The Personal Is The Magical

books:

	• Dreaming the Dark : Magic, Sex, and Politics Starhawk Beacon Press, 1997 - 242 pages average customer review:based on 11 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Brilliant Ecofeminist Book

In this inspiring book, legendary Starhawk combines the wisdom of the women's spirituality movement with anarchism and radical environmentalism. It should be required reading for anyone involved in peace and social justice activism.

Darkness, Magic, and Truth

Enter the mysterious world of magic, sexuality, and the deepest part of yourself. This is the goal of "Dreaming the Dark" by Starhawk, author of the bestselling book "The Spiral Dance", considered essential reading in most Wiccan circles. Picking up where her other books leave off, "Dreaming the Dark" is a guide for putting one's beliefs into practice, an attempt to reach out to a world largely deprived of spiritual experience and reclaim the sacred within and fuse it with political activism.

Starhawk co-founded the Reclaiming Collective, a Wiccan tradition that emphasizes spirituality and political action, and a majority of the text is focus on examining structures of power. She separates power into two categories: "power over" and "power from within" and discusses how such structures have been used throughout history to suppress and control. Magic, as Starhawk defines as "the art and practice of changing consciousness at will", can be teamed with political action to cause effective change in our society and help to preserve what we hold as sacred.

For those unfamiliar with Paganism, "Dreaming the Dark" is the perfect collection of stories, chants, and bits of information that will give the reader and accurate portrayal of Pagan paradigm. Starhawk clearly examines what Witches and Pagans hold sacred, specifically Nature and how it is essential that action is taken for preservation. Beautiful and often poetic descriptions of the Goddess and rituals paint vivid picture of the triumphs and struggles of many in the Pagan movement.

"Dreaming the Dark" is not a book for the faint of heart, but it is necessary. It is challenging yet inspiring and deeply moving. For anyone interested in modern religious movement and especially those interested in politics, it is an essential read. "Dreaming the Dark" is not a book of spells, meditations, or ritual, it is an invitation, a calling to take a stand in the face of injustice and reclaim the whole of our being.

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The Personal Is The Magical

This is the book that made Starhawk's name as the preeminent voice for politically active Wiccans. It is a call to rescue the world while there is still time, recognizing that magic is not contained in any book or ritual, but relies upon the love we put into life.

Why only four stars, then? I met Starhawk and was completely surprised and dismayed to encounter someone whose manner was more akin to Marie Antoinette than a daughter of the Dark. If magic is the manifestation of our lives, this cannot be less the case for how we regard and interact with other people. I worship the Goddess--not the princess.

The story of great analysts, artists, or technicians whose personal way of being in life lessens or even refutes their professed principles, is an old one. Each of us should meditate upon the challenge of never becoming consumed by our "stage presence" or stardom; the urgency of the real work to be done is too great for such poses or pretense.

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Essential Reading

The writing skillfully integrates annecdotes with philosophy and there are exercises useful to any group of pagans. For Starhawk, Witchcraft and environmentalism and activism and gender awareness are natural companions; what Witch doesn't care about the earth and nature? What Witch would not know the power of the individual and of people together? How can anyone who honors the Goddess not strive to be aware of gender politics, sexism, and the power of sex? What Witch would not know the power of will, awareness, perspective? But as natural and integrated as these themes are for her, some traditional Wiccans and other pagans are very hostile about Starhawk. There is a lot for even non-pagans to learn from her, and I think every serious pagan should read her work. If it upsets you - please, ask yourself why; what exactly does she threaten? This book is dated, and the history is only as good as we (all) knew when it was first published, but if you want to understand group dynamics, if you ever wondered if Witches should be political, or environmentalist, or activist, or gender aware - read this book.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

Featuring narrative, chants, songs, and rituals, Dreaming the Dark (100,000 copies sold) brilliantly combines the world of magic and spirituality with the world of political and social change. This fifteenth anniversary edition includes a new preface by the author.

Dreaming the Dark is [Starhawk's] best book; it offers myths of fulfillment, rituals of healing, an unusual but perhaps ultimately pragmatic cultural perspective, and a vision for survival and growth.

--The Bloomsbury Review

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