Tag Archives: autumn

Rituals (How Pagans Worship)

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Just like other forms of worship, there is usually an order in which everything is done.  Because Paganism is a broad term encompassing many different religions, this is just a broad, generalization and may not be true for every tradition. In my experience, the sections with the asterisks next to them are included in just about every ritual.  This can be done alone or in a group.  Advanced practioners can simply sit there and accomplish this all energetically without moving or speaking, but that’s pretty rare.  Most people tend to use movements or words aloud to symbolize what they mean to do.  While there are formal ways to be trained in some traditions of Paganism, some people will also just call themselves a Priest or Priestess without any training, so you have to be wary.  Some traditions have a specific High Priest and High Priestess to lead all rituals, some traditions take turns leading, and yet others have different people do different parts of the ritual.  I know this is very vague, but it’s difficult to make broad generalizations on such a vast array of practices!

Smudging
The participants wave a cleansing incense at each other in turn, often white sage.  If this is done by a solitary practioner, the person smudges themselves.

Grounding
This is a whole other topic unto itself, but it’s the act of taking unnecessary energy and putting it into the ground.  Advanced practioners can do this on their own, but less experienced people may need guided visualization, actually touching the earth, or a grounding tool such as hematite to help them.

Casting the Circle*
This can be done in many ways, but it’s usually done by walking in a circle counter clockwise, either by one person around all of the participants or the whole group (if there is a group).  Sometimes an athame or wand is used (see ritual tools). 

Calling the Elements*
All of the elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are called to join the circle.  They can be called by different people or just one.  The wording varies.

Calling the Deities*
Whatever deities are appropriate can be called now.  The wording varies.

The Purpose of the Ritual*
Whatever the purpose of this ritual is completed now.  It could be to celebrate the full moon or a sabbat (holiday).  It could be to get wisdom and guidance for a purpose.  It could be to do energy work or a spell (focused prayer).  There are many many reasons to have a ritual.

Cakes and Ale
Food and drink are consumed for a sacred purpose, which varies depending on the purpose of the ritual.

Releasing of the Deities*
Whatever deities that were called are thanked for attending the ritual (often called Circle) and for helping with the purpose of the ritual.  A common phrase at this point is, “Go if you must, stay if you will.  Hail and farewell.”

Releasing the Elements*
The elements are thanked for attending the ritual and for helping with the purpose of this ritual.

Taking Down the Circle*
Whatever was done to cast the Circle is undone, usually in reverse.



What is Paganism?

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The root of the word “pagan” originally meant to live in the countryside.  Many years ago, when Catholicism was spreading throughout the cities of Europe, those that lived in the countryside still worshiped the “old Gods” because Christianity hadn’t yet spread to the more rural areas yet. 

Today, Paganism is basically the revival of the worship of the old Gods and the traditions that came with them.  However, Paganism is often a modern take on old religions.  While it may have some similarities to some of those old religions, they rarely look to recreate exactly how worship was done originally.  Different traditions may have specific ways of doing things (such as Gardnerian Wicca), but most of their traditions aren’t much more than a century old. 

Because there are so many sects and traditions of Paganism, the only things they really have in common is that they are polytheistic and worship nature.  There are also eclectic Pagans that take what they want from whatever religions they want and call it their own.  I consider myself an eclectic Pagan, but I mostly practice Wicca these days.

The pentacle is often used as a symbol of Pagans.  Contrary to popular opinion and various horror movies, this symbol is not Satanic in nature, not even when it’s upside-down.  In fact, the majority of Pagans don’t believe in Satan, similar to the way that the majority of Christians don’t believe in Thor (as a God, not as a Marvel character).  The points of the pentacle symbolize the five elements: earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.  The circle represents many different things to different traditions. Two examples are the Wheel of the Year (the fact that the seasons are cyclical) and the Circle that is often created in which  rituals are to be performed.

Many people wonder what sort of moral code of ethics Pagans follow.  I’ve heard someone ask, “Without a Bible or Commandments to follow, how do you know how to be a good person?”  The answer is we don’t need those things for us to be good people.  We don’t need the guilt of sin or the fear of the afterlife to make us into good people.  Most of us (as people, not as Pagans) already know what is right and wrong without a written doctrine.  However, there is a general precept that whatever you do comes back to you times three.  I have an amendment to that notion.  Whatever you do comes back to you as many times as you need to learn your lesson.  Wicca also has the Wiccan Rede which reads, “Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: ‘And harm ye none, do what ye will.'”

Some Pagans believe in reincarnation and others don’t.  There are many Pagan explanations of where we go when we die.  Some believe that we go to the astral plane where our afterlife is what we make of it.  Others believe we get sent back again to live other lives.  The Rainbow Bridge that seems to be a common idea recently for explaining where pets go when they die actually has Pagan roots. 

Book Review: 13 Original Clan Mothers

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Title: 13 Original Clan Mothers

Author: Jamie Sams

Pages: 316

Genre: Spiritual, female empowerment, some Native American influence

This book begins with a note to readers, an introduction, the author’s healing quest vision, and the beginning of the legacy of women.  On page 30, it starts with the first clan mother, Talks With Relation. The book breaks the year into 13 moon cycles, each with a different clan mother with wisdom to tell.  The first section of each chapter explains the wisdom, followed by a story about the clan mother with an example of how to use that wisdom.

It’s difficult to explain, so here is a quote from the story portion of the sixth chapter: ” When Storyteller awoke, she discovered that Grandfather Sun’s light had not yet graced the morning sky and so she lay in silence, reflecting on the Medicine she had received during the night.  Story after story filled her head with new ways to share the wisdom that had been presented to her.  The Clan Mother felt a sense of newness as she smelled the dew-covered plants on the morning breeze.  Storyteller listened to the water song of the river running near her lodge and was content.  The Oral Traditions would continue to live, as long as those who spoke their eternal truths passed them from generation to generation, giving the human children of Earth a way to understand their lives.”

After the chapters of the 13 Clan Mothers, there are some remaining chapters: Gathering the Gifts of Women, the History of the Turtle Council House, and Entering the Council House of the Thirteen Original Clan Mothers.

Verdict: 9/10 – Every year I tell myself I’m going to read a chapter for each moon in the year and every year I forget.  The only reason I took one point off was that it gets a little wordy and there is no real advice on how to use the wisdom of each of the clan mothers, even though the author says it’s intentional. 

I’m A Bad Pagan

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I just read through a very touching blog post at My Wiccan Story.  It was a sweet story of how she prayed to the Goddess in a time of need and how the Goddess helped.  I kind of touched on it in my last post, but I have been spending so much time trying to not appear Pagan, that I have lost a lot of my Pagan-ness. 

I’m a teacher.  While I believe firmly in the separation between church and state, I also believe in freedom of religion.  I have never once preached about Paganism to my students.  I have never even taught them about it.  At my first teaching job, however, I did wear a ring with a pentacle on it.  One of my students made a big deal out of me being “a witch”.  His mother started a “witch hunt” and complained about me constantly.  She even snuck into the school to observe my class to find things to further complain about.  I was asked not to return because I was “a bad fit with the district.”. 

At my next job, I left my overtly religious jewelry at home.  I had a necklace that looked like mother earth and I often wore that or necklaces made of gemstones.  I was asked to return for a second year.  The school had open tennis on their tennis courts certain days after school.  Since I was trying to get into better shape, I would often go out there to play.  I made the mistake of wearing my Pagan Pride Day t-shirt one day.  It was seen by a board member.  I wasn’t even given a reason for being fired.  My principal and superintendent tried to back me up, but the board of education voted me out. 

After that, I was pretty butthurt.  I refused to mention my religion at work.  I was careful where I work my Pagan t-shirts, in case someone saw me.  I made sure not to become close to anyone at work in case they found out and made it public.  Nonetheless, I went through three more schools in three years.  After a time when I couldn’t get a job, I found a job in the most unlikely place — Catholic school.  I applied for a job, not realizing that the name of the school referred to something that was Catholic.  An even bigger surprise, was that I got the job!  I doubled down in my efforts to hide my religion.  My boss knew I wasn’t Catholic, but she definitely didn’t know that I was Pagan.  I had to attend Mass and teach my students Catholic hymns.  Hey, it was a job and I did it well for three years.  They were three miserable years where I worried constantly about being fired if they ever found out I was Pagan.

I found another public school job and was happy to get out.  Unfortunately, that one didn’t work out either and I got my job where I am now.  I work in a small town.  I am again afraid that people will find out and I will lose my job.  Tenure has been raised to four years, so my son is going to be entering Pre-K before I get tenure.  I can teach him absolutely nothing about our beliefs to save my job, but that makes me sad inside.  I want to be able to share my religion with my son. 

I realized that while my religion absolutely needs to stay out of my work, it can absolutely become part of my home life.  The problem is that I spent so long trying to appear normal, to fit in, that I really stuffed all of my Pagan-ness deep down.  I want to start doing some things daily to reaffirm my Pagan-ness and create a culture of Paganism at home, but I don’t know what to do or where to start.  When I’m grateful for something good, I want to remember to thank the Gods.  When things are not going well, I want to think to ask the Gods for help.  My son is 15 months old and my husband is vaguely Pagan-ish who will go along with things so long as they’re not too “out there”. I actually set up my altar again and even decorated it for Samhain.  I don’t know what steps to take next.  How do I start creating a Pagan culture at home? 

Practicing Paganism Daily

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One of the reasons I started this blog was because I was feeling really stagnant in my spirituality.   I used to just celebrate the Sabbats with my Circle.  Then I moved away for a year and didn’t really celebrate them much at all.  I am really trying to find a way to live as a Pagan rather than just be like one of those Christians who goes to church on just Easter and Christmas. I am back, but moved a bit far to make it to every Circle, though I am close enough to attend some of them now.

Anyway, what I really want to do is make Paganism a daily habit and a family identity, now that my son is 15 months old.  Now is the time to start new habits and traditions because my son will grow up thinking that this is the way things have always been because he won’t remember a time when they weren’t!  My religion was always very internalized.  It doesn’t help that I have to hide it at work, so my practice has almost always been in my mind and my heart.  It’s difficult to do this with any religion that one converts to because one must start from scratch and learn to start incorporating new traditions.  At least with the book religions, there is a set way of doing things.  One thing I like about eclectic Paganism is that you can pick and choose what you like.  The down-side is I have to pick and choose how to practice.  There are a number of things that I need to do:

  • a grace or blessing for food (I wanted something relatively short and simple that rhymes, but haven’t found one that really resonates with me yet)
  • create holiday traditions
  • find some sort of meaningful daily practice that ties into my religion
  • find or make some Pagan decor
  • decorate for each holiday
  • make decorations for each holiday
  • find a way of explaining each holiday to my family and friends and find a way for them to celebrate it with us if they choose (and if appropriate)
  • change language from Christian to Pagan (like instead of “oh my God” replace it with “oh my Goddess”, ‘Jesus Christ” can become “Odin’s balls”, etc.)
  • find some Pagan-friendly children’s books to read to my son

I really like writing this blog because it gives me the opportunity to reexamine my beliefs. I have been focusing on book reviews and Sabbats lately. I love going through my books and rating them based on their usefulness to me! I also love doing each of the Sabbat posts!  It’s really starting to give me some more ideas for how to celebrate each Sabbat.  I have some ideas for the future too!  Once I’m done with the Sabbats, I will move onto the Esbats.  Then I will continue onto different deities, ritual tools, spells, and rituals.  Oddly enough, out of all of those, I am least familiar with the deities.  It’s probably because I see all of the deities around the world as just aspects of one Goddess and one God who, in turn, are just the male and female aspects of one energy/deity/being. As such, I really haven’t researched many of their identities or lore.  Ugh, so much to do, so little time! 

Anyway, I would love to hear any suggestions you have for ways to incorporate Paganism into daily practice, please leave a comment!  Also, if there’s some content you would like to see on here, please comment and let me know!

Healthy Living: Day 11

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I survived the sugar withdrawal, though there were times I wasn’t sure I would.  I had a few days without energy and two where I suffered from actual depression, but I got through it.  I discovered that my brain works better when it’s not on sugar.  On my second day without sugar, I set about trying to learn something for work.  I couldn’t wrap my brain around it, so I gave up for the day.  It wasn’t urgent, so it could wait a little while.  Four days later, I tried again and I was able to do it! 

I also discovered how difficult it is to give up sugar in all forms (including sugar substitutes).  It’s in EVERYTHING!  Here is a partial list of “healthy foods” where I didn’t expect to find added sweeteners:

  •  Bread
  • Peanut butter
  • Cheerios
  • Ketchup
  • Tomato sauce
  • Plain yogurt
  • Canned oranges
  • Baked beans
  • Salad dressing
  • Coffee creamers
  • Granola bars
  • Juice drinks
  • Apple sauce
  • Anything labeled ‘Lite”

As a result, we had to consume a lot of homemade foods.  It sounds simple, giving up sugar, but there were a lot of foods I didn’t expect to have to give up or find alternatives for!

I have followed my exercise plan so far, except for one Thursday where it got dark out before I had a chance to go for a walk.  I thought about going anyway, but we live on rural back roads.  There is no shoulder and sometimes there isn’t much room for two cars to pass each other going opposite ways.  In addition, people love to speed on these types of roads.  My husband convinced me that it isn’t safe, so I didn’t go.  I asked for a reflective vest for Yule, so hopefully I will be able walk at night if it happens in the future.  Because my body is not used to regular exercise (previously I was lucky if I worked out twice a week), by the middle of this week, I was physically exhausted. I fell asleep early when I got home.  I woke up with sore muscles and sore joints. I was looking forward to Sunday so my body would have a break from the exercise!

Yesterday was my first cheat day.  I have decided to have a cheat day every other Saturday.  It worked out well because it coincided with Thanksgiving at my mother’s house.  We are in the United States and decided to celebrate it early since they’re flying out west to spend the real Thanksgiving with my sister.  Anyway, I took full advantage of my cheat day.  I had hot chocolate and applesauce for breakfast.  I had wine with dinner.  I ate two pieces of pie for dessert.  And my stomach hurt SO BADLY!  It wasn’t because it was full either.  My stomach just wasn’t happy with the foods I put in it.  I wish I knew which ones bothered it so much. 

Today is my fast day.  I am trying to fast (not eat) until dinner.  In the research I have done, I noticed that people who mixed up their diet now and then had greater results.  That’s why I incorporated a cheat day and a fast day.  I honestly expected my fast day to be more difficult than it is.  I suppose after the stomach discomfort I had yesterday, it actually feels okay to not eat!

I’m proud of myself and being able to stick with this eating and exercise plan so far.  I know I’m only on day 11, but I’ve managed to stick with this longer than 95% of the plans I’ve done over the past few years!

Starting weight: 239.0lbs
Current weight: 237.6lbs


How I Spent My Samhain

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I usually celebrate the Sabbats with my Circle.  Unfortunately, I have moved far away from them.  As a result, any time they gather for a night ritual, I can’t attend.  I’d fall asleep on the way home.  I thought they were celebrating Samhain on a Friday night, so I didn’t attend it.  I later found out it was on a Saturday, so I was a little annoyed.  I had to figure out how to celebrate this Sabbat on my own.

Now, Samhain is my least favorite Sabbat.  Usually our Circle’s ritual will involve honoring the deceased and I spend the whole night crying because I miss them.  Never mind the fact that the last family member I lost was close to 10 years ago, I still bawl my eyes out every Samhain because I still miss them. 

While I did decorate my altar with the photos of deceased friends and family this year, I decided to treat Samhain like a new year and did some divination based on my resolution to lose weight.  I asked how I could overcome the my issues with consistency and asked what was holding me back.  My favorite go-to divination tool is a pendulum, but this required more than a yes or no answer.  I dug through my pile of divination tools that are rarely used and was drawn to two that I almost never use — crone stones and tarot cards. 

First, I decided to draw three crone stones.  Usually when divination tools are drawn in groups of 3, the first one represents past, the second one represents present, and the third one represents the future. I drew them in the above order.  According to the booklet that came with them, the first one is The Dancer. The Dancer’s message is that physical energy can be used to tap divine energy.  Get outdoors.  Take a yoga class.  Yes, the booklet actually said that!  I used to enjoy running, but my body can’t handle it anymore.  I have been meaning to start walking, but have had difficulties finding the time. 

The second stone was She Who Knows.  The booklet discussed the inner knowing that we all possess.  I turned my attention inward and realized that it is my emotions holding me back.  My first husband was emotionally abusive and some of it still affects me today.  Admittedly, the more time goes by, the less it affects me.    I am healing, it’s just taking longer than I would like.  I look forward to the day when I am completely healed! I feel like my weight-loss journey is one of the last vestiges of the emotional damage.  He once told me he wasn’t attracted to me after I gained weight.  I think subconsciously I stay this size so he won’t still be attracted to me. It’s not even like I see him that often.  Nonetheless, it’s time to move on.

The third stone was Let Go.  The booklet said it signifies the release of emotional baggage.  That’s what I need to do to succeed at losing weight and getting healthier?  So I just need to figure out how to get rid of my emotional baggage.  It’s easier said than done.  I’ve been working on it for years.

I am not really adept at using tarot cards.  It took me forever just to find a set I liked.  I needed to use the paper that came with it just to remind myself how to do the traditional spread.   For those of you who are interested in such things this is the Tarot of the Moon Garden. 

1. PRESENT POSITION – Judgement: Rejuvenation, rebirth, improvement, and development.  That sounds about right.
2. IMMEDIATE INFLUENCE – The Sun: Accomplishment, contentment, success, satisfaction.  This sounds like a pretty good influence!
3. GOAL OR DESTINY – The Star: Fulfillment, the proper balancing of desire and work, and effort, love and expression, bright prospects.  Wow, you can’t get much better than that!
4. DISTANT PAST FOUNDATION -Knight of Pentacles: A mature and responsible person, reliable, methodical, patient, persistent, organize.  Yup, that’s the person I used to be.  I am working hard to become her again.
5. RECENT PAST EVENTS – Seven of Swords: New plans, endeavor, partial success.  Again, this seems right.  I keep moving, starting new jobs, starting over, and starting new weight loss plans that don’t come to fruition.
6. FUTURE INFLUENCE -The Fool: Thoughtlessness, folly, lack of discipline, irrationality, insecurity, and enthusiasm.  This is going to be what influences my future!?  Well, shit. I had hoped for something a little more promising.
7. THE QUESTIONER -Nine of Cups: Success, marital attainment, well-being, abundance.  Well, I do have a job I like.  I have an awesome husband and an amazing son.  I like where we live.  I could use a little more financial abundance.  Things are tight with money right now and I need to lose weight, but otherwise I’m doing quite well for myself.
8. ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS -King of Pentacles: A person of character and intelligence, loyal friend, reliable marriage partner. I’m not sure how this is an environmental factor.  It just sounds like a description of me.  Maybe I am the environmental factor?
9. INNER EMOTIONS -Nine of Swords: Concern, anxiety, and despair.  Well, that about sums it up!
10. FINAL RESULTS -Ace of Swords: Great determination, initiative, strength, force, activity, triumph, and success.  I couldn’t ask for better! 

A few of these made no sense like the King of Pentacles and the Fool, but overall, it looks like I am going to be able to do what I’m supposed to do and lose the weight.

I also tried to do some shamanic journeying to ask for wisdom.  However, I ended up falling asleep instead, so that ended my Samhain.

Book Review: Empowering Your Life with Wicca

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Title: Empowering Your Life with Wicca

Author: Sirona Knight

Pages: 293

Genre: Self-help, religious (Wicca)

After a brief introduction on some unnumbered pages, the book starts off with the first chapter: “The First Empowering Step: Setting Your Empowerment Goals”.  It has a number of stories of people who improved their situations, a guide on creating sacred space, magic tools and focals, empowering your magical tools, the magic circle, empowering your circle, and closing the magic circle. Then it goes into goals and patters, how to set your empowerment goals, with a number of examples using stories and anecdotes. In this chapter, there is “The First Empowering Step: Love Meditation”, which is kind of confusing, since the chapter is supposed to be the first empowering step which is setting your goals.  Then I read on and realized it’s broken into different types of goals: love, health, and prosperity.  Each of these has a meditation, affirmation and prayer, how to create a sacred space for your goal, a ritual, and an oracle.

Chapter 2 is on creating your empowerment plan. This and every following chapter has another step to reaching your goals. Each chapter has a small amount of instruction, a few anecdotes or stories, and the following for each goal: love, health, and prosperity.  Each step also has a meditation, affirmation and prayer, how to create a sacred space for your goal, a ritual, and an oracle for each type of goal.

Page 265 starts the appendices with appendix 1 on empowering Gods and Goddesses. Appendix B has a list of empowering crystals and gemstones. Appendix C has empowering magical tools. Appendix D lists empowering herbs, plants, trees, and flowers. Appendix E shows some magical symbols and is followed by the bibliography and index.

Verdict: 4/10

This is a great book for someone who has a lot of time to do rituals, guided meditations, and updating their altar and keeping sacred space.  It is also a great book for someone who wants to spend a significant amount of time doing meditations and rituals.  It was well-researched with some great guided meditations and rituals. The anecdotes made it a fun read and helped illustrate some points, but some readers might see it as “fluff” to lengthen each chapter.

However, it is my opinion that if you want to improve love, health, or money in your life, you can cast a spell or two, but a better use of your time would be actually following a plan to improve those aspects of your life.  For example, if I wanted to not be fat (which I do), I could follow the guided meditations and rituals of all 12 steps of this book.  Or I could spend that time cooking healthy meals and exercising.  That’s why this book got a low rating.  It’s not that the book was bad.  It does what it says it will do.  I just saw the methods offered as being too lengthy for the desired end result.  And if I had a dollar for every time the author used the word “empowering”, I’d be rich.

Book Review: Sabbats

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Title: Sabbats

Author: Edain McCoy

Pages: 355

Genre: Non-fiction, informational, religious (Wiccan)

After the table of contents, this book starts off with its first chapter “The Pageantry and Meaning of the sabbats”.  It is sort of an introduction and sort of a catch-all for various things the author wanted to include that may or may not relate to the subject area. It goes through the Wheel of the Year and explains which holidays are practiced in which Pagan cultures around the world. It takes a brief detour from sabbats to go into ritual tools, the elements, how to make a robe, the role of ritual and about this book.

After the introductory chapter, there is one for each sabbat, which is about 20-30 pages long each.  Each chapter contains 4-8 pages on the historical context of each sabbat, a few recipes, a few crafts with complete how-to guides, an idea for a ritual, and ideas for activities.  Sometimes there is one or two music suggestions for each sabbat as well.

On page 201, part 2 of the book begins.  It is entitled “Rituals”. It contains 60 pages of sabbat rituals for groups and solitaries.  Finally, we have the appendices. Appendix 1 has an outline for ritual construction.  Appendix 2 has the elements of spell construction.  Appendix 3 has a glossary.  Appendix 4 is a resources and merchants guide.  Appendix 5 contains the instructions for making felt sabbat calendars. Appendix 6 has various correspondences such as other names, symbols, colors, animals, deities, activities, stones, foods, taboos, plants, meaning, attunement teas, ritual oils, and mythical creatures associated with each sabbat.  Appendix 7 has Pagan symbols with their meanings.  Appendix 8 has cross stitch patterns.

At the end is the bibliography and selected readings followed by the index.

Verdict: 10/10

This book actually contains more than you really need in a book about the sabbats, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  It gave a ton of information about each of the sabbats, a bunch of recipes, ways to celebrate culturally, crafts to make, sample rituals for both solitaries or groups.  I was annoyed initially at not getting a generic list of activities and or Gods/Goddesses associated with each sabbat, but the appendices had these in them too!

I actually found this book early on in my spiritual journey.  I was really excited because it contained pronunciations of the different sabbats.  I wanted to talk to my family about the holidays I was practicing, but didn’t know how to say them!

Book Review: The Crystal Bible

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Title: The Crystal Bible – A definitive guide to crystals

Author: Judy Hall

Pages: 400

Genre: Non-fiction, informational

The first 38 pages include the table of contents and some background information. It touches on how they’re formed and how to select your own crystals.

Starting on page 38 in alphabetical order, they dedicate 2-6 pages per type of rock starting with Agate and ending with Zoisite on page 322. Each entry has a color photo of each stone. The entry also includes a list of colors, a description of the appearance, the rarity, and source. Then it goes into the energetic attributes, healing, and position for each stone.

The final pages include several pages on the different shapes of crystals, a quick reference guide about other associations with the stones such as chakras and the zodiac, and an index.

Verdict: 10/10 – This book does exactly what it says. I would recommend this to anyone looking to know more about gemstones, looking to do energy-work with gemstones, or looking to identify gemstones.