Reviews

Krataia Asterope

Krataia Asterope
Daemonia Nymphe, Prikosnovenie, 2007

For over two thousand years, the shadow of the Olympian Gods has touched Western science, language, art, and literature.

But what about our music? The Pagan revival of the 20th century focused heavily on Celtic, Norse, and Hindu sources for musical inspiration, and while the Greek deities were honored in ritual, musical groups often name-checked those Gods under hated Roman names.

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Queen of the Great Below

Queen of the Great Below:
An Anthology in Honor of Ereshkigal

Janet Munin, Bibliotecha Alexandrina, 2010
5/5 Broomsticks

What a fascinating Goddess to dedicate a book to! While I would nitpick the first paragraph of the introduction — a sentence about Ereshkigal being jealous and vindictive — one of the epithets in the second paragraph made me laugh and nod: “She is Goddess of Dealing With Your Shit…” Yes, she certainly is! I highlighted that one.

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Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate

Bearing Torches: A Devotional Anthology for Hekate
Edited by Sannion, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, 2009

4/5 Broomsticks

Shrouded and mysterious, clad in shadows and torchlight, Hekate is arguably one of the most well-known Goddesses in Pagan spirituality and practices; even those who only have knowledge of Her through Shakespeare’s Macbeth can link Her to Witchcraft and associated areas. Whether seen as the Underworld hag, guardian of the dead, or the enchanting dire maiden, She who holds the keys to inner wisdom, Hekate is a Lady who fulfills many roles, not many of which are fully explored in much of today’s neo-Paganism.

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The Goat Foot God

wp-24_reviews_03The Goat Foot God
DIOTIMA BIBLIOTHECA ALEXANDRINA, 2008

What Rough Beast!

How could I resist? When I — who takes his name in honor of Pan, whose shoulder wears a laughing Pan tattoo, whose production studios have been named for the Goat Foot God — received a copy of this book, I immediately had to read it.

Sadly, The Goat Foot God (misspelled on the book’s back cover as “The Goat Food God”) often stumbles. As an unwittingly accurate appraisal on that back cover states, “Diotima takes a scholarly yet idiosyncratic look at Pan.” Indeed, “There are more questions than answers herein.” But although that approach is debatably “in keeping with the eponymous subject,” the incomplete treatment did not satisfy this curious Son of Pan.

Diotima starts out well, summarizing the primal appeal of Pan and drawing vital distinctions between logos and mythos: between insistence upon the rationally provable, and acceptance of the sublimely mysterious. Working outward from the Homeric Hymn to Pan (reprinted in the first Appendix), Diotima presents an array of classical Greek sources regarding Pan and his lineage.

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