A Sourcebook of Poems, Hymns, and Invocations from Four Thousand Years of Pagan History
by Barbara Nolan
Thank you to NetGalley, Llewellyn Worldwide, and Llewellyn Publications for an ARC of this book. All opinions in this review are my own.
I really enjoy books like this. They aren’t so much books that you just sit down and read for hours, but more books that you use as reference when you need something, or you might flip through to learn some trivia about a particular event. I personally don’t have anything like this book already in my library, so this is a great addition in this category.
This book takes thousands of years of poetry, hymns, and other collected works that relate to each pagan holiday in a calendar year (along with the rough Gregorian calendar date if possible), as well as some general information about that time period. Each work is preceded by some history of where the piece came from as well, which I find to be that much more meaningful. There are a few celebrations coming up on the pagan calendar I was not aware of, but I am now excited to partake in a celebration appropriate for my home with poetry that resonates.
To be clear, this book is an anthology, and should be used as a resource to any ritual or spiritual event you wish to partake in and need words for in my mind, but it is not the place to go if you want deep information about things like where the Yuletide traditions come from, or what all of the Yuletide traditions are – you will just get some beautiful hymns to utilize. Maybe the final edition of this book will add in more history, or expand on some of these sections, but I don’t feel like it is necessary. This is one of the most unique books I have on my shelf for this type of content, and I am really excited to take advantage of it the rest of this calendar year & moving forward.