Well, it took some time to get this book so I could review it for you all, and I’m glad it did. This was one book that the wait was worth it.
In the interest of full disclosure, I believe I know Cat from way back. Back in the early 00’s, I was part of and an administrator on many pagan boards, among them “Druid” which was a Yahoo! group that had (insert gasps here) druids on it. We talked about nearly everything. At the time I was known as Daven and I learned a lot of what I now hold dear in my life there, and a lot of my attitudes were gelled from things I felt, rather than knew. I believe I met Cat there and we swapped lots of debates.
Time passes and life intervened and we grew apart. I left the group and she did her thing. I’m glad that she wrote this book so I could become reacquainted with my friend.
That said, this is one book that you need to read. It’s not a book that you need to re-read, but one that you should read at least once. It is one Druid’s tale of her journey, and it is all personal introspection and thoughts on life in general. This honestly reads like a series of articles that were written as part of a website, very similar to my website in fact.
This doesn’t detract from the value of the work, however. It redefines it. Instead of telling us how she came to this point, the basics of Druidry and her personal path, she tells us insights into concepts you get from other works, introspective moments that made her think, and how it changed her feelings on a topic and other such items.
In short this book reads like it was the private journal of a Druid who is writing for the next generation of Druids. And this is the point of this book.
Given this thrust, I think this book rates as 4 stars out of 5, an outstanding supplement to other books on druidism. There’s nothing really wrong with it, but this is not one to pick up if you need a book telling you about the liturgy and the processes. It’s more a book to continue your studies and one to have to show how to live your Druid path day to day.
~review by Erin
Author: Cat Treadwell
Moon Books, 2012
http://www.moon-books.net/books/druids-tale-a
