Llewellyn Publications

I’ve used this particular publishers almanac since 2013 and find it is a comfort book for me. I get one every year as a Yule gift to start off the calendar new year with a fresh perspective. I haven’t looked for or heard of an almanac that follows the [traditional?] Pagan calendar starting with Samhain {October 31} unless it’s been a Celtic Tree calendar...but that could be me being lazy. Comment any suggestions if you have them!

The articles sometimes repeat themselves from year to year or from the website to the printed version year to year. I don’t mind. I read them with an eye for knowledge and broadening of my perspectives. The information contained sometimes provide new esoteric knowledge or spellwork but most often contribute to the annual understanding of season cycles, elemental work, or how to do something. They are clearly written and easy to read. There isn’t a lot of jargon so NewTo’s will find it very accessible. There are beautiful illustrations throughout the book, which is why I haven’t been able to part with any of them!

The calendar portion is always proceeded by a yearly calendar at a glance, day meanings, lunar phase times and explanations, Moon sign significance, color and incense attribution {explanation of color relation are often provided in an appendix}, time zones map, Sabbats and Full Moon schedule, Sabbats in the Southern Hemisphere, and an attribution of where the monthly birthstone poetry comes from. All times are EST.

The calendar portion focuses on providing basic information such as:
Date
Alternate Holidays {not necessarily Pagan but ancient and other cultural holidays}
Type of Moon
Moon Phase
Color of the Day
Moon Sign
Incense Scent of the day
*If the Moon/Sun will move into a different astrological house, it will also provide the time*

Again, very accesible for all levels of readers and may be enjoyable for those who simply wish to have intention through astrological, color or scent throughout their day.

*All thoughts and opinions are my own.*… (meer)

What's it about? It's a selection of short stories from pagan authors as collected by a panel of judges for PanGaia magazine.

What did I like about it? There was variety so if you didn't like the style of one author, at least you could look forward to the next, in addition to which no one piece was overly long or short.

My favourite stories were A Valkyrie Among Jews by April, which incidentally was the winning story according to the Introduction to the book, and Black Doe by Vylar Kaftan.

A Valkyrie Among Jews examines pagan identity and the conflict that sometimes arises between the birth religion and paganism of converts. In this instance, the pagan convert is a woman working in a Jewish retirement centre where she is surrounded by the religion of her upbringing. Black Doe was a very well written story about a woman who is shunned by her tribe at her own request in order to feel free, but has to turn to the gods for help. According to the author, the story was written in response to challenge to write about "survivor's guilt about food poisoning and someone getting a haircut" (page 209) and the author certainly delivers. It's also the last story, so was a real treat.

I would be interested to read more work from either of these authors, which I suppose is the purpose of anthology: to bring new authors to the attention of readers.

What didn't I like? All but two of the stories in the anthology.

I'm afraid most of the pieces held no interest for me, and I continued reading only so I could discuss them with fellow readers in the book club. I found myself half a page in on one story, and already hoping the next work was better.

Every story involved the supernatural or fantasy in some way, i.e. there was no real, modern world stories which I think has been mentioned by another reviewer, Eli, here. I kept hoping I'd find a piece that wasn't overtly pagan, fantasy or magical but it never arrived. I've read pieces by pagan authors which have not fantasy, science fiction, magical or pagan elements but are just very good stories. One, in particular springs to mind; it's about a girl working behind a bakery counter as life passed by. There is nothing in the storyline that would label it as pagan; it addresses ordinary concerns from a pagan point of view, i.e. the author. I guess, though, this is not the anthology to find such a narrative.

I do enjoy reading books with magic, the supernatural, myth and manifest deity, but I would dearly love to see writing from pagan authors which veers from the expected genres and, in this regard, I think this collection missed an opportunity.

Would I recommend it? I would recommend the two stories I mentioned above, just not the whole book.… (meer)