Book Review: Ancient Ways
Digging through some old totes in our basement, I was delighted to run across one of my favorite pagan books. Ancient Ways: Reclaiming Pagan Traditions is chock-full of not only technical knowledge—from pagan lore to historic traditions—but also incredibly fulfilling activities, celebrations, recipes, and rituals to celebrate each season in turn. Written by Pauline Campanelli and illustrated by Dan Campanelli, the book is an absolute wonderful resource. It’s no wonder my old copy has so many dog-eared pages!
Like other books centered around the Wheel of the Year, Ancient Ways is divided into chapters based on the seasonal holidays, from Imbolc to Yule. A table of contents guides the reader toward subjects of interest—though sub-topics are messily lumped into sentence clusters rather than organized by page number, which could be more helpful. For example, in the first chapter, “Imbolc,” the categories begin listing as such: “The Corn Maiden. Sabbats and their Opposites. Sacred Marriage of the Sun and Moon.” It goes on like this for a wide paragraph until the next chapter. Each chapter is short, however—the first is under 30 pages—so it’s not that difficult to find the material in question.
Unfortunately, no index is provided; the table of contents itself does cover most of the subjects in the book. A listing of illustrations, photographs, and diagrams is, however, provided near the front of the book.
The text is rich and well written, both informative as well as entertaining to read. Coupled with the vibrant black-and-white illustrations and photos, the book provides the reader with a warm feeling of kinship—as if the material is being relayed at the hearth, in a circle of friends, rather than from a book.
Folklore from around the world, traditional crafts, gods and goddesses, various rituals, and dozens of other activities can be found throughout the entire text. Some of my favorites include the explanation about Pennsylvania Dutch Hex signs, as well as a diagram of how to make them. The corn husk doll guide is also very informative, as well as the table of tree properties.
Ancient Ways is a wonderful book for pagan families. It’s highly accessible while still being interesting and fun to read. It covers so much material that you may not be able to complete it all in one year; I know that when I used it I usually only did a few activities per season. That’s okay, there is always next year!
