Rating:  Summary: Stay away from this like the plague. Review: If there's one book that guided me AWAY from druidry, this one is it! I was unfortunate enough to find this book at a time when I was looking for guidance, and all I found was ignorance, fantasy based thinking and a distain for women. I use this book as an example of what seekers should stay far away from, instead of following my heart by using it as kindling. Frankly, it's not even good fiction. I would give it a NEGATIVE value if it was available. Don't waste your time or money.
Rating:  Summary: Sexist and inaccurate, but very catchy Review: Well, I absolutely loved this book to a certain degree. I've got to say that I can see both sides of the picture here: it's a very creative story with SOME details extremely characteristic of the Celts...yes--as someone already said--the spells are okay, as are the recipies...um, but there simply aren't enough of them to make up for the fact that the book is DEFINITELY screwed up when it comes to getting the facts straight. Monroe can go prance around in white robes in Stonehenge if he wants to...but he's not a Druid OR a scholar of Druids. As for "wisdom": if Merlyn was actually the incredibly wise Druid that he's made out to be in this book, he would have recognized that Celtic women were no less powerful than men. Yes, Celtic women were powerful in a different way than Celtic men, but calling them the most deadly of species etc. just really ticks me off. I'm not trying to sound like a fanatic feminist--there are differences between males and females--but there's no need to go maligning one sex or the other. This book really gets you interested with all of its high mumbo jumbo of Druid philosophy. The problem is, I'm not convinced that the author even understands what he's talking about. It's an absolutely great novel (a LOT better than Mary Stuart's the Hollow Hills etc) but don't take it too seriously.
Rating:  Summary: A religious con-artist exploiting newbies Review: I'll keep this brief and simple: Douglas Monroe is grossly ignorant about almost everything he discusses in his books. What he knows of genuine history, mythology, Celtic languages and customs, herbalism, treelore, archeology, etc. wouldn't fill a thimble. I'm not talking about someone making an occasional mistake here. Monroe gets almost everything he says about the ancient Druids wrong!Yes, he plants a few lovely fantasies in the manure pile. Yes, he proves once again that almost *anything* can be used to generate magical energy (which is often mistaken by beginners for a spiritual experience) if people really believe in it. But Monroe's books are gynophobic, dishonest, New Age nonsense -- not "authentic Druid spirituality." The ancient Druids *were* the intellectuals of their tribes and they would not have accepted the idea that scholarship "doesn't matter." Readers wanting details can see the earlier reviews here by myself, Ian Corrigan, and other scholars. Or visit the websites of "adf.org," "keltria.org," "druidry.org," or "summerlands.com." You'll see that we often disagree with each other about details, but are united in our contempt for this con artist.
Rating:  Summary: Good for A laugh Review: This book is great really really amusing! Yes Amusing the historical inacturaccies are in them selves quite funny but the thing that really cracks me up is the inacturacies in celtic lore. In the Naming of the Wrong gods to certian elements and places.Also how much longer do we have to suffer books written based on known forgeries. Well as usual there is nothing new in this book for me i just found it rather funny. So if you are looking for entertain ment i would highly recomend this book. but not if you which to seek the truth. For that lies within anyway.
Rating:  Summary: entertaining tripe Review: 21 Lessons Of Merlin is the biggest hindance to the revival of Celtic Paganism and Druidry out there today. The book is historically inaccurate in almost every detail, and spiritually innacurate in ways that make it a real danger to honest students. Once you've read a half-dozen good books on celtic ways you might want to give this a look. The author *does* manage to craft some interesting rituals, but the basis for them, and the theology behind them, is just horrid. Ian
Rating:  Summary: 21 Lessons of Fantasy Review: An editor's nightmare. Not only is this book chock full of grammatical and spelling errors, inconsistencies, and historical inaccuracies, it is an altogether flight of fantasy based at least partly on a KNOWN FORGERY, The Book of Pheryllt. This book is best used as a prop for wobbly furniture, or perhaps a projectile at unwelcome guests.
Rating:  Summary: Light touch paper and watch reality melt... Review: This book, probably more than any other I have encountered in the pagan community, has done more to split it in half than any other. On the one hand you have people saying "historical accuracy doesn't matter" and on the other "historical accuracy does matter". Well, is Douglas Monroe a Chaos magician, because he's certainly thrown uncertainty into the mix on here?!?! As far as I'm personally concerned, accuracy matters because my beliefs matter (but I could be wrong - you never know). In that sense I found Mr Monroe's book(s) to be a big pile of pants that I would happily chuck in the bin rather than give anybody else to read. As I think shoddy thinking is dangerous and an evolutionary negative, you can't really blame me for doing that, can you? On the other hand, there are those on here who would see my attitude as limiting, and they are entitled to their view. To them I would say "the very best of luck" while adding as a cautionary note that if they ever end up in hospital, needing an operation, that I sincerely hope the surgeon hasn't trained via the principles they are proposing ("yeah... damn the anatomy... it just suits me to make the first incision here!"). My view is that this book is junk. That's as much as I can say so judge for yourself.
Rating:  Summary: Great Book Review: to everyone who is doing the well it's not historically acurate I say, "get a life". this book is a great resource and is one that makes a point through great stories. Yes stories, but who cares? it all works anyway doesn't it?
Rating:  Summary: spellwork from the book Review: Although historically inaccurate and sexist, there are some rather good spells in here. If your interested in summonings and otherworld portals I definitely reccomend this book. However a background in ceremonial, druid, or wiccan magick is recomended before you attempt to use it.
Rating:  Summary: READ THE FIRST PAGE!!! Review: The first thing you read in the book is the paragraph mentioning that ITS A MADE UP STORY USED TO GET A FEW POINTS ACCROSS!!!! and given, a few of the points arent agreed upon, but who's to say there was only one druidic tradition? this book,for the most part, accurately gives the basics, as well as a few interesting ideas and spells. (the Pelen-Tan is just kickin) to finish this rant, no, its not completely historically accurate, but what is? it gives an entertaining and informative story, and it goes high on my list.
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