Wild Magical Soul: Untame Your Spirit Connect to Natures Wisdom by Monica Crosson

Wild Magical Soul: Untame Your Spirit Connect to Natures Wisdom Reviews

• 
  Anna

  Though it was certainly far from the best, and definitely fell into many of the same pitfalls as other books that claim to be about "the Wilds", it's been a very long time since I could say I've actually been happy with anything anyone's written on the topic- least of all from a Pagan standpoint. Fortunately Mrs. Crosson's made it onto the list ... That being said the book was, of course, far from perfect. And what issues there were, are issues I tend not to take lightly.
  
  For instance, there's the constant use of feminine and womb, mother earth goddess imagery in regards to the Earth- which is unfortunately so incredibly pervasive in Paganism everywhere one looks. It isn't necessarily a problem if you're into that, but personally Earth-as-Mother rhetoric makes my skin crawl, makes me uncomfortable, and makes me nauseous; I don't resonate with it, and spiritually it makes me feel disgusting. So if you're likewise someone nauseated by the image of the round pregnant mother earth and "water womb" speak, you'll have some discomfort reading this book. If you're not, you'll probably be very happy with this element.
  
  A more important (and prevalent) annoyance was the hyperromanticization of Indigenous people- which is sadly also a common problem in American texts in particular which profess to be "earth centered". But as Professor Iain Provan does a good job debunking in his book
  Convenient Myths, these images of the "naturally and supernaturally intuned native" are nothing more than falsehoods that should be shed; at this point I believe Professor Provan's book should be mandatory reading for anyone seeking to follow Earth Based paths of any kind, if for no other reason as to help put this myth to rest finally and bring about a more properly authentic view of our connection to the Earth throughout history. We do no one any favors (and in fact continue to do quite a lot of harm) by holding onto these myths.
  
  What I truly don't understand about Mrs. Crosson, though, is how someone could be aware enough not to use "totem", and to instead use terms such as "Power Animal"... But at the same time be so unaware as to continue to use the word "Smudge" and teach people how to make "smudge bundles" and "smudge sticks" (or, as she calls them at another point, "Smudges") themselves- let alone from herbs that have nothing to do with Smudging at all; Smudging is not for white folks at all ---- not that what white folks consider "smudging" is actually smudging 90% of the time, anyways. But neither are their "Totems", and yet we're finally getting people to understand the asininity of that. Please do stretch yourself a little bit further to understand that Smudging and other Native Practices (especially not bastardized white understandings of them) are not for you, and stop it.
  
  Spell and correspondence wise in this work... There really isn't much to say, honestly. It's your fairly standard NeoPagan stuff. Stuff you could probably get anywhere, really. It was fairly unimpressive, and there wasn't really anything unique or very miraculous about any of it. Then again, I also don't practice Witchcraft at all these days (and certainly not the Eclectic NeoPagan form of it that's so popular in the modern mainstream). So I still wouldn't've gotten any use out of it if it had actually been.
  
  More annoying in regards to the correspondences and what not, though, was a reiteration of the annoyingly pervasive ideology that Sea Salt + Water = Ocean Water... It does not, I'm sorry to say. And it never will. Furthermore, the concept of "recharging" sea shells is an asinine one; your crystals and shells do not need to be "recharged" (unless you are speaking purely of recharging the specific energies you yourself put into them, and not their natural and innate energies- but that is not what Mrs. Crosson is talking about here, from what I understood). They'd probably also appreciate it if you stopped cleansing them every 5 seconds and just let them just exist as they properly are. After all, what's the point of using them in your stuff, otherwise, if their naturally energy is supposedly the point in the first place in many a case?
  
  Likewise, the constant checklists of Deities and Spirits with instructions to "work with" or "get to know" each for x problem, as if they were correspondence items- especially from cultures one should definitely not be playing with at all (Native American spirits should always be off the list, I'm sorry); Gods and Spirits aren't Pokemon to collect, or correspondences to add to spells, and I wish that was one mentality which NeoPagans and their weird constant desire for unhinged eclecticism would finally do away with. And yet, here it is in this book still.
  
  One thing I was incredibly happy with, however, was the practical elements of setting up bird habitats, and the like; it's these scientifically minded elements, these true environmentalist elements which move beyond the magical and into the mundane, which make this book shine for me. Predominantly because it is rare to see such a perfect blend- let alone a Pagan text which even cares more than painting lipservice or giving you a bunch of ra-ra RadFem nonsense.
  
  I also particularly loved the inclusion of references and a bibliography. By now most people who see my reviews are probably aware of what an absolute friggin whore I am for a good bibliography. And while Wild Magical Souls' isn't exactly great by any means, the the author did still include one. More, they actually sourced the majority of their scientific and similar claims (such as those relating to the impact of nature on our mental health); this genuinely shouldn't be as impressive and exciting as it is, but here we are. Now if only we could get the rest of the Pagan world to care even this little.
  
  I will say, however, that the statement "it is against the law in many areas to pick wildflowers on public lands, roads, or on private property, and doing so could result in a hefty fine" actually took me by surprise and did strike me as being a bit off when I read it- though I couldn't figure out why. After Googling around a bit to figure it out, however, it's very true; it seems largely to apply to public land- especially in regards to dedicated parks and monuments (whether at a state or national level), highways, and the like; issues regarding private property specifically seem to be more an issue of the legality of trespassing in general, and not necessarily an ecology problem in and of itself, but the Federal Government still maintains illegality in these areas regarding natives ... This could honestly be far better clarified in the book, especially if this is little known.
  
  That being said, I was fairly happy with the fact the author regularly included warnings about the legality (or, rather, illegality) of certain actions such as feather and bone collecting at all as (again) no one ever does; they could have been a bit more in depth- or better clarified, such as in the case of Wildflowers- but the warnings are so rarely actually given that it was refreshing to see them ... There are certainly far better instructions for cleaning bones out there in the world, however, and as someone who's been doing it for decades now I'd really recommend you seek them out. The ones in this book are not quite sufficient if you have a bigger case.
  
  Overall, the first section about Earth is arguably the best chapter in my opinion. After that the book drops off and just... Basically becomes a rehashing of the same stuff aligned to a different element each round; the topics change, and to the author's credit they do feel aligned with the element whose chapter they appear in (a feat most authors don't seem capable of accomplishing; looking at you
  A Witch Alone). But the formula itself is always roughly the same. And after a certain point the author arguably takes to sharing more spells and correspondences than deep thinks and reflections, and I do believe the text suffers for it in the end.
  
  I got quite a few quotes out of it, though, and it did spur some interesting thoughts in areas- which is far more than I can say for the vast majority of Pagan books I read. I also enjoyed the author's tone and writing style; though in some areas it does come across as quite childish, it's very reflective and her flow is almost oceanic in nature- very lulling and pleasant to read. Still, I'm not sure I'd actually recommend this book to anyone in reality. It's not really all that useful a book- and frankly quite a bit less heavy on the "Untame Your Soul" spiel than it conveys itself.
  
  Overall the books is still fairly good for what it is: A personal magical reflection of the Earth and nature; what romanticism there is (and there is, unfortunately, still a lot of it), feels more the romanticism of Neopaganism's general ecocentric nonsense itself, mixing with the nostalgic romanticism of someone who genuinely speaks as if they've truly encountered the Wilds (unlike the utter travesty that is
  The holy Wild). Refreshing, and altogether far too rare.
• 
  Erika

  So, I got this book about a year ago and lost it, then recently found it and finished it up.
  
  What I enjoy most about this book is Monica's writing. She has a way of describing nature through this lens of inspiration and beauty that puts you right in the magic with her. It also had some personal stories with conversation as dialog. This introduces you to her family, often her very young children, allowing you to see, for a brief moment, the world through a young child's eyes and remember that magic we tend to lose as we grow.
  
  The book is divided in sections, separating landscapes by element. Forest and Ocean are the longest with the Forest section being the most complete and in-depth. This is likely because of her own experiences. She lives in the forest and lives a drivable distance to the Ocean. Honestly, I didn't mind the Mountain and Desert sections were short. I don't really 'vibe' with those places in nature and I don't feel like I connected to them any more reading this book (from what I remember-it's been a year since I read those two sections).
  
  For the section on Ocean, I had previously read
  Water Witchcraft: Magic and Lore from the Celtic Tradition, so this section offered very little information I hadn't already known. And the section on the Moon, I had also read the beginning of
  Moon Magic: Your Complete Guide to Harnessing the Mystical Energy of the Moon, which had the same information.
  
  It was an interesting read but wouldn't say it's mandatory. Its strength is Monica's writing, but the same information can be found elsewhere. I suppose her recipes and such are probably unique to this book.
• 
  Juliet White

  This was my kind of book. I loved everything about it.