In our Grove library sits a small, but growing section of Almanacs. Of course you may question why anyone would want to read out of date almanacs. Or why we would want almanacs set for the Northern Hemisphere. They are good questions.
The answer is that you totally ignore the calendar parts of the Almanacs. The 4 different Llewellyn almanacs that are on offer all have very insightful articles on pagan life.
The Magical Almanac contains articles on “Practical Magic for Everyday Living.” They are laid out in sections relating to the 4 elements – Earth, Air, Fire and Water. This means there are pieces about soap making in the Water section and articles talking about food and kitchen witchery in the Earth sections.
The Witches Companion is again divided into 4 sections.
- Community Forum with essays comparing Eclectic Wicca with Traditional Wicca, or discussing community issues like children, elders and coming across pagans we might not personally like.
- Witchy Living has articles about day-to-day practice of paganism.
- Witchcraft Essentials looks at different witchy practices, rituals and spells. This isn’t as cheesy as it sounds. The 2014 edition has an article called ‘Solitude and Quiet: Important Tools for the Magical Partitioner’ which urges you to take a break form the busy world we live in.
- The last section is Magical Transformations – Everything old is new again. I can’t really work out what these articles seem to fit into, other than they seem to look at a variation of different views in paganism including looking into specific deities. There is also a good piece in the 2015 edition about why myth matters, for all those Bards out there.
The Sabbats Almanac is sectioned into the 8 seasonal Sabbats. Within each Sabbat there is an initial article about the season and then articles related to the following: Cosmic Sway, The Old Ways, Feasts and Treats, Crafty Crafts, All One Family, and a Ritual suggestion.
The Herbal Almanac contains 5 sections – Growing and Gathering Herbs, Culinary Herbs, Herbs for Health and Beauty, Herb Crafts and Herb History, Myth, and Lore. These are great little articles to help get you started on using and understanding herb use. However, word of warning, these have not been checked over by our resident herbalist and you should always check your sources, especially before digesting herbs.
The articles in these books range from a couple of pages to 7 or 8 pages long. So next time you arrive early to a ritual, and you have spare moment, please check out this section and read some articles. Let us know if they spark off any thought provoking ideas worth discussing in a blog post!
– Mary
Under the Summer Stars 