innowen's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: I received an eARC of Making Magic by Briana Saussy from netgalley.com for an honest review. However, the author is a friend of mine.
It all starts with a story. In this case, we’re treated to Golden Locks and the bear people. You may think you know how this story goes, and ends, but you don’t. That’s the beauty of magic. This is the magic Briana Saussy teaches us to remember. Magic is everywhere. It’s in the food we eat, the activities we do during the day, and the sacred times we spend with others. As adults, we forget about the magic surrounding us.
Making Magic teaches us to remember our own magic. The book blends the myth of Golden Locks in with daily activities and actions which help us to bring back our own power, our own magic. Each chapter takes a singular topic, relates it back to the myth, and then explores how the topic relates internally and externally (or through the everyday and the extraordinary). Bri includes two rituals for each chapter, one is a short internal dose of the topic, while the next blends the topic into a more concrete way. You are invited to interpret words and play with the material as you see fit. This is, after all, a book for you to rediscover, remember, your own personal magics.
What I liked: I love how Bri weaves the ordinary and extraordinary together. We are all magic and the path of a “magician” is a personal one. Making Magic doesn’t include lists to memorize, or spells, or hard rituals to follow to the letter. She allows the reader to experience and explore the material she presents— to blend it into their own personality and style. Making Magic doesn’t contain definitions... not even one on what magic is. “Magic is a wild animal” she writes, “it resides in the places we always are.” This book guides you into the a deep connection of what magic can be. How you personally define it, where it appears in your life, and helps bridge tight connections between yourself, story, and Nature.
Caveat: This book teaches you to discover your own personal magic. It requires a lot of imaginative play and experimentation. This is not a book for those who want to know the lineage of magic being taught. Bri does tell you her credentials; however, she knows that the most powerful magic comes from within the individual’s own self, mind, and practices. If you aren’t into “unverified personal gnosis” methods, then you might want to skip this book.
Bottom Line: Are you ready to remember your magic? Want to bring magic into every aspect of your life? Bri’s book will help you develop a personal connection you the magic you forgot as a child.
It all starts with a story. In this case, we’re treated to Golden Locks and the bear people. You may think you know how this story goes, and ends, but you don’t. That’s the beauty of magic. This is the magic Briana Saussy teaches us to remember. Magic is everywhere. It’s in the food we eat, the activities we do during the day, and the sacred times we spend with others. As adults, we forget about the magic surrounding us.
Making Magic teaches us to remember our own magic. The book blends the myth of Golden Locks in with daily activities and actions which help us to bring back our own power, our own magic. Each chapter takes a singular topic, relates it back to the myth, and then explores how the topic relates internally and externally (or through the everyday and the extraordinary). Bri includes two rituals for each chapter, one is a short internal dose of the topic, while the next blends the topic into a more concrete way. You are invited to interpret words and play with the material as you see fit. This is, after all, a book for you to rediscover, remember, your own personal magics.
What I liked: I love how Bri weaves the ordinary and extraordinary together. We are all magic and the path of a “magician” is a personal one. Making Magic doesn’t include lists to memorize, or spells, or hard rituals to follow to the letter. She allows the reader to experience and explore the material she presents— to blend it into their own personality and style. Making Magic doesn’t contain definitions... not even one on what magic is. “Magic is a wild animal” she writes, “it resides in the places we always are.” This book guides you into the a deep connection of what magic can be. How you personally define it, where it appears in your life, and helps bridge tight connections between yourself, story, and Nature.
Caveat: This book teaches you to discover your own personal magic. It requires a lot of imaginative play and experimentation. This is not a book for those who want to know the lineage of magic being taught. Bri does tell you her credentials; however, she knows that the most powerful magic comes from within the individual’s own self, mind, and practices. If you aren’t into “unverified personal gnosis” methods, then you might want to skip this book.
Bottom Line: Are you ready to remember your magic? Want to bring magic into every aspect of your life? Bri’s book will help you develop a personal connection you the magic you forgot as a child.
bekahbeth's review against another edition
5.0
The more time passes since my first reading of this book, the more I like it. Too often, we think of magic as something totally unreal, totally ridiculous and fantastic, completely outside of our normal realm of being. Saussy reminds us that it is actually in the mundane everyday, as well as in the liminal spaces between things, where true magic resides, and helps us find it again.
The book contains a lot of instructions, exercises, journaling prompts, etc., many of which didn't capture me at first. But the usually spare, instructional language occasionally gives way to brilliantly beautiful passages that kept me reading (and copying down quotes to my commonplace book).
Inspired, then, I started to actually engage more in the exercises and journaling. And since officially "finishing" my first read-through of the library copy, then buying a copy because I realized I absolutely needed it at home with me, more bits and pieces of it continue to well up through the murky depths of my memory and unconscious, and I continue to turn to the book again and again, finding more and more each time, both in the book and in myself and our world.
Keep your mind and heart open, and open this book. Then never really close it.
The book contains a lot of instructions, exercises, journaling prompts, etc., many of which didn't capture me at first. But the usually spare, instructional language occasionally gives way to brilliantly beautiful passages that kept me reading (and copying down quotes to my commonplace book).
Inspired, then, I started to actually engage more in the exercises and journaling. And since officially "finishing" my first read-through of the library copy, then buying a copy because I realized I absolutely needed it at home with me, more bits and pieces of it continue to well up through the murky depths of my memory and unconscious, and I continue to turn to the book again and again, finding more and more each time, both in the book and in myself and our world.
Keep your mind and heart open, and open this book. Then never really close it.
embers_of_amber's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Originally, I was going to give this book 3.5 stars, but halfway through it just got weird.
The reimaging of Goldie Locks and how it weaves throughout the book is...strange. The story itself feels as a complete retelling, almost disconnected from the original, and it's place in all the chapters can be jarring and take you out of the text.
There's WAY too much on an emphasis on christianity in this book (with some slight Wiccan undertones) and that's also jarring. Mentions on non-"western" religions and spirituality don't flow very well with the christian overtone.
Also SO much mention of fertility (may I never have to read the words "God's pearlescent semen" ever again).
This book also just has some bad advice as well. Please, for the sake of your health, don't apply essential oils straight to your skin or put them in a bath without having used a carrier oil or emulsifier first. You can seriously hurt yourself.
The reimaging of Goldie Locks and how it weaves throughout the book is...strange. The story itself feels as a complete retelling, almost disconnected from the original, and it's place in all the chapters can be jarring and take you out of the text.
There's WAY too much on an emphasis on christianity in this book (with some slight Wiccan undertones) and that's also jarring. Mentions on non-"western" religions and spirituality don't flow very well with the christian overtone.
Also SO much mention of fertility (may I never have to read the words "God's pearlescent semen" ever again).
This book also just has some bad advice as well. Please, for the sake of your health, don't apply essential oils straight to your skin or put them in a bath without having used a carrier oil or emulsifier first. You can seriously hurt yourself.
naava's review against another edition
3.0
I received a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.
Three and a half stars, rounded down to three for Goodreads, despite mathematics telling me that's the wrong thing to do.
My biggest criticism is that it was extremely difficult for me to "get into" the book. I found myself forcing myself to read the book up until the 40 percent mark. That's when it got interesting. Forcing myself to read: rating went to three and a half stars which I would have rounded up to four... if it hadn't been for the Golden Locks story which was used to frame and structure the book. I wasn't a fan of that, the purpose of it still isn't one hundred percent clear to me. So I decided it was time for me to demonstrate my abysmal mathematical skills and round a 3,5 to 3.
I enjoyed the way Saussy wrote about the intersection of magic and mundane, of the ways magic is all around us. I was also a fan of the Stepping Stones. I will most likely be revisiting the book and the exercises and the Stepping Stones eventually!
Definitely recommended to anyone who's new to magic and would like to observe the magical side of themselves – or just anyone who isn't a fan of highly structured and, uh, authoritarian magic.
Three and a half stars, rounded down to three for Goodreads, despite mathematics telling me that's the wrong thing to do.
My biggest criticism is that it was extremely difficult for me to "get into" the book. I found myself forcing myself to read the book up until the 40 percent mark. That's when it got interesting. Forcing myself to read: rating went to three and a half stars which I would have rounded up to four... if it hadn't been for the Golden Locks story which was used to frame and structure the book. I wasn't a fan of that, the purpose of it still isn't one hundred percent clear to me. So I decided it was time for me to demonstrate my abysmal mathematical skills and round a 3,5 to 3.
I enjoyed the way Saussy wrote about the intersection of magic and mundane, of the ways magic is all around us. I was also a fan of the Stepping Stones. I will most likely be revisiting the book and the exercises and the Stepping Stones eventually!
Definitely recommended to anyone who's new to magic and would like to observe the magical side of themselves – or just anyone who isn't a fan of highly structured and, uh, authoritarian magic.
annarella's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting and thought provoking book, well written and full of interesting stories and hints.
The style of writing is lyrical and I loved how the book is written.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
The style of writing is lyrical and I loved how the book is written.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
goldenfenris's review against another edition
3.0
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for Making Magic in exchange for my honest opinions. Saussy has written a step-by-step guide to finding your inner magic. This book mixes the ordinary and the extraordinary to remind us that there is magic all around us. That being said it took me awhile to get into this book because it started with a rendition of Goldilocks and then blocks out the lessons that it goes through in the following chapters. It shows readers how to get back to the basics and the easiest ways to incorporate magic into our daily lives.
annarella's review
4.0
An interesting and thought provoking book, well written and full of interesting stories and hints.
The style of writing is lyrical and I loved how the book is written.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
The style of writing is lyrical and I loved how the book is written.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
More...