Booknote: Cakes and Ale for the Pagan Soul

Patricia Telesco, ed., Cakes and Ale for the Pagan Soul: Spells, Recipes, and Reflections from Neopagan Elders. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press, 2005.  ISBN: 1-58091-164-1.

Genre: nonfiction, anthology
Subgenre: paganism, neopagan, magic
Format: paperback
Source: Hutchins Library, Berea College

In a way, this book is a bit like those Chicken Soup for the Soul books but less sappy and for pagans. The book is a collection of essays, personal stories, and practical elements for pagans such as potions, rituals, recipes, and more. Like many anthologies, some stories are better than others, so to readers I'll say that your mileage may vary. The editor does strive to provide some diversity in this neopagan collection.

The book is arranged into 6 major sections:

• The Path of Beauty
• Wisdom of the World
• Nature's Advisers
• Community: Honor, Respect, and Gratitude
• Rituals for Life
• Healing, Spells, and other Sundries

In addition to the various essay and author contributions, the book also features small "box" segments with a small ritual or simple idea for practice. These range from simple rituals to fairly elaborate (requiring some materials).

While you can read the book from cover to cover, this is more a book to browse and find what may strike your fancy at the time. Overall, the book's tone is positive and encouraging. If you are a pagan or pagan curious, this is a pretty good book for a little inspiration.

An issue with the book is that some elements are running out of date. For example, witchvox.com, mentioned in the book as a big resource, shut down recently in 2019. Some of us barely got to know it. Also other elements seem a bit dated. The book was published in 2005, but many of the authors and contributors were highly active in the 1990s; these are by now elders of the neopagan movement, and we are in 2020 as of this post. This is a good book, but some parts feel like an update may be needed.

Despite the dated parts, this is still a very good read with some good advice for readers as well as some rituals and recipes for things to do. As the editor states, "as you might have guessed, this isn't a how-to book per se. It's more like sitting around a campfire with more than forty people" (5), and each of of them offers something be it a story, a recipe, or insights. In a way, the book is like tapping into some kind of institutional memory in paganism.

Overall, I found it quite interesting. I liked it, but it does feel like a time capsule in a time when so many pagans are online now (and seem to prefer that to things like campfires and gatherings). Still, well worth reading, and as someone curious about paganism, a good resource.

3 out of 5 stars.