 If you're beginning your Druidry journey, please don't miss The Bardic Book of Becoming. Hey there saplings, my name is Danny and welcome to Esoteric Moment. Today I have a book review for you and it is a goodie. The Bardic Book of Becoming by Ivan Macbeth with Fern Lickfield. It's an excellent, excellent book that a dear friend of mine got signed for me. So thanks Jay. That is pretty awesome. And it's signed by Philip Kargam who wrote the foreword of this book. So if you're not familiar with modern Druidry, Ivan Macbeth is definitely a notable like very important pagan type Druid but still a really like wonderful teacher that many, many people respected and loved. He wrote this book I believe earlier and this is kind of like a republished with editions and it was published after he passed away. It is definitely a book about how to be a Druid, how to start your path from Ivan's perspective and he had his own Druid order. He helped to start the Green Mountain School of Druidry in the spring of 2006. So this book definitely follows that school of thought but isn't that far away from obadi? So if you're an obadi I think you'll feel right at home reading this book. If you're not an obadi it is different enough that you know you might find something that really fits for you even if obadi doesn't fit for you. What I found particularly interesting about the way these chapters were set up is that some of that beginner stuff that you get a lot of like the four elements is actually and the second part of the book not right away at the beginning. And that leaves so much room for the author to talk about spirituality, creativity, how in you, you as the spiritual seeker are the main focus of the first part of the book and that's really great for a reader. Each chapter is pretty short. It makes an excellent bedside read. Like if you're someone who enjoys reading before you go to bed you can definitely finish a whole chapter without feeling overwhelmed and it will enhance your dreams. I can assure you of that. I had really great dreams while I was reading this book. There are certainly exercises and ideas and practices that you can put into place but it's not formatted like here is the lecture, here are the activities. It's much more integrated and flows really well. So if you're someone who likes less structure this would be a really great choice for you. The writing is great and you really get a sense of who Ivan was and what his druidry was like. It is both personal and educational and just a really beautiful tribute to someone who from what I've read by other druids was a really special person. Now I want to make a special remark about the last ritual in the book which he calls the spirit of the dancer. I have talked about using dance as a way of you know building energy and ritual and for magic before. This was one of the most incredible rituals I have ever done. I really loved it. I don't know if it was the timing of when I did it but it was so powerful and just fit my own practices really, really well. And I kind of want to read a little part of the ritual. This is not the whole thing by any stretch of the imagination but I think it gives you a good flavor of kind of the tone of the ritual and why it was so great. I recognize and affirm that I am the dancer at the center of the reality I create every instant of my life. As I dance so I breathe life meaning and sacred into my earth walk. I think for the last ritual alone this book is worth checking out from your library if not owning outright. It's a really great reference book but just gives you a different flavor for druidry and has a lot of really interesting flow and creativity to it that you don't see in your typical beginner druidry book. I can easily recommend the Bardic Book of Becoming. It was a great read definitely geared towards beginner druids but has some really special moments that will appeal to a druid at any stage. In the comments below let me know what your favorite ritual this year has been. Did anything really hit you with a lot of potent or reflective energy that was just what you needed for the time. This week's sapling shout out goes out to Steven Perry. He always leaves really great book recommendations and I think the most recent one was on my Wheel of the Year book tag. So definitely look for him in the comments for book recommendations. I think he's an avid reader just like me. If you want to be the next video sapling shout out. Don't forget to leave your thoughts in the comments so I know where to find you. Thanks for watching and as always may you find peace in the sacred grove.