Most of what I'm given to review for Facing North falls into one of two categories: introduction to <something... witchcraft, tarot, or similar> or extremely focused works on single, narrow subjects (think of the Pagan Portals series, for example). There's absolutely nothing wrong with either of these fields, but it has left me wondering every now and then if this is all there is? Fortunately I'm at least evolved enough to know that the inside of my skull is not the entirety of the world, but still... is this all that there is? And then, something like A Feral Church: A Guided Journey to Find Magic, Kinship, and the Goddess flashes across the sky and reminds me that, no, there's still a vast, strange universe out there to be examined in enumerable ways. I can hear your thoughts. "Cute, Wanderer, but what does that mean?"
What it means is that H. Byron Ballard is a heck of a writer. Her purpose in A Feral Church is to present a series of meditations meant to take you through an entire year, from solstice to solstice to solstice, stopping along the way to consider each position in the wheel of the year and, more generally, to broaden our perspectives to stretch beyond the boundaries we normally observe.
The structure of the book itself is unusual but hardly difficult to understand. Ballard takes us through a single year, beginning at the first creaking light of the Winter Solstice and then all the way around. The number of chapters doesn't perfectly align with the (traditionally observed) esbats and sabbats, but it's easy enough to map them out. The author sets up a guiding principle for the chapter, and then takes us by the hand through a guided meditation that explores ... well, many things, but with some emphasis on the chapter's thesis at least. I say "guided meditation" but unless you've got the audiobook (which I did not, alas) I think the better way to approach this would be to read a chapter a few times to get comfortable with it, and then set it aside and take yourself through the meditation - even if you don't put your feet down exactly where the author directed you to, well, that's half the point of the book, really, to see beyond what's set before you and to explore what's past. I didn't do this myself but in retrospect I think I'd enjoy recording a chapter in my own voice and then working with that. Fortunately, I'll have time. I don't think that this is a book you should just knock down in a few intense sittings. Or, at least, know thyself: if you're someone who will happily return to material that you've already read, then by all means eat it all up. Ballard is an evocative writer and you'll probably find yourself caught up in these very purpose-crafted journeys. Otherwise, I'd read no more than a chapter or two ahead, to prepare yourself for what's immediately coming up, and then save the discovery of the book itself as part of the exploration that you are encouraged to indulge.
This is an easy book to recommend, although I'm not sure if it's for literally everybody. While there aren't any particularly "intensive" portions of the The Feral Church, one of its purposes is to nurture the reader/participant's relationship with the Goddess, and I'm not sure this is how I'd want to introduce a newcomer to this sort of work. That said, there's nothing here that would be dangerous to a newcomer, merely confusing or opaque. Again, know thyself: if you love diving into the deep end, well, grab your floaties! Ballard's sequence of meditations is likely to help any reader come out a more enlightened and self-aware practitioner than when they began.
~review by Wanderer
Author: H. Byron Ballard
Llewellyn Publishing, 2025
256pp, $18.99
