I was very excited when I first bought this book years ago. As a naive grad student I thought I had found a treasure chest of information, but I quickly found out that I was very wrong. There is a lot of information in there, but most of it is simply not verifiable. This should be taken the same way as The Golden Bough by Frazer. As it is quite a large book, the least one could do is recycle it and use it for a doorstop! There are several other reviews here with examples, so I'll refer you to those.

I have found this book to be very helpful for learning tarot. I have read it many times, and I never tire of it. Actually, I just sent it to a friend to borrow a few months ago. It is a great book for anyone new to tarot or interested in Egyptian-style paganism.

I really enjoyed reading this book. If you want to get inside the head of an ancient Greek, to understand what miasma was all about, then read this book. It has been beneficial to me in my practice of Hellnismos as well. It goes into detail about *why* washing your hands in the lustral water is important, etc. This notion now has a more central influence on the way I practice my own religion.

I was very impressed with this book. Written for an academic audience, it contains extensive quotes from primary sources and esteemed secondary sources. The ideas were presented in a very lucid manner, and the language itself was very accessible to an average adult reader. One must keep in mind, however, that this book was not written by a polytheist, or written for a pagan audience. However, it is of great value to us as practitioners of Hellenismos because it presents an accurate description of what prayer was for the ancient Hellenes.

The underlying theme of the book is that prayer is an expression of ÷Üñéò. This is the reciprocal nature of the relationship between the gods and humans. We ask things of the gods, and also give things to them. They receive our offerings, and grant our requests. Pulleyn states, "[P]rayer for a Greek meant asking the gods for something. One had to give as well as take. One did not customarily approach the gods empty handed. Prayer was not of itself an autonomous mode of religious action. It relied on sacrifice." (p. 15) He arrives at this conclusion after looking at prayers documented in texts which are still available to us. In fact, throughout the book, he not only sites the primary sources, but gives us the original text with its translation.

Several points that he makes in this book are essential for those of us trying to reconstruct this religion. Let me give a few examples: Sacrifice always accompanies prayer. The gods were usually prayed to separately. Prayers were always said aloud, even when alone. One raised the hands above the head when praying. Kneeling was a rather uncommon position in which to pray. Magic and curses, while done, were not extremely common. There were no "pre-set" prayers such as ones used by Christians. Women didn't offer public prayers unless they were priestesses. To me, I have found these, and others, to be extremely helpful in understanding the way in which to live my religion. These details allow us to take this from an academic activity and make this into a living religion, complete with theory and action.

One other thing that I liked about this book was that one can pull phrases from documented prayers to use in one's own worship. Even though prayers were composed for each occasion, there were certain phrases that were used often. Myself, I like to use these phrases as I feel I am participating in the tradition of Hellenismos, and continuing it into this century. Therefore phrases such as "Hear me, God of the Silver Bow" which is used in The Iliad is something that I will incorporate into my repertoire.

The only criticism I have of this book is the price tag. It seems as though it is only available in hard cover, so it is rather expensive. However, it should be available at larger libraries. It is well worth the trouble of trying to locate it, as reading it will give you a level of understanding that will benefit your worship immensely.

I had been trying and trying to get this book for what seemed like forever. When I finally got it, it took me all of 3 days to read through it. Right off, that's not a good sign to me if it's *that* easy to read. For some, however, that might be a good point-- very reader-friendly. What disappointed me about it was 1.there was not enough research into it 2.the list of Greek words was not written in Greek font 3.there is no index and 4.just a general feel of "cuteness" that I was suprised to find. But, the good news is that there will be a new edition coming out soon, and I'm confident that the organization responsible for that (the original author is no longer working on this) will do an excellent job, and I plan to buy the new one as soon as it is available. One the whole I would recommend this book, but just don't have expectations that are too high as I did.

Kerényi's scholarship *might* include a touch of fantasy, but on the whole, it is well-researched, and he provided documentation for his claims through extensive footnotes. I used this book as the foundation of my MA thesis, and have never regretted it. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to study the Eleusinian Mysteries in a serious way, but remember to read this with "a grain of salt," as one should with any book.

Such great detail, that I'm sure it will take me many, many reads before I even begin to remember what she has written. This really is like a sourcebook for all things Qabalah. Must-have for anyone seriously studying the subject. One word of warning though-- this is not an "easy read" Be prepared to *study* this text.

I just recently read this book, and I think it is very good, especially for those of non-Rom blood who would like some basic information. The author is himself Rom, so this is not written "about" Gypsies, but actually by one. I was very glad to see that, and was the reason that I picked it up in the first place. The book doesn't (and can't) go into very much detail about particular cultural practices, etc, and that was my only disappointment with it.

I have had this book for a number of years, and now it's falling apart!! It really is my favorite book, and I have a pretty big library. (I've been collecting pagan/wiccan/gypsy books for 16 years.) It's full of folk-magick, and is very "cute" if I may use that word. Inexpensive too. I just sat down today and read through it again, to refresh my memory, although many of the spells I have memorized just from the years of use! I'm sure you'll *love* it!