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Okay, book review time, though I am currently in a state of moderate crazy and stress, so this will be more pointilistic than not. So: going over ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lupabitch's book on animal magic.
lupabitch described this book within my hearing as "a book about animal magic that isn't just a totem dictionary", and that is, in fact, accurate to what it is. The subjects are covered conversationally, with an extensively personal style; while each of them primarily deals with the basics of the subject, the tone is one that presumes the reader is a competent magician who has the skills and is looking for a means to apply them rather than at 101 level. It is very practical in outlook: taking each idea, laying out its basic conceptual structure, and then putting forth several things that can be done with that idea. I get the impression that Lupa figures that once people have these ideas and concepts laid out, they'll be able to develop them into whatever works best for their practice; my experience with the book was very much that I would get a new angle on a familiar concept, or even a new concept, look at her exploration of it, and immediately find ways that my own work could use these tools. The book is, for the most part, blessedly free of prefabricated rituals and 'now, go do this' step-by-step instructions; a short set of appendices has one ritual and some similar supplementary material, as well as a short list of animal charities. The book also has extensive footnoting with other resources and reference material.
The first chapter deals with totemism, as the most ... popular, I guess? Branch of animal magic. Much of this material will, of course, be familiar to most people who have dabbled in this branch of magical theory, though it still holds a few angles that I am still mulling over -- specifically, the acknowledgement of heirarchy of relevance among totems and forming temporary relationships with animal totems and spirits (which latter is a big 'Duh!' but which I've never seen recognised as being part of this magical continuity), and animal spirits that deal with portions of the self rather than the whole thing.
And from there we venture into rarely-covered territory. The chapter on familiars was interesting in the abstract, but I found myself wishing for more specific detail about Lupa's process of bonding with Tatzel, exploring that relationship, and determining what each could do for the other magically. The more symbiotic sharing of energy types and natures was much clearer to me, however. The invocation/evocation chapter continues the energy signature work, covering material that will at least be familiar to many magical practitioners in a manner specific to working with animals and animal spirits (some of this stuff was actually part of what Ted Andrews covered in his shapeshifting lecture at PantheaCon, as his shapeshift ritual was partially invocatory). This chapter dips into things related to chaos magic when dealing with questions of dealing with mythological, fictional, and supermarket tabloid beasties, and covers some of the issues in working with these.
The chaos magic thread continues in the chapter on creating animals, which is frankly one of those things that would never have occurred to me. This is similar to what I have read on constructing servitors and thoughtforms in chaos magic, and shows its roots; at the same time, it expands on what I've seen there and deals with things specific to animal constructs. I have constructed temporary thoughtforms in animal or constructed-animal shape in the past, generally as message runners, but never thought to expand this into something more well-developed and solid. This is an area that I intend to explore further, after some consultation with my domovoi, who I believe has legitimate say in what sorts of spirits and magical beings are going to be hanging about the house.
The chapter on shapeshifting covers a great deal I'm familiar with; it also touches on the therian and otherkin communities as people who are extensively interested in such work, and the reasons for same. Lupa discussed a form of multiple aspecting as a magical practice, with individual animal work for each aspect, that I think would be of interest to those who are dealing with forms of multiplicity that have an effect on their magic. (Two of my aspects have strong totemic bonds; I suspect Stormy may qualify as fully therian, and Silver is leonine.)
The concluding chapters of the book are dealing with fairly controversial material: working with animal parts and animal sacrifice. Lupa writes extensively of her work with the spirits of the bones, pelts, and other parts that she works with in her art, including a bit of nagging from Anpu about proper respect for their deaths. She also discusses the sorts of personality and essence that she has found in the animal relics that she has worked with, and how she attempts to shape what she does with them into something that they find acceptable. This chapter includes a few practical points of crafting with animal relics in addition to the esoterica. The chapter on sacrifice is partially written by a guest author, and largely covers the historical practice thereof with acknowledgement of modern pagans who do, in fact, have the resources to do animal sacrifice as is appropriate within their traditions. I imagine some people will be distressed or offended by the inclusion of these concepts, but it is undeniable that they are a part of animal magical work in the world, sometimes overlapping with other sections thereof (as in Lupa's use of a hide to aid her shapeshifting/invocatory dance with Wolf).
Overall: an excellently broad-based coverage of the subject of animal magic, covering more material than I have seen in other resources with sufficient basic grounding that a competent practitioner can take it and go somewhere useful with it. Does not presume overmuch about the paradigmatic approach of the reader. Includes discussion of reasonable and common concerns with each branch of animal magic as well as suggestions of what can be done with it.
Notes on the publication quality for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
teriel and lupabitch: the binding appears to be good. The text is slightly too large and widely spaced for me to read it comfortably, though I adapted as I went along. The inner margins were perhaps a little too small, with the text vanishing into the curve of the page unless I held the book open slightly more than I'm comfortable doing (I was chastised firmly as a child for breaking the spines of books). There was some weird, weird punctuation stuff early on -- things like two commas separated by a space in sentences, or similar with periods, though I didn't notice any of those sorts of errors in the later portions of the book.
lupabitch's book on animal magic.lupabitch described this book within my hearing as "a book about animal magic that isn't just a totem dictionary", and that is, in fact, accurate to what it is. The subjects are covered conversationally, with an extensively personal style; while each of them primarily deals with the basics of the subject, the tone is one that presumes the reader is a competent magician who has the skills and is looking for a means to apply them rather than at 101 level. It is very practical in outlook: taking each idea, laying out its basic conceptual structure, and then putting forth several things that can be done with that idea. I get the impression that Lupa figures that once people have these ideas and concepts laid out, they'll be able to develop them into whatever works best for their practice; my experience with the book was very much that I would get a new angle on a familiar concept, or even a new concept, look at her exploration of it, and immediately find ways that my own work could use these tools. The book is, for the most part, blessedly free of prefabricated rituals and 'now, go do this' step-by-step instructions; a short set of appendices has one ritual and some similar supplementary material, as well as a short list of animal charities. The book also has extensive footnoting with other resources and reference material.The first chapter deals with totemism, as the most ... popular, I guess? Branch of animal magic. Much of this material will, of course, be familiar to most people who have dabbled in this branch of magical theory, though it still holds a few angles that I am still mulling over -- specifically, the acknowledgement of heirarchy of relevance among totems and forming temporary relationships with animal totems and spirits (which latter is a big 'Duh!' but which I've never seen recognised as being part of this magical continuity), and animal spirits that deal with portions of the self rather than the whole thing.
And from there we venture into rarely-covered territory. The chapter on familiars was interesting in the abstract, but I found myself wishing for more specific detail about Lupa's process of bonding with Tatzel, exploring that relationship, and determining what each could do for the other magically. The more symbiotic sharing of energy types and natures was much clearer to me, however. The invocation/evocation chapter continues the energy signature work, covering material that will at least be familiar to many magical practitioners in a manner specific to working with animals and animal spirits (some of this stuff was actually part of what Ted Andrews covered in his shapeshifting lecture at PantheaCon, as his shapeshift ritual was partially invocatory). This chapter dips into things related to chaos magic when dealing with questions of dealing with mythological, fictional, and supermarket tabloid beasties, and covers some of the issues in working with these.
The chaos magic thread continues in the chapter on creating animals, which is frankly one of those things that would never have occurred to me. This is similar to what I have read on constructing servitors and thoughtforms in chaos magic, and shows its roots; at the same time, it expands on what I've seen there and deals with things specific to animal constructs. I have constructed temporary thoughtforms in animal or constructed-animal shape in the past, generally as message runners, but never thought to expand this into something more well-developed and solid. This is an area that I intend to explore further, after some consultation with my domovoi, who I believe has legitimate say in what sorts of spirits and magical beings are going to be hanging about the house.
The chapter on shapeshifting covers a great deal I'm familiar with; it also touches on the therian and otherkin communities as people who are extensively interested in such work, and the reasons for same. Lupa discussed a form of multiple aspecting as a magical practice, with individual animal work for each aspect, that I think would be of interest to those who are dealing with forms of multiplicity that have an effect on their magic. (Two of my aspects have strong totemic bonds; I suspect Stormy may qualify as fully therian, and Silver is leonine.)
The concluding chapters of the book are dealing with fairly controversial material: working with animal parts and animal sacrifice. Lupa writes extensively of her work with the spirits of the bones, pelts, and other parts that she works with in her art, including a bit of nagging from Anpu about proper respect for their deaths. She also discusses the sorts of personality and essence that she has found in the animal relics that she has worked with, and how she attempts to shape what she does with them into something that they find acceptable. This chapter includes a few practical points of crafting with animal relics in addition to the esoterica. The chapter on sacrifice is partially written by a guest author, and largely covers the historical practice thereof with acknowledgement of modern pagans who do, in fact, have the resources to do animal sacrifice as is appropriate within their traditions. I imagine some people will be distressed or offended by the inclusion of these concepts, but it is undeniable that they are a part of animal magical work in the world, sometimes overlapping with other sections thereof (as in Lupa's use of a hide to aid her shapeshifting/invocatory dance with Wolf).
Overall: an excellently broad-based coverage of the subject of animal magic, covering more material than I have seen in other resources with sufficient basic grounding that a competent practitioner can take it and go somewhere useful with it. Does not presume overmuch about the paradigmatic approach of the reader. Includes discussion of reasonable and common concerns with each branch of animal magic as well as suggestions of what can be done with it.
Notes on the publication quality for
teriel and lupabitch: the binding appears to be good. The text is slightly too large and widely spaced for me to read it comfortably, though I adapted as I went along. The inner margins were perhaps a little too small, with the text vanishing into the curve of the page unless I held the book open slightly more than I'm comfortable doing (I was chastised firmly as a child for breaking the spines of books). There was some weird, weird punctuation stuff early on -- things like two commas separated by a space in sentences, or similar with periods, though I didn't notice any of those sorts of errors in the later portions of the book.
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Besides, I miss some of the tricks I used to pull with bat-totem work.
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I'm really glad you liked it overall! This is the kind of response that makes me really happy--not just "Ooooh, shiny" but "Ooooh, shiny, and I can apply this here, and here..." If you do anything fun with the ideas, feel free to let me know--I've had people tell me they wanted to experiment further, but not many folks have gotten back to me on what exactly they did (and I'm always curious to see how people interpret things!)
And thank you for taking he time to review it :)
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From:
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And certainly you may link. 'Tis a public post and all.