The Mystical Year: Folklore, Magic and Nature by Alison Davies

The Mystical Year: Folklore, Magic and Nature Reviews

• 
  Anna

  It's really a shame that a book full of so many absolutely stunning illustrations is filled with so much absolutely useless nonsense; when it comes to what's actually inside the book content wise, the gorgeous nature of the illustrations feel quite a bit like attempting to put lipstick on a pig. A way to dress up an otherwise empty coffee table book.
  
  Each chapter walks you through a brief amount of information on the "moon name" ... A "deity" or Neopagan "festival" of the moth ... Crystals and Herbs, and a bird (or some kind of animal) of the Month ... A Tarot Card of the month ... And usually a few spells or activities ... And yet none of them are very good at all.
  
  All of the moon names are from the same standard list pulled from bastardized "Indigenous American" belief (all of which, hilariously enough, while constantly attributed to indigenous Americans, actually comes from European folklore) ... The Gods, when they appear, are all from completely random cultures, pulled with your typical lack of legitimate rhyme or reason- and very little real understanding of their actual nature or the beliefs surrounding them (let alone the parent cultures to which they belong) ... And the correspondences are from the same substandard books on correspondences found practically everywhere else, with nothing particularly new or interesting said about anything (let alone any comprehension of the differences of how they should actually be used for each purpose in half the cases).
  
  Some chapters also include various "customs and traditions", "superstitions", and "sayings" provided. And of course absolutely all of them are provided with none of the proper context needed to actually understand any of them on any proper level. Worse, they're presented with over half of the information just conveniently missing entirely; for instance, in the section on the month of January, she never mentions why the dish "Black Eyed Peas and Greens" is eaten on New Years, even on a mythologized level- nor that this is specifically an American southern tradition which is prominent mostly among the impoverished rural and African American populations of the region; very convenient to leave that information out, indeed, as per usual.
  
  Additional information like "Moon Phases" or the little blurbs about the seasons, or the "Wiccan Rede" make zero sense in half the spaces they're slapped into, and seem hap-dashedly thrown in there just for the sake of bulking things up so that the author had a measly bit more content with which to pad out an otherwise paltry book. But regardless of chapter or topic, all of the information provided is typically in the form of one tiny little paragraph- and that's it. That's all the information you really get.
  
  Everything in here is so unbelievably shallow, and lacks any real amount of depth, or interest, let alone nuance- just as Eclectic NeoPaganism itself generally tends to overall (and it really is a stock standard Eclectic NeoPagan text down to the T) ... Not to mention how it toes an incredibly thin line close to appropriation, and, at bare minimum, absolutely participates in the cultural whitewashing of information presented.
  
  Save your money. The book's worthless, on top of the kindle formatting itself generally being atrocious to try and read. You can find far better info elsewhere in every regard, I promise.
• 
  Mateicee

  Wunderschöne Illustrationen, ich habe selten ein Buch mit so schönen Zeichnungen gehabt.
  
  Leider ist das auch so ziemlich das einzig Positive. Das Buch soll einem für jeden Monat Mythen und Bräuche nennen, etwas aufklären. So hat in jedem Monat z.B. der Mond einen anderen Namen und es wird erklärt wo dieser herkommt. Leider beschränken sich die Informationen auf max. 1 Seite, bei einem A5 DIN Buch. Die Informationsdichte ist somit sehr niedrig was ich schade finde. Ich hätte mir gerne mehr Informationen gewünscht.
• 
  308fairy

  Ein wunderschön illustriertes Buch, die Zeichnungen sind wirklich sehr schön und anspreched. Inhaltlich fand ich das Buch jedoch sehr "flach" gehalten; es enthält pro Monat kurze Erklärungen zu Monden, Kristallen, Bräuchen etc - jedoch fehlten mir teilweise mehr Infos zum tieferen Verständnis. Zudem sind leider nicht alle gemachten Angaben korrekt...
  
  Ich bin ehrlich gesagt etwas enttäuscht von dem Buch, ich hatte mir mehr erhofft. Es ist ganz nett gestaltet und inhaltlich "okay", aber ich würde es nicht noch einmal kaufen.
• 
  Lisa

  This is a beautifully presented small hardback, that is illustrated throughout by Anastasia Stefurak. It covers exactly what is says on the books cover. It is divided into the twelve months. Each month then starts with a quote and each month has a paragraph or two on the following :- Moon of the month, Deity of the Month, Crystal of the month, Herb of the Month, Tarot Card of the Month, Bird of the Month etc and the occasional spell here and there. It would make an excellent gift being both informative and pretty. I only gave it three stars as I would have liked a little more detail but I am glad I read it.
  
  
  
• 
  Karin

  This was a little mystical book that I enjoyed, mainly because of the beautiful illustrations, colours, poems and overall design.
  I think, in terms of the actual facts and information, the book could've been a bit better. But for me, the design really pushed for the ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating.
  
  I got fairly inspired by some some spells and I would like to try some out. I liked the simplicity of the chosen spells: Aphrodite's apple spell, Juno's money spell, Sunna's morning spell, letting go of bad habits & rowan tree protection spell! 🧿
  I feel like I want to try deep-cleaning in February, so I can "get the old out" and then visit flowing water somewhere nearby. In May I can try to focus on flowers and "the new life". Like always, autumn will be time for changes.. and my birthday!!
  
  Something I just figured out while reading this book was that all the animals (horses, owls, bunnies, wolves, ravens and other birds etc.) that I've taken a strong liking to or had a little obsession with, were animals that people associate with certain things and they were all present in this mystical book. The world has interesting ways..
  
  I think it would be beneficial for me to also buy and plant a few herbs in our garden that were mentioned in the book. I could use them or they could be just pretty. I was thinking of rosemary and thyme, since my sister <3 already brought 'the best mint in the world' and we planted it. I even named it Lilit 💚
• 
  Matheus

  Amei como a Darkside trouxe um livro menos atrelado a tradições neopagãs e com mais conteúdo folclórico. A maioria das práticas são bem básicas, mas achei que tem uma linguagem ótima e que pode ser lido por qualquer pessoa, até quem não tá acostumada com Magia.
  
  É um pouco confuso associar as práticas mensais com os meses aqui no Brasil, por ser um livro escrito no hemisfério Norte e seguir a roda de lá. Mas acho que pode ser um bom guia para estruturar sua própria prática sazonal.
  
  Gostei como as lunações foram explicadas e principalmente por sinalizar de onde elas surgiram. Acho que isso é muito importante pra entender como estruturar as práticas pessoais aqui no Hemisfério Sul também, porque várias lunações são baseadas em coisas não muito tradicionais em um país tropical como o Brasil.
  
  Num geral, é um livro que pode ajudar a entender como as práticas regionais são e dar um Norte pra estruturar as suas próprias.
• 
  Anna

  Bought it yesterday cause I thought it was cute but I should've remembered I live in the south hemisphere and the seasons are different...
• 
  Giovanna

  O livro tem várias ilustrações e observações incríveis, mas tudo é muito raso e segue a roda norte.
• 
  Erica

  Such a gorgeous book of collective facts and stories about the year and the illustrations are just fantastic. They made it for me, to be honest. It needs to be said that this is an overview book, not massively in-depth about anything, but works great as a collection of starting off points. Beginnings to work with. It's set out into Seasons and Months, but starting with January - which meant that the Winter season was split. But I'm not sure that either starting in December or with Spring would have made any more sense either! Each month contains details about which full moon you have, a crystal for the month, tarot card, spells, a deity, customs, superstitions, herbs and an animal for the month. There is also the most basic explanation of the wheel of the year and associated festivals. It's nothing that you can't get elsewhere, but the collection worked well for me and IT'S SO GORGEOUS it actually made me want to cry with its beauty. Well done to the illustrator: Anastasia Stefurak.
• 
  Anita

  “Cute”
  
  The illustrations in this book is what did it for me, so beautiful 😻
  The content is kind of beginner Witch material, you got like an animal, Crystal, Herb, Moon Name, Folklore, Tarot for the month but packed into just a few pages so not majorly in depth but enough information to cover the basics.
  Also some little spells and rituals.
  I loved the artwork x and I’d certainly note down a few rituals to use when the Given Month arrives.
  
• 
  Cielo Rodriguez

  I was really excited when I was reading this book...only to come write note after note. There is mentions of close practices and not a lot of folklore. I was expecting it to have a lot of information on folklore that we know the basics of so people would be interested.
  This is a beautiful book, beautiful illustrations...but so poor in the year of change.
• 
  Mauve and Moss

  A lovely little witchy book. Give you a great basic layout for each month for things that represent that time of year. Filled with beautiful illustrations. Factually some aspects are incorrect but a wonderful starting place for beginners.
• 
  Lina

  Ich finde das Buch hat sehr schöne Illustrationen und hat verschiedene Bräuche zu den einzelnen Monaten gezeigt, für jemanden der keinerlei vor Erfahrungen in diesem Bereich hat finde ich das Buch sehr gut gelungen.
• 
  Roxanne

  A very good read.
• 
  Vanja

  Very recommendable and thorougly sweet mini-lexica for all my Pagan witches out there! 🌿🌕
• 
  michelle

  3.5
• 
  Aimee

  Beautifully illustrated and designed. There is nothing deep in this book. It's just something nice to keep by the bedside and enjoy marking the seasons with.
• 
  Mala and Spirits

  So interesting! I loved how how it covers so many different cultures and topics. I'd recommend this for people interested in astronomy, witchcraft, spirituality, history and nature.
• 
  Damian

  Beautiful illustrations, some helpful information but this is unfortunately evened out with a near equal amount of questionable and even offensive content.