I’m blown away by today’s book, “A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood: Community Leadership and Vocation” by Rev. Lora O’Brien. With O’Brien’s experience she could have written any number of “sexy” books about Celtic/Irish religious and magical traditions, however she took up the far less sensational, but far more noble, topic of what it takes to be a valuable spiritual leader.
I’m always curious how new religious groups form and organize. I highly doubt most Pagan groups come together with as much forethought as Rev. O’Brien advises for their leaders. However, they should. While being respectful of each practitioner’s individuality, O’Brien provides heaps of useful suggestions and guidance for those who would want to become leaders in their Pagan communities.
She begins with the duties of a priest, which is divided into the pastoral and sacerdotal. The pastoral covers things such as self-discipline, counseling, holding yourself to high standards, keeping tabs on the community, and how to learn from mistakes. The sacerdotal includes subjects like designing rituals, handling initiation and ordination, facilitating life rites, and more spiritually oriented topics.
This leads to developing pastoral skills, such as group dynamics, accountability and ethics, leadership development, mentoring, teaching classes, and crisis care. Then it’s on to developing sacerdotal skills like connecting to deities, magical skills and the ethics of magic, etc. O’Brien concludes with an interesting, informal survey of leaders of religious communities about their practices and a wonderful list of online resources.
“A Practical Guide to Pagan Priesthood” by Rev. Lora O’Brien is a must read for anyone who considers themselves a leader and for any who aspire to lead.
You can learn more here.
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Throughout the years I’ve reviewed many books about plants; herbalism, growing them, trees, culinary herbs, and many more perspectives. However, recently I was approached about the opportunity to review a book about plants written from a unique perspective, the Bible. “In the Garden: An Illustrated Guide to the Plants of the Bible” discusses trees and shrubs, edible plants, medicinal and aromatic plants, and flowers from the Old Testaments and New Testaments.
What a fantastic book! Marie Laveau lived and flourished as a businesswoman and Voodoo leader during this perfect era of some record keeping, but not enough to diminish the magic and legend building that can take place in history when historical documentation is scarce. This gives Alvarado a chance to provide scholarly research, fantastical legend, and the space to use both to make some educated guesses to fill in gaps. The first part of the book is devoted to exploring the life of Marie Laveau from birth to the Laveau style of New Orleans Voodou that is still practiced today. At this point Marie Laveau is treated as an elevated ancestor at minimum, all the way up that ladder to full blown loa, with shrines devoted to her in New Orleans and other locales. I could have a book three times the length just about Laveau. Her life is a fascinating one to read about, and Alvarado does an excellent job of making her academic research an accessible and entertaining read.
You know what’s great about Hindu texts? Hinduism doesn’t discourage translation and retellings. For years I struggled with the Ramayana, but then I found a very cinematic retelling, and now it’s one of my favorite religious texts. I’ve had the same problem with Bhagavad Gita. I never could engage with it, despite it being part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata. So, when a publicist reached out to me about reviewing a new translation and interpretation of the Gita, I jumped at the chance.
Llewellyn just dropped an EPIC book, “Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Ceremonial Magick: A Comprehensive Guide to the Western Mystery Tradition,” edited by Lon Milo DuQuette and David Shoemaker. DuQuette is a well-known author and public speaker on the topics of Aleister Crowley and Qabalah. He’s the United States Deputy Grand Master General for Crowley’s magical order Ordo Templi Orientis. Shoemaker is a clinical psychologist, the Chancellor and Prolocutor of the Temple of the Silver Star, and a senior initiate of Ordo Templi Orientis and AA. What I’m getting at is, I feel the task of vetting and compiling this book was put in the right hands. They found 11 authors to write basically 11 books and then Llewellyn put it all together into a massive 528-page book (available in trade paperback or hardcover).
Today’s book was originally published in 1897, but it still has much to say today for anyone aspiring to practice magic, particularly of a Western esoteric influence. I’m alluding to “The Hermetic Science of Transformation: The Initiatic Path of Natural & Divine Magic” by Giuliano Kremmerz.
At first, “Instant Fortune-Teller: Answers for All of Life’s Questions at Your Fingertips” from Adams Media might seem silly. What you have is a book full of different predictions that you’re encouraged to randomly select. You focus, set your intention, close your eyes, and open the book to your fortune.
Get yourself a cold shower ready, because today we are talking about some seriously sexy book porn. We’re talking about the 250-page, illustration packed, “The Greater & Lesser Worlds of Robert Fludd: Macrocosm, Microcosm & Medicine” by Joscelyn Godwin. This gorgeous book is hardcover with a built-in ribbon bookmark. 
If you read Nigel Pennick’s “
And thankfully Cabot has partnered up with Penny Cabot, Christopher Penczak, and Copper Cauldron Publishing to preserve her knowledge for future students of Witchcraft. Thus far Copper Cauldron has released “Laurie Cabot’s Book of Shadows”, “Laurie Cabot’s Book of Spells & Enchantments”, and most recently, “Laurie Cabot’s Book of Visions: A Collection of Meditations”.