Review of Magic & the Power of the Goddess

Over the years, Gareth Knight has been very much an innovator and opener of new ways in the Western Mysteries. At a
time when this stuff was generally reserved for secret lodge meetings and when many groups frowned upon individual
thought and inner work, he was one of the first to encourage people to meet and practice magic in living rooms and public
workshops. Magic and the Power of the Goddess ~ perhaps the best in the list of impressive titles that have flowed from
Knight's prolific pen ~ is very much an expression of this original, initiating spirit.

Originally published in 1985 as The Rose Cross and the Goddess, then later substantially revised and expanded under
the title Evoking the Goddess, this latest edition has a new preface by the author.

In many ways the book was, and still is, ahead of its time. For it presents the Western Mystery Tradition not as an
inalterable secret "system" controlled by a hierarchy of reticent adepts, but as a dynamic, living approach to sacred lore.
It is a way of transformation and spiritual service that is applicable to any religious or mythological tradition, yet is bound
by none. In this, it inspires and encapsulates my own work with the Magical Way.

The book is divided into two main parts, which taken together provide a rare opportunity to work magic from beginning
exercises to advanced levels of service. Indeed, the book could well be taken as a course of training in and of itself and I
would certainly wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in the Magical Way.

Part One, entitled The Magic Circle Maze Dance, is a masterful resume of magical practice. Here you will learn about
treading the sacred spiral, becoming one with the earth, invoking the fourfold elemental powers, working with the cycle of
time and the central flame. The section concludes with a consideration of the need to balance oneself in the Three Worlds
or Realms, a vision of the Goddess and a call to respond to her.

There are times in this book, particularly in the practical segments, where Knight's literary style, already accomplished
and impressive, seems overshadowed by yet a greater voice. A poetic muse or spiritual contact seems to speak with
unusual power from those passages.

Part Two deals with the application of this practical instruction to the figure of the Goddess as she appears in various
traditions. Gareth Knight offers insightful analyses of the myths and legends of Andromeda, Isis, Mary, Alchemical
Venus, and the Queen of Faery ~ each followed by a visionary practice.

In the chapter on the Queen of Faery, Knight remarks more fully on an important theme running through the book. This is
"the democratization of the Mysteries," which he rightly links to the power of the Goddess. He mentions the current spate
of books and workshops on once secret doctrines and practices as evidence of this process, and from my own
experience as a teacher and magical worker, it does indeed seem as if the roles of priest and priestess are moving with
equal haste away from confinement in both conventional religion and traditional mystery lodges into wider, more
accessible and integrated expressions in the daily lives of spiritual people.

The book closes with a chapter on the Initiation of the Earth, in which Knight gives visionary examples of how this new
priest and priestess-hood is undertaken in the context of the Goddess and sacred sites. Effective participation in this kind
of spiritual service requires, the author tells us, "breadth of vision and largeness of soul" ~ a phrase which aptly applies to
both the work and person of Gareth Knight.