by Rachel Patterson aka Tansy Firedragon
ISBN-68-3459876038524
Publication 30th August 2013
£4.99 (available for pre-order from Amazon UK / Amazon US)
I was pleasantly surprised when the manuscript to this phenomenal soon-to-be-released book landed in my email account. Written by a Facebook friend of mine; Rachel Patterson who is also known by her craft name of Tansy Firedragon - a name perhaps many of you may know her as.
Hoodoo is a topic that I have never in my life read anything about, perhaps due to the media mis-conceptions of it all, which I feel is a great saddening cloak to be placed upon society. After reading this book that I feel would be a perfect introduction to hoodoo for beginners, novices, and even more experienced practitioners, I am now intrigued by the implantation of hoodoo into my own life and those of the people around me.
In the past I had had friends who were more knowledgeable about the subject of hoodoo but I chose to allow them to dip their toes or go for a swim in a topic that I personally was not ready for.
So as you can see, I had drawbacks and concerns about such a topic, and for that reason I can wholeheartedly declare to you that Hoodoo as explained in this marvellous book in the Pagan Portals series by Moon Books seems to be a very natural practice of incorporating spirituality and witchcraft into your life in a way that doesn't require you to advertise the fact that you practice it.
I leant so much from this book and I am sure that anyone can benefit from Rachel's words of wisdom even if it just to try a different blend of creating oils, incenses and such.
Here's a few things I learnt:
how to cleanse your house spiritually and physically correctly
just how magickal fluids can be ;)
how to uncross and protect myself
numerous oil blends, incense recipes and candle usage
how to create my own candles
the difference between a petition paper and name papers
hoodoo deities
and foot track magic to name only a few!
I was so impressed with this book and also excited by all the wonderful information one book contained that I simply had to catch up with the author herself and find out more about Hoodoo. Luckily for you, we created the whole interview just for you!
1.) How long have you been interested and involved in the practice of Hoodoo?
About five or six years ago I read a book on hoodoo that was recommended to me, as I read it I realised that it echoed a lot of the European folk magic that I already used within my witchcraft so it inspired me to research more and I have been working with it ever since.
2.) What is it about Hoodoo that appeals to you and you feel will appeal to readers?
The simplicity of it, when you take it down to the basics it is traditional folk magic. It uses natural ingredients and objects that are easily found and readily available and it uses a lot of symbolism – it just makes sense!
3.) What inspired you to write the book; "Pagan Portals : Hoodoo"
Having already written Pagan Portals: Kitchen Witchcraft I suggested Hoodoo as a subject that would fit in with the Pagan Portals theme of ‘introductions to pagan pathways’ thankfully Moon Books liked the idea! It is such a fascinating subject and works very well with witchcraft. I wanted to share how I use it within my own craft.
4.) What do you hope the book will achieve in it's readers eyes?
Hopefully it will take away some of the mis-representation that the media and Hollywood have given to the art of hoodoo and encourage people to investigate folk magic more and see how effective it is.
5.) Do you have any exciting plans for another book?
Happily I have another Pagan Portals book at the publishers already, this time on Moon Magic which is very exciting as it is such an important area within witchcraft and who knows after that? I have lots of ideas whizzing around!
6.) You do many things aside from writing fabulous and insightful books, can you tell us a little about them?
I am blessed to have such wonderful friends and supportive family that allow me to do what I do. I am High Priestess of the Kitchen Witch Coven, we meet regularly in a local forest to hold rituals, I am also part of the Leadership Team for the Kitchen Witch online School of Witchcraft, we also run workshops in Chi Coffee (a spiritual café locally where I am also involved in lots of other workshops and gatherings) and I am honoured to be able to give talks on witchcraft for various local groups.
7.) Lastly, how can people contact you to find out more about the work you do, work / learn with you, and really just get to know more about you?
I have a
website www.rachelpatterson.co.uk
And a
facebook page www.facebook.com/rachelpattersonbooks
And the
school website & free forum is
www.kitchenwitchhearth.com
School facebook page is
www.facebook.com/kitchenwitchuk
I am always happy to help and answer any questions that I can for anybody on this path either via the websites or facebook pages.
Thank you so much Rachel for taking the time for the interview, I sincerely wish you many blessings for the publication of this book, and I am already eagerly awaiting your next upcoming book!
If this book sounds like something that would definitely add sparkle to your life, use the links at the start of the review to pre-order /purchase your copy, and don't forget to let us know what you think of it, Rachel and I would love to hear your reviews.
All written content on this blog is the work of © Dawn Brierley, Life Coach for Sassy Women & Celestial Life Coaching CEO. No written contents of this blog may be reproduced in any way (in part or in entirety) without the express written permission of the author, © Dawn Brierley
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