Friday 11 December 2015

Review: Pagan Portals - Meditation

There are many, many books about meditation on the market - I've got quite a few of them myself already - so why would I want another? Well, because Pagan Portals - Meditationis actually a bit different.

Most of the books on meditation I've seen are aimed at the general mind, body, spirit market. This one is aimed specifically at pagans and witches. It is written by experienced witch Rachel Patterson, whose previous books include the excellent Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch and A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Food.

All of her books are well written and very practical. In Pagan Portals - Meditation she offers an overview of all the various types of meditation, including the currently extremely popular mindfulness and other widely varying forms including guided pathworkings, breathing meditation, Transcendental MeditationTM and Zen meditation.

As well as explaining the basics of how to get started, Pagan Portals - Meditation goes into more advanced magical techniques, such as hedge riding, shape shifting and astral travel - or out of body experiences. For me, the chapter on how to use meditation to achieve an out-of-body experience was the most useful. To be completely honest, in the past I've only ever had out-of-body experiences when I've been very ill - and that's not something I'd recommend to anyone. Rachel Patterson offers a whole range of much safer techniques to get your consciousness outside your physical body and off travelling in the astral realms.

Publisher Moon Books says on its website: "An introduction to the beautiful world of meditation... This book will take you on a journey giving hints and tips on how to meditate successfully, breathing exercises, chants and visualisation tips. Also included are lovely meditation tea and incense blends, how to meditate with crystals, make meditation beads and a whole host of guided meditations for you to experience. Together with introducing you to other meditation skills such as pathworking, shape shifting, astral travel and working with meditation to cleanse your chakras. The ability to bend into a pretzel shape and chant 'om' optional..."

Pagan Portals - Meditationwould make a great addition to any witch's bookshelf. And some of the techniques it teaches could be just the thing to keep calm and relaxed with all the stresses of life and the festive season upon us at the moment.

Links and previous related posts
Pagan Portals - Meditation
http://www.moon-books.net/
Grimoire of a Kitchen Witch
A Kitchen Witch's World of Magical Food.
Author says its madness not to meditate

1 comment:

Unknown said...

i really like your review. i saw that you have a lot of other pagan meditation books. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction of a pagan daily reflection book. More of something to begin the day with such as mantras or just general guidance, perhaps something i could even dedicate me yoga practice to and set an intention there. Thanks in advance if you are able to assist me any.