Product Description

There are 28 pieces of prose and poetry for each of the four seasons in this publication. Each section features a song for the goddess of light, a litany for the associated elemental creature, poems inspired by tarot cards and love spells in the ancient poetic form of the charm. A four-part "Goddess Instruction Manual" is woven through the book and included is a 73-minute CD of 25 poems set to song.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #897893 in Books
• Published on: 2002-05-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Customer Reviews

Beautiful and moving
This is an absolute treasure of a book. The title is a little misleading though. This book is not just for witches but for goddess loving folk everywhere. It's poetry, not an instructional manual for witchcraft or even "how to find the goddess." Although it's not a manual, it certainly helps the reader to connect with the goddess on an emotional, instinctual level. Almost every poem pulls me right at my very core. I feel a deep inner understanding of what the author is saying, and through her written experience of the goddess, I touch Her too. Wonderful, transcendent poetry.

The CD is very good too. It's well-produced, and the music meshes well with the poems. I haven't done so yet, but I think it would be excellent music to use in ritual.

Beautiful, rich poetry and songs
I bought this book/CD two months ago, and I still haven't tired of listening to the CD and reading the poetry on a regular basis. Monaghan is a very talented poet; She conveys images and emotions so well through her words! It's really wonderful... some of the best poetry I've ever read. The songs on the CD are also beautiful. They are Patricia's poems set to music that was written and performed by each artist, so the instrumental and vocal styles are often quite varied (in a good way). One of the vocalists is Patricia's sister, Peggy Monaghan, and some of the others include Lili McGovern, Claudia Blythe, Sally Coombs, and Kirsten Baird Gustafson. All of these singers and musicians are very talented, but I am lukewarm on a couple of the songs because I personally don't like the singer's vocal style and she sounds a tad flat to my ears throughout the song. Despite that, the CD is currently one of my favorites to listen to on a regular basis. Just a few of my personal favorite songs/poems include Peggy's version of "Maenad in Spring," and "Maeve Prepares for Beltane," "The Maenad Remembers Dionysus," and "Procedure for Reclaiming the Self," but all of the poems and songs are really special. I highly recommend this book/CD set to anyone who enjoys Goddess-based poetry and music.

A dream, a rush, a treasure
Patricia Monaghan, probably my favorite Goddess-spirituality author ever, does it again with _Seasons of the Witch_. ... Monaghan's emotional and moving poetry is wonderful. You can just read it for enjoyment, or use it in ritual. It includes "general" poems about witchcraft, a lot of Greek- and Celtic- inspired material, a few poems dealing with other myths, and a dash of fairy-tale material. All of it is very good. (One thing that makes Monaghan stand out in her field, by the way, is her refusal to bash males. Other goddess authors ignore or demean men, but many of Monaghan's poems celebrate love for men in a sensual and lyrical way.)

There is also a gorgeous accompanying CD, featuring several performers who have set selected poems to music. You'll want to hang on to this, too, either just to listen to for pleasure, or to play during ritual.

I would talk more specifically about the poems, but I can't do them justice in prose. I wish Amazon had a "see inside" feature on this book, so you could browse the first few poems and see if you like Monaghan's style.

I also must commend cover artist Gavin Duffy. For a moment, I thought Monaghan had switched publishers! Note to Llewellyn: More covers like this, please! In fact, more books like these--both in appearance and in content. This is a rare gem.