Review of An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England
on Brandy Purdy's Book of the Week
By Brandy Purdy, author of The Confession of Piers Gaveston and The Boleyn Wife
An Involuntary King is a grand tale, it is the best kind of story, a rich, exciting, medieval saga that skillfully blends adventure, romance, and history to weave a captivating tapestry the reader will want to stay enmeshed in even after the last page has been read.
Lawrence, younger son of Arneth, King of Crislicland, was never meant to be king. When tragedy foists the crown upon him, he fights to master his own feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt and prove himself worthy of the honor. He strives to become not just a good king, but a great king--strong, beloved, and wise.
This novel charts the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of Lawrence's reign: the bloody battles to hold his kingdom and vanquish his foes; his marriage to the passionate and lively Josephine, whose beauty draws admirers as honey does flies, including a darkly handsome mercenary willing to do anything to make her his own.
With a vibrant cast of characters who seem to spring to life and leap right off the page and burrow tenaciously into the reader's imagination with a determination never to be forgotten, An Involuntary King is from start to finish a delight to read. The author's love, knowledge, and dedication to this book and its characters are apparent on every page. It is a strong and engrossing novel that fully deserves a dedicated following.
You can purchase An Involuntary King at http://www.amazon.com/Involuntary-King-Anglo-Saxon-England/dp/1419656694 or visit the author's website www.nanhawthorne.com for more details.
Thanks, Brandy!
Review of Loving the Goddess Within
on Wicca Sprituality
By Dragonsong
Loving the Goddess Within: Sex Magick For Women, by Nan Hawthorne, reveals the sensual aspect of spiritual worship.
Hawthorne writes, "Love and sex are essential parts of magick, being the re-enactments of the Goddess's initiating and sustaining energy and of the cycles of fertility."
The premise of Loving the Goddess Within is that sexuality and the passionate interplay of energies is integral to Wicca.
The Wheel of the Year, for instance, is based on the sexual interplay of the Goddess and the God, and the creativity which that engenders.
Loving the Goddess Within explores the Wheel of the Year with this perspective, adding a dimension to the Sabbats and Esbats that is often lacking.
Wiccans may speak of the sexual Play of the Goddess and the God, but so often it is in a sterile, factual kind of way. Loving the Goddess Within brings the passion back to this ultimately creative cycle.
As the Charge of the Star Goddess reminds us, "All acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals."
Despite the name, to me this is less a book about magickal sex than about the erotic component to Wicca. And a guidebook to rediscovering the Goddess who lives within us, yearning for liberation and bliss.
The Perks
One of the joys of this book is Hawthorne's inclusion of non-heterosexual options. She doesn't limit sexual magick to a dichotomy of genders. In fact, she is clear that the Goddess exists within all people, female and male, as does the God.
Loving the Goddess Within also proposes a coming of age ritual for girls. Hawthorne is very aware of the sexual training given to girls, both overt and unspoken. She offers options to help our daughters grow into a healthy, devotional sexuality.
While the book is about so much more than "just" sexuality, Loving the Goddess Within includes ideas for sexual rituals, offered in a gentle, warm, and encouraging manner.
And lest one think this book entirely too tame, Hawthorne also offers positive, empowering fantasies and role-playing ideas.
The Gifts of Reclaiming Women's Sexuality
I love this book for the gift of bringing sensual and sexual fervor back to the practice of Wicca. If there is any spiritual path where sexuality belongs, Wicca is it.
And reclaiming women's sexuality is so much more than a gift to ourselves, and to the Goddess Herself.
It is a gift to all women, and our daughters, and ultimately to every being on Earth.
Excerpts from Loving the Goddess Within: Sex Magick For Women
Put aside the big books now . . . They are all important and will leave you enriched beyond your expectations, and you may read them later. But for now it's time to play.
The Goddess inside of you, the Goddess Who IS you, wants to sink into a hot tub up to her neck in musky suds, to laugh with a playmate, to nibble a sweet, and to trail imaginary wisps of stars in the air with the tips of her toes.
This book has a heavy purpose, to bring forth from you the love for the Goddess which is the love for yourself. Search Amazon.…
It has a tall task, since you were raised to believe your body's desires were at worst shameful or at best rather trivial.
But in each of us is the giggling girl-child who likes nothing better than to swirl her tongue through rich, sweet ice cream, to run just as fast as she can through a field of tall grass, to snuggle up in a flannel nightgown straight from the dryer on a cold night, or to thrust both hands up to the wrist in cool, slippery mud pies.
But it is not a heavy book. There are no stern admonitions or daunting rhetoric. With very little encouragement from me, you are going to have some fun, and, if you keep doing it, you'll find the Goddess freed within you.
And She'll thank us both for it.
~ from Loving the Goddess Within: Sex Magick For Women, p. 1 - 2
Not bad for a book that came out in 1992@ You will find it on Amazon as a used book, and on Lulu.com as a download.
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