Is the community crying out for another Pagan 101 book? Some publishers evidently think that newbies are an endlessly spending market. (Which may be true.) Exploring the Pagan Path, with its gorgeous cover showing a path through the forest, is a good example of Pagan 101 with additional emphasis on Wicca 101 and Druidry 101, plus appendixes—“speaking Pagan,” a survey of traditions and groups, several “top 10” lists, and the customary list of resources. Although some chapters—like “Finding Your Path” and “Magical Manifestation of Energy Work” (which provides the obligatory tables of correspondences) —would be as current in 1986 as they are in 2006, other chapters are definitely worth reading, especially “Methodology of Study,” which speaks of logic and common sense in history and present day Wicca. Other chapters address crafting ritual tools and rituals, working with a group or being solitary, coming out of the broomcloset, and the roles of social responsibility and politics in pagan lives. Altogether, the book is genial and newbie-friendly. If you know any searchers and seekers “coming home” to paganism, buy this book and give it to them.
A note on the back cover informs us that the authors all donated the proceeds of the book to Ardentane, a nonprofit pagan educational organization based in New Mexico. Several of the authors are also associated with Cherry Hill Seminary.
~review by Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D.
Editor: Kristin Madden
New Page, 2005
pp. 316, $15.99
