D. J. Conway (1939–2019)

I tried. I tried again. Then I realized sometimes it's best to let things go.

As many other reviewers have said, this book had potential. It had a good topic. I love reading pagan philosophy books for a holistic, semi-real world interest and semi-fictional world building interest. I don't even care if the statements are directly evidence based or more qualitative. I care, however, about the writer's approach to sharing information, and this approach completely overshadowed any Celtic show more shamanism that could have been gleaned from the book's pages.

The true thesis screamed at me maybe 15 pages in: "Modern humans have turned away from every level of being except the physical, expecting to find in science and the five physical senses a freedom and contentment that is illusory at best and deadening at worst...Orthodoxy and science have cut down the World Tree and blown up the tunnel to the Underworld, leaving us stranded in a sterile plane of existence that is slowly but surely killing us." Talk about being sensationalist.

Before, in between, and after this statement he addresses a connection with nature. What does he think science is? What does he think the physical world is? The revered natural world in its raw form is somehow sterile? Doesn't that contradict biological existence--I mean, sterile means devoid of life? Apparently we can't feel elated by our physical (much more than five by the way) senses. I haven't read something this confusing and blatant logic-defying in a long time. I'd almost give the author a chance to rewrite the paragraph and others like it just in case she chose bad words and failed to communicate what she was really thinking. I'm sincerely sorry that D.J. Conway finds this world deadening, or that using our best means to learn about the world is somewhere between illusory and deadening. Meanwhile, others--scientists and artists alike--are elated with fascination. I'm sorry that someone thinks learning about nature and appreciating all its aesthetic and mystery on a differently defined level than his nature-based spirituality is somehow a horrible thing. I also don't see how this attitude is healthy for a book that apparently is more a self-help, New Age healing book than a Celtic shamanism book.

The writer does not approach with an open perspective. Sometimes I can continue reading a book on its merits and tolerate occasional negative opinions that sprout from somewhere outside the content of the book. However, not this time. It's wiser to find a different writer sharing similar content but with a different approach. I'll find something with more information on Celtic shamanism that I can be free to interpret instead of relying on minimal context and maximal Conway. show less

This book on astral projection is quite fascinating, but I have not found it at all useful in practice.

I would say it is just as much a book about witchcraft, not to use the word in any pejorative sense, but merely as a descriptive term.

The author counsels us on how to achieve astral projection through meditation. I have never associated meditation with astral projection, not at all, and have not been able to succeed in achieving the latter consciously, though I have tried. And since the show more author’s multifarious teachings and advice are based on obtaining astral travel by this method, I have been unable to benefit from any of it.

So for me the book has been a sort of airy-fairy, unobtainable fantasy.

I would conjecture that the author is one who has always been able to freely roam around the astral realms. I am in no doubt that she can do and has done all the things she describes, though the book might have been more readable had she recounted some of her own personal experiences. But we’re not all born with the same gifts and abilities. Perhaps with hard work and perseverance we could achieve many of the things she describes.

But it is somewhat frustrating to read a book about all kinds of exciting things one can carry out in the astral realms, when we can’t even get there.

The author does provide us with some advice on herbs, stones and oils to help in recalling astral travel and/or heightening the psychic senses. For example, she advises us to make a dream pillow stuffed with dried mugwort and informs us, among other things, that amethyst is a valuable astral travel gem, and quartz crystal can help open the psychic centres.

She mentions finding guides and spiritual teachers in the astral realms and looking through the Akashic records. But these guides and teachers just seem to turn up by themselves and it is they who can lead you to the Akashic records. She states that we can study spiritual knowledge in astral classes, visit deceased loved ones, look at past lives, work healing or “magick” on the astral, meet with other particular astral travelers, etc, etc.

But, again, how you actually get to do these things is not really specified.

There are interesting chapters on time travel and “treading ancient paths”. This latter chapter includes more about meeting spiritual teachers and guides, who just turn up when you visualize yourself in a beautiful garden, about visiting with a wizard, worshipping with a witch, visiting a healing shaman and so on.

There’s a chapter about the possibility of finding an astral lover, one on healing in the astral, and one on “magick” in the astral, which includes the description of various rituals for good health, prosperity, success and so on. In a ritual for justice one of the items needed is “a curl of unicorn hair”. The author fails to mention where you get that. Perhaps in one of the shops frequented by Harry Potter.

One chapter entitled “Defence against the Dark Side” informs us how to deal with astral enemies and uninvited astral entities. The author uses many techniques and weapons to defend herself with. Personally, I would prefer not to use fighting but the power of Divine Love, which I am sure would be just as effective.

I don’t know why “magic” is spelt “magick”, and this is not explained. I have noticed that certain other authors also use this, presumably old, spelling.

The book is well-written and absolutely comprehensive, and it sounds as though the author knows what she’s talking about. One gets the distinct impression that everything she describes is as easy as pie to do.

She states that astral travel is absolutely safe, but at the same time recommends that we use numerous methods and techniques by which to protect ourselves. She describes seven different types of astral defense, so there must be considerable need for this. Before I read the book I felt that venturing into these realms was relatively safe but I feel much more wary about doing so after reading it.

I would recommend the book to those who know from experience that this sort of thing is something they will easily be able to master and who are interested in witch-like activities and all sorts of “magickal” pursuits. show less

I have occasionally used this book as a resource, but mostly I find Conway's unwillingness to provide clear resources for her research, and her sometimes blatant historical, cultural, or animal behavioural incongruities to be a reflection of information that is - at times - made up conveniently.

As far as 'animal dictionaries' go, however, you could do worse.

I honestly couldn't get far enough in this book to give it a fair rating but this is what I've got so far as I read:
I honestly did not appreciate the author slamming other religions that she did not like. The author seems to have a personal vendetta against Orthodox religions and it definitely shows in her writing. And these were not just passing glances these were passages that really went for the throat. I just couldn't do it and it turned me off from the entire book.