The Pagan's Muse: Words of Ritual, Invocation, and Inspiration
by Jane Raeburn (Editor)

Hardcover: 240 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.92 x 8.24 x 4.96
Publisher: Citadel Trade; (September 2003)
ISBN: 0806524405

Price $19.95

I am of the opinion that this book came long overdue. I've looked for poetry written by pagans for quite some time, and this is the first I've seen. Overall, I enjoyed this book a great deal. I found it an poignant at times, amusing at others. Even awe or anger inspiring in some instances. I enjoyed immensely seeing a view of simple things from a pagan perspective, a perspective that I think we are madly lacking, both in the poetry world and in the pagan community.

The book was well put together. The poems are divided into several sections, based upon excerpts from one of the most well known pagan literary pieces, The Charge of the Goddess by Doreen Valiente.

Many of these poems could easily be used in ritual for entertainment or as affirmations, invocations, etc. I specifically like that many of the poems could be set to music and used as chants as well.

That said, I was also disappointed by this book in several ways. while I considered it a good read for the most part, there was a large amount of what seemed plainly to me to be just bad writing. I feel that many of the authors had to stretch to make things understood, even within the wide scope of poetry. In an attempt to get their points across in ways they considered poetic, they often came out sounding rather pedantic or tedious.

In the future, I'd love to see another book of pagan poetry published, but perhaps with more emphasis on the actual quality of the content. I do feel that, as pagans, we need to support the artists in our community, but I do not believe that we need to support them to the point of producing bad work.

Review by Melissa Delvy