I loved the idea behind Walking in Beauty. It's a whole something else to understand the power of the pentacle. What I used to think was just a symbol sacred to myself and other witches, I realized is something much more. This book is well written and easy to follow. I love how they organized the book.

All-in-all, it was a great read and a read I will revisit in the future.

***Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley and Llewellyn!***

The concept of this book was really appealing to me. One of the first ideas that you learn in paganism and witchcraft is that the points of the pentacle symbolize the five elements and the circle represents all of those elements working together in harmony, toward a greater goal. LaFae takes this concept and applies it to the concept of beauty. Beauty of the self, beauty of the soul, beauty of the world. Our society is severely lacking in an appreciation of the small things and that is what this book is about. Everyone gets too busy to notice small, beautiful things in the world but this is ultimately detrimental to your magick and to your soul.

I loved the layout of this book. It has sections where it asks you to journal all of your feelings or revelations about the portion that you previously read. Some of the assignments are to find a beautiful thing and add it to your beauty notebook. This book is definitely going to be added to my personal collection. Reading it for the purpose of a review, I didn’t get a chance to work through some of the assignments but I want to. So I will be going through this more thoroughly later.

The rituals were also pretty good. They are not beginner rituals (as the books points out it is not a beginner’s guide to magick) in that it doesn’t cover the basics like grounding, casting a circle, releasing a circle, setting up an altar, that kind of thing. The rituals are beautiful in their own way and I can’t wait to try them out.

The ultimate goal of the beauty pentacle is to use the newly positive view that you develop and spread that beauty outward. To use small acts in your community to spread the power of the pentacle ever wider. I love that idea. If everyone did that the world would be a much more positive place.

This book was ok. Even though it’s clearly geared toward those who practice Wicca I did find a few useful tidbits.

Thank you to the Publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was an awesome reading! It's surprising how easily one dismiss beauty as simple, vain and unimportant, but Phoenix proves again and again what a mistake that is. Filled with a myriad of meditations, exercises and journaling prompts, this book will transform you into a better version of yourself.

I found this book fascinating and very useful from a self development perspective. It was the first time I had seen the magickal pentacle used to represent something other than the five elements. The book is packed with ideas for different rituals relating to the concepts of beauty, devotion, creativity, desire and expression, making it great value as well as a really useful personal development tool. Highly recommended.

I tried forging ahead but I kept going back to the issue of the blatant dismissal slash whitewashing of smudging that happens so early.

The writing is lovely, the rituals and practices are fine. Very adaptable.

But at the end of the day, given the current discourse on race to dismiss Native Americans repeated requests to stop casually using smudging in discourse. I loved how thought out and extensively she cited her sources so to quickly run thru this felt like a hey don't yell at me! disclaimer that certainly warranted a little more discussion.

Even if I found the concept and the rituals interesting this book didn't keep my attention and it fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

For me, this was an okay book. I liked the concept and all that, but it's for a very narrow audience, even if one is into paganism or similar paths, so I found it a bit frustrating. There were tidbits that I found useful though.

DNF at 41% due to personal taste, the quality of the book is great and for the right reader; this will be a great read!

This book has a very nice concept. This concept also appealed to me when I read the blurb. Although the author elaborates on the concept in a great way, it's not what suits me as a reader. There are informational parts which I adored to read and found very interesting.
Other parts were very floaty. I like Pagan because it's not as floaty as other beliefs. Some parts of this book were far too far-fetched for me and no longer came to the essence. I'm in a good place with myself, and my view on things. Which made that I didn't feel like the given information made a difference. This book contains questions to ask yourself, and the author suggests reading the book with a journal next to it. It's very interactive and I adore the concept, I'm sure it works for others, but it didn't for me. Simply because I didn't feel the need to do so, and the goal -which the author explained at the beginning- was not something I want/wanted to reach in life.
The book only appeals to a very limited audience, which I find unfortunate. The information given is this book can actually help people. It is a creative way of explaining something, I must admit that this way is great to talk about spirituality.

It's a great concept, and I'm sure there is an audience out there for this type of book. Sadly, it didn't work for me.

The Beauty Pentacle is a method of magickally charged mindfulness in order to recognize and harmonize beauty both inside and outside of ourselves, so we can live with intention and gratitude every day. Walking in Beauty really dives deep into acknowledging and sharing love through the implementation of meditations and other energy manipulations, journaling prompts, ritual work, invoking/evoking spirits and deities, calling upon the elements, herbs / oils / stones, altars, tarot, and offerings to name a few.

If you're expecting the Beauty Pentacle to share features with the traditional elemental pentacle that most witches are most familiar with, there may be a bit of a disconnect. The points of this pentacle are: beauty —your god-self and third eye, devotion —your relationship with the world around you, creativity —your unique creative signature, desire —the spark that calls you to action, and expression —the release of that desire. The author goes into great detail on each point and how to open yourself up to them.

I like that the topic of shadow work was included, the Bright Shadow being a new concept to me, and I enjoyed how the author explains the differences between Shadow vs. Bright Shadow and why they're both important in relation to each other and for the individual. Another new concept that I am really digging is using the gender neutral "Godd". I also liked the basic break-down of ritual by elemental (air, fire, water, earth) association, which is a really great practice and will help you better identify the types of elements you're calling on.

The author cites their information throughout, with an extensive Bibliography in the back, as well as some reading recommendations. These practices are absolutely adaptable, so you can practice them in a way that is comfortable and complimentary of your magick. While there is quite a bit of fluff that doesn't resonate with me personally, there are also some powerful methods of energy work as well as grounding practices. The section Guerilla Acts of Beauty, anonymous and spontaneous acts of kindness and love, is especially lovely.

Looking at the pentacle point as points of beauty rather than the elements. So you get a different connection to the symbol and yourself. Beauty and types of development (like interpersonal and global) explained. Different things to look at. It is okay.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me a free digital Advanced Reading Copy (ARC e-book) of this title. I really enjoyed it! Walking in Beauty by Phoenix LeFae was a great read. I love books about the occult and witchcraft so I was very interested in this volume. I thought the idea that the body creates a pentagram, and that there are energies that flow through and controls each point of the pentacle. This was a new idea to me but I think it is interesting and I am excited to learn more about it!

I was pretty excited to read this as I love anything to do with witchcraft, however I found it really hard to get into. The writing didn't really keep my interest and I found my attention wandering. Some bits were helpful and interesting, but I found some of it repetitive and it felt as if the author was just trying to fill the book out sometimes. Unfortunately it just wasn't for me.

This book provides an excellent tool to raise your personal awareness. To take full advantage you need a journal to keep up with all the excercises on offer.
If you're willing to go even deeper there are suggestions on how to maintain your sense of wonder, some recipes for self care products and rituals. The book has something for everyone, rounding up with an interesting tarot spread.
Walking in Beauty offers a great way to explore self and surroundings.

Thank you Netgalley and Llewellyn for the ARC.

I just admit, at first it took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did I found it an interesting, albeit informative read. I enjoyed the rituals and tips included and I will definitely be re-reading in the future!

A wonderful book! Both insightful and instructive in its design, this is one of those books that I feel will become an instant classic. While at times dry, the information and techniques Ms. LeFae presents does not disappoint.

Would highly recommend.

Walking in Beauty is a book approaching the topic of beauty from a decidedly bardic angle. Using the pentacle as a system to dive beyond physical appearance and look into what inspires our spirits the writer encourages readers to reconnect to a sense of awe in the world around them. It is particularly wonderful to encounter a new system that acknowledges the work of those that came before it both in the text and with on page citations.

The pages are filled with exercises, meditations, recipes, and personal stories that help to build a connection between the individual pagan and the beauty pentacle system. As a journal loving reader the periodic check ins throughout the book were particularly enjoyable allowing for both journal entry time and personal reflection. The concept of the Bright shadow in particular is something I have not seen addressed in other books and enjoyed working with.
The timing of this book releasing could not be better. As our world recovers from the troubles of early 2020 the global community is redefining its sense of self and understanding of what is beautiful. This work with its respect for eclecticism and flexible nature will likely become instrumental in many pagans approach to shaping their work with the self and the community at large.

Walking in Beauty sounded interesting by description but i couldn't fully get into it. I liked the concept and certain ideas presented but it became somewhat repetitive.

The first part of the book is very fluffy. It is very "be at one with everything" and I almost stopped reading. But as the book continued it got much better. The meditations and exercises to connect were really good and I liked the check-in prompts. Recipes for the oils were really good and the stones picked fit perfectly. I feel like the author is very anti-technology and some of the rituals were too complicated for my tastes, but overall the book is well written and would be useful for someone looking to try something new.

Sorry for possible English mistakes. This is an excellent book to be used on it's own or if you want to enchance your own magical and occult practice with new insights and methods. Basic premise is the "Beauty" and although is never mentioned in the book I will add that in Qabalah we have Tipharet station or sphere wich is called Beauty and that also can help you in better understanding of this book, but. find and read Dion Fortune's Mystical Qabalah or similar book about Kabbalah. As I wrote book is veary valuable in order to understand more properly other systems. Just at some mements text is little slowing down but if you can get through those you will find in Walking in Beauty good and fine friend on your way through life. Thanks.