A dimond in a dung heap

[el_sharra]

I've heard over and over again (and said it a few times myself) that every book has something in it that's worth reading; even the fluffiest of all books may have that one little tidbit of information you were looking for, or gives you that epiphany moment (or, that d'oh, that's so obvious) moment

Comments

Hans Holzer...

[dolmena]

His Confessions of a Witch and similar books are lurid and even embarrassing by today's standards, but it was from holzer that I first heard of the Gardnerian tradition, and of the congenial atmosphere of coven get-togethers. Also, the attitude of open curiosity towards all occult matters was a positive influence on me, just what I needed to counteract whispers that psychic powers were at worst a gift/curse of Satan (no kidding) or at best, something that ran in the family, but more like heart disease than hazel eyes.

[wire_mother]

The Sacred Cauldron by "Tadhg MacCrossan". full of misinformation, misogyny, and re-enactment, but still the book which really opened my eyes to some aspects and potentials of reconstructionist paganism. (as a side note, i am given to understand that the organization described in the book, Druidiactos, is not encumbered by the mistakes of the book; though my information on it is out of date and i am, in fact, uncertain as to whether the organization still exists.)

[amhranai]

What a BRILLIANT topic!!! I have so many I don't know where to start.
I'll start with one.

The Grandmother of Time Full of historical and cultural inaccuracies, but it got me to think about other festivals that go on around our sabbats (*some* of her info was ok) and that there is commonalities between many of the themes.

[el_sharra]

I remember borrowing that form you! We tried so hard to get a calender with a holiday for every day of the year. I think we're only missing about 5 or so?

[nowheresark]

Yes I like this idea. But there's one book that has such a howling error that no-one can possibly take any of it seriously. No gems. Just daft fluffy nonsense. What book? Dare I mention "Witta" by Edain McCoy? STOP! Before you go buying it to see what the howler is (in case you don't know), it's the insistance on "traditional Celtic Potatoes".

Now I'll be checking for gems in my few Paganish books.

[el_sharra]

Yes! I had that one as well. I am a horrible pack rat- especially for books, but about two years ago I moved and had to finally get rid of all the bad books I had. That one definitely tops the list, along with Monroe's 21 Tales of Merlin (that Silveroak mentioned). I did keep a very few, but made sure to re-label the spines with masking tape and R.O.A.R- Read at own risk!

Douglas Monroe

[gryphon_s]

For me, it was Douglas Monroe's Merlin books. His writings were based on documents which had already been proven time and again to be fabrications, and he even messed up obvious historical references (like the fact that pumpkins are native to the americas, and were not known in europe during the period Arthur was supposed to have existed).

His books, however, introduced to me a concept that has stuck with me ever since. It was the concept of the books themselves, the method in which he tried to present his information that struck me. He introduced to me the idea that celtic mythology and legends were more than just stories, but storehouses of esoteric teachings. It's a concept that's stuck with me ever since.

Re: Douglas Monroe

[el_sharra]

That was a prett bad one, did you ever get around to reading the sequal? If you havn't, next moot or circle your at let me kow and you can have my copy (It's really, really bad!)

Re: Douglas Monroe

[gryphon_s]

I've read both of them, I OWNED both of them at one point, not sure if I still have them in a box around here somewhere or not. The books were just so HORRIBLE, if for nothing else, the mysogynistic(sp) idea that only men could be druids.