This review is probably going to be short because I was just so underwhelmed by this book.
While I am not a practitioner of shadow work, I am interested in the theory behind it and the potential for incorporating it into my practice at some point when I’m more informed about the ways it works. That being said, when I read about shadow work and the work and theories of Carl Jung in relation to witchcraft, I am almost always encouraged by the material to continue to read and learn about it. With Tarot Shadow Work I was not.
Christine Jette spends a lot of the book projecting her personal experiences onto the material which is fine, but her views taint the method quite a lot. This book was published in 2000, and it has not aged well, carrying with it problematic views about “fixing” yourself, gender, and mental illness. This clouds the intentions of shadow work, and I often felt, reading the book, that the projections affected the way she constructed exercises and reasons for doing the work in general.
With the exercises, Jette’s work could be adapted as pretty useful journal prompts, but the overall structure of the book’s exercises is based around a series of star layouts that Jette has constructed, though she never explains what the significance of the star shape is in the working and eventually deconstructs it by directing her reader to place cards in whatever way they feel is best. She also ends this series of layouts with a heavy focus on hope despite claiming that hope is useless earlier in the book.
Overall,Tarot Shadow Work might be a beginner resource for shadow work. The bibliography might even be worth digging through, and as the book is out of print, at least you won’t have to pay for it (PDFs are easy to find online) to look at it for yourself, but I think you might be better off just hunting down resources online if this is a subject you want to explore because neither her understanding of tarot or her explanations of shadow work are terribly compelling.
Title:Water Witchcraft: Magic and Lore from the Celtic Tradition
Author:Annwyn Avalon
Review: ★★★☆☆
I wouldn’t call myself a water witch since I have yet to fully incorporate my affinity for water and the sea into my practice, but I am always hunting for resources to bring my magic and the water closer. A long time “to-read” on my list of witchy reference books, Water Witchcraft wasn’t quite what I was looking for, but it still has a lot of potential as a beginner’s book when it comes to water magic.
Before I really dive into this book (sorry, I had to!), let me go ahead and say that Avalon does mention smudging in this book. As a book so heavy-handed in lore from the UK, it really went over her head that smudging isn’t from that tradition.
Speaking of lore, if you aren’t into old folk tales, myths, legends, and cautionary tales, I wouldn’t recommend this book. A large portion of most of the chapters are dedicated to brief synopsis or full tellings of these kinds of stories, and while they’re interesting, I’m not sure how useful they are if you’re just looking for a more technical understanding of water magic. But, who knows, they might inspire you.
When Avalon starts talking about exercises and her practice, that’s when this book shines. The exercises in this book are simple and fairly adaptable, and she manages to include things for those major markers of the year like solstices, sabbats, and moon phases without dwelling on the basics of phases and cycles that many beginner books get caught up on. The final chapter, “Water Witchery” is a shining example of this.
Overall, this is a solid and interesting read, though it is easy to get bored when she dumps pages and pages of lore on you and she has a tendency to let the organization of the book (by body of water for the most part) get the best of her and lead her off topic or otherwise reveal her unfamiliarity with the specifics of an environment. Water Witchcraft is a book that you will have to go beyond to make it useful, though. What makes this a three star read and nothing better is that Avalon has these moments of addressing things you might not often see in witchcraft books and then leaving them behind. If she had just pushed things a bit further (and taken a step back on the frog and toad stories), this book would probably be great instead of just good.
Shadow & Bone is some of the best YA fiction I’ve read
Disclaimer: watched the show, fell back in love with Ben Barnes, then read the book
-I like that its a made-up country but based on a real place in the world, and the surrounding made-up countries correspond to the real world.
-The distrust of Grisha is set up early and carried through. Also, I liked the fact that Grisha tend to get angry about the superstitions surrounding them, but still isolate themselves and do very little to actually explain the Small Science to non-Grisha.
-An add on to this would be Alina thinking that all Grisha are snobby. It feels like Grisha are living in the same country, but in a different reality to most Ravkans. This is only exaggerated by the “peasant food” and “peasant clothes,” inner monologue thing. I don’t know what to call it but it was good.
-That argument between Sergei and Marie, and then later when Genya tried to explain Grisha rankings to Alina, was really funny to me. Like, they’re really concerned about which Grisha is better, but to the majority of people, it doesn’t matter because they’re dangerous whatever colour they wear.
-The queen is Marie Antionette, but not much smarter than her husband Marie Antionette who was much better suited to governance. “Let them eat cake,” Marie Antionette. Does that make sense?
-I really like that no Grisha is good simply because they are Grisha and no non-Grisha is good simply because they are non-Grisha. All characters are flawed, but most of these flaws are extremely relatable. Alina is jealous. Mal is quick to judge. Zoya measures her success through the favour of other (the Darkling). Genya is vengeful and the Queen is vain.
-How on earth did the author manage to make a purely evil character the best potential romantic partner? Can she tell me her secrets please?
-Baghra’s role is interesting. While the reader has their suspicions of the Darkling before she reveals he is the Black Heretic, she confirms him to be the villain. But at the same time, as his mother, she humanises him, both as the Darkling and the Black Heretic.
-There’s something deeply satisfying about Genya shifting from the bottom of the Grisha hierarchy to the top, by poisoning the King. Love that for her. Also David is baby who must be protected at all costs.
-The idea that saving a life gives you more power than taking one is overused, but it was actually quite cleverly incorporated.
-There was one line in the final chapter that stuck with me, about the Grisha being unable to imagine a world without the Darkling’s protection. It was a much better explanation for their actions then “oh, they’re just all power hungry monsters.”
-I liked the allusions to a Grisha vs non-Grisha conflict. Superstitions and prejudices run deep, making scapegoating easy.
Overall a well written book exploring power, personal struggle, the psychology of war and trauma, and the dangers of privilege with no understanding of its impact.
This is good if you’ve read the 25 books mentioned in this book. It’s a great way to deep dive into the meaning of a text. But if you haven’t read the books yet, some of the insights might be lost on you.
Since their mother’s death, Carter and Sadie have become near strangers. While Sadie has lived with her grandparents in London, her brother has traveled the world with their father, the brilliant Egyptologist, Dr. Julius Kane.
One night, Dr. Kane brings the siblings together for a “research experiment” at the British Museum, where he hopes to set things right for his family. Instead, he unleashes the Egyptian god Set, who banishes him to oblivion and forces the children to flee for their lives.
Soon, Sadie and Carter discover that the gods of Egypt are waking, and the worst of them —Set— has his sights on the Kanes. To stop him, the siblings embark on a dangerous journey across the globe - a quest that brings them ever closer to the truth about their family and their links to a secret order that has existed since the time of the pharaohs.
I spent my childhood going to museums and my favorite exhibits were always the ones about Egypt. When I found out one of my favorite authors was writing a series about Egyptian mythology I was ecstatic! I couldn’t wait to see how Rick Riordan would weave his story.
Here are a couple of things i enjoyed about The Red Pyramid(very minor to minimal spoilers ahead):
The world building was phenomenal! I loved how Riordan blends his stories with realism and mythology.
The character building. The way the author writes his characters and makes you become attached despite your best attempts to not become attached because let’s be honest here, Mr. Riordan is not the kindest when it comes to characters. He can enjoy seeing them suffer.
The fact that incest is actually addressed. There is a lot of incest in Ancient Egyptian history. It actually makes learning more about the culture of the pharaohs a little difficult. The way Mr. Riordan handles it is graceful and leaves no doubt in your mind that there is no incest in his books.
I have always enjoyed how the love story is not a big deal in Riordan’s books. It helps us keep in mind that the character are in their young teens. No young teenager needs to worry about being in love and finding the love of their life. There is plenty of time to do that when they are older.
In Chapter 9 she says ‘My dear, i’m a cat everything i see is mine’. I have always loved cats i have 3 of them. They are simply the most precious and sassy animals in the world.
Not many authors are comfortable about addressing race in their books but something Riordan has always done well is talk about the realities of being one race or having a specific belief. In The Red Pyramid the relationship between PoC(in particular African American men) and the Police. He is very open and honest and states things exactly how they are. He does not gently blow this topic off(which would be difficult since one of the main characters is a PoC)
One of the final things I appreciated in this book is the fact that Riordan makes little references to his other books. In particular he references the Percy Jackson Series. If you have not read the Percy Jackson books you won’t understand the reference but if you do you will immediately be saying to yourself ‘I see what you did there’.
This book is perfect for anyone who wants a story that has an adventure but isn’t all consumed in romance. I feel like most adventure books are more absorbed in the romance and use that as a point to move the plot along but in my opinion none of Riordan’s books do that. This book is technically middle grade so it is also very easy to read.
St. Martin’s Press got in touch with me back in April and I was lucky enough to score a spot in The Mall’s Blog Tour! The moment my eyes caught sight of the words “YA coming-of-age” and “the year is 1991”, I was all in!
Again, thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for providing me an ARC for The Mall! The blog tour runs from July 21 to August 4 in time for the book’s release on…
Hi, friends! It has been a LONG WHILE since my last post, I know. A lot has happened since: my bf visited me here in the Philippines, then we got married! Ya girl got hitched!
Although I’ve been busy with the wedding prep and post-wedding stuff, I’ve been able to squeeze in some reading. And guess what? I’ve been able to surpass my Goodreads Reading Challenge for 2019! Admittedly, though, I…
The blog tour for this amazing book is organized by Karina of Afire Pages. She’s doing an amazing job organizing tours despite being really busy with schoolworks! Don’t forget to check her blog out and sign up for her other blog tours.
It’s my blog stop today so let me scream about The Sword of Kaigen in this non-spoilery review!
Hi everyone! I try very hard to write wrap-ups every end of month, but since I’m also the Queen of Procrastination and Sporadic Posting, I decided that maybe every two months is more doable for me. So what did I read last September and October? Read on, babies!
September!
The Gilded King (Sovereign #1)by Josie Jaffrey
It has been a LONG WHILE since I read a book with vampires in it so…
I have been blessed by the goddesses to have allowed me to join THE NEVER TILTING TOUR by Caffeine Book Tours (hosted by Shealea of shutupshealea.com)!
Seeing CBBTC (Caffeine Book Tours)’s post about the blog tour back then, I didn’t even hesitate to join because I’ve always wanted to read a Rin Chupeco book, specifically her Bone Witch trilogy. It’s my blog stop today now off to the blog tour…
Hi, everyone! How have you all been? How are your TBRs for this month? I just recently finished reading Just In Case for a Blog Tour organized by XpressoTours and it’s my blog stop today! Check out XpressoTours’ website for some awesome blog tours, blitzes, and cover reveals. Thank you for including me in this blog tour, Giselle.
This is the introduction to a massive world. A 1200 page introduction. A compelling, intricate, deep introduction to what I can only assume is going to be an utterly ginormous book series. Brandon Sanderson can pull it off. I have no doubt.
I picked up The Way of Kings several times before. I never made it past the Prelude. Now, I’m not incredibly anti-prologue or whatever…but I just never got hooked enough to move past the “okay” prelude into the honking novel that was The Way of Kings. Finally, my husband read it and he said, “Just keep reading. I promise.” And those kinds of promises always irritate me. Like, why can’t it just hook me from the get go? Why does it have to wait to get good?
My ONLY complaint is that the prelude, when the reader is otherwise uninformed about the world of the story, isn’t that engaging. Going back, of course, after I read the book, the prelude makes perfect sense as the opening. What other opening could there be? But it did take me a while to muster up the will to move past it into the meat of the book. And I am so glad I did—as I knew I would be. The entire book might be an introduction to the Stormlight Archives as a series, but it doesn’t feel that way. Not in the moment. I was so involved with the characters, getting to know them and their stories and their place in this huge world…I loved it. And I came to love every narrating character for their own reasons. Kaladin and Shallan, from the start, I adored. And while it took me a little longer to love Dalinar, I came to look forward to his narration as well. Characters are what pull me into a story, and The Way of Kings does not want for character. More on that below. The worldbuilding is great, of course, and the magic system—what Sanderson is kind of known for—is complex and interesting and I still don’t feel like I’ve done more than scratch the surface when it comes to understanding it. I can’t wait to start Words of Radiance. And by that, I mean I’ve already started it. Started it moments after finishing this one.
I read this on Kindle and also listened to the audiobook while running and biking and driving. Michael Kramer and Kate Reading (who you might know as the narrators for the entire Wheel of Time series…) did a great job. They are pleasant to listen to.
I talk about how worldbuilders should read Brandon Sanderson all the time. I’ve loved everything else by him, but I’m just now picking up Stormlight Archives. Here’s what I thought. Have you read it yet?
Sinopsis: Într-o Lituanie a anului 1941 invadată de ruși, Lina, o adolescentă de doar cincisprezece ani trăiește cel mai mare coșmar al omenirii. Este luată cu forța și arestată, împreună cu mama ei, Elena, și fratele ei mai mic, Jonas, fiind obligați să își abandoneze căminul. Poliția secretă sovietică, NKVD, au ca scop deportarea tuturor lituanienilor care sunt „împotriva” bolșevicilor și transportarea lor în vagoane de transportat vite, destinația fiind Siberia.
Ok, yes, it is yet another book review. But this one is special, because soon I’ll also be posting an interview with the author! If I Disappear was special in that it was a very original concept and story, in my opinion, and I’m more than happy to promote this one by debut author (at least for adult fiction) Eliza Jane Brazier. I hope to see more from her soon! (more…)
Lately I’ve been reading mostly crime thrillers. And after finishing Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent, I’m still trying to decide if that is what it is or not. Heck, I’m still trying to decide what I thought of it. But that’s not a bad thing, is it? Books that leave you thinking are usually really good ones.
Plot Details
The Drumm brothers, William, Brian, and Luke, are only a few years apart.…
The Drumm brothers, William, Brian, and Luke, are only a few years apart.…
