Customer Reviews

Falcon Feather & Valkyrie Sword: Feminine Shamanism, Witchcraft & Magick (Llewellyn's Women's Spirituality Series)

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

 

 

I really loved this book, I felt it had a lot to offer as a modern take on ancient traditions. The feminist message was refreshing and really made me feel strengthened and heartened. I liked her prayers for strength in mind and body, as well as her discussion of a woman's different stages in life as it relates to various northern Goddesses. I just like this author a lot - I also have her Moon Magick and it's written in much the same way as this book - a lot of prayers, light history, rituals and thoughts organized in segments. This one also has simple drawings which I really enjoyed and felt were powerful for some reason. I think it's the simplicity and unpretentious flow of her thoughts that I like so much. It's an action book, and a book for thinking about your own path to strength.

As a young woman who lives in a conservative rural area, I found her words to be uplifting and empowering. I see and hear a lot of prejudice and negativity directed towards women here (as well as in mainstream culture) and her prayers and rituals make me feel less alone. I wish more authors would write feminist takes on wicca and magick - they make me feel strong when I'm feeling discouraged.

I wouldn't reccommend this book to people who are looking for important works on runes or any in depth witchcraft, though it does touch on those subjects lightly. I reccommend it more for women who are looking to take action about their own paths through introspection and ritual. I think with your own imagination, you could take her ideas and run with them, creating for yourself deeper reflections on her already interesting ideas. All in all, I think this book helped me to be a stronger, and more honorable woman - so I appreciate this book a lot.

Incredibly disappointing work by DJ Conway, who normally can actually write. The bias in this book was so bad that I literally threw it across the room several times while reading it. Coming from someone who can easily stomach Z. Budapest and the ecofeminists, thats saying a lot. I was hoping to learn something about shamanism and spirtual growth from a woman's perspective. Instead, I got a hodgepodge of bad wymyn's hystory (owing entirely too much to The Chalice & the Blade) some divination techniques, some very odd meditations and a lot of anti-male propaganda. Despite the fact that she wrote another book on different belief systems, her knowledge of belief systems as used in this book is pitiful. Where is the woman who wrote _Moon Magick_? The writing was also disjointed and there were sections where it almost appeared that the polemics had been inserted after the text.

While the information within about the rituals, shamanistic practices and other such things geared towards women's spirituality were most useful, and in fact a very welcomed thing, it seemed to me that Conway spent far too much time on the ills of the male species. In a religion that prizes balance, she says that women can do by themselves without men in entirety. While I do not necessarily argue with her on this, the tone suggested that one was to completely do away with their masculine side to empower themselves. As stated before, the rituals, pathworking and meditations within were very wonderful, addressing all sorts of occasions in a woman's life. However, while she covered death, perhaps it would have been better to also include a ritual for the mourning of a lost or miscarried child, as this happens to so many women. But aside from these things, the book is a good source for inspiration and a building-block for further working in feminine spirituality.

If her knowledge of the Egyptian gods is anywhere near as pitiful as her knowledge of other gods, you would do best to run, not walk, away from this book. Intimating that women were somehow deposed and unempowered in ancient Egypt is insulting to anyone who knows anything about said society, where women were arguably treated with much more freedom and respect than any other culture in the ancient world. In short, women don't need fiction or interpretive "her"story to make themselves feel better. Anyone who reads this book should be insulted that such lackluster research is being presented to them in an attempt to make us all feel like good little victims. There is strength in the truth. It's too bad Ms. Conway can't see that.

I actually enjoyed this book and did not find it overly feminist at all. I grew up reading feminist literature that make this book look tame. DJ Conway did a wonderful job presenting the feminine side of Shamanism and Nordic tradition.

The service was quick and the book came in great condition. I quiet enjoyed reading a book I couldnt find anywhere else.

So many books of Wicca are so lofty and difficult to approach. This book breaks_things_down. It gives clear, simple, easy to understand information. Sure, there are plenty of books that go into FAR more detail and depth than this one. However, when you need a quick answer, (and you KNOW that happens a lot) *this* is the book to reach for. Seriously... it's a good one.

This book was quite disappointing. It is a mish-mash of revisionist "wymyn's" herstory and feminist polemic ... with the occasional reference to pagan practices thrown in ... all of which are carefully crafted to exclude male practitioners. I was hoping to find information that would empower me as a woman, instead, I find myself wondering why I turned to this book rather than heeding my own inner strength.

In all my years of studying Norse Paganism and Shamanism I have never found anything so pitiful as this book. Norse lore and practices are conspicuous by their absence. The shamanic content is non-existent and her "knowledge" of the runes is total New Age clap-trap.

Volumes and volumes of information on the Norse traditions, including seidr, are available but she can't even stick with the subject for half a book. Since when are crystals, chakras and psuedo-feminist whining part of Norse traditions? What's with all the Californian psycho-babble?

Those looking for genuine information on Norse traditions would do far better looking for works by Freya Aswynn and Edred Thorson rather than this fluff-bunny bilge.