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46 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, well-crafted prayers for Goddess Worshippers, May 13, 2001
Breathe. Breathe. Wingspans reaching into eternity. The everlasting filling my lungs until all I can do is breathe. Goddess is within and without, Now Goddess is within and without-- me. (From the introductory chapter of the Book of Hours)Though somewhat small in scope (you just want more once you start reading this collection), this 118-page hardcover book is absolutely wonderful. Many people would like to bring themselves closer to the Goddess, but don't know how, or lack the words to express themselves confidently. Many would like to just thank the Lady for the light of day, the depth of night, the turning of the wheel, honor the cycles of their lives, or pray for an intercession. Author Galen Gillotte, a solitary 20-year practitioner of Wicca, does a beautiful job of evoking the magic and mystery the Goddess, giving both the novice and experienced alike, a collection of prayers to use on a daily, moon cycle, or seasonal basis. She also includes prayers for those seeking divine interventions, or just to celebrate special occasions or life transitions. This book is far deeper than the Wiccan Prayer Book. Gillotte exhibits a truly devout spirit and seems to capture the spirit of the Goddess and the moment well through her simple, yet profound, use of poetry and metaphor. In the introductory chapter, Gillotte adequately describes the four types of prayer she emphasizes in the book, prayers of expectation, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers of celebration and prayers of contemplation. She speaks on setting up sacred space for praying, thoughts concerning praying alone or in larger groups, and how the book should best be used. At the back is some nice background information regarding the Goddesses used in her invocations. The book has a morning, evening, and night prayer for every day of the week, for the wheel of the year, and for the full and new moon. For each, there is a small introductory prayer and a closing. For the morning and evening prayers there is also a very brief meditation, and affirmation. The night prayer has a meditation and dream images in place of the affirmation. The final section is comprised of brief prayers for special occasions, such as the birth of a child, for a handfasting, before meal prayers, etc. There are also prayers to release anger, to bring love into your life, for self-blessing, healing, to help one find their life path, and for coping with loss or grief. My only complaint is that I want more from this author who seems to capture the spirit of Goddess worship so well. The only complaint I have is about layout. I wish the morning, evening and night prayers for each day of the week could have been lumped together under the day of the week rather than subdivided in chapters by morning, evening and night prayers...it just makes a little more sense keeping it all together by day of the week. The seasonal and moon prayers are done the opposite way, which I believe works far better. I highly recommend this for those Pagans, Wiccans and Goddess worshippers who recognize the positive benefits praying can bring to their daily lives and who want to deepen their relationship with divinity. Here are a few other related books prayerful Pagans might be interested in: *Earth Prayers*, *Life Prayers*. *Celtic Devotional*, *Her Words*. I would like to thank Llwellyn Worldwide for publishing a wonderful resource for the growing Goddess-centered communities and encourage them to seek out more such material.
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