Customer Reviews

Shouting at the Wolf: A Guide to Identifying and Warding Off Evil in Everyday Life (Library of the mystic arts)

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

 

 

Good book, with great anecdotes, but hardly a complete overview of the subject of psychic self defense. Check out "Practical Psychic Self-Defense" by Robert Bruce, or "Arcane Lore" by Scribe 27 to fill in the blanks. Interesting perspective. I don't understand why this book isn't more well known.

Anderson Reed went deeper that many of the psychic self defense books out there today. She uses a more earthy approach drawing from native traditions and it delves into dealing with spirits, familiars and psychic phenomena without losing the reader at all. She goes further than affirmations and positive thinking and gets into old magic and natural implements for cleansing and warding away unwanted influences. It was also an engaging read from start to finish with many case histories. Highly recommended!!!

Apart from the first chapter, which gives an interesting, personal anecdote of the author's first encounter with Evil, the remaining 300 pages are filled with endless ramblings and weak New Age teachings which offer very little practical application and often deviate drastically from traditional views on Evil. Despite the claim of not following New Age beliefs, the author's views are heavily influenced by such imaginitive speculations and watered-down doctrine, including the outlandish proclamation that Evil was created entirely by the human psyche...and has now developed a life of its own, relying on us for sustanence. This is merely one step away from the Jungian approach held so dearly to many New Agers that all paranormal forces are simply products of the mind and have no independent existence of their own.

While the author occasionally contributes an insightful view against modernism and the anti-spiritual society in which we live, it is often expressed in a rather long-winded, vague, and all-together 'preachy' fashion that can easily push the reader away from taking in the viewpoint meant to be expressed. Worse still, is the author's frequent departure from the book's topic, that is dealing with Evil, and veers towards frequent lectures on what spiritually entails, or rather, what a New Age/Neo-Occultist practice involves and its modern-influenced deviations from ancient traditions.

Don't waste your time reading this book. Robert Bruce's 'Practical Psychic Self-Defense' is much more useful.

I agree with other reviewers on some of the tedium, could have been tightened and enhanced to bring out the brilliant things I believe the writer was gaining on the threshold. The first chapter - though - was exceptional. If all books of this genre could be so original as this. The message here should be everywhere. I have read many, many environmental books ... and a lot considered to perhaps be of the NewAgey type... but the message in this first chapter... is exactly what drives Al Gore... in An Inconvenient Truth. My opinion...

I find this book fairly informative and thorough, although in terrible need of editing. The beginning and middle sections have at least one spelling error per page, and often a grammatical error, as well. A good editor might correct these, as well as organize the material in a less convoluted manner to improve clarity of presentation. The material presented toward the end is generally more organised and understandable and has fewer (though still many) spelling errors.
As far as the material itself, I am very grateful to see these things actually printed in a book and appreciate the author very much for her courage in expressing them. We are all a part of the "all-life" and living this truth is the first and most important step in living in tune with our higher selves and with the Light; and in protecting ourselves from harm.