Sacred Journeys - Stone Circles and Pagan Paths

Kyle Cathie Limited
ISBN: 1-85626-364-9
£12.99

This book really gets down to the essence of Earth Magic, focusing on the various standing stones, stone circles, men-an-tols, cairns, longbarrows, and other sacred sites around Europe. Surprisingly, it is written often in the first-person, and the author often tells of her own experiences at each place. And whilst the book isn't intended to be a traveller's guide (no directions to the places given) it is intended to be a spiritual journey through the various sites, and so the author writes about various ceremonies or rituals she has done or attended at the sites. She also writes of the folklore associated with the sites, such as the belief that women crawling through the hole in a men-an-tol will become pregnant.

Throughout the book is decorated with full colour pictures of all the beautiful sites discussed, and I have often flicked through this book when in need of some pretty images to calm my mind. During the chapters the book explores stone circles, circles and stones by the sea, burial mounds, sacred springs and wells, Avebury, and Glastonbury. It is filled with interesting tidbits of information, folklore, and history, and really inspires the reader to explore the sacred sites around them or make use of the energies of the Earth. It is very Goddess-oriented, which may leave male readers a little out in the cold at times, but all in all it is a wonderful book that is both useful, beautiful and inspirational at the same time.