thank you both! So far it isn't as egregious as I expected it does at least explore things like the spelling / interpretation of Morrigan (sorry fat fingers can't find accent marks on mah laptop) etc. Which frankly surprised me. I skipped past the myths section and eyeballed some of the 'practical' stuff largely altar setup and sacrifice options and it's all very wibbly and neo-wicca - as expected. I'll keep  plugging along at it and will do a review once I've finished. I'm pretty sure it wasn't worth $10 at this point but it should be entertaining at least.

Kinda OT but, do you find it easeier to buy the books on the kindle, than you would in the store? I do, and I think it leads to more purchases than I would normally make.

 
Totally. :/ I am conflicted about that because a lot of my favorite authors are indie horror people whose work is often cheaper and more readily available on kindle but I have a MASSIVE backlog of for funsies reading to get to not to mention school and religious reading as well. I love/hate my kindle, it's so dang awesome. On the plus side I get to carry all those books with me now so when I do have a half hour etc I can get something done

by Stephanie Wood.

Anyone read it? I bought it for the kindle on a whim (celebrating new jobbage with small kindle book splurge, ironic considering my new job will be with amazon. Lolz).

So far it seems okay but I've just dug into the intro. I don't expect it to be at all academic and do expect it to be a neo-wicca perspective but I thought it might be useful in my exploration of The Morrigan.

Thoughts? Warnings? Opinions?

 
It has been some years, so, has anyone else read this book?

I've been looking at it for a while but I'm not sure if it's the kind of book that would be useful or make me want to fling the tablet across the room.

Particularly relevant to me at present is what kind of exercises and ritual work type stuff is in the book.

Thanks.

by Stephanie Wood.

Anyone read it? I bought it for the kindle on a whim (celebrating new jobbage with small kindle book splurge, ironic considering my new job will be with amazon. Lolz).

So far it seems okay but I've just dug into the intro. I don't expect it to be at all academic and do expect it to be a neo-wicca perspective but I thought it might be useful in my exploration of The Morrigan.

Thoughts? Warnings? Opinions?

 
I actually bought that one on a whim, too! As you've already discovered it is definitely written from a neo-Wiccan perspective, but even though that is not my jam I found I didn't hate the book. The rituals are not going to make any recons happy, but I feel that someone of a more eclectic bent could use or adapt the ones that resonate and get something out of them.

Also thank you Phouka for mentioning Morpheus Ravenna's book! I'd made a note to check it out when it was released but of course I forgot. I doubly want to check it out now that one of the cauldronites has recommended it!

I watched the crowd funding campaign for that book with great interest. Alas it's only available in print and because of my visual impairment I can only read books if they're available as ebooks. I have no idea if there is a plan for an ebook in the works.

One of the things to come out of the campaign was audio recordings of the poems of the Morrígan. They are awesome and if you don't have them yet, you need them. Sends shivers down my spine every time.

Available from Morpheus' online store here.

 
Thanks Emerald, I've bookmarked the site and as soon as I can will be getting a bunch of stuff.

Phouka

I would also recommend Morpheus Ravenna's The Book of the Great Queen.  The first half is an in depth study of all the various myths associated with The Morrigna, very heavily researched and footnote with reputable scholarly references. She also vlearly state what is UPG to her and her the Coru Cathubodua Priesthood. The second half of theoe book is what is known about how She was honored and worshipped, then suggestions for modernizing and creating rites and rituals to honor Her and the land. I am still reading it and am highly impressed. This is the book I would have liked to have written, if I had the dedication.

Phouka

I would strongly recommend this book- I found it excellent! :thup:
 

I watched the crowd funding campaign for that book with great interest. Alas it's only available in print and because of my visual impairment I can only read books if they're available as ebooks. I have no idea if there is a plan for an ebook in the works.

 
I hope an e-book is released! It would be a terrible shame if not


Another good little book is Morgan Daimler's Pagan Portals - The Morrigan: Meeting the Great Queens. A short little book but it is very good (her Brigid book is also excellent).