Customer Reviews

The Twelve Wild Swans

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A journey of words that will encourage you to open many doors and explore the infinite adventures that float within us with every breath. An indispensable companion for anyone on the courageous quest for living for the honest higher good of the whole.

This book tells a story- as in many of starhawks books, and it relates to how our lives are magickal an not. It helps us see what life is all about, who we are deep inside-by teaching through excersizes and story telling. Every book starhawk has written i have never even considered it feminist at all, she never writes in way where the sexes are seperated-they are one they way i see her view the sexes. I am a man, and have read many works by starhawk, and people wave the feminist word around to much, her books have definatley nothing to do with gender at all!. She writes books to open the soul and mind-always through story and mental/ritual excersizes. She has a definate writing style which many enjoy, as do i. Great read-any of her books!!!

This book is for a mature Wiccan. It is a fantastic spiritual guide for deepening your spiritual life and growing as a human being.

there a some wonderful descriptive reviews here and i don't really need to restate them. i usually do not like to write reviews in response to other reviewers. but i am making an exception here. one reviewer calls the starhawk a "rabid feminst". while i don't find that term to be the insult its meant to be, i just want to assure potential male and men loving female readers that this book is not at all "rabid". its nothing like mary dalys works. it does not come close to z. budapests works, and is not even as "rabid" as diane stein and shekhinah mountainwater. (i am a fan of the latter two, but would not reccomend them to me--and well, z has her place) this book does not say anything bad about men at all. it contains exercises created by male members of the reclaiming community. and its feminism is mild and blame-free. there is nothing in here that would offend any man unless he was extremely paranoid and filled with unexpressed guilt. that said i think this book is for every witch no matter what gender.

This book takes the study of Wicca in an interesting light. You have the option of going through the book chapter by chapter or by using one of three methods of study. It is a wonderful, thought provoking story and is easily translated into everyday events. I especially recommend this for women and even more so to young women just entering the craft.

Using the framework of a slightly re-written, old, unsettling fairy tale, three different, entertwined, paths work through many levels of inner exploration and basic skills-building. Although there is a bit of political grandstanding in a few of the narritives, the exercises are wonderful for a solitary or a small trusting study-group that is unable to access a good teacher's training.

This book is a wonderful resource for those who desire a more advanced, in-depth treatment of the tools and techniques from The Spiral Dance. The book is engrossing and thoroughly informative, and was tremendously helpful to me. To the previous reviewer who asserted that "the statement that we automatically inherit responsibility for the evils done by our predecessors was particularly odious," I'd like to suggest that if we're not responsible for fixing past wrongs, who is? If we don't change the world, who will? If we don't heal the Earth, how will She heal? This book gives us some of the tools to help do that.

Have you noticed lately that witches and spiritual writers are calling to action? It is like Bolen's story of the millionth monkey. One monkey starts to wash a sweet potato thrown on the shore. Another monkey joins the next day. Soon monkeys on unrelated islands are washing a sweet potato thrown on the shore before eating them. Magic.

Starhawk's new book is one of these pathways. Doing the work within, alone or in your coven, is joining in to the action
that our world needs to become peaceful, balanced, and free.
Starhawk understands deeply that until we are all free, we are none of us free. Feminist, powerful, witch that she is she has provided us all, once again, a primer that delves even deeper and that asks us all to find our own way to action.

As usual, she does it all with bone honesty and deep respect for your path. Read it. Do it. Get busy.

Thank you for the book.

...Well, sort of. No late night howling at the moon or camp songs, but this book is organized in a way analogous to camp. There are excellent tools in this book, for beginners to advanced Witches. In fact, I think it is one of the few books really suited for the intermediate to advanced Witch. This book could sustain one's personal work for quite a long time, if needed.

I do find it interesting to read the comments of the reviewer who mentioned the "rabid feminism." I certainly don't perceive this book to be that way. In meeting Starhawk and reading her work, I've never percieved her as a "rabid" feminist or man-hater... interesting how some men think anyone who uses "she" and "her" instead of "he" and "him" as generic pronouns is rabid. I've been putting up with books with a generic male audience my entire life! I guess I'm not really sure why some men are so offended by the book addressing a generic female audience instead.

I believe this book is an incredible, valuable addition to the available literature on Witchcraft, and I strongly recommend it, both to women and (secure) men. ;-)

Blessed be!

This is the advanced Wiccan/Pagan book that practitioners have been waiting for. We are transformed as we follow Rose through her betrayal and redemption. I think I would have been overwhelmed reading this if I was a beginner because like the fairy tale, it assumes a spiritual life and previous magical experience would be very helpful. There is no hocus-pocus in this book. Meditiation is stressed and spells are practically non existent. This is real magic. The connection to divinity is profound.

The book is written in a feminine voice. The authors explain that it is not only to try to balance all of the books that are written in a male voice but also to avoid the constant repetition of god and goddess and he and she. It was refreshing to read a book written in this light. This book does not male bash or Christian bash, and I was also grateful for that as well.

I would go through this book line by line if I was either starting a group or working in one currently. While you can be a solitary and get a lot out of this book, I think a newbie solitary would have a hard time at first. Towards the end of the book, the authors drop solitary references and recommend ways to draw people of like mind into your life.

There is a lot of political activism and community spirit in this book. The authors recognize that we do not live in a vacuum and it is all well and good to do spells and prayers for the Earth but real, concrete involvement is really what's going to save the planet and our souls.

The writing is superb. Read this and be transformed.