Book Title and Author:
The Path of Paganism by John Beckett
Status? :
Finished 
My overall rating of the book : 9/10 
How does this book relate to my magickal practice?:
Right on point. As a new practitioner this book helped me explore my magical practices and my place in the pagan and witchcraft worlds.
My personal thoughts/opinions:
I was recommended The Path of Paganism by several people and thought I had to read it. The author, John Beckett, had a lot in common with me. He left a Christian religion as a adult and explored and became pagan later in life. He also is very involved in his Unitarian Universalist church and associated CUUPs group (Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans) and writes about this experience in the book.
What I found interesting about the format of the book was that each chapter ended with an experience or ritual for the reader to try out so there was hands on work associated with each chapter.
I was worried about reading The Path of Paganism when I got to his chapter on the Gods as I don’t have a deity practice at this time. And I was worried that his take (as a druid) would be highly druid-like in the chapter. Instead I thought the chapter and the entire book was extremely well written and I got a totally different perspective on working with deities, perhaps closer now than I had from reading any traditional witchcraft book previously. He writes about “A Skeptic’s Guide to Gods and Spirits” and literally I thought “is this guy writing to me?” John writes in a way that is totally accessible to a general audience and I connected with it fully.
There were two chapters I didn’t connect with as much just because of the topics “Initiation” and “Priesthood”. And I think this may be something that may be more common in druid life than perhaps witchcraft. I don’t intend to pursue initiation as a solitary witch within a coven, although I did complete the Spells8 Self-Initiation course. And priesthood/priestesshood is not really a path in witchcraft that I have heard much of, although please correct me if I am wrong. John writes about the process to become a druid priest in the chapter.
My favorite chapters were later in the book “Group Exercises” and “Publicize, Don’t Proselytize”. The group chapter gave great suggestions about how to best hold group rituals, how to form a group and have leadership, and how to be hospitable to visitors during public rituals. This is especially important to me as my local pagan group is in a forming stage and this chapter will be so key for us as almost a playbook, I think. The Publicize chapter for me reminded me so much of the Witches’ Pyramid and the idea “To Dare”. We so often use the Witches’ Pyramid, “To Keep Silent” for safety and protection, but in the case of paganism, the point that Beckett makes in this chapter is that more people should know that there is an alternative out there to “the major religions”. We don’t have to convert people. But even by saying “this works for me”, we dare to publicize paganism as an option for those who are seeking an alternative out there.
All in all, this is a well written book mainly for newer practitioners with a very wide audience (witches, druids, heathens, all pagans). Many topics are covered from nature to gods to ancestor worships to altars and magic. John’s writing style is casual and informal and his hands on “homework” at the end of each chapter make this a great book for a book club or a shared small group read. I highly recommend.
An interesting quote from the book:
“And in that moment, I too heard voices. They weren’t audible, but they couldn’t have been louder if Danu herself had screamed at me from across the table: “GET SERIOUS OR MOVE ON!”
I knew the dabbling had to end. And I knew that I had never moved beyond dabbling because I didn’t have a religious foundation. I had rejected the fundamentalism of my childhood, but I had replaced it with a vague deistic universalism that didn’t give me anything to build on . That had to change.
I finally started doing the things I needed to do to move on from fundamentalism. I studied liberal Christianity and Buddhism. I read the Welsh Mabinogi and the Norse Edda. Since dabbling in Wicca hadn’t done anything for me, I explored Druidry and found my spiritual home. And I wasn’t just reading, I was practicing: meditating, praying, performing rituals, spending time outside mindfully experiencing nature.”
All in all, would I recommend this book?:
Yes, definitely
I look forward to reading his next book - Paganism in Depth
), the Vibratory Formula, visualization techniques, and Four Beat Rhythm breathing among many other less pronounced methodologies.
, right topic wrong book. So I read: Voodoo Unlocking the hidden power of Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo by Mari Silva.
I did finish Fourth Wing and the sequel, Iron Flame. Those are fiction and I listened to the audiobook. I don’t want to give a full review of them but I can say they were really good and I’m looking forward to the third book whenever it’s available!
Mod Note: This was originally posted by 
