Why did I read it?  When first published, several people recommended this book to me, and it was recommended more than once by some.  I imagine those recommendations came because of my like of the natural world, and of language.  I have no idea why, but I put it on my 'wish list' and then my 'to be read</i>' pile, but never actually started it; these decisions I now regret.

What's it about? With the Oxford Children's Dictionary removing words relating to nature, e.g. acorn, in favour of technological terms, Robert Macfarlane explores the United Kingdom in search of those words to describe, and connect us to the natural world.  Connection.  That is the key to this book.  In a time, and place which seems to breed disconnection, this book seeks to reunite us with a deep love for landscape, and language.

What did I like? Every single word, and most especially the glossaries.  Rich in words and landscape, there is so much to enjoy, and explore in this book.  I listened to the audio book, which is rather nicely done.  I did query a few of the Gaelic pronunciations - being a learner of the language, not a native speaker, I may not completely comprehend the dialectal nuances.  I am very pleased I opted to purchase the Kindle edition, too, so I can explore those glossaries at my leisure.

Oh, the joy I found in this book: learning new words for phenomenon I had no idea might even exist; remembering 'childish' the way children use language to describe their surroundings; and discovering new Gaelic words I wanted to include in my (ever-expanding) vocabulary.  

The narrator, Roy McMillan|, did a splendid job.  I'm afraid I have no idea of the name of other gentleman whose voice was used to read out various words, but his voice gave  luscious contrast to Mr McMillan's smooth tones.

What didn't I like?  I could find no fault with this book.  I find fault with myself for not reading it sooner.

Would I recommend it? Yes! Yes! Yes!  Not necessarily the audio version though - not because it is not well read, but because once you've read the book, I'm pretty sure you'll want to keep it to hand to pore over the word glossaries, and then add to your own.

When I first came to meditating as a practice, there weren't many books on meditation aimed at Pagan readers. The number has increased since then, and I've been implicated in two of the books (linked to this post). I was delighted when Rachel Patterson announced that she'd written an introduction to meditation - her easy, accessible style is a great counterpoint to what can be seen as a difficult area of spiritual practice.

I felt honoured to be asked if I'd endorse this book. Here is what I've said: "This is a very readable, user-friendly book, giving a taster of a broad range of meditation practices. Pragmatic, highly usable, and with plenty of inspiration and jumping off points, this is a great place to start if you want to explore meditation as a Pagan."

One of the other people to comment on this book ahead of publication is James Nichol, who put together the Contemplative Druidry book I've tagged. Contemplative Druidry was a community project, featuring many voices, one of which was mine. James made the following observation having read Pagan Portals - Meditation.

"Rachel Patterson has written an exuberant and free-spirited introduction to a subject often treated with undue deference and solemnity. She gives her readers permission to sample the smorgasbord of the world's traditions, providing a stimulus to craft their own practice and/or connect with relevant communities and teachers."

The book is available from December 2015 and i can very much recommend it for anyone who is either new to meditation, or struggling with it.

A quote from the beginning of Spirits of the Sacred Grove. It absolutely is not a how-to book, and anyone picking this up to learn Druidry will have their work cut out to say the very least. Even so, it is a book that has inspired a great many people to find their own way and their own path as Druids. Emma Restall Orr offers a poetic sense of what it means to be a Druid, a tantalizing glimpse of something hard to name, and even harder to pin down or possess. There are a great many contemporary Druid authors whose journey and inspiration began with Emma Restall Orr's work, and a great many Druids who are still questing after something that they first sensed while reading this particular book. It holds an important place in the evolution of modern Druidry.

I wrote Druidry and Meditation over the winter about five years ago. It was my first foray into book length non-fiction. I'd been writing magazine articles and blog posts for years at this point, but it's still a big jump from there to a whole book. that I had already written a lot of novels no doubt helped, because I had a sense of the structuring issues and the stamina required.

I've been meditating since my teens. I've run ritual groups where meditation was used in sacred space. I've run meditation groups. when i started running things, I found there wasn't much information out there to support Pagan meditation. There is plenty of new Age material, there's lots of Eastern inspired content, but for someone rooted in this land and in western magic, folklore and spirituality, none of that really worked for me.

I learned to meditate from other Pagans, not as part of some other culture or practice.

This is the book I wanted when I started, as best as I could manage to create it. this is a book about being a western pagan and meditating in ways that are part of that, rather than part of traditions that are about transcending this life, or escaping from it.

This is the book that brought me to Moon Books, where I've since had a few other titles published. Through Moon Books I've met some fantastic people, I've learned a great deal, ad I've had a lot of opportunities to work in interesting ways. I do some of the marketing stuff there - which I love because it means part of my day job is to go out into the world and enthuse about books. It's very happy work indeed.

One of the consequences of writing this book is that it brought me into contact with James Nichol, a fellow OBOD Druid who had set up a space on facebook to discuss contemplative Druidry. From this came involvement in a local group, and at time of writing I've just stepped up again to facilitate meditation for people. I was a contributor to the Contemplative Druidry Book, and my life has been greatly enriched by involvement in this project and the people it's brought me into contact with.