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The Bathhouse at Midnight: Magic in Russia
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It includes a great deal of information on herbal magic, zagorovy (spoken spells), categories of magical practitioners, divination, omens, amulets, animal lore, etc. all from ancient texts previously unavailable to the Western, non-Slavic speaking person.

Forests of the Vampires : Slavic Myth
Don't let the title fool you. This is an absolutely wonderful book of Slavic myths and legends with more information about The Old Gods than most University Press publications. The illustrations are brilliant. I highly recommend it.


Goddess Embroideries of the Balkan Lands and the Greek Islands I have just ordered this book and am looking quite highly forward to receiving it. If you click on the link, Amazon offers a complete listing of the book's Table of Contents as well as other excerpts. The author, Mary Kelly is quite well known for her other books on Goddess Spirituality and I am quite intrigued by the concept of this remarkable woman taking on this not-so-small task.

Goddess Embroideries of Eastern Europe
< Please see comments on above book.




The Gods of the Ancient Slavs : Tatishchev and the Beginnings of Slavic Mythology
This book is highly recommended for those who want translations of original texts and explanations of their possible misinterpretations. This is not a book for the beginner. It is out of print and very difficult to find but you may be able to obtain a copy if you click on the title and post an offer.

Heroes, Monsters and Other Worlds from Russian Mythology
A wonderful book of myths and fairy tales which is wonderfully illustrated and, unfortunately, out of print. You can, however, click on the title above and post an offer for any used books available.

Mother Russia: The Feminine Myth in Russian Culture An excellent and well-written book which I will write a more complete review for when I locate my copy.


The Occult in Russian and Soviet Culture
This book is more about High-magickal practices adopted by Russia than anything indigenous to the area. It is still a great book which would be a good addition to any magicians library. If you click on the title above, it will take you to Amazon.com which lists the complete Table of Contents, Index and segments from the book


The Old Stone Age in European Russia

Pagan Ritual and Myth in Russian Magic Tales: A Study of Patterns
I had ordered this book when it was a mere $69.95. I was then contacted and informed that the book price had gone up to $99.95 and decided to cancel the order until I could find a used copy at a lower price. Will post a review here if I ever get to read it.

Polish Customs, Traditions and Folklore
Sophie Knab's books are wonderfully full of different customs and traditions. However, in most cases she fails to explain the reasons behind or origins of most of them. It's just enough information to keep you wanting more. All in all, I would still recommend any one of her books.



Polish Herbs, Flowers & Folk Medicine... Not as user friendly as the Russian Herbal (see further down this page), Sophie Knab still presents us with this lovely little book with herbal remedies, gardening ideas, historical references and some gorgeous sketches by Mary Anne Knab.There are some pieces of folklore scattered in between the pages, but mostly this is a practical book filled with ideas for herbal soaps, cheeses, wreaths and the like.

Reading Russian Fortunes : Print Culture, Gender and Divination in Russia from 1765
This book is a must for anyone studying gender roles in fortunetelling or fortunetelling publications popular in pre-revolutionary Russia. It does not, however, teach you how to read fortunes. I does give you a great deal of info about public opinions regarding divination, demographics, and the like.

Rusalka
This is a fictional account of one young man's journey into the world of the Volkvh (magician) and the spirit world. Rife with Leshi, Domovoi, Dovorovoi, Rusalki, Vodanoi and a cast of other characters, it gives you a great feel of the frightening aspects behind the Slavic spirit world.

Russian Folk Belief
Linda Ivanits has done a wonderful job with this scholarly, yet very readable book. She includes many stories of spirit world creatures such as the domovoi and leshii, as well as later, Christianized myths. This book gives us a far better understanding of the double faith known as dvoeverie in which the older Pagan beliefs were merely whitewashed, not wiped out by the later Christian church. There are also wonderful examples of traditional spells and info about magickal practitioners as well as accounts of direct dealings with them. One of the "must-haves" on this list.

Russian Folk Lyrics
A wonderful book which includes the lyrics to many seasonal songs which honor the old Pagan holidays. It also contains lyrics to the New Year's fortunetelling songs and a wonderful introductory essay by the famous Russian folklorist, V.Ja.Propp. This book gives great insight into the old holidays, wedding customs and poetic symbolism in folk-lyric. It is, in my opinion, a necessary addition to anyone's library who wishes to study the ancient agrarian festivals of the year-wheel.

A Russian Herbal : Traditional Remedies for Health and Healing
Although some gifts of Russian folklore pertaining to the plants may be found scattered in this book, it is almost entirely medicinal. It is very user-friendly and includes a dictionary of the herbs as well as recipes and instructions using plants also obtainable outside of Russia. It is a lovely book altogether, I just personally would have enjoyed more information on the magickal uses of such herbs.

Scythian Gold: Treasures from Ancient Ukraine
This is a fabulously illustrated tome of treasures found in the Scythian kurhany, or burial mounds, of the Ukraine. In this book we can see what a strong influence the Scythians had on the later Slavic cultures in the Ukraine and in Russia. Especially fascinating are the accounts of burial rites and the human sacrifice which accompanied them.


Singing Back The Sun: A Dictionary of Old Polish Customs and Beliefs
Okana has done a marvelous job of compiling bits and bobs from Polish folklore. This book is far from complete, but if we had one that was, we wouldn't need a book list as long as this one. I would highly recommend this book to all people of Polish descent interested in their own heritage. Despite the fact that it is a book of alphabetical listings, Okana manages to draw you into a world which she obviously treasures.

Slavic Sorcery : Shamanic Journey of Initiation Kenneth Johnson's book does not go any further into the myths and holidays, deities and spirits than most of the other books here. The value in his writings come from his personal experiences with the magical and spiritual practitioners of Russia. This book is currently out-of-print, but you may still find used copies for sale by clicking on this link. Kenneth Johnson has spoken fairly recently about a sequel to this interesting work. I look forward to it greatly.

Songs of the Russian People As Illustrative of Slavonic Mythology and Russian Social Life
If you could only purchase one book on the subject of Russian folklore as pertaining to Pagan worship, this should be the one. I am so excited over the extent this book covers holiday customs, rites of passage, spells, etc. If you do not want to spend the $75 that they are asking here for the hard-cover please e-mail me directly about it.

Study of Russian Folklore
This book has a priceless introduction explaining the difficulties encountered trying to collect folksongs and tales from the peasant peoples of Russian. Mostly including essays about the Byliny and written mostly as a University textbook for folklorists, it still contains a fascinating essay on the origin of riddles and another on ritual poetry. It is, however, very expensive and for that reason I recommend it only to the serious researcher.

Tales from Slavic Myths
This is a very nice gift which does contain some very valuable information and some interesting artwork. However, the myths are not from any ancient texts or oral traditional sources. They are modern myths made up by the authors. Not that this is a terrible thing, it's just that a lot of them don't reconcile themselves to what information we do have on Slavic Divinity. It's a nice (small) book to have but not worth the $85. If you wait it out, there will be a cheaper "student's" edition coming out by the end of the year.

Witch Hammer
Historical fiction which explores the dark world of the witch-craze in 17th century Moravia (Czechoslovakia). This is the English translation of a perenially best-selling novel in its original Czech.
Znaki : Slavic Charms
This is on my list of books to purchase, but I have not gotten around to ordering it as of yet. However, if you would like to see what the znaki are and how they are used, you may go directly to the author's website and decide for yourself! On her site she offers a free divinatory reading using znak. www.okana.org


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