Customer Reviews

Wheel of the Year: Living the Magical Life

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For nearly every religious person, there seems to be one experience (sometimes more) or one book or one person that brings your faith to life and shows you how to live and breathe it day to day. For me, as a Wiccan, reading this book was that life-changing experience.

Pauline and Dan Campanelli have laid out and illustrated in WHEEL OF THE YEAR the activities and festivals, spells and charms, stories and lore that make up their own way of celebrating the seasons every day in and around their home in rural New Jersey. The book is organized by months, beginning in Decemeber and continuing through November, highlighting not only the Sabbats and full moon celebrations, but day to day activities, etc, that are appropriate to the time of year. For example: the DECEMBER section includes the symbolism and magical uses of holly and ivy, and how and why to make a bayberry candle charm; JANUARY has much information about crafts to do and magical ways to do them while you're spending so much of your time inside; FEBRUARY is full of ways to develop psychic abilities and includes a ritual for Valentine's Day that helps open your heart chakra; JULY talks about ways to collect and magically use seashore items, and how and when to harvest and use certain magical herbs. And lest you think these categories too narrow, the above are just small examples from chapters literally packed with interesting things to learn and do.

It may sound as though the Campanelli's perspective is rather limited, since they're writing only about their own celebrations, but they do SO MUCH that it's almost impossible NOT to find something in each chapter that you can use. You may wonder how a city witch could use this book written by country witches, but I'm a suburban/city witch myself (though not by choice) and I use it frequently. You may also wonder how you can use certain seasonal ideas if you live in a place where "traditional" seasons just don't happen. Rest assured, however: I live in Southern California -- where Dry and Hot and Somewhat Dry and Cool are the only seasons -- but I can absolutely use this book seasonally.

This is the book that inspired me not just to believe Wiccan and act Wiccan and talk Wiccan, but to DO Wicca every day. I can't use everything in here, but what I can't actually do I use as a starter for seasonal meditations, or just as lovely escape reading about the kind of magical country life I dream of living. (The book is quite well written.) Whatever your limitations, unless you are a thoroughly modernized city witch with little need for connection with nature or "the old ways" (how many witches like that do you know?), you will almost certainly enjoy and use this book.

I love this book. I've been using it for several years and recommend it as a good monthly guide for `Living the Magical Life' year round. If you want to learn more about keeping the Wiccan calendar this is a good source. You can begin living the magical life anytime, as each solar cycle brings a wonderful progression of the old holidays. WHEEL OF THE YEAR shows you that even in months without a major holiday, there are many opportunities to reconnect with the ground of your being and celebrate the seasons of Nature and the natural world.

If you are inclined to connecting with the other world, Samhain is the best time to undertake living the spiritual life. October is nearly here, and thus Samhain and the New Year are upon us, making this is an especially good time to buy this book.

The text is interesting and contains many nice illustrations. As the book is printed on soft paper with a soft cover, you can take it out doors where many practices are to be undertaken. It won't hurt the book one bit if you spill a little oil or candle wax on it.

I bought this book several years ago in the beginning of my "craft" days.After being in two covens and using the holiday suggestions for ritual ideas I moved and am now solitare. I still refer back to this book,now even more so.The ideas are back to basics and not all fluffy like some neo-pagan books I've read. This book also got me to start planting my own vegtable garden!! This book is well worth the money if you're NOT looking for fluff.

While this book is called "Wheel of the Year," it is not just about the Sabbats. There are 12 chapters -- one for each month of the year. Each chapter contains lore, crafts, recipes, magic, and ritual to aid a pagan in celebrating the seasons and cycles of life.

The writing is poetic, lyrical, and soothing. Information is shared with compassion. The artwork is wonderful. Lots of pencil drawings enhance the message of the book. Further, there are lots of charts of correspondences for magic, ritual, and spells.

Ours is a nature based spiritual path, this book helps the reader to connect with nature and the seasons in a spiritual fashion. This book is a must for any pagan library. I highly recommend it.

While there may not be much practical information in here for the pagan who lives in a dorm room or a tiny apartment in a huge city, this book is still helpful in a number of ways.

First, each month has an entire chapter dedicated to it and is put together beautifully. If you do live out in nature, have a garden, or just enjoy visiting the elements from time to time, you'll find the opening of each chapter exciting as the author describes what is happening throughout the year with nature and the elements. Then there are descriptions of the pagan holidays/celebrations for each month, in addition to a bit of history behind each holiday. And of course there are spells and rituals and recipes for each occasion, which can be interesting to try out.

My favorite part is that each chapter ties in with the one before and after it. The continuity of the year is really focused on and explored throughout the book and you don't get the impression that one month/season abruptly ends when the next begins.

This book should not be considered an all-inclusive resource on pagan holidays/living, but it makes a great addition to your library and I've read it over and over each year for about 3 years now, and still find it helpful.

Although this book is delightful and has useful information, I actually found little information on the Sabbats and found myself wondering why some information was placed where it was? There is some good and traditional ideas like the baking of bread in August, but I saw nothing significant about telekinesis in February, I think it was? This book is also impractical. It's not fluff, that's right, but there is little that people without a lot of time on their hands can apply or try for themselves. It's a good book, but I wish it would have given more information on the Sabbats themselves and talked about the traditional Sabbat feasts.

For nearly every religious person, there seems to be one experience (sometimes more) or one book or one person that brings your faith to life and shows you how to live and breathe it day to day. For me, as a Wiccan, reading this book was that life-changing experience.

Pauline and Dan Campanelli have laid out and illustrated in WHEEL OF THE YEAR the activities and festivals, spells and charms, stories and lore that make up their own way of celebrating the seasons every day in and around their home in rural New Jersey. The book is organized by months, beginning in Decemeber and continuing through November, highlighting not only the Sabbats and full moon celebrations, but day to day activities, etc, that are appropriate to the time of year. For example: the DECEMBER section includes the symbolism and magical uses of holly and ivy, and how and why to make a bayberry candle charm; JANUARY has much information about crafts to do and magical ways to do them while you're spending so much of your time inside; FEBRUARY is full of ways to develop psychic abilities and includes a ritual for Valentine's Day that helps open your heart chakra; JULY talks about ways to collect and magically use seashore items, and how and when to harvest and use certain magical herbs. And lest you think these categories too narrow, the above are just small examples from chapters literally packed with interesting things to learn and do.

It may sound as though the Campanelli's perspective is rather limited, since they're writing only about their own celebrations, but they do SO MUCH that it's almost impossible NOT to find something in each chapter that you can use. You may wonder how a city witch could use this book written by country witches, but I'm a suburban/city witch myself (though not by choice) and I use it frequently. You may also wonder how you can use certain seasonal ideas if you live in a place where "traditional" seasons just don't happen. Rest assured, however: I live in Southern California -- where Dry and Hot and Somewhat Dry and Cool are the only seasons -- but I can absolutely use this book seasonally.

This is the book that inspired me not just to believe Wiccan and act Wiccan and talk Wiccan, but to DO Wicca every day. I can't use everything in here, but what I can't actually do I use as a starter for seasonal meditations, or just as lovely escape reading about the kind of magical country life I dream of living. (The book is quite well written.) Whatever your limitations, unless you are a thoroughly modernized city witch with little need for connection with nature or "the old ways" (how many witches like that do you know?), you will almost certainly enjoy and use this book.

The Campanellis bring the country into the kitchen for us city pagans who never lived on a farm. From corn dollies to folksy arts and crafts traditionally associated with each season we learn to be connected with a way of life we can only dream about. We recommend it for all our coven members and others who want to be in tune to the ancient harvests of the earth. Thank you Pauline and Dan for bringing the earthly magic into our lives.

If you're looking for spells and formal rituals, this book is not for you. If you're looking for ideas to help you get closer to nature, this is the book you want.

Ms. Campanelli does a fantastic job of taking you through lots of little projects, stories, things to do, and ideas to celebrate all the seasons the great holidays. It's a homey, comforting book, very easy to read and quite interesting.

There are lots of things you can do with your children or with other pagan adults. And you don't have to have a big house or live in the country. (Though it helps to have access to the country for some things.)

Altogether a lovely book, and I expect I'll have it in my hands often.

This book gives detailed and useful suggestions of activities and crafts for the Sabbats. However, I found the descriptions of the seasons too wordy. Also, the crafts and activities are definitely written for people who live in the country AND have a lot of time on their hands. Having neither of these two requirements in my life, I found the book did not help me at all in my seasonal celebrations.