Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Midsummer: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Litha - Deborah Blake [Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials]

Midsummer: Rituals, Recipes & Lore for Litha - Deborah Blake [Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials]
Source: Netgalley
Original Review: March 31, 2015
Rating: ★★★★☆

This book was provided to me by the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve not been impressed so far with the books Llewellyn has put out on the Wheel of the Year. After reading Everyday Witchcraft by this same author, I had higher hopes for Midsummer than maybe I would have otherwise. In some ways, I think having a different author was a huge improvement over the book on Beltane. In other ways, the pervading thought was that Llewellyn needs to take their fingers out of the editing pot on these and let the authors do their jobs. One of the major issues I had with Beltane is still front and center here.

All of these thoughts were coming to me before I was even 10% of the way through the book. So I’m not spending valuable time here covering the same old issues, I’m just going to highlight the biggest one: repetition. You can only put the same information into so many boxes (and so many books) before eyes start to glaze over.

One other thing I think that interfered with my enjoyment of the book wasn’t a failure on Llewellyn’s part, but a failure in my reading order. I had just finished reading through The Great Work by Tiffany Lazic when I started reading Midsummer. Ultimately, this one felt . . . like perhaps it (and the other books in this series) should be used in conjunction with The Great Work – at least by the more seasoned practitioner.

But, it’s in the content itself where the differences between the author’s really begin to show up. There is a lot of information available on how people of different walks can celebrate Midsummer here. It’s not limited to just that, though. If you don’t have a specific path or system of celebration, there are also plenty of simple, more general options included with the foundational information that even the barest newsbie to the Wheel could use.

No matter how familiar you already are with Midsummer lore and celebration, you’re sure to find something new here. Whatever your approach is, be it spiritual, crafty, or kitchenry, there’s something in this book for you to try.

Midsummer is truly going to be a magickal experience for anyone who reads this book!

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