Magic and the Power of the Goddess: Initiation, Worship, and Ritual in the Western Mystery Tradition

by Gareth Knight

A manual of magical and mystical techniques for contacting the Goddess within

• Draws from two thousand years of source material to demonstrate the ongoing reality of the feminine power and its relevance for today

• Includes rituals, exercises, and techniques for evoking the Goddess

• Explains how the dynamics of the sacred or magic circle serve as a guide to living harmoniously

In this wide-ranging view of magic and ritual, Gareth Knight demonstrates the presence of the Goddess throughout Western esoteric traditions. From Greek myths and the Mysteries of Isis to the emergence of the cult of the Blessed Virgin and seventeenth-century Rosicrucian spiritual alchemy, he shows how the Goddess--the elemental consciousness of Earth--has revealed herself in different times and places.

Honoring her many guises, Knight explores the powers of the Goddess as maiden, mother, initiator, protector, sorceress, and faery queen. Guided meditations on each of these qualities lead the practitioner into direct contact with the potent healing energy of the Divine Feminine. The author also offers rituals, exercises, and other practical tools for integrating the Western magical tradition with worship of the Goddess. He shows how we, and our planet, have suffered due to the repression of the feminine principle. For our own health, and that of our environment as well, we must recognize the power of the Goddess within to reconstitute and guide our existence.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality

224 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 2008

About the author

Gareth Knight is one of the world's foremost authorities on ritual magic, the Western Mystery Tradition and Qabalistic symbolism. He trained in Dion Fortune's Society of the Inner Light, and has spent a lifetime rediscovering and teaching the principles of magic as a spiritual discipline and method of self-realisation.

He has written around forty books covering topics as diverse as Qabalah, history of magic, Arthurian legend, Rosicrucianism, Tarot, the Inklings (Tolkien, C.S.Lewis et al) and the Feminine Mysteries, as well as several practical books on ritual magic. He has lectured worldwide and is a regular contributor to Inner Light, the journal of the Society of the Inner Light.

The group founded by Gareth Knight in 1973 is now run by Wendy Berg and known as the Avalon Group.

See: http://garethknight.blogspot.com/

Reviews

[Raven Wells · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this book was something it wasn’t. It goes over some myths, mostly Greek, and then Christianity. It’s a strange mix, which apparently is what the western mystery tradition is. Personally, the title made me think it would be more so about paganism and goddesses but it’s really just their tradition. I had initially bought this book as part of a group I was studying from years ago and wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re interested in that specific group.

[R.M. Watters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this was amazing. The exercises are not ones found in every book. The second half was solely focused on myths which is not something I am interested in and the only exercises were page after page of a meditation to do relating to the myth.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope. I'd give it 0 stars if I could.