27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Work Book., August 28, 2006
This review is from: Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation (Paperback)
Did you know that there are different levels of spiritual development? I didn't until I read this book.
The initial chapters of this book explore the theories of Ken Wilber, a spirituality psychologist. His ideas are related to Pagan spiritual development in a way that the non-scientist can understand. The authors explain how a person progresses from infant to young adult and beyond the young adult stage into stages of more wisdom and self-reflection. The authors liken one's spiritual growth to the changes one goes through when going from helpless infant to someone who can run marathons.
In all there are nine developmental "spaces" and four different quadrants that readily conform to a Pagan world outlook. Joyce and River take the reader on a tour through each space and each quadrant with exercises, meditations and other activities.
The book is set up as a teaching guide, and would work best for a group situation, although the authors do include notes on how to make the contents work if you happen to be solitary, which a great many Pagans are.
Each chapter of the book is beautifully designed to make navigating through the book as easy as possible. Each chapter has section headings such as Questions to discuss, Exercise, My Journal, or Visualization. At the beginning of the book the reader is encouraged to create a spiritual progress map listing things that he or she wishes to accomplish in the coming year. The following chapters build on this map by returning to it and checking on progress toward the goals set forth in it. Each chapter builds on the lessons learned from the ones previous.
Chapters focus on different aspects of growth, both of the individual self and the way in which that individual interacts with the greater Pagan community, the mundane world and beyond to the spirit world. Chapter titles show what the reader can expect to find with such descriptions as Growth and Magick from the front end of the book to Energy Work from the back end of the book.
This book would be most useful to a shop that gives classes or a coven leader working with beginners that have progressed beyond the basic Wicca 101 level. It would also be a perfect workbook for a group of new seekers that are forming their own study group. Pagan Spirituality builds on the lessons and explanations found in the authors' first book, Paganism, and the authors suggest reviewing their previous work before tackling the projects of this one. I haven't read their first book, but on the basis of my reading of this one, I will at some point.
The only down side of the book for me was the repetitiveness of the various visualizations, but since each one builds on the last, I understand the reasoning behind the repetitions. If the reader were using the book as a lesson plan meant to encompass a year's study, this slight flaw most likely would become an attribute instead. This is a book I definitely recommend to anyone wishing to deepen their connection to the spiritual side of existence.
W. Lyon Martin Author/Illustrator of "An Ordinary Girl, A Magical Child"
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A decent book with minor flaws, May 28, 2006
This review is from: Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation (Paperback)
In the sequel to Paganism: An Introduction to Earth based Traditions, Joyce and River talk about growth as a Pagan and how to deepen your practices and help others in the process of growth.
To be honest, I think this book is more of a workbook that you progress through rather than a sit down and read book. And being honest again, while this book is useful for those who are just getting beyond the beginner stage (or beginners looking for practical ways to move up from beginner level), for me it wasn't that beneficial.
The exercises themselves are interesting enough and I will probably actually do them at some stage. I may find the book much better if I actually complete the tasks you're meant to! I suppose though the problem with the exercises is that they made the book almost too practical. I like Pagan books that make an enjoyable read that you can then put into practice. This book focused so much on the practical the writing became almost tedious.
I did however enjoy the initial chapter on stages of faith. The psychology of it was very interesting and I liked the comparisons with the different theories. This chapter actually forms the basic format for other chapters, explaining for example how magic may be viewed by someone at a certain level of faith development. The thee dos become repitious by the final chapters I must admit though.
In general, though flawed, this is not a bad book, it's simply for someone at a very particular level and probably won't be a useful for someone with a few years under their belt. I liked it ok, in the end, but it wasn't the gem their first book was.
Oh and I think Pagan Growth would have been a much better title as it's not at much about the spirituality side of things. ;)
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not as Good as Intro to Paganism. . ., August 22, 2006
This review is from: Pagan Spirituality: A Guide to Personal Transformation (Paperback)
I truly enjoyed the authors' first book- Pganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered relgions much more than this one. For some reason- I had to force myself to finish it! Maybe this one seemed to drift off too much from the core points, or maybe certain parts were just too focused and narrowed down- but I just didn't enjoy it. It still is a decent book, from authors that have a grasp of much of the heart of the Neopagan spiritual movement. However, this book didn't display that to me.
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