Book Review: Sleeping Naked Is Green by Vanessa Farquharson

In an effort to bring more content to the blog I thought I'd branch out some and instead of talking mainly about Gaelic Polytheism and Gaelic culture, I'd also talk about other subjects which are close to my heart and help make up who I am: green living, permaculture, domesticity, homesteading, frugality, deep ecology and bioregionalism. I might even bring in some photography tips at some point but we'll see. So expect more varied topics from now on and kicking it off is a book review...

Sleeping Naked Is Green is a blog-turned-book much like Julie & Julia but instead of dealing with a woman's trials through cooking, this tackles an eco-cynic's journey into green living. It chronicles 366 consecutive days in the life of Canadian film critic, Vanessa Farquharson.

Reading as an anecdotal memoir meets handy tip guide, Sleeping Naked Is Green has the friendly conversational tone one expects from blogs. Each chapter is a month and each day features one green change the author made such as using a handkerchief instead of tissues (March 20th) or walking home from work twice a week (October 1st).

What is so great about this book, I think, is just how small some of these changes are. I know a lot of people make excuses when it comes to being more green, “oh, I'm too busy to completely mess up my routine with new habits” or “It's such a life overhaul” ad nauseam … but really, there is so much out there that hardly takes any time at all.

Book Review: The Earth Path by Starhawk

The Earth Path is certainly a book written from a Wiccan perspective yet it is one that harbors wisdom for any and all who read it, regardless of their creed. In fact, you could remove all religion/spirituality from this book and still be left with something wholly spiritual and educational.

Topics discussed within The Earth Path include organic and green living, ecology, ecopsychology, bioregionalism, climate change, activism, evolution, social change, permaculture, feminism (though not in the overt manner one would expect from Starhawk), paganism, earth-centered values and wilderness awareness.

The point of this book is to help people become more aligned and connected (or re-connected) with the thing that surround us all and sustains our well-being: nature. Regardless of what we may think, we are not apart from nature but an integral part within it. Nevertheless, until we realize this fact and balance our lives with nature and everything within it, we will always be apart from it.

Book Review: Death Makes a Holiday by David J. Skal

I'm leaving town on Wednesday for Tennessee so it might be a while before I get to post again, so I wanted to get something up today. Enjoy!

Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween by David J. Skal. © 2002 Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 9781582342306. Hardback. Sociology. 256 pages. Source: library book

Synopsis: Using a mix of personal anecdotes and brilliant social analysis, Skal examines the amazing phenomenon of Halloween, exploring its dark Celtic history and illuminating why it has evolved-in the course of a few short generations-from a quaint, small-scale celebration into the largest seasonal marketing event outside of Christmas.

Review: Death Makes a Holiday really does not start out well. The introduction to the book ('The Candy Man's Tale') tells the depressing story of a man who brought the tainted Halloween candy urban legend that every parents fears to life back in the 1970s. By swapping out the sugar in a “pixy” stick with cyanide, Ronald Clark O’Bryan murdered his own son and would have taken the lives of three more if their parents hadn’t sent them off to bed without candy. What a way to open a book, eh?

After that gloomy tale, I almost decided not to read it at all, but I’m glad I stuck with it because it did improve.

Chapter One ('The Halloween Machine') focuses on the origins of Halloween in Ireland and Scotland (and the evolution of the jack-o-lantern from turnip to pumpkin), and how it grew from a night to in which to pay respects to the deceased, to a night of candy and consumerist mayhem that we have today.

Chapter Two (‘The Witch’s Teat’) centers around the age-old archetype of the witch (though the chapter really seems to figure more heavily on the Salem Witch Trials and the commercialization of such a tragedy of American history more than anything else). This section also contains a good bit about the fight fundamentalist Christians put up every year to warn this nation of the “Satanic” dangers of this “evil” night [*insert big eye roll from reviewer*].

Chapter Three (‘Home Is Where the Hearse Is’) delves into haunted houses, the Halloween staple of America, by talking about some of the residences that go all out with lavish decorations (I tip by hat to you and your Exorcist display, Bruce Burns) and amazing props. Did you know the Playboy mansion spends about $500,000 every Halloween? Well, now you do.

Chapter Four (‘The Devil on Castro Street’) concentrates on culture wars, mainly that of the gay community. I had no idea that in the years following WWII it was illegal to knowingly or unknowingly sell liquor to a homosexual in California, and that the only night a year the local authorities lifted this ban was Halloween. There’s some very interesting stuff in this chapter for those interested in LGBT history and oppression. A good bit seemed to center around Harvey Milk, and it left me even more curious about the film and what it might possibly contain regarding the Halloween fights. Judgment Houses, the Christian equivalent of haunted houses, are also discussed here as well as the fights to remove Halloween from public schools.

Chapter Five (‘Halloween on the Screen’) draws parallels between the seemingly spectral beginnings of film (with the magic-lantern apparitions of Spiritualism which eventually lead to cinema) and the dark and melodramatic themes Halloween evokes. The two are a match made in heaven…or is it hell? A good many of the first films made were macabre in nature (The Phantom of the Opera and Nosferatu for instance) and this chapter traces the steps of Halloween’s growth in cinematic history, from the classic and macabre to the screen screams and gore.

The book ends with an afterword comparing September 11 and October 31, and how on September 11, the worlds of the living and the dead were thrust upon each other (“The world watched, stunned, as its greatest metropolis became its greatest necropolis.” [pp 183]). It begins with how America as a whole has a problem with death, despite our outward joviality in mortality at Halloween: “Divorced from their religious roots, both pagan and Christian, ancient customs of honoring the departed were long ago transmogrified into consumption rituals for the living. Rubberized images of zombies, vampires and other monsters recalled to life have replaced the heartfelt memories of real ancestors.” (pp 183). It goes on to tell how the tragedy of September 11th sent shockwaves through Halloween.

Skal talks about how America holds death at a distance, unlike our neighbors in Latin America who hold it close in celebrations like Días de los Muertos, or the Days of the Dead, which takes place on November 1-2. He also mentions the differences in attitudes of funerals and wakes in America as compared to say our Irish cousins, for whom death is a boisterous occasion. Lots of food for thought contained here for those who struggle with the thought of death and subsequent celebrations of it.

Overall, a brief but excellent sociological look at one of our country’s favorite nights. 

Here’s a quote which I think sums it all up: “Halloween is a holiday that refuses to play by anyone’s rules. Unpredictable and unrepentant, Halloween also remains stubbornly unofficial and underground, and this may be the key to understanding the tumult that regularly erupts in its name.” (pp. 153)

Book Reviews x2

I've been going through my book collection lately as I'm beginning to sadly run out of room. In a box under the bed, I found two books I had only ever briefly flipped through so I decided to give them a closer read today.

Celtic Book of Seasonal Meditations: Celebrate the Traditions of the Ancient Celts by Claire Hamilton (© 2003 Red Wheel | ISBN: 9781590030554 | 263 pages) — Rating: 2/5 stars

Nice to see a book from a neopagan publisher include so much mythology and tradition. However, it's presented through a Neo-Druid lens so you have the three groups (bard, ovate and druid), four elements, eight festivals, it makes mention of the tree calendar, and the Maiden, Mother, Crone trinity is featured prominently. All of which, I could have done without but it isn't as terribly annoying as it normally would be. I guess that's because I knew beforehand that Claire Hamilton is a member of OBOD, so I knew what to expect. 

What did annoy me—as it often does in these book that combine Gaelic and Brythonic traditions into one—is a mixing of terminology. For example, on page 80 where the author is talking about "The Three Divinatory Practices" (all of which are Irish) she uses the word awen (a Welsh word meaning inspiration -- which she also misdefines as "watchers"). In fact, when using any native words not once did she point out the country of origin for that word, leaving the reader to guess. That's bad form to me, but then again, I expect too much. 

Most of the poetry contained within the book was reworkings by the author from Old Irish translations, but proper credit was not given to the original translators from which she gleaned her poem. That did not sit well with me.

Overall, I think this book had the right idea but could still have used some serious guidance.

Celtic Inspirations: Essential Meditations and Texts by Lyn Webster Wilde (© 2006 Duncan Baird Publishers | ISBN: 9781844830992 | 160 pages) — Rating: 3/5 stars

Nothing extraordinary here and I would beg to differ with the book's subtitle of "essential meditations and texts" as not one thing is essential in here either lol. It's way too brief a text for anything to be counted as indispensable. 

However, it would make a great little gift as a coffee table book. The artwork and photographs are gorgeous, and would really be the only reason to own it. I'd only be giving it two stars if not for the beautiful presentation, that made it three.

Book Review: Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch

Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch by Lora O‘Brien. © 2005 New Page Books. ISBN 1-56414-759-2. Paperback. New Age. 221 pages. $14.99 US. Read in August 2008. Source: purchase from a local pagan shop. (my review is x-posted here)

The author is very adamant in the first chapter on how this is not Wicca, but yet I barely see any differences. Witchcraft does not have High Priests and Priestess for one thing — that's a Wiccan trait — there's eight sabbats mentioned as well as initiation, "using" Celtic deities (rather than forming relationships. She lists beside each deity "modern uses," which I find horribly disrespectful), rites of passage, three levels (degrees), Lord and Lady, elementals, speaks of using sage smudge sticks and Tibetan bells for house cleansing (you think someone so adamant in cultural preservation would at least use juniper traditionally used by the Gaels to clear a house, not the Native American sage) ... to me it just looks like Irish Wicca. I truly can not see a difference.

On the upside, however, it is very delightful to see so much of the Irish language used within the book (along with easy-to-understand pronunciations). It was also fantastic to see her advocate learning Irish if you are going to call your spiritual path "Irish". And I loved that the author tackled the Witta issue as well as the Druid "bed sheet brigade" (page 203), I applaud her for both.

Other key points: she sticks to the four insular Celtic festivals within her Cycles chapter (she mentions the Solstice and Equinoxes as well, but only goes into full detail on the four fire festivals, unfortunately though there are some Wiccan bits and bobs thrown into these details) and she gives some fantastic book recommendations in the back.

I did find it hilarious how in the Website Recommendations she mentions Conradh Draoithe na h-Eireann, a group whom talk about some very odd things (like Atlantean land-healing and Masons ... what this has to do with Irish Druids, I have no idea), but I wouldn't trust a site with that on it. Nor would I trust a book which recommended the website.

Back to the shortcomings, there is one major thing that bothered me. On pages 85-86, the author states: "These are the ones who tie torn-up pieces of flowery umbrellas to a hawthorn tree outside the caves—just to leave an 'offering' of anything. Bring your rubbish home next time, folks". Tying bits of cloth to trees (called clooties) is an old and traditional Irish custom which locals still keep, so I have no idea why the author is so adamant that they should be removed and clearly through her choice of words, this was aimed at foreigners and tourists. Her statement is very condescending.

Now I completely understand her not wanting candle wax, crystals, bonfires, rubbish, and bits of plastic (page 125), but again she mentions not tying things to trees. Cloth and any food left as offerings are biodegradable (and non-synthetic) and are fine to leave, I don’t understand her disdain for them (well maybe food as that could attract animals, but I see nothing wrong with clooties tied to branches or coins hammered into trees -- both are things which locals do). She even goes on to say that she removes other people’s offerings (page 126)!

This book does have its drawbacks, but reading this review will help you spot them more easily. Overall, Irish Witchcraft from an Irish Witch is a decent piece of material for those interested in modern Witchcraft through an Irish lens. I’d recommend it to Wiccans looking for a more Irish/Celtic flavored path, but not really to anyone else.