Frances Billinghurst's Blog, page 15

Book Review of Encountering the Dark Goddess

Book Review: Encountering the Dark Goddess - A Journey into the Shadow Realmsby Frances Billinghurst (Published by Moon Books)
Review by Daniel Bran Griffin, The Chattering Magpie. 


It is rare that I write a book review. By the time I get around to the actual writing, the book has often been in print quite some time. My thoughts are therefore, of little value to the publisher; even if my fellow bibliophiles would and do appreciate my opinion. On occasion I am asked to write a review by a publisher or by a magazine editor.
I often decline these invitations and the accompanying offer of a free book. I do this because for reasons that puzzle me, I am frequently asked to reviews works that are not of interest to me and would not under normal circumstances consider reading. I am of the opinion that under these circumstances, others could write a more appropriate and appreciative review. This does mean that I have refused the offer of a work that I could potentially have sold later for profit but honesty prevents me from accepting these offers. Encountering the Dark Goddess by Frances Billinghurst is therefore, something of an exception. This is a work on a subject that is of interest and is indeed a book I would read.
This work is a very personal creation for Billinghurst, well written and ably illustrated (by Soror Basilisk), the author takes us through a journey, an encounter. Thirteen Goddesses are chosen somewhat idiosyncratically perhaps, for this journey. Each chapter is representative of the deep personal relationship that the author has with these Goddesses. Although historically whether all were recognised as Goddesses is open to debate, undoubtedly each one is an otherworldly being of importance.
The journey is an expression of the work the author has carried out for many years, writing, studying and running Goddess focused workshops. There is experience in every sentence and importantly respect. To quote the author: 'the Gods are real, very real' As a polytheist, I agree that each Goddess should be approached with deference and this respect is a key feature of the author's work.
The sections of the work consist of a general introduction to working with and approaching the darker aspects of divinity. This is followed by the major chapters on each relevant Goddess, complete with history, meaning, advice and correspondences. These sections are well researched and informative. The final part of the work is of a generalised practical nature which includes purifications, spells and further craftwork.
This third section also includes a deeply personal testimony by the author herself, discussing her recent illness and the changes that it has brought about. Unforeseen and at times, unwanted even if necessary. These changes are discussed with sensitivity and surprising honesty. If it was not already obvious then this chapter alone would emphasis the personal nature of the work. The intricate and complex nature of the relationship that the author has with divinity itself is a moving read and this chapter serves to tie the work together into a cohesive whole. This works offers the reader an insight into a series personal encounters, informative, respectful and practical.

Daniel Bran Griffin, The Chattering Magpie, is a poet, and photographer.  Some of his work can be found in Call of the God: An Anthology Exploring the Divine Masculine within Modern Paganism including the cover image.

Winter Solstice: The Return of the Light

The timing of the winter solstice is marked when the sun reaches its furthest north position in the sky and starts to move back towards the south.  As it does, it marks one of the main turning points in the year, the others being the equinoxes as well as the summer solstice (that occurs in December).  
The timing for the winter solstice here in Adelaide this year was this morning, Sunday, 21 June at 7:13 am (ACST time).  From this moment onwards, days start becoming longer and night times shorter.  However with the worse of the winter weather yet to arrive, this thought is not often the first that comes to mind.
With the increase of light it was hoped that social distancing in relation to the COVID-19 may have been relaxed.  However, as new cases are still be detected, and despite South Australia still being remarkably lower than other States, it has been decided to continue hosting events via Zoom conference calls at least for the time being.
This means that the July Gathering Around the Cauldron event which is scheduled to take place on Thursday, 2 July 2020, at 7pm (ACST) will be in the format of a Zoom conference.  The theme for July's Gathering Around the Cauldron is The Witch's Familiar.
In European folklore and folk-belief from the Medieval and early modern periods, witches and cunning folk were believed to assisted by certain supernatural entities that were known as “familiars”. These spirits would appear in numerous guises, including as in a humanoid figure, but more commonly as an animal. When they served cunning folk, familiars were often thought to be somewhat benevolent, however when they were in the service of witches, familiars were considered to be rather malevolent.  On 2 July 2020 we will be exploring the historical sources as well as the modern perception of familiars.  More information as to how you can register for this discussion can be found here.

At this stage other events being hosted at Riverdell Spiritual Centre are still going ahead.  These include Imbolc celebration on Saturday, 1 August 2020 and A Day with Hekate on Saturday 15 August 2020.

Book Review: Encountering the Dark Goddess

The following review of Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms has been received from Shani Oates, author and the Maid of the Clan of Tubal Cain:


The author sensibly opens the text with demythologising the concept of ‘dark’ relative to this primal form. She then moves on to describe the various forms that peoples across the globe have prescribed for Her, including Kali, Nephthys, Lilith, Hekate and Baba Yoga. Her value is here acknowledged as the essential catalyst for sloughing off guilt and fear associated with ‘womanhood,’ breathing new light into Jungian concepts of the shadow; suggestions are given on how to reabsorb the shadow through recognising “little griefs” that cloud perspective. More importantly, she guides the reader away from floundering on the rocks clutching to the ‘victim’ mentality, a tragic state linked by the author to PTSD. Tackled through the Virtue of Medusa, the sufferer is coached towards release and revitalisation.


This book provides cathartic measures as a self-help guide towards restoration of the psyche in a world that has largely overcomplicated the divine feminine, and to some extent, overplayed Her role as a ‘Dark’ entity. Described by the author as She who “shakes and destroys in order to transform and recreate, pushing us to our limits,” the Dark Goddess is related through 13 specific forms that “could be used to chart a year’s journey of deep discovery.”


Concluding with her own ‘Personal Encounters with the Dark Goddess,’ the author uses those experiences to offer advice for others to work through trauma in constructive, positive ways. These are achieved by mindfully engaging this primal force through studying the foundational mythologies provided by the author relative to each of the 13 goddesses included in her book. Practical solutions supplement the more cerebral texts, mainly in the exploration of popular ways to work intuitively using masks, mirrors, poppets, candle-magic and binding spells in addition to path-workings and various other exercises. 


All in all, the author has approached her work from a personal perspective, writing informally and sensitively on matters that will resonate deeply with the reader. .

fff Shani

Book Review of Encountering the Dark Goddess

The underworld: a place of fear, wisdom, and transformation, where powerful and terrifying Goddesses wait with a smile.


"Encountering the Dark Goddess" is an intimate exploration of one woman’s descent into the underworld, and her encounters with the many different aspects of the Dark Goddess. Through personal anecdotes, mythological and psychological analysis, rituals and spellwork, and soul-deep devotion, Billinghurst invites the reader to join her on this journey through the shadows of the underworld, through a dark night of the soul, and into the transformative heart of the Goddess.


Publisher: Moon Books
ISBN: 9781789045
Release Date: 26 March 2021


Review by Rebecca Buchanan, Eternal Haunted Summer

Book Review: Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms

Frances Billinghurst, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms (Moon Books, 2021). Reviewed by Caroline Tully.One of the first things that a reader of Frances Billinghurst’s new book, Encountering the Dark Goddess, will come to understand is that this is not a book designed to provide feel good ego gratification. If anything, it is the opposite. This is a workbook that will teach you how to form relationships with the Dark Goddess in her various guises, in order that you may traverse your personal Underworld and emerge back into the light. Essentially the book teaches you how to endure the Dark Night of the Soul and survive. Only then may you presume to form an allegiance with the Dark Goddess and, even then, she may demand that you undergo more trials. As the author shows, the Dark Goddess will strip you to your authentic core – and that can be scary. Not only that, but it can be inconvenient.  It is far easier to go along through life avoiding serious introspection, self-questioning, surrender and loss of control. It is simpler to avoid the chthonian abyss, the underworld, and potential annihilation. But sometimes it is forced upon you.

If this sounds dramatic, it is. Embracing the Dark Goddess is not about skipping through fields of flowers on a sunny day. It is about traversing the shadow realm – not in some romantic, spooky touristic capacity, but really confronting the night side of life, as death. “The underlying theme for many Dark Goddesses mentioned in this book is transformation through some kind of ‘death’” (177) and the book helps you to pull through and rise from your own personal underworld, rather than being overwhelmed, trapped and unable to move forward.In my opinion it is important not to approach the exercises in this book unless you actually want (or find yourself forced) to embrace profound personal change. “The Dark Goddess shatters the old, outdated, outworn structures in our lives and forces us (if we are not willing to accept) to embrace change and the new. She does away with our rose-tinted glasses that we comfortably see the world through, tests our courage, resolve and even beliefs, all with the purpose of enabling us to be reborn with a new awakening state of awareness, consciousness, and even curiosity about the world in which we reside, especially the deeper mysteries that lie hidden in the shadow (subconscious) realms” (177).If you feel drawn to the Underworld, if you feel that you must go down, or even that life is forcing you to, through the wise advice in this book Frances Billinghurst will act as the Sybil who guides you so that you can navigate the shadow realm and make it back to the upper world.Encountering the Dark Goddess is not only based on the author’s thorough research but on decades of experience in magical practice as well as her own personal, deep relationship with the Dark Goddess and the lessons she has learned. This is conveyed honestly and we are fortunate to have access to her personal insights that can help us navigate the shadowy paths that the Dark Goddess may ask us – or force us – to tread in order to help us accept our own mortality as well as the finite nature of the people and things we surround ourselves with in our lives. As magical practitioners we often expect to be powerful, successful, in control, and that consequently nothing bad will ever happens to us; we tell the gods what to do, not vice versa, or we don’t even believe in them, therefore we can be extremely shocked when a power stronger than us lays us low. What happens when your illusion of control is taken away and you can’t do anything about it except endure? This book provides ways to tackle such situations head on.So how does it do this? Billinghurst comes from a ‘hard polytheistic’ perspective – the gods are real – and presents an excellent synthesis of ancient Pagan ‘dark’ goddesses that are true to the ancient sources. The portraits of the goddesses are based on thorough research which results in factual representations, in contrast to the New Age fantasies that pass for descriptions of the gods in far too many popular Pagan books these days (see “My new friend Hekate” ). Unlike a purely Reconstructionist perspective, where we are expected to step back in time, Billinghurst brings these ancient goddesses into the 21st century by also incorporating a modern psychotherapeutic approach. This situates the ancient deities of the past into the present and helps us relate to the goddesses as both real beings ‘out there’ as well as personal qualities within our mortal selves. Each section on the goddesses is thorough in itself and readers can get a good idea of the Dark Goddesses, with the option to follow up through further research any that they feel they would like to have a more continuous and deeper relationship with. The book is full of extremely useful and sensible advice; the exercises are well-composed, imagined, original and sophisticated; the visualisations are very effective at getting the reader to immerse themselves in the goddess’s realm and character; the invocations are very good; there are also instructions for spells, incense recipes and dream pillows, and the book includes endnotes with bibliographic references, a bibliography of works that deal with the Dark Goddess, and an index for quick reference. In addition the text is interspersed with original images of Dark Goddesses by Soror Basilisk.While this book is informative and thought-provoking to read, if one undertakes the tasks outlined within it, it must be emphasised that action will be required in order to forge a therapeutic a path to realisation of the self – this is repeatedly emphasised: don’t expect to deal with these Dark Goddesses and the exercises in this book without changing, resistance is futile. Embracing the Dark Goddess requires commitment. The book shows us that spiritual growth, knowledge, gnosis, understanding, clear sight, truth and attainment of power can be uncomfortable, painful and challenging in real life terms, and can cause shedding, losses and deaths. “The Dark Goddess is about change” (165), but don’t be afraid to work through this book if you feel called to because while change may seem disruptive, the one thing that we can be absolutely certain about in life is that everything changes.


Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms
by Frances Billinghurst
Publisher: Moon Books
ISBN: 9781789045
Release Date: 26 March 2021 

Conscious Connection with Self Women's Retreat

I am delighted to be part of this wonderful retreat that will be held in November in Queensland.
You are invited to join us for the ultimate self care weekend consciously connecting with self. Our weekend retreat will give you time and space replenish your spirit, and connect with other women.
Our weekend together will include connecting in sisterhood, sacred workshops, communing with nature, and immersive experiences to remind you of the sacred, divine goddess you truly are and awakening your consciousnesses to self healing.
You will gain personal awareness through healing exercises, workshop facilitation and meditations.
More information can be found here: https://mysticalrealmsaustralia.com.au/spiritual-retreat 

Enchanted by Morgan le Fay

I have long held a fascination with Morgan le Fay, the half-sister to Britain's "once and future king" (Arthur), whose brief tryst with Lancelot of the Lake saw her turn her back on her inheritance, her calling and seemingly spend her life wandering without any true meaning or purpose.  Yet, despite all that, there is something alluring about her.

The Morgan le Fay we often hear about today, the evil sorceress who appears largely as the bane of King Arthur's existence, stems from the Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory. Hailed as the greatest piece of English literature to have emerged from the Medieval era, Malory's version consisted of 21 books, commencing at the ill-fated meeting between Uther Pendragon, the King of Britain, and Gorlois, the Duke of Tintagel, where the king become infatuated with Gorlois's beautiful wife, Igraine, and ending with the death of King Arthur from a wound inflicted upon him by his own son.


In Marion Zimmer Bradley’s 1987 novel, The Mists of Avalon, Morgan becomes Morgaine whose goal is not to usurp Arthur from his throne, but to bring people back to the worship of the goddess as opposed to the new religion of Christianity. Despite being a flawed character, in particular in her inability to find happiness and peace, Morgan is often considered to be somewhat of a role model for people who wish to reclaim their power.  Modern goddess-centric followers also see Morgan as a great healer, the mother of time, and even the matrix of life itself.

Morgan le Fay is one of the 13 "darker" aspects of the goddess that I talk about in my latest book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms .  It is through understanding the stories of these more challenging aspects of the divine feminine that we find ways to gain healing from past trauma, release from fears, or even acceptances of the "unacceptable" aspects of our own selves.
Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms can be pre-ordered from mid-June 2020 through John Hunt Publishing web page as well as through Amazon US, Amazon UK, Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and the like.  E-book versions will be able for pre-order from July 2020 with the physical release scheduled for March 2021.

Catching Up With The Cackle Club

The Cackle Club is the monthly gathering organised by the Launceston Pagan Network , based in Tasmania.  Like many groups, The Cackle Club gatherings are currently being held via Zoom while social distancing and gathering restrictions are in place.  Tomorrow evening, Thursday, 28 May 2020, I have the great privilege of being asked to be this month's guest speaker.

Details about the Zoom call can be found here.  Please note that you will need to register your interest in attending so that you can received the Zoom link.  As the Launceston Pagan Network is organised by volunteers, donations to help cover costs are always gratefully received and can be made via PayPal.

More information about The Cackle Club can be found here.

  

Pre-Orders of Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms

I am delighted to announce that from 1 June 2020 I will be taking pre-orders for my forthcoming book, Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms, due for actual release by Moon Books in March 2021.

Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow RealmsThe Dark Goddess is often associated with the Underworld where she leads the uninitiated through a transformative journey of self-discovery, change and soul renewal.  She is connected with the unwanted, the forgotten, the ignored or even ashamed parts of our psyche.  However there is more to her than that.
Encountering the Dark Goddess: A Journey into the Shadow Realms guides you through what this challenging facet of the Divine Feminine, the Dark Goddess, is truly about, and encourages you to step through the veils into her hidden realm to explore 13 aspects of herself.

When we connect the Dark Goddess, we are able to find the light within the darkness and our lives are enriched through the integration of all aspects of our soul as a perfect whole.
"We will all encounter the Dark Goddess, whether we want to or not. She will challenge us, butt us up against those aspects of ourselves we do not wish to see, maybe in the most painful way, but she will transform us. I found this book a moving and insightful guide to working with the Dark Goddess in her many aspects, with inspired rituals, meditations, invocations and other tools for the undertaking. Highly recommended." (Anna Franklin, author of The Hearth Witch’s Compendium as well as the Sacred Circle and Pagan Ways tarot decks, and much more)
"This book provides cathartic measures as a self-help guide towards restoration of the psyche in a world that has largely overcomplicated the divine feminine, and to some extent, overplayed Her role as a ‘Dark’ entity. Described by the author as She who “shakes and destroys in order to transform and recreate, pushing us to our limits,” the Dark Goddess is related through 13 specific forms that “could be used to chart a year’s journey of deep discovery.” (Shani Oates, author of many books including Tubelo's Green Fire, The Arcane Veil, and Star-Crossed Serpent Volumes I-IV).

“Encountering the Dark Goddess is recommended without reservation to anyone seeking a greater understanding of not only the concept of Deity, but more importantly, a sincere desire to see their own reflection in the divine mirror. But, be forewarned, the journey is not to be taken lightly. And what you will see in the mirror may be far removed from what you imagine." (Jimahl di Fiosa, author of A Voice in the Forest, All the King's Children and A Coin for the Ferryman).

At this stage I will have only 50 copies available for pre-order that can be obtained directly from me (autographed optional) for the cost of $35.00 including postage within Australia. If you would like to secure one of these initial copies, you can do so by ordering through Paypal or email me for my bank account details.


All pre-orders will receive a FREE Dark Goddess card.

When Author Copies Arrive

Friday evening just passed I made a trip to my local post office rather begrudgingly.  I had only been there the night before to post a LunaNoire Creations etsy order, yet when I had gotten home, there was a card in my letter box advising me of a parcel needing collecting.  Why hadn't they given me this parcel the night before?
When I opened the box, all was quickly forgotten - my author copies of ENCOUNTERING THE DARK GODDESS: A JOURNEY INTO THE SHADOW REALMS had arrived.  Rather unexpectantly.  I was not expecting to receive any copies until closer to the release date, 26 March 2021.
To actually be holding in my hands the manifested result of something that I had been working on for the last five or so years, well I could barely contain myself not to squeal with delight when I hastened a live streamed video for Facebook (as this is apparently what one does these days).

This video is a brief flick through of Encountering the Dark Goddess that from mid-late June 2020, should be appearing on the John Hunt Publishing webpage as well as appearing for pre-order through Amazon US, Amazon UK, Indiebound, Barnes & Noble, Waterstones and the like, with ebook pre-orders appearing a month or so before publication (26 March 2021).
The book has arrived in perfect timing with my Encountering the Dark Goddess month long sadhana due to commence in just under three weeks as one lucky participant will be gifted a copy of one of these author copies.