Book Review: Pagan Portals: Hedge Riding by Harmonia Saille

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Harmonia Saille, Hedge Riding, Hedge Witch, Moon Books, Pagan Portals, Practical, Shamanism, Spirit Realms, Spiritual journeys, Witchcraft

Pagan Portals: Hedge Riding by Harmonia Saille

I have to make an embarrassing admission here, despite having read a couple of books on hedge witchcraft, I somehow never came across the term ‘Hedge Riding’; hedge diving  – yes – but that is a different story (and I hasten to add, not one usually found in books on esoteric themes!)  So it was with great interest that I picked up Harmonia Saille’s concise volume on that very subject (Hedge riding – not hedge diving – are you still with me?)

Anyway, digression aside, this is a very enjoyable and informative little book that packs a lot of useful and practical information into a small number of pages.  A great jumping off point for further study, this book introduces the reader to the tradition of Hedge Riding – an important aspect of Hedge Witchcraft.

The author explains how Hedge Riding can be used by the solitary practitioner to travel to the upper and lower realms to gain spiritual knowledge and connect with spirit guides.  She provides a concise description of the nature and structure the realms, from the divine spirit guides of the upper realm, through the middle every day realm the lower realm inhabited by animal guides, to the under world inhabited by the souls of the dead.

The author also delves into the history and place of Hedge Riding within Shamanic, historic and literary traditions.  She even manages to gently touch on the sometimes thorny issue of whether it is more appropriate to work with local deities and fauna or non-local traditions you may feel particular affinity with.  The book also contains a wealth of practical advice and personal recollections about embarking on Hedge Riding journeys.

There is a great quote in an old-ish Doctor Who episode “A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction” – it seems the same caveat could apply to  hedges as well  – from the outset the author is at pains to emphasize that it requires years of experience and a pretty thorough understanding of Shamanic practice before attempting this….however she does a good job in providing the reader with enough information and step by step guidance to set out safely on this fascinating and universal path.

Harmonia Saille has been practicing hedge witchery for 15 years, has authored a number of books and articles on the subject and also runs practical workshops.  She has also lectured on Modern Pagan Witchcraft at a UK university.

Pagan Portals: Hedge Riding by Harmonia Saille is published by Moon Books and is available on their website and Amazon:

http://www.moon-books.net/books/pagan-portals-hedge-riding

More info about Harmonia Saille can be found at:

http://www.moon-books.net/authors/harmonia-saille

 

 

Book Review: Trees of the Goddess by Elen Sentier

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Awenyddion, British Shamanic Tradition, British Trees, Elen Sentier, Goddess, Moon Books, Ogham, Shaman Pathways, Tree Magic, Trees

Trees of the Goddess by Elen Sentier

Image taken from Moon Books website

Trees of the Goddess is a great little book, in only 101 pages Elen Sentier manages to introduce the main concepts of Ogham, the Celtic tree alphabet, and its application within the British Shamanic Tradition.

The book provides a primer for tree magic, and provides an explanation of the cycles of the sun and moon before covering the Ogham alphabet and ending with a series of deceptively straight forward sounding exercises and rituals.

As someone only vaguely aware of Ogham and aware of it only in the context of archaeological inscriptions, it was truly absorbing to find out more about the deeper more esoteric side of this alphabet.   The book sets out the 13 months of the year, alongside the Ogham symbol and the corresponding British tree.  A wealth of practical information such as etymology, history, identifying features of each tree,  medicinal uses and folk-lore  is complemented by thoughtful reflections on the deeper concepts at play within this tradition.

The influence of Robert Graves ‘The White Goddess’ is evident and where the author deviates from traditional she clearly indicates it and explains her reasoning. The author seems well aware of the academic debate about the origins and usage of Ogham and while acknowledging this debate, keeps wisely to her own path.

The writing style is fluid and engaging with occasional joyful bursts of very earthy wisdom.  All together I thoroughly enjoyed this book. For a very small book, clearly designed as an introduction to the subject, I felt that it packed in a lot of useful information. I can imagine dipping into this book again and again.  It certainly made me want to dig deeper into this area of study.

Elen Sentier. Image from Moon Books website.

Elen Sentier grew up on Dartmoor and the edge of Exmoor.  She grew up steeped in the British Native Tradition and now writes eloquently on the British Shamanic Tradition – both fiction and no fiction.  Trees of the Goddess is part of the ‘Shaman Pathways’ series published by Moon Books.

Trees of the Goddess by Elen Sentier is published by Moon Books and is available on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shaman-Pathways-Trees-Goddess-Working-ebook/dp/B00KSNCS2W%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIOJGEB6643FVTU7Q%26tag%3Dwwwobookscom-21%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00KSNCS2W

 

 

 

Book Review – A Dangerous Place by Robin Herne

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A Dangerous Place, Animism, crime stories, Genius Loci, Moon Books, mysticism, Polytheism, Robin Herne, Short stories

I originally posted this review on http://www.ingridhall.com on the 6 September but thought a few of my readers might also find this book of great interest…

Robin Herne

Robin Herne is a practicing Druid who lives in Suffolk and has a number of books already under his belt.  Founder of the Druidic Clan Ogma and the Ipswich Pagan Council Robin Herne is also an accomplished story-teller and poet. His latest volume of short stories, A Dangerous Place, will be published by Moon Books on 27 September 2013.

A Dangerous Place by Robin Herne

‘A Dangerous Place’ is a collection of ten crime stories set in Ipswich, and covering over two thousand years of history.  From the Iron-Age to the modern-day; the sinister power of Castle Hill exudes its baleful influence on those who inhabit it leading to gruesome murder after gruesome murder.

I have to say that the only thing I knew about Ipswich, before picking up this book, was that a few years back it gained notoriety as the stomping ground of a serial killer bent on murdering women – so the title ‘A Dangerous Place’ certainly seemed appropriate.  However, the focus and theme of this book is the animist and polytheist concept of how a place can have a ‘genius loci’, spirit of place, which can influence its human inhabitants.  Robin Herne provides a very good introduction to explain the premise for his collection to those less familiar with this world view.

The setting for each of the ten tales is Castle Hill, Ipswich, and each of  tales takes place in distinct and well researched historical periods – in fact Herne ends each story with a comprehensive (and very readable) set of explanatory notes.  I was reminded of other weightier tomes such as Edward Rutherford’s ‘London’ which told the story of London from earliest times and, like Herne, had reoccurring families and character-types.  Unlike Rutherford though, Herne weaves a pagan and spiritual theme throughout his tales.  Not just travelling through social history (there is a welcome inclusion of gay and lesbian victims and protagonists in the cast of characters ); but through the history of beliefs – Druids, Heathens, Puritans, Spiritualists and Modern Pagan all get a turn on the murderous stage of history.  Herne demonstrates how paganism once the lifeblood of Britain was suppressed by incoming religions but never quite eradicated.

One of the things that I liked most, was that Herne was not afraid to incorporate real historical characters.  One of my favourite stories was set in the seventeenth century and concerned Mary Lakeland, a real life woman accused of murdering her husband through witchcraft.  The epistolary style of this tale was very effective.  He also incorporated the often neglected role of the ‘Cunning man’ into one of his tales – and I could definitely see Dr Bayldon Winter being the focus of further stories!

My decided preference was for the later tales – I can say that I really began to enjoy these stories from The Golem onwards; ‘Suffer a Witch’, ‘A Doctor Calls’ and ‘The Black Dog’ were my favorite stories (Look out for the humorous parody of Holmes and Watson in The Black Dog).  Perhaps it is simply that I am more familiar with those historical periods, or that the sinister reputation of Castle Hill took a few stories to establish itself! Herne admits in the introduction that it is almost impossible to define what characterises a Genius Loci as joyful or sinister…he considers that in some cases it may be simply experience that makes a place hostile to humans…and he certainly wastes no time in laying down enough negative experiences connected with Castle Hill to make the reader believe his theory.

One of the elements that I particularly enjoyed about these tales was that although they each ‘stand alone’ the folk memories and long forgotten religious practices of previous generations that feature in earlier tales, resurface as half remembered  folk-memories (the dog is one such reoccurring theme) and are woven into the fabric of each succeeding story, thereby providing the dark thread that binds both the past and the future together.

My only caveat would be that the short story format does not always allow for a great amount of detail to build up, those expecting complex forensic crime stories may be a little disappointed at the speed at which crimes are wrapped up.  However, Herne provides a well researched, entertaining collection of murder mysteries in a variety of literary styles and with a historical and spiritual twist.  Not only that, he successfully creates a wonderful cast of memorable and sometimes eccentric detectives who employ everything from observation, psycho-analysis to mysticism in their historical crime-fighting.  All in all, a good read!

A Dangerous Place by Robin Herne will be published by Moon Books on 27 September:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Dangerous-Place-Robin-Herne/dp/1782792112/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378495540&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Dangerous+Place+by+Robin+Herne