Dear all,
There are few things in the world which can rival the British obsession with the weather. However, it must be said that there is reason to be obsessed with the weather nowadays, things just don’t seem right. Or maybe we have come to believe that there is an utopia which never really was or is. Midsummer’s day this year was a wash-out of rain and stormy weather here in South Wales, regardless I have spent this week trying to remove the amazing collection of weeds growing in our small garden. (unsuccessfully, but I have managed to at least transplant some of the flowering seedlings into their respective places with hope of enough sunshine to allow them to bloom and thrive in the coming months! For those of you who want to do some magick to ensure a good crop of apples later this year, you may want to remember that if it rains on the 15th of July, your apple crop will be amazing – where as if it doesn’t they are likely to be worthless! So that is a day you want it to rain, if you love apples! But enough about the weather and gardening.
Tomorrow is the Ludlow Esoteric Bookfair, which is held annually in Ludlow, Shropshire and I am very much looking forward to it. Then the weekend after, we will be attending the pagan camp in the Gower Peninsula, on the Welsh coast. That should be interesting, though with a six month old baby we have decided to only attend the Sunday – when we David and I will also both be presenting workshops. Details of these forthcoming events can be found at: http://www.avalonia.co.uk/events
I am gave just finished my first reading of “The Wiccan Mystic” by Ben Gruagach – which surprised me in many pleasant ways. I am writing a review of that soon for the ‘Esoteric Book Review’ – http://www.ritualmagick.co.uk/reviews Other books which are sitting on the ‘to do’ pile for reviews include “The Weiser Concise Guide to Herbal Magick” by Judith Hawkins-Tillerson, and “The Gods Within” by Jean Williams and Zachary Cox. New reviews by our review team are now being added on a more regular basis than before – so worth keeping an eye on it, either by bookmarking or RSS. Speaking of reviews, we have started to gather together some of the many reviews which have been published in the last few years of books published by Avalonia, though not yet complete you can read the reviews here: http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalog/?page_id=48 You can help us by letting us know of other online reviews of our books by emailing avalonia93@gmail.com and we will include links to it, and likewise of printed reviews in magazines and periodicals as we may be unaware of them! Its always useful to know what other people are thinking!
David’s book “Climbing the Tree of Life” has been very successful since its release a few years ago and is now one of the books which is usually recommended for people wishing to explore the Western Esoteric or ‘Magickal’ Qabalah. The ‘Towards the Qabalistic Tree of Life’ homestudy course which is suitable for complete newcomers to the Qabalah and through which students are mentored by David on a course of seven lessons, has also been tremendously popular and students from all over the world have successfully completed it. A limited number of places will be made available during July and August for new students who are interested in this structured course of study – if you are interested, please email drankine@gmail.com for further information. Likewise for those who have expressed an interest in an advanced course of study, David is facilitating ‘Through the Worlds’ a master class in advanced practices and concepts for working with the Tree Of Life at the Atlantis Bookshop (London), on Saturday 4th of October. More details on the workshop and how to book can be found at http://www.avalonia.co.uk/events
As June draws to an end, I should also remind you all that there is still time to order a copy of Frederic Lamond’s book “The Divine Struggle” at a special price. This book by Frederic Lamond, well known for his lectures on modern Witchcraft or ‘Wicca’ provides the reader with Inspired & Channelled writings with a challenging interpretation of human history as the product of the ‘Divine Struggle’. This book is available at just £8.99 until the end of June (a saving of £4, on the usual RRP of £12.99 – including free P&P to anywhere in the world) Full details of this book can be found at http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/catalog/?p=29
For those of you who enjoyed our new book ‘Wicca Magickal Beginnings’, you may also find ‘From Pyramids to Circles” interesting. This article was written some time ago by David for ‘Witchcraft and Wicca’ Magazine (The Children of Artemis http://www.witchcraft.org ) and can now be found online at http://www.avalonia.co.uk/wicca/pyramids_wicca.htm It explores the similarities between some of the ancient Egyptian magickal practices and that found in modern Wicca.
I am in the process of putting together a little ‘guide’ for Avalonia.co.uk for visitors to the UK who wants to visit spiritual and magickal places whilst they are in the UK. This will include shops, museums – as well as some of the ancient monuments which specifically are of interest and high on the ‘have to be visited’ list. I would love this to be as complete as is possible – so to this end I would like to ask readers to submit by email (to avalonia93@gmail.com please) details of places they most enjoy visiting and would recommend to visitors. Please remember to include as much detail as possible, including addresses and/or URL’s if available. As an incentive I will be offering the reader who sends the most useful email, every month between now and the end of October, their choice of a complimentary book from the Avalonia Books catalogue.
On that note, whatever you get up to, make this weekend a special and lovely one,
Blessings
Sorita d’Este
http://www.avaloniabooks.co.uk
