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Book Reviews
Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft ...
By: Aaron Oberon - Moon Books - $14.95

Overview: Southern Cunning is a journey through the folklore of the American South and a look at the power these stories hold for modern witches. Through the lens of folklore, animism, and bioregionalism the book shows how to bring rituals in folklore into the modern day and presents a uniquely American approach to witchcraft born out of the land and practical application.

Verdict: Simply put, what we have here is a book where the skilled author - Aaron Oberon - brings forth a magnificently-hued offering which presents the reader with an important glimpse into southern witch-lore and how modern folk witch practices can draw inspiration from this rich source of power.

Moreover a rather fascinating look at the practice of American folklore witchcraft, and one that helps shine a more positively revealing light on the oft-ignored and wildly misunderstood American South, Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft In The American South by author Aaron Oberon brings with it a prose chock full of regional folklore, some fun spell work, and an impassioned relayed set of experiences within the subject to hand.

I personally loved every chapter of this book, especially the chapters on Familiars and Spirits of the Land and thus this book is thoroughly recommended reading for witches with roots in the American South who are interested in folkloric craft practices [and all those just genuinely curious outsiders, of course!].

About the Author - Aaron Oberon is a Southern folk witch with a passion for bringing witchcraft to people from different roots. Aaron writes about queer magic, bioregionalism, and witchcraft that gets down in the dirt.

It is deeply important to Aaron that he helps to make witchcraft and magic more accessible to those from underprivileged areas. His goal in writing is to demonstrate that there is power in the stories of families and local land. Aaron lives in Southwest Florida.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





Journey To The Dark Goddess
By: Jane Meredith - Moon Books - $19.95

Overview: Journey to the Dark Goddess will lead you on a powerful, healing path. In the stories of ancient Goddesses you will hear your own soul, calling out to you. The Dark Goddess is the creatrix of healing, change and renewal. She offers connection with the core of yourself.

If you have been unable to shake off depression, or fear its return; if you have inexplicable blank patches in your life, if you know that something is missing, or something is calling to you, if you seek the source of women’s power - it’s time to journey to the Dark Goddess.

Verdict: For, and given the aforementioned, this journey to the Dark Goddess exists in ancient myth. Weaving the stories of Inanna, Persephone and Psyche with self-inquiry and sacred ritual we learn to journey internally, creating maps in our darkest places and return enriched, integrating our deepest understandings. Meeting the Dark Goddess we see a mirror of our own soul.

Here in Journey to the Dark Goddess: How to Return to Your Soul by author Jane Meredith, we are lovingly taken by the hand and walked down a glorious path to the Underworld to confront and heal one’s inner darkness. Actually something not as foreboding as the sentence suggests, it focuses on the goddesses that exemplify the archetype of the Dark Goddess.

A little more prose reveals that the Dark Goddess is often associated with the Underworld where she leads the uninitiated through a transformative journey of self-discovery, change and soul renewal. She is connected with the unwanted, the forgotten, the ignored or even ashamed parts of our psyche.

However there is more to her than that. Encountering the Dark Goddess through Journey To The Dark Goddess enables author Jane Meredith to lovingly guide you through what this challenging facet of the Divine Feminine, the Dark Goddess, is truly about, and encourages you to step through the veils into her hidden realm.

Furthermore, she does the Shadow Self justice by not condemning or neglecting it, but rather viewing it as a divine aspect of the self and finding the gifts of healing and integration through confronting and working with it.

Thus she draws on myths of these Dark Goddesses and their journey into the Underworld - again, such as Inanna, Psyche and Persephone – which allows her to not only illustrate the gifts that come with exploring one’s own darkness; and with total, unskewed, uninhibited honesty, but allows the hope for a personal transformation and liberation to occur within each and every reader thereafter.

In closing, and full of fantastic exercises and wisdom, the book bravely tackles some very difficult subjects such as depression, fear, existential crises, and trauma. Best of all, the book is full of anecdotes from the author sharing her own journeys to the underworld and her own journey of healing.

About the Author - Jane Meredith is an Australian author and ritualist. Her books are: Falling through the Tree of Life: Embodied Kabbalah, Elements of Magic (co-authored with Fio Gede Parma), Aspecting the Goddess: Drawing Down the Divine Feminine, Magic of the Iron Pentacle: Reclaiming Sex, Pride, Self, Power & Passion (co-authored with Gede Parma), Circle of Eight: Creating Magic for Your Place on Earth; Rituals of Celebration: Honoring the Seasons of Life through the Wheel of the Year; Journey to the Dark Goddess: How to Return to Your Soul; and Aphrodite’s Magic: Celebrate and Heal Your Sexuality.

Some of Jane’s favorite things are cats, trees, books, dark chocolate and magic and she also loves traveling. Jane presents workshops on myth, ritual and the Goddess worldwide and as Distance Courses, she is also a teacher in the Reclaiming tradition. Her website is www.janemeredith.com and on Instagram and Facebook she can be found as @ janemeredithauthor.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





When a Pagan Prays: Exploring Prayer in Druidry
By: Nimue Brown - Moon Books - $19.95

Overview: When a Pagan prays, there are many uncertainties - who we pray to, what we pray for, and what might happen to us as a consequence. Not having the same structures as other religions, Pagans can’t frame prayer in the same ways, and our experiences are likely to be wilder and more personal.

This book is both a wide ranging exploration of what prayer means in different faith and cultures, and a personal journey into a spiritual practice.

Verdict: To be honest with you, over the years I have myself read many books on Prayer, and from several faith perspectives, if truth be told. I have also painstakingly, yet dedicatedly taught Spirituality and Prayer out within the world, and studied theology at degree level, and thus I feel I am perfectly poised to be the right person to review this book; and report back that I truly believe this book by Nimue Brown is one of the most impassioned books on Prayer that I have come across in the past 20 plus years.

Now, for those not in the know, and taking a wide, yet at the same time somewhat pin-pointed view at it, Paganism is a Christian term used to designate those religions that do not worship the God of Abraham, the figure central to both Christianity and to other Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Islam. Indeed, Christians have used the terms paganism and pagan, which typically carry pejorative connotations, to draw clear distinctions between themselves and those who they believe are worshiping false gods.

Throughout most of the history of Christianity, few if any of those labeled pagan have adopted this label for themselves. However, since at least the first half of the 20th century, the term has been reappropriated as a self-designation by a family of related new religions. Often called modern Pagan or Neo-Pagan groups, they are inspired by the religions of Europe, North Africa, and West Asia that were rendered extinct by the spread of Christianity and the other Abrahamic traditions.

But, I digress, for what we have here in When a Pagan Prays: Exploring Prayer in Druidry and Beyond by author Nimue Brown is a prose that is both engaging and heartfelt one minute, yet informative and lucid the next. So much so that she, at times, reveal a raw honesty in relation to the problems they faced whilst writing the book.

Thus whilst most all of the text given to some ideas on Prayer and why people pray and the ethics behind such things are undoubtedly personally hued, overall she doesn’t lose her way in the mire of personalized spiritual practice, but moreover brings forth a more open-minded, nay a genuinely rewarding viewpoint on something that should also be of interest to open-minded, non-believers too.

About the Author - Druid, author, bard and dreamer. Nimue Brown is OBOD trained, a founding member of Bards of The Lost Forest, Druid Network member and previously a volunteer for The Pagan Federation. She lives in Gloucestershire, UK.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





China The Super Predator: Challenge for the Planet
By: Pierre-Antoine Donnet - Changemakers Books - $17.95

Overview: China is facing tremendous economic, social and political challenges, as well as having become a predominant contributor to climate change. It has also become a predator against the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, and the Mongols, and taken over Hong Kong, silencing any forms of dissent.

It increasingly appears that one of the Communist regime’s main goals is to control the entire world, but this global ambition now faces mounting geopolitical difficulties.

Verdict: At the center stands Taiwan, which has become a full-blown democracy and, perhaps, a model for the entire Chinese nation. The United States - along with Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, and other states - are, more than ever before, willing to defend Taiwan. The possibility of a clash is real, making China along with Russia the main threat to the democratic world.

As I think we all know by now, ever since ancient times, contests among great powers have often involved contests of ideas. The Peloponnesian War was not simply a clash between a regnant Sparta and a rising Athens, but also pitted a liberal, seagoing protodemocracy that saw itself as the “school of Hellas” against a militarized, agrarian slave state.

The ideological threat that revolutionary France posed to the European order was just as serious as the military one. In the run-up to the Second World War, fascist powers and democracies squared off; during the Cold War, the superpowers divided much of the world along ideological lines.

The intertwining of ideology and geopolitics should not be surprising: At root, foreign policy is how a country seeks to make the world safe for its own way of life. Many analysts accept that U.S. foreign policy is driven by ideological impulses. Even hardcore international-relations “realists” concede the importance of ideology when they bemoan the grip that liberal passions have on Washington’s statecraft.

Curiously though, and focusing on the one side of this proffered discussion for now, there has been more resistance to the idea that there may be an ideological component to the grand strategy of America’s chief rival—the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Beijing is not making any “grand strategic effort to undermine democracy and spread autocracy,” has been said on more than one occasion around me, its foreign policy seemingly based on “pragmatic decisions about Chinese interests.”

Furthermore, realists say that China plays Realpolitik while America ignores John Quincy Adams’s 1821 advice to go “not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.” Other analysts suggest that it is a distraction or even a “delusion” to emphasize the ideological aspects of Sino-American rivalry at the expense of Beijing’s military and economic challenge.

In fact, the reverse is true, but I digress, for this whole debate has always gotten me riled up, it has become plainly obvious that over the past few years the unfolding world has shown us both Russia and China are a grave threat to democracy and existence of various governments in general; the US therefore showing itself to be the only one (most likely) who’s able to stop them.

As for Taiwan, well, it has gotten high marks when it comes to holding clean elections and protecting political rights. The public strongly supports democracy in principle and by and large approves the island’s system in practice. When it comes to performance, however, the political system does not do so well.

This is partly because of a set of structural factors. Selecting the president and legislature on a majoritarian basis fosters a degree of polarization and complicates the crafting of policy compromises. Periodically, social and political forces seek to circumvent the institutions of representative government (via mass protests, for example). They can block what they oppose but are unable to solve the problems that provoked their action in the first place.

But trying to stay on track again, as, well, these kind of heated discussions really get me worked up, as noted, as a whole, China is actually the world’s largest renewable energy producer and consumer. Indeed, its renewable power output nearly tripled between 2017-2022, averaging 26% annual growth during 2010-2022 which all means that China is home to one-third of the world’s renewable energy capacity.

And so here in China the Super Predator: A Challenge for the Planet by author Pierre-Antoine Donnet, we get to deep dive, and in a more pronounced, less frenzied manner than I have bounced off the walls here with, review of the factual elements that he melds together to showcase a much more cohesive, salient viewpoint of the discussional topic to hand.

Official Amazon Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





Pagan Portals - The Irish Pagan Book of Rites
By: John Michael McLoughlin - Moon Books - $12.95

Overview: The Irish Pagan Book of Rites contains all the essential rites in an easy-to-follow format, presented in both the English and the Irish (Gaeilge) languages for those wishing to make their offerings in the beautiful indigenous Irish tongue.

Here you’ll find rites for regular use, blessings for water and the home, celebrations for the main Irish festivals, as well as in-depth explanations for the meaning, purpose, and lore behind each devotion.

Verdict: In what is a most beautifully written book on Irish Pagan prayers and rites of all kinds, author John McLoughlin has brought forth an incredibly impassioned prose within Pagan Portals - The Irish Pagan Book of Rites: Rituals and Prayers for Daily Life and Festivals, a much needed Pagan Irish devotional based in genuine Irish culture and history.

For those unaware, Paganism is a term applied to a number of religions and spiritual paths that have a strong connection with nature, many of which are based on traditional indigenous practices. Modern Pagans often perform seasonal and cyclical rites or ceremonies, known as Pagan rituals.

Indeed, the term Pagan usually refers to people who practice polytheistic religions (belief in many Gods) such as Wicca, Celtic Paganism, Druidry, Heathenry, and others. In contrast, religions like Judaism, Islam, and Christianity are called monotheist (belief in one God).

But, because Paganism is a very broad category, it includes many different religious beliefs and practices, and many different Gods and Goddesses. This diversity makes it difficult to define what exactly constitutes Paganism. However, there are some common traits that most Pagans share, such as a sense of connection with nature.

Thus, in what will obviously be of interest to anyone with ancestry from the far flung Irish and Celtic diaspora worldwide, I myself grew up a catholic in Ireland, but was late coming into my paganism and deprogramming much of what I had been taught in my early years.

However, what I do have in my favor though is a passion for the ancient Irish stories, a good memory, and a few years worth of actively building what I believe to be a Right Relationship with this ancient – and in my opinion awesome – Pagan God.

But I digress, this beautiful collection of rites is both engrossing and impassioned in such a way that the author has not only dutifully strived to preserve the traditions of pagan Ireland, but the original language in which they would have been performed.

About the Author - John Michael McLoughlin lives and writes on the brisk, beautiful shores of Lake Superior, MN. As a devotee and lover of traditional Irish spirituality, lore, and language, he is passionate about sharing these ancestral ways with others, providing strong foundations for seekers new to the path, as well as deep and enriching material for the experienced wayfarer.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





The Magic of Wolves
By: Robin Herne - Moon Books - $10.95

Overview: The Magic of Wolves explores a wide array of mythologies from around the world, demonstrating how humans have both understood and interacted with wolves - sometimes figures of admiration, sometimes seen as terrifying and savage. These sacred stories give insights not only into our own nature but also into the nature of wolves themselves.

Verdict: As I have grown up to learn, wolves held significant cultural and mythological significance in Norse mythology, primarily due to their association with the wolf Fenrir, a monstrous creature that played a prominent role in Norse mythology.

Fenrir was one of the children of the god Loki and was prophesied to bring great destruction to the gods during Ragnarok, the Norse apocalypse. This prophecy led to the wolf being viewed as a powerful and fearsome creature, and as such, wolves were considered sacred in Norse mythology.

Indeed, for me, the most well-known story involving Fenrir is the binding of Fenrir. In this tale, the gods attempted to bind Fenrir to prevent him from fulfilling the prophecy of his role in Ragnarok. However, Fenrir broke free from multiple bindings until he was ultimately bound by the magical ribbon Gleipnir, which was made from seemingly innocuous materials like a cat’s footfall, a woman’s beard, and other impossible items.

Furthermore, this story portrays Fenrir as an incredibly powerful and untamable creature, adding to his status as a revered and feared figure in Norse mythology.

But I digress, wolves were also associated with Odin, the chief god of the Norse pantheon, who was often depicted accompanied by two wolves named Geri and Freki. These wolves were said to represent Odin’s hunting companions or symbolic representations of his attributes, with Geri meaning ravenous and Freki meaning greedy. This association further elevated the symbolic significance of wolves in Norse mythology.

Overall, wolves were considered sacred in Norse mythology due to their association with the powerful and mythical wolf Fenrir, as well as their connection to the chief god Odin. They were viewed as powerful and untamable creatures, embodying qualities such as strength, cunning, and ferocity, which were respected and revered by the Norse people.

The Magic of Wolves also considers practical issues in pagan ritual, and how people have communicated with wolf spirits and turned to them as ancestral figures. Blending zoology, mythology, sociology, psychology and theology, this text aims to give a broad overview of how wolves and their relationships to humans can be understood.

Chapters cover topics such as the lupine legends of Ancient Rome, Classical Greece, the Norse, the Celts, India and Japan. Whether you are passionate about wolves, lycanthropes, mythology or magic, there will be something here for you.

About the Author - Robin Herne is an educator, poet, storyteller, poet, artist, dog-owner and Druid. He has written numerous articles for Pagan magazines, has appeared in television documentaries and is the author of Old Gods, New Druids, Bard Song and A Dangerous Place. He lives in Suffolk, UK.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





The 7 Levels of Wisdom, A Path to Fulfillment
By: Mónica Esgueva - Mantra Books - $14.95

Overview: Most Westerners, it seems, don’t relate to traditional Eastern spiritual practices, mainly because there is a disconnect between traditional Eastern approaches and modern society’s mindset and current environment. In The 7 Levels of Wisdom, a path toward a more enlightened and fulfilling life is analyzed.

Verdict: Meant to expand both knowledge and awareness, this path offers the richness of Eastern philosophies tailored for the Western mind. The 7 Levels of Wisdom covers different related topics crucial for understanding and leading a personal transformation, with an aim to inspire people to reach the highest levels of human consciousness, the most important goal, and to see it as something they can do, regardless of their responsibilities or life conditions.

By assessing and describing the different stages of human consciousness, The 7 Levels of Wisdom will help its readers identify where they are on the progressive path toward enlightenment, as well as what lies ahead.

So, are you ready to embark on a transformative journey towards self-realization and higher consciousness? Sure, the pursuit of enlightenment may seem daunting, but the rewards are immeasurable.

For enlightenment is the key to unlocking your true potential and experiencing inner peace and harmony. It is a spiritual awakening that allows you to transcend the limitations of the material world and connect with something greater than yourself.

The Seven (7) Levels of Wisdom are:

Subheccha (good desire)
Vicharana (self-inquiry)
Tanumanasi (subtle mind)
Sattvapatti (attainment of light)
Asamsakti (inner detachment)
Padartha bhavana (spiritual vision)
Turiya (supreme freedom)

And thus, what we have here in The 7 Levels of Wisdom: A Path to Fulfillment by author Mónica Esgueva -- an author, therapist, teacher, and spiritual guide whose work touches people profoundly, inspiring transformations in their day-to-day lives -- is a well researched, dutifully constructed, and wholly impassioned examination on how to better understand ourselves, and the world around us, at a time when the Gates of Wisdom seem always locked to us.

About the Author - Mónica Esgueva is an author, therapist, teacher, and spiritual guide whose work touches people profoundly, inspiring transformations in their day-to-day lives. She is the author of nine self-development books and has studied with great spiritual masters, such as the Dalai Lama, for 10 years in India and Nepal. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Foreign Trade. She lives in Spain.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





Astrolations!
By: Jill Carr - O-Books - $34.95

Overview: A fascinating guide for understanding your relationships with friends, family, and colleagues, involving a unique blend of Western and Chinese astrology.

Read about the astrological attributes of your child and other children in your life - and discover how the elements influence your astrological make-up - in order to further your understanding of yourself and those you encounter throughout life.

This guide aims to help you achieve fuller self-knowledge, as well as a rounded understanding of the people in your life.

Verdict: The differences between the Chinese Zodiac and Western Astrology, in principle, is that both systems are based on date and time of birth, with 12 symbols or signs used to communicate across meaning.

For those needing a little more, well, here are some of the small differences, to make things a little easier to understand. In both systems, there are the same number of signs: 12. Two are superficially similar: Ox/Bull and Goat/Ram.

The Chinese signs are: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.

The Western signs are: Ram, Bull, Twins, Crab, Lion, Virgin, Scales, Scorpion, Centaur, Sea-Goat, Water Bearer, and Fish.

In Chinese astrology, the 12 signs are derived from a myth that when God was developing a calendar, all creatures on Earth were summoned to participate in a race. The first 12 to cross the line were awarded signs in the Chinese zodiac.

This differs from Western astrology where the 12 signs are based on constellations’ positions relative to the earth. The constellations were named according to Greek mythology.

But, I digress, as here in Astrolations!: A Unique Astrological Guide for You and All Your Relationships by author Jill Carr what she has dutifully done is cull together a very well organized, and wholly impassioned easy to read guide to astrology for both beginners and those already attune to it alike.

Simply put, this thoroughly informative, truly comprehensive book is intended for all those interested in the mysteries of life and whilst Jill has remained faithful to Western and Chinese astrological traditions -- to present us with a book focused on the connection between them -- she has also managed to refreshingly shine a light on a subject matter that we should all become more accustomed to reverting to on a monthly/yearly basis.

About the Author - Jill Carr’s passion has been astrology for all of her adult life, and she has studied and researched the subject extensively. Jill has a degree in Philosophy and Aesthetics, and performs astrological consultations on request. She has now settled in the wonderful county of Cornwall, where the natural beauty of this ancient and spiritual place constantly inspires her.

Official Amazon Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





How & What to Pursue in Life
By: Yoon-Jeong Kim - O-Books - $29.95

Overview: Why do I live as a small human being in this huge universe? The answer to this question is simple and clear. It is to feel genuine happiness. Then, another question arises. How and what makes one happy?

And this question cannot be answered right away. Feeling genuine happiness is something that can’t be achieved easily in this world, where many complicated circumstances are intertwined.

In order to feel genuine happiness, one must understand oneself, know about the world and see through the universe. You are the one who feels happiness, you can’t be happy simply by yourself, and happiness is the universe’s response to your choices.

Verdict: This book contains the principles by which the universe responds to your choices. It contains the very specific details. This book elucidates the five constitutions of your mind to help you understand yourself, and it explains the nine essences of how you communicate with the universe to help you understand your fate.

Based on such understanding, it guides you to the path to happiness. We ought to be happy, because happiness is the fate, as well as an obligation, that we little human beings, living in this huge universe, have.

So, I hear you ask, what are these aforementioned five constitutions of your mind that author Yoon-Jeong Kim wishes us to know more about here in the truly fascinating, yet wordy titled How & What to Pursue in Life: 5 Pillars of Mind On HOW to Live / 9 Absolute Values of Chakras WHAT We Should Live For.

Well, they are: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, and this five elements theory is one of the central concepts of traditional Chinese medicine. Furthermore, the five elements theory is a framework used in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to explain how we’re influenced by the world and weather around us, and how the organs of the body interact with each other.

I myself have been aware for the longest time that this five phases theory is a framework that’s been used for at least 2400 years in traditional Chinese medicine. Indeed, from the perspective of TCM, understanding which of the five elements has a dominant effect on you right now, can give you insight into your personal strengths and weaknesses.

If you’re feeling imbalanced, low in energy, or simply out-of-whack, understanding the elemental influences at play is also a quick way to help you know the kind of imbalances to watch out for, and guide you to simple steps you can take to restore harmony and balance.

And thus we come full circle back to this new book from Yoon-Jeong Kim this March, and as much as it covers much more than just those discussed above, to me personally, I have always been fascinated by the five elements theory.

For, as aforementioned, in order to feel genuine happiness, one must understand oneself, know about the world and see through the universe. You are the one who feels happiness, you can’t be happy simply by yourself, and happiness is the universe’s response to your choices.

In closing, How & What to Pursue in Life: 5 Pillars of Mind On HOW to Live / 9 Absolute Values of Chakras WHAT We Should Live For is a book that is dutifully impassioned, magnificently hued toward an ease of understanding and learning, and is something that if left on your coffee table for guests to peruse, will have gone home with one of them the very first night!

About the Author - Yoon-Jeong Kim’s curiosity about humans grew the more she studied Korean medicine. That is why when she became a doctor of Korean medicine, she focused more on individual constitution rather than the disease, and felt strong curiosity when she received an unfamiliar proposal regarding the origin and growth of an existence. She lives in Namyangju-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





I am Taurus
By: Stephen Palmer - Iff Books - $10.95

Overview: The constellation we know as Taurus goes all the way back to cave paintings of aurochs at Lascaux. In I Am Taurus, author Stephen Palmer traces the story of the bull in the sky, starting from that point 19,000 years ago - a journey through the history of what has become known as the sacred bull.

Verdict: Each of the eleven sections here in I Am Taurus is written from the perspective of the mythical Taurus, from the beginning at Lascaux to Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Greece, Spain and elsewhere.

This is not just a history of the bull but also an attempt to see ourselves through the eyes of the bull, illustrating our pre-literate use of myth, how the advent of writing and the urban revolution changed our view of ourselves, and how even the most modern of rituals - bullfighting in Spain - is a variation on the ancient sacrifice of the sacred bull.

For thousands of years, the symbol of the bull has been surrounded with a mythical aura that spans not only eons of history, enduring to the present day, but also the vast range of cultures that have emerged in the Mediterranean world.

The legends and cults woven around the bull and the integral part that this wondrous, almost divine, animal played in people’s lives is the subject of I am Taurus, which is in and unto itself a gloriously dutiful exploration of the role of these animals in prehistoric culture and such.

Painted or engraved bulls on the walls of paleolithic caverns suggest that from prehistoric times, the bull was associated with cosmic energy and the forces of life and death. In Anatolia, the bull was worshiped as the son of the mother-goddess, and its horns, which supported the world, were seen as the pillars of the universe. This concept was probably the origin of horns as a mark of divinity.

In Mesopotamia, for instance, gods occasionally had bulls’ ears and, with almost no exception, wore a diadem with bulls’ horns. Another example, included in the exhibition, is the Hellenistic head of Zeus-Amon, a new Egyptian deity that emerged with the cultural fusion that followed Egypt’s conquest by Alexander the Great. The bulls’ horns that sprout from the head is again an attribute of divinity. The Roman deity Jupiter was portrayed, like other celestial gods of Syria and Palestine, with one or two bulls.

But, I digress, for as you can tell, the bull is an entity that I have followed along with for almost all my life, but here in the book, author Stephen Palmer traces connections between different times and places around the Mediterranean, all informed by the presence of a bull-like constellation.

About the Author - Stephen Palmer is the author of twenty genre novels, ranging from eco-SF through dark fantasy to steampunk. His short stories have been widely published, and he is the author of the book Tangerine Dream In The 1970s. He lives and works in Shropshire, UK.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





The Narrow Window (A Novel)
By: Gary D. Wilson - Roundfire Books - $17.95

Overview: As the turbulent 1960s draw to a close, an inexplicable crime forces two young Americans who are teaching in Africa, and those around them, to confront issues of motivation, culture and belonging.

Verdict: The shocking rape of a Peace Corps volunteer shatters the precarious balance of American idealism and hypocrisy in l969 Swaziland, a newly independent country dealing with its own equally fraught post-colonial issues.

In what is a mighty fine read, from start to finish, and chock full of fascinatingly characters, themselves, each and every one, a fully rounded, fully functional being for us to lock in on, The Narrow Window (A Novel) by author Gary D. Wilson is one of those books they term as a literal page turner.

As we grip immediately onto the story line from the off, the beautifully sculpted, and for the most part exotic locations are absorbed vicariously into us, our minds thus following along as if we were standing beside the characters on the page.

With personal agendas abounding, The Narrow Window is a somewhat heartbreak of a read, sure, but at the same time it is both breathtakingly thoughtful, deliciously alluring in its genuinely impassioned prose.

A dutiful tale of one’s very own identity, who we are, who we wish to become, and who we eventually become, along with the meaning of belonging (mentally and physically), it’s about everything we leave behind along with the accumulated baggage we take with us, of course.

About the Author - Gary D. Wilson is a fiction writer who currently lives in Chicago, Il. He has taught fiction writing at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Chicago. His book publications include the novels Sing, Ronnie Blue and Getting Right, as well as the short story collection, For Those Who Favor Fire.

Official Book Purchase Link

www.collectiveinkbooks.com





Emotional Capitalism
By: Peter Wing-Kai Lok - Iff Books - $11.95

Overview: As today’s emotional capitalism increasingly carries out its core operation of regulating the psycho-energy of individuals, the need to analyze a variety of methods for emotional production becomes important.

By bringing together the works of Byung-Chul Han, Bernard Stiegler, Emmanuel Levinas, and Judith Butler, this bold analysis offers a fresh perspective on the operation of emotional capitalism today, with various possibilities for evolving a sensitivity to social injustice and the suffering of others through an ethical, affective, and bodily inter-subjective connection.

Verdict: Growing up, I was fully aware that Advanced Capitalism (AC) was a macro-economic and macro-cultural system that exerts profound influence on individual well-being. Indeed, AC has led to great prosperity since the Second World War and has been of substantial benefit to well-being, providing levels of personal and political freedom, as well as infrastructure, health, and social provisions unheard of throughout most of human history.

Nevertheless, growing levels of inequality within AC countries alongside recent economic stagnation and constraints have resulted in diminished opportunities and increasing insecurity for many citizens.

Here in Emotional Capitalism: From Emotional Dictatorship to Emotional Redemption, author Peter Wing-Kai Lok asks how our repressed emotions which have been distorted and regulated by emotional capitalism can be transformed into ethical emotions.

In general, Capitalism feels like being eternally stuck on a hamster wheel, unable to get off unless there is a major crisis that forces you off- like a health issue, a pandemic, a relationship falling apart, extreme burnout, death of a loved one, etc. Then we hop off as we are forced to examine the state of our lives. Except we get back on once we’ve uncovered some band-aid solution to address the symptoms but never the root cause of our pain.

So what kinds of emotional experiences can transform a self-centered entity into an other-centered subject? Reading this enthused book, what is brought forth is a highly innovative set of constructs to the topic of emotional capitalism, all with theoretical courage and critical insight veined throughout.

In what is a genuine pleasure to read, from cover to cover this impassioned, dutifully sculpted prose is as thought provoking, as engaging as you could have ever hoped it would be.

About the Author - Peter Wing-kai Lok is Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Creative Industries Program at the College of International Education, Hong Kong Baptist University. He is interested in cultural studies and contemporary French philosophy. He lives in Hong Kong, China.

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Drums & Demons The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon
By: Joel Selvin - Diversion Books - $25.90)

Overview: Drums & Demons The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon is the blazing rock opera of the greatest drummer of all-time, Jim Gordon, from the legendary Wrecking Crew to redefining rock on the Seventies’ biggest hits and outrageous tours, and ultimately to the most shocking crime in rock history — his is a story of musical genius and uncontrollable madness!

Verdict: In what is a most fascinating, at times eye-opening read from renowned author Joel Selvin, Drums & Demons The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon (born James Beck Gordon) quickly unveils to us the simply fact that Gordon was, and undoubtedly, one of the most important drummers in American rock history.

Having played with artists such as Buffalo Springfield, Alice Cooper, Jackson Browne, John Denver, the Beach Boys and even Randy Newman, Jim Gordon (07/14/1945 - 03/13/2023) always gave his all and never once backed down from a challenge. Which is remarkable, given the fact that this biography also leans into Gordon’s issues with mental illness and substance abuse, both of which would ultimately bring his life to a premature end, sadly.

Chock full to the brim with stories and wondrous memories galore, let alone some incredible, never-before-heard interviews and comments from Gordon’s immediate family [who, it is believed, had declined to do such interviews over the years for other inquirers], we soon learn that Gordon was a protégé of Hal Blaine, and whereas such drummer alums as the co-founder of Toto Jeff Porcaro, sessionist Jim Keltner, and Andy Newmark (Sly and the Family Stone) all looked up to him, it was a warm glow that he himself never self-consciously bathed in.

Now, I won’t be digging into his aforementioned mental health and drug issues, as that is most definitely not what this book has been created for, but what I will say is this: to get a more defined picture of Jim Gordon, we should first understand that the man was, for all intents and purposes, living in two worlds - the real one and an unreal one, where it has been told down the years inner voices started to take him over [schizophrenia].

I mean, it is true that his life was shattered by mental illness and a murder conviction (for having taken the life of his own mother), and thus spent nearly 40 years in prison thereafter, but I would implore you to focus more on the fact that Gordon was performing professionally as a teenager and as early as 1963 was playing drums with Frankie Knight and the Jesters.

But, and moving on from that, instead let us all bathe in his majestic musicianship that came to the fore in the late ’60s, when he did turns with such artists as Neil Young (1967), Connie Francis (1968), Ricky Nelson, Linda Ronstadt, Ella Fitzgerald, Johnny Rivers, Tiny Tim (1969), and crossing into the ’70s with George Harrison, and both Eric Clapton and Derek and the Dominos.

In closing, Drums & Demons is a what-we-are-led-to-believe accurately impassioned tale of Jim Gordon, a larger-than-life personality who before he got caught up in the maelstrom of schizophrenia, was knee deep in the laid-back L.A. sound one minute, yet ready to explode into a more frenetic being -- as witnessed on songs like Mason Williams’s “Classical Gas” (1968) or John Lennon’s “Power to the People” (1971); let alone when he toured with the late, great prolific workaholic Frank Zappa (who nicknamed him Skippy for his All-American demeanor and his all-American looks).

In closing, here are a couple of quotes from those who knew Jim Gordon well:

“Based upon my interactions with Jim Gordon, author Joel Selvin accurately portrays Jim’s genius as well as his development into the living hell he gradually occupied. Jim was always soft-spoken, and the first one to arrive at a session. His drums spoke for him, and he had a subtle but commanding presence. Years later, when he was scheduled for a session where I was producing a commercial, he arrived forty-five minutes late, was surly, and uninvolved. Someone else had taken over the Jim we knew and loved, and that was the last time I saw him.”
Mark Lindsay, Paul Revere & The Raiders

“I loved Jim Gordon like a brother and am grateful for Joel Selvin’s unstinting notice of Gordon’s luminescence, which adds great leavening to this heartbreaking work of staggering genius.”
Van Dyke Parks

About the Author - Joel Selvin a San Francisco–based music critic and author known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran from 1972 to 2009. Selvin has written more than 20 books covering various aspects of pop music — including the No. 1 New York Times bestseller Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock with Sammy Hagar — and published articles in Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, Billboard, and Melody Maker.

He has written liner notes for dozens of recorded albums and appeared in countless documentaries. His most recent books are Sly and the Family Stone: An Oral History and Hollywood Eden: Electric Guitars, Fast Cars and the Myth of the California Paradise

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