Cover Image: A Year of Pagan Prayer

A Year of Pagan Prayer

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Member Reviews

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this eARC to review. Sadly the content within this book is not good for my mental health which I did not realise at the time so I am very sorry for that! I will give this 3 Stars as I couldn't review it properly. Apologies again!

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When you read most books about pagan history and holidays, it talks about the history and how it can be used in your life. These are more prayers and poems that you can use to connect more.

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I like how the book is divided into monthly sections. It includes dark times as well as happy times which I think is important. I would recommend this!

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I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review. The book is divided up into twelve sections, one for each month. It covers both the happy times and the dark ones as well. There are songs, poems, and hymns that cover a lot of different gods and goddesses. My birthday is in the latter part of the year and I was excited to read that month. There are some of the poems that I like better than others, for example, the Faery Song. I have had a fascination with the Fair Folks for a very long time.

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I find this book very good with tons of material for everyone.

I think this is a good one and I do recommend.

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I read this as an advanced copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

There is *a lot* of material in this book. It can provide a good amount of inspiration for people that wish to spice up their rituals, or are just interested in historical pagan prayers.

I loved the temporal organization of the book, as well as the indexes in the back which are more thematic (assuming that page numbers will be added — my ARC did not have them — otherwise these indexes are useless).
I found the bibliography lacking in consistency.
For example, wtf is "http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/textdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.w064%3A0ok%3DEp%3Apoem%3D11" in the bibliography. This is lazy to say the least and puts a big damper on the book. This should have been transformed for human readers (author + title of the text), made into a safe link ("https"), and complemented with a "date-consulted".

It is also unclear which pages of a work a selection in this anthology is taken from. Sometimes we find, e.g., "from the Rig-Veda, translated by Griffith". But like, what page? If this is an exact extract, you should be precise.

So: selections were good, references were bad. That being said: well done!

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What a fascinating book. I enjoyed reading and learning and imagining myself relating to the verses in this book. I really enjoyed reading and take my hat off to the author. There must have been a tremendous amount of research to complete this book. Thank you.

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I enjoy Barbara Nolan’s work and was excited for this one. She gives a comprehensive overview of deities and traditions from all over the world and across many cultures. I particularly enjoyed her approach to prayer in everyday ritual. Definitely a book I will reference again! Thanks NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

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This was a good resource to have. Not really for beginners or novices but gave me lots of new things to look and and learn about

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A few days each month get a number of prayers from what looks like a few different sources. Very nice for those wanting some different prayers to add in their practice.

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Interesting book that looks at many different deities and paths which I found interesting from Pan to Apollo to hymns from 400CE to Victorian poems. I liked how each month is laid out.

Really interesting I will be buying this for myself as I think it's a great personal resource.

I received this book from the publisher Llewelyn and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

3 1/2 stars

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This is is more than a book of prayers. It’s historical background, poetry, desscription, and so much more. I read it as an introduction to the various pagan deities and myths of Europe and the Mediterranean and was impressed by the breadth of the author’s knowledge and the quality of the material. A must read for anyone interested in ancient Western myth or the various mythological references of 19th and 20th century Western lit.

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If you are looking for a reference book designed to help you move thoughtfully through the Wheel of the Year, this is it! I was interested in this book because I sometimes fall out of step with my practice. I can already see how this book will help me stay more in touch with my holidays and observances.

Things I loved:
-Well researched and provides wonderful context for the historical precedent of observances at different times of year.
- Allows introductions to a wide array of deities

Cons:
-The prayers themselves were not something I connected with in many cases. There were few I would use verbatim. They did not feel natural to me. That being said, I will use the research done to create my own experiences that honor past traditions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Llewellyn Publications for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

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This is an awesome book. It allows one to say hymns, odes and poems to different God's and Goddesses daily. Exactly the kind of uplifting book I've been looking for.

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I appreciate the breadth of poems and hymns collected in this book. I also like that the author briefly explains each holiday represented. While the book does span January to December, I was expecting a daily prayer sort of book rather than hand picked holidays.

If you are looking for an interesting collection of pagan reverences, this is a fantastic book! If you are looking for a collection of pagan prayers to help you meditate on any given day, this is not the book you’re looking for.

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This book is so incredibly beautiful. I love that it gives me some guides on how to pray, meditate and understand different months and holidays. This was very in depth and I loved the way the author wrote each prayer and chant.

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Great collection of hymns, prayers, invocations, poetry about many deities in connection with pagan wheel of year. And one can use them in many ways, as part of the ritual, or spell, or just to read them, if needed one can pray these verses. Short introductions are concise and helpful. But I would love to see a few examples in this book on using these "hymns" in actual practice. A fine book for you to explore and enjoy in interesting company.

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I was so excited to be provided with the opportunity to read and review this amazing piece of reference literature. This is definitely a book that I will be purchasing and referencing through out the year. This book is jam packed with amazing information. The poems are works of art on their own. With this book being broken out by month it is much easier to reference. Also provides a lovely "excuse" to pick it up and read a little each day. I am new to this journey and can't wait to see where this book takes me.

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Thank you to NetGalley, Llewellyn Worldwide, and Llewellyn Publications for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.

I really enjoy books like this. They aren’t so much books that you just sit down and read for hours, but more books that you use as reference when you need something, or you might flip through to learn some trivia about a particular event. I personally don’t have anything like this book already in my library, so this is a great addition in this category.

This book takes thousands of years of poetry, hymns, and other collected works that relate to each pagan holiday in a calendar year (along with the rough Gregorian calendar date if possible), as well as some general information about that time period. Each work is preceded by some history of where the piece came from as well, which I find to be that much more meaningful. There are a few celebrations coming up on the pagan calendar I was not aware of, but I am now excited to partake in a celebration appropriate for my home with poetry that resonates.

To be clear, this book is an anthology, and should be used as a resource to any ritual or spiritual event you wish to partake in and need words for in my mind, but it is not the place to go if you want deep information about things like where the Yuletide traditions come from, or what all of the Yuletide traditions are – you will just get some beautiful hymns to utilize. Maybe the final edition of this book will add in more history, or expand on some of these sections, but I don’t feel like it is necessary. This is one of the most unique books I have on my shelf for this type of content, and I am really excited to take advantage of it the rest of this calendar year & moving forward.

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While I read a lot of books, there are not many that I add to my collection, but this is one that has a spot on my shelf. This is much more than just a year of blessings and readings for Pagan holidays, it addresses so many other areas of Pagan life that we sometimes don’t think about until they are upon us. I will be giving this book to my coven members for our Yule celebration this year. I think we will all find something that speaks to use in here. Well done!

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