January 2023 MBR The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

The Witches Almanac
Charles Christian
Visible Ink Press
43311 Joy Rd., #414, Canton, MI 48187-2075
www.visibleinkpress.com
9781578598137, $49.95, HC, 336pp

https://www.amazon.com/Witches-Almanac-Sorcerers-Ancient-Digital/dp/1578598133

Synopsis: For thousands of years in every corner of the globe there has been a fascination and a fear of people possibly wielding magical powers and a stigma surrounding practitioners of ancient rituals and practices. Yet, in the last 70 years, witchcraft, as well as Wicca, have gone from taboo and suppressed beliefs pursued by a handful of eccentrics and misfits to major global, spiritual movements.

With the publication of "The Witches Almanac: Sorcerers, Witches, and Magic from Ancient Rome to the Digital Age", Charles Christian introduces the history, persecutions, conjurings, and magic of some of history's most consequential witches, sorcerers, wizards, and mavericks.

These legendary figures range from Circe, Medea, Hermes Trismegistus, the Chaldean Magi, and other Ancient Roman and Classical Greek witches; to Merlin, Morgana le Fey, Nimue, the 10 Queens of Avalon, and sorcery and witchcraft in the Arthurian legends; to San Cipriano (the obscure 4th century bishop whose influence today still plays an important role in folk magic and Hoodoo practices); Baba Yaga, Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais, Alice Kyteller, Lord Soulis, Michael Scott, the Golem of Prague, and medieval witchcraft; King Henry VI, Anne Boleyn, King Henry VIII, Catherine de Medici, John Dee, Queen Elizabeth, and witchcraft in the British royal court; to Isobel Gowdie, illusive Scottish witch whose voluntary confessions provided the template for traditional witchcraft beliefs; to Isaac Newton, Friar Roger Bacon, Nicholas Flamel, Paracelsus, Cornelius Agrippa, Robert Boyle, and other alchemists.

Of special note are the informative entries for Aleister Crowley, W. B. Yeats, MacGregor Mathers, Eliphas Levi, the Golden Dawn, Thelema and ritual magic, and the rise of esoteric movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries -- and so many more in this new digital age of the 21st Century.

Critique: "The Witches Almanac: Sorcerers, Witches and Magic from Ancient Rome to the Digital Age" provides a deeper, more sophisticated, and historically accurate understanding of the obscure history of witches with this enchanting and bewitching tome! "The Witches Almanac" showcases rich metaphysical histories and extraordinary biographies, plus it includes a helpful bibliography, an extensive index, and numerous photos, adding to its usefulness. While a strongly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Paganism, Wicca, and New Age Metaphysics collections, it should be noted for students, academia, Wiccans, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "The Witches Almanac: Sorcerers, Witches and Magic from Ancient Rome to the Digital Age" is also available in a paperback edition (9781578597604, $24.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $11.99).

Editorial Note: Charles Christian (https://www.coasttocoastam.com/guest/charles-christian) is an English lawyer and a Reuters correspondent. writer, editor, and tech journalist. Of special note is that an English newspaper once really did commission Charles to take part in a werewolf hunt on the night of a full moon. Spoiler alert: he didn't find one. He currently resides in Waveney Valley, England.

Initiation into Dream Mysteries
Sarah Janes
Destiny Books
c/o Inner Traditions International, Ltd.
One Park Street, Rochester, VT 05767
www.innertraditions.com
9781644115145, $18.99, PB, 192pp

https://www.amazon.com/Initiation-into-Dream-Mysteries-Mnemosyne/dp/164411514X

Synopsis: Invoking Mnemosyne (the Greek goddess of memory and eloquence, daughter of Heaven and Earth, mother of the Muses, and archetypal deity of the Asklepion dream temple tradition), with the publication of "Initiation into Dream Mysteries: Drinking from the Pool of Mnemosyne", Sarah Janes initiates you into full dream consciousness, offering a lucid-dreaming ritual experience in the spirit of the Mystery Schools of antiquity.

Sharing her more than a decade of research on Sleep Temples and Mystery Schools of the Esoteric Tradition, lucid-dreaming instructor Sarah explores the evolution of imagination, memory, and consciousness throughout the ages and proposes that dreams have been fundamental in the creation and development of culture. Dreams play an important role in ancestor worship, afterlife beliefs, animism, religion, and wisdom traditions.

Explaining how a conscious dream life is essential for self-discovery, deep integration, and healing, Sarah presents exercises, techniques, initiations, and seven guided audio meditations to help you explore the inner depths of your psyche. Sarah reveals how dreams offer us an opportunity to remember and directly experience our divinity, to transcend the limitations of our mortality and enter timeless imaginal realms. These realms, accessible through dreams, can help you to form a better understanding of who you are.

Employing the power of story to affect the mind and lay down new neural pathways (as if one were really living the story) Sarah connects each initiatory chapter with a psychodramatic narrative as well as a guided audio meditation. Using symbolism and powerful imagery, these stories, combined with her meditations, help you generate the perfect dreams for each stage in the initiation. And by becoming a better dreamer, you can make better, more aware decisions in your waking life.

Critique: Offering a unique and inherently fascinating approach to self-transformation, "Initiation into Dream Mysteries: Drinking from the Pool of Mnemosyne" also includes four pages of Meditations, five pages of Notes, a twelve page Bibliography, and a page Index. Exceptionally well written, organized and presented, "Initiation into Dream Mysteries: Drinking from the Pool of Mnemosyne" is highly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Metaphysical Studies and Dream Studies/Interpretation collections. It should be noted that "Initiation into Dream Mysteries: Drinking from the Pool of Mnemosyne" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.99).

Editorial Note: Sarah Janes (https://themysteries.org/about) has been an enthusiastic lucid dreamer since childhood. Currently residing in Hastings, England, she is a writer, public speaker, and sleep hypnosis workshop facilitator. She runs Explorers Egyptology, an online lecture series, and with Carl Hayden Smith operates the Seventh Ray, a mixed reality Mystery School. She is also producer and co-host for the Anthony Peake Consciousness Hour podcast. Sarah is currently working with Dr. Mervat Nasser at New Hermopolis in Egypt and with Rupert Sheldrake and the British Pilgrimage Trust to reinvigorate the practice of dream incubation at sacred sites.

Mastering Magick
Mat Auryn
Llewellyn Publications
2143 Wooddale Drive, Woodbury, MN 55125
www.llewellyn.com
9780738766041, $18.99, PB, 296pp

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Magick-Course-Spellcasting-Psychic/dp/0738766046

Synopsis: With the publication of "Mastering Magick: A Course in Spellcasting for the Psychic Witch", Mat Auryn shows how to boost your psychic ability and incorporate the greater mysteries of magick into your practice.

A companion to the Auryn's "Psychic Witch", this edition "Mastering Magick" from Llewellyn Publications, is groundbreaking study that features more than sixty spells and is the first of its kind to focus on casting magick to bridge the divide between the seen and unseen worlds.

"Masterng Magick" also teaches how to enchant yourself as a powerful psychic witch by connecting with the witch's tools, the elements, the moon, the seasons, and the planets. You'll learn the mechanics of spell work and how to make your magick as effective as possible.

In addition to Mat's own tried-and-true castings, "Mastering Magick" features more than a dozen spells from well-known witches and practitioners, including Christopher Penczak, Judika Illes, Juliet Diaz, Storm Faerywolf, Laura Tempest Zakroff, Devin Hunter, Madame Pamita, and others.

Critique: Inherently fascinating, impressively informative, expertly written, organized, and presented, "Mastering Magick: A Course in Spellcasting for the Psychic Witch" is especially commended to the attention of the novice magick user and has a great deal of value for even the more experienced spell caster. While highly recommended for personal, professional, community, and academic library Metaphysical Studies collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Mastering Magick" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $13.99).

Editorial Note: Mat Auryn (https://auryn.net/about) is a witch, professional psychic, and occult teacher. He is also the multi-award-winning author of "Psychic Witch" and a High Priest in the Sacred Fires Tradition of Witchcraft. He runs the blog For Puck's Sake on Patheos Pagan, is a teacher at Modern Witch University, and has a column in Witches & Pagans magazine entitled "Extra-Sensory Witchcraft." He has been featured in various magazines, radio shows, podcasts, books, anthologies, and other periodicals. He can be followed on Instagram @matauryn

Extraterrestrial Alien Visitations and Other Unworldly Phenomena
Thomas Sawyer
Living History Publishing House
9781732737198, $11.11

https://www.amazon.com/EXTRATERRESTRIAL-ALIEN-VISITATIONS-UNWORLDLY-PHENOMENA/dp/173273719 3

Thomas Sawyer began investigating aliens in the 1950s when, after doing a two-year stint in the military in the UK, he returned to school at UC Berkeley; there to experience a late-night encounter at a diner. Thus began his belief in alien visitations and the decades-long research that would expand concepts of alien visitations and clarify otherwise-inexplicable phenomena.

In Extraterrestrial Alien Visitations And Other Unworldly Phenomena, Sawyer explains the feeling that he was being contacted by these aliens, visiting Berkeley's "Observatory Hill" at a little past midnight to follow a compulsion that led to further communiques. As he discovers that his friend Frank and others have had similar experiences, his worldview expands about the realities of aliens and their influence on human affairs -- represented here in a discussion of phenomena that broadens to embrace the notion of a guardian angel and other influences on the course of his life.

Sawyer blends autobiography with these close encounters, juxtaposing foreign posting experiences with incidents of "unexpected happenings." This is not what one might expect from a military man's life, and provides a satisfying contrast in experience from those who adopt more staid approaches to UFOs and life experiences.

Throughout his domestic and foreign military assignments, Sawyer explored military and civilian experiences. Given the latest news about military documentation of UFO experiences, those who question some of the conclusions will find this military man's experiences especially enlightening, and much more thought-provoking than "official" studies. Speaking of this, it should be noted that, stylistically, Sawyer employs quote marks liberally, and with words readers might not ordinarily associate with needing such punctuation: "My wife and I soon relocated to the "West Coast". (Our "relocation" had nothing to do with the "Death Threats," but rather with a preferred "change of scenery" and "lifestyle.") We subsequently retired in the "Southwestern Region" of the United States." While this often gives pause for thought, the meat of the book (a CIA agent's close encounters with alien thoughts and guidance) provides a satisfying alternative to the typical military take on UFOs, aliens, and extraordinary phenomenon.

The otherworldly encounters that result in Sawyer's revised mindset about the world will appeal to readers of extraterrestrial events, who will find the combination of a CIA agent's experiences and a memoir about his life to be engaging on many levels. Readers of extraterrestrial nonfiction will find much to like in this survey of close encounters that shows how otherworldly encounters have been documented, but continue to stymie logical investigative processes.