Goddess Initiation

After working through the year long training in this book, I have found myself less stressed out, more focused, and more in charge of my own life. There are a lot of meditation books out there, but this book is different in that it promotes practical rituals and meditations that don't require a lot of accoutrements to get the job done. Francesca speaks to the heart and makes spirituality accessible. You won't find lists of boring facts in this book. It is not a reference work, but a true training in the Craft. I recommend it highly and with total enthusiasm for the dedicated Seeker. It is not your average "teen witch" book. There is deep healing here, and the author focuses on what really counts. Very readable and very do-able.

A little over four years ago, I worked through the 15 weeks of lessons in Francesca's first book, Be a Goddess: A Guide to Celtic Spells and Wisdom for Self-Healing, Prosperity, and Great Sex, and found, to my great surprise and pleasure, that these lessons were fun, inspiring, and, most of all, life-transforming. The psychology was sound, the spirituality was amazing, and the teacher was warm and caring. With the very positive experience I had working through Be a Goddess, I was very excited when Goddess Initiation was released. Designed to take a little more than a year to work through, Goddess Initiation has even more to offer than its predecessor. I didn't think that was possible!Goddess Initiation is essentially a workbook to help you gain personal insights, remove your inner blocks to joy and healthy sexuality, and discover your own creative passion for living. A shamanic method of self-empowerment and spiritual growth, the tools in this book are valuable regardless of your gender, sexual preference, or cultural or religious background. Francesca says, "Mine is an interfaith Goddess, who is perfectly happy helping all people regardless of their religious beliefs or lack thereof." Francesca is warm, intuitive, and truly magical! As someone who has not only worked through her books but has also worked extensively with her in person, I can tell you that the work she presents in her books is a result of many, many years of dedication to the Old Gods and to helping her students, her readers, and anyone else who comes into her sphere of influence to develop their innate talents, spiritual growth, and healthy self-esteem.

The book is broken down into months, each of which then consists of 4 weeks of exercises. Exercises include medications, rituals, writing, etc. At the end of the book you reach the Initiation ceremony, with the theory that the months of work before have properly prepared you.In "Goddess Initiation," De Grandis manages to take the tone of a friend without oversimplifying the material or being condescending. Some of her prayers are pure poetry. I think De Grandis takes her teachings one step further (from "Be a Goddess!") in "Goddess Initiation," and it seems to require a more dedicated approach.I found this book at the bookstore by accident, but it was exactly what I needed. A clear, laid out plan for self improvement, wisdom and clarity with activities and explanations every week that anyone with just a little dedication can benefit from.

I am an initiate of Francesca's Third Road Tradition and I offer three separate and equally valuable reviews of her new book.A Standard Review:Goddess Initiation (hereafter GI) by Francesca De Grandis is a year-long course of self-empowerment culminating in an initiation into the Third Road tradition of witchcraft. GI is unusual in Wiccan literature in that one's first impression on reading it is that it is simply a self-help book. You won't find endless lists of candle color correspondences, Wiccan tools (athames, pentacles, etc.), and sabbats. What you will find is a rigorous training program in how to embody magic in a mundane world.Based on the oral tradition that she has taught for many years, GI largely consists of chapters which each contain one month's worth of lectures, assignments and rituals and which culminate in a self-initiation ceremony at the end of one year's work. GI also includes three introductory chapters, a post-initiation chapter (titled "So what if you're an initiate? Go wash your dishes and call your mother") and a couple of appendices pointing you to further resources.Francesca's lectures provide the intellectual framework for increasing your psychic abilities. She includes frequent examples which are usually made up to protect her client's identities but which accurately reflect her many years of experience as a professional shamanic counselor and teacher. She is quite clear and precise in her discourse.Her assignments are often shockingly simple (month one includes finding a notebook which will become your Book of Shadows), but equally often quite profound in what they reveal to yourself about yourself. For instance, when I received the notebook assignment in the oral training I bought a gray three-ring binder containing recycled paper. I wanted to be invisible and simply observe in those early classes since becoming a witch was a frightening thing to me as a Presbyterian Elder. I wanted to able to remove and rearrange pages if needed. And, finally, I wanted to be as eco-friendly as I could to honor our Mother. All of those things were brought to consciousness for me when I did that assignment.The rituals are beautiful, and, personally, I would buy the book simply to get her circle-casting which she titles "The Mother's Cloak: A Circle of Protection and Love" I have seen her use this lovely casting in public rituals, but she has not, in general, passed it on to her students. This casting should be of particular interest to Neo-pagans in general since it completely avoids the "Oh, mighty foo of the East" directional invocations which is a beautiful but confining legacy of ceremonial magic.The book only hit the bookshelves two weeks ago, and so clearly I have not applied this program to my life as it was designed to be done: over the course of an entire year. Nevertheless, I was trained in the oral tradition for over two years and then initiated, and I can vouchsafe that all of the essential material is t

Many traditions require a student to study for at least a year and a day before undergoing intitiation into the mysteries of the Goddess, but today many people have no access to an elder who can teach them. Thus, this book fills a much needed role. "Goddess Initiation" provides a thorough, powerful, and structured program of self-preparation for entry into the mysteries. As in her first book, De Grandis combines a playful writing style with a keen insight into the processes necessary for true spiritual growth. Her program is safe for the inexperienced seeker, yet has enough substance to be challenging and insightful even for those whose spiritual journey is well underway. Even if you're working with a teacher and will receive your initiation through your teacher's lineage, the wisdom of "Goddess Initiation" can help you along your way.