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Title: Green Magic: The Sacred Connection to Nature by Aoumiel, Ann Moura ISBN: 0-7387-0181-5 Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.29 (7 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Great for beginners...
Comment: I loved the Green Witchcraft series, but that was about four years ago. Since then I've read *many* other books (about 75 in my now five years of study) and have had my own experiences with magic in that time. I had genuinely expected a continuation of the Green Witchcraft books with a more indepth look at magic of the Green Witch. What I got was a dull rehashing of what I've read in most of the books that I consider Wicca 101 material that made me just about fall asleep in the first few *pages* - seriously.
If you're just starting out, this is a *great* book for looking at magic. But, as the author says, much of it is the same as presented in the Green Witchcraft series - so if you've read those, is there really a point to reading this one? For someone that's read a lot already or has been practicing a long time, it's just the same old stuff rewritten and will most likely make you want to return it for a refund.
And, as a side note: Is it just me, or is Ms. Moura just playing off the success of her Green Witchcraft I & II with all her other "Green" books?
Rating: 5
Summary: Lots of Useable Information
Comment: This book is a gentle, straight-forward presentation of a family-taught magical tradition. It includes a Craft heritage of magical conduct rules, energy points, energy movement, and spell crafting based on a distinctive set of spell types different from what you would learn in a typical course on Wicca. The author makes a distinction between Wicca and Witchcraft while also showing how they interrelate, and she elaborates on her personal practice in an easy to follow manner. She doesn't claim to have the "one true way" but is putting into print what she has learned so others can use this in their own practice. It is this moderate approach that makes the vitriolic, and even slanderous, review by Leslie Akers so offensive-like sneeringly changing the "i" to a pretentious "y" in "Craftwise" as though Moura had done this, which she had not. Moura says she is a third generation Witch that she knows of and explains a little about how the practices of her mother and grandmother were kept hidden from the public by their use of Catholic references. Akers seizes upon this to misrepresent her words, revealing that reviewer's personal sense of inadequacy: "like you and I, she chose to be a witch...she is a first generation witch." Contrary to what Akers insinuates, Moura doesn't talk about "folk traditions" but she does talk about a family heritage and the use of spells and how to move energy. She also includes a refreshing theory about how magic works psychologically, based on how the mind processes information. It was a real eye-opener to learn that everything we think of as happening now is actually past tense because of the time it takes for the information to get through our brains. Knowing this can help you to change the future by using the subconscious input to direct the conscious reactions! But Akers is especially angry about her Celtic-Iberian heritage (from Galicia in Northwestern Spain) and even does a diatribe on her "possible" backgrounds! She doesn't say she has no clue about her heritage, only that she won't allude to people she is not certain about, but she has enough information to make an assumption or two. I think it's pretty honest when someone is willing to limit their background talk to the essentials instead of going off about how they are related to some historic figure or an ancient priestess sect somewhere in the dim past. She sounds very practical and grounded in the here and now-good for her! Just look at the other reviews posted by Akers-4 in one day!-and the axes being ground to a nub become clear, and the true personal demons that underpin the obvious anger are revealed: "the Neo-Pagan or Wiccan or whatever community...these people just make up stuff and pass it off as traditional or ancient...they don't respect the folkways of the people they are ripping off...As a person of Celtic origins (Scot, Irish, Welsh) I am tired of these windbags using my heritage to make money." So that's what this is all about-Akers is the-one-true-Celt! Akers mentions a review done on a Moura book (Origins), and says her other book is "based in 19th century colonial imperialism, not to mention racism". In that book, what she really says is that the Celts trace back to
India-and it was nineteenth century racism that kept this connection out of the mainstream until only recently. The other remark Akers makes about the Rom Gypsy) flamenco thing is a little misleading since flamenco evolved from a combined heritage that includes Andalusian Gypsy (in Southern Spain), Arabic/Moorish, and the chant form of India--so the Roms of Eastern Europe don't do flamenco since that branch didn't travel the same route as the Gypsies who settled in Andalusia. Akers' remark about her use of "el" in her Craft Name is stunning: "El is a Hebrew God and has no place in any Celtic or Indian or Brazilian pantheon." She doesn't say this is a deity in her pantheon, but she uses it as a word for "God"-which it is-to show that "God" is both God and Goddess. It's a Craft Name, not the religion. Akers is so busy sniping at shadows that the wonders of the book are overlooked. The Green Magic book sticks to the topic of the title and focuses on magical workings without any hang-ups over rituals, trappings, and fussing over ancestors. She tells what she was taught, and gives her readers just the unembellished facts-and that's what makes this book so useful! It's a great read and it's a book that finally goes beyond the usual introductory level.
Rating: 2
Summary: Her personal take on Witchcraft or Wicca
Comment: Green magic is Anna Moura's personal take on Witchcraft. If you like her personal take that's great. Use whatever makes you happy.
However, one should cast a dubious eye on a person that claims her personal take is the basis for all Witchcraft. All Earth-based religions such as Druidism and Wicca and Witchcraft teach a reverence for the Earth. That's theoretically what makes them different from the main stream religions of the Western culture (i.e. Christianity, Judaism, & Islam.) So like nothing new there.
On one hand Ms. Moura claims to be a third generation "craftwyse" person, but then says she has distanced herself from her mother's religion. In other words, like you and I, she chose to be a witch. Therefore she is a first generation witch. Good for her! Why do we need to fudge our religious heritage. It just looks better on the resume, huh?
I knew many people when I was growing up, who were Catholics, who didn't go to church and they had their own family and folk traditions from Lithuania, Latvia, Latin America, Spain, the American Southwest, Italy, Ireland. This did not make them witches. There are many people of Catholic and Protestant background that read the Tarot, know astrology, delve into spiritism (the communication with the dead), but don't consider themselves witches. They consider themselves Christians.
Ms. Moura cannot, and freely admits this, really tell you were her "witchy" heritage comes from. She has a Portugese Brazilian grandmother, but says there is a Celtic-Iberian heritage. First of all, many people have ended up in the Iberian peninsula of Spain. Not just Celts. Ms. Moura connects these Celtic-Iberians (and thus her heritage) to the Indus Valley in other of her books (a theory based in 19th century colonial imperialism, not to mention racism). Brazil is also a country of wild constrasts and a mix of religions. Her heritage could be Candomble (Brazilian Voodoo) or any other mixture of native traditions with European, Spanish, and African. It could be Romany in nature. The Rom came out of the Sind in India in the Western Middle Ages, and yes, they traveled all over Europe including Spain, where they gave us Flamenco dancing, among other things.
For a person who wants to lose her Judeo-Christian Catholic roots the "el" in her balance name is very odd. El as in Daniel, Gabriel, Raphael, Michael. El is a Hebrew God and has no place in any Celtic or Indian or Brazilian pantheon.
So basically Ms. Moura's take on Witchcraft is no better or worse than any other personal take on Witchcraft. If you like it, enjoy it.
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Title: Green Witchcraft II: Balancing Light & Shadow by Aoumiel, Ann Moura ISBN: 1567186890 Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 February, 1999 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Green Witchcraft III: The Manual by Ann Moura ISBN: 1567186882 Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 March, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Grimoire for the Green Witch: A Complete Book of Shadows by Ann Moura ISBN: 0738702870 Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Green Witchcraft: Folk Magic, Fairy Lore & Herb Craft by Aoumiel, Ann Mooura ISBN: 1567186904 Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Tarot for the Green Witch by Aoumiel, Ann Moura ISBN: 0738702889 Publisher: Llewellyn Publications Pub. Date: 01 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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