[Copyleft 1993 Ceci Henningsson.]
I've been to Stockholm again, and now it's review time again. The
first book is:

DATA:
Author:    Murry Hope
Title:     Practical Celtic Magic
Subtitle:  A working guide to the magical heritage of the Celtic races
Publisher: Aquarian Press, an Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
           77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB, UK
ISBN:      0-85030-624-8
Price:     GBP 7.99, AUD 19.95, SEK 138.00
Form:      Soft cover 
Other works by the same author include:
           Practical Atlantean Magic
           Practical Egyptian Magic
           Practical Greek Magic
           Practical Techniques of Psychic Self-Defense
           Essential Woman
           Olympus
Summary:   Good for people with a lot of prior experience in the field.

This is a very British book about occultism. There are many references
to "these isles" and British folk customs.

The book is aptyly divided into three parts:
   Historical, oral and mythological sources
   Religious, magical and traditional beliefs
   Celtic magic for today's world

In the first part Hope goes into some detail about where inspiration
for a Celtic occultism can be found in writing, in folk customs and in
archeological sites. There's talk about the different kinds of Celts,
about how they look(ed) and dressed and how they came to the British
isles.

The second part is about Celtic religion. Hope discusses many of the
Celtic deities, and even traces a genealogy of them. Next the
Arthurian mythos and the significance of the Grail are discussed. Then
comes the reason I bought the book, a review of Druidic beliefs,
magical alphabets (including Ogham) and calenders. This part ends with
a chapter about the significance of music and dancing in Celtic magic.

The last part contains many and long passages of quoted poetry. There
are directions for working with the Celtic deities, the Arthurian
saga, tree magic, magical quatrains and music, and of course a section
about visits to the fairylands. There are no explicit instructions
("Find a place where you will not be interrupted..."), but a skilled
occultist can probably find a lot of inspiration in these pages.

The book ends with a bibliography and an index.

So what do I think? Well, on the plus side, I must admit that most of
Hope's scholarship seems to hold water. In addition to that she
actually states where she quotes from in some detail, and I think that
the bibliography could prove useful. All in all the book is a fairly
good introduction to practical Celtic magic, if, and only if, you have
rather a lot of occult experience beforehand. This is not a book for a
newbie.

What I liked the least about the book, are the author's opinions about
other people's life-style, including one place (page 220) where she
more or less states that gay people can't practise fairy magic. I
suppose that when I've read the book a couple more times, I will find
it easier to ignore her opinions, and just take what I like from
it. Another minus side is the way Hope talks about Atlantis as if it
was a proven fact that it had existed, and the same goes for the
Biblical flood. 

All in all, it's an interesting read.

Snivelling blessings,
--Ceci