Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews January 2017

Romany Rivers, The Woven Word: A Book of Invocations and Inspirations

(Moon Books, 2014)

If you regularly write and perform rituals, books of ritual chants and invocations are a valuable resource. And sure enough, there are a lot of books on the market that contain such material. But what sets Romany Rivers’ The Woven Word: A Book of Invocations and Inspirations apart is its sheer breadth and depth. It’s packed with just about every verbal form of ritual you could think of, from very short well-known chants to whole rituals and guided meditations. Covering circle casting, callings of the quarters, invocations of a variety of Goddesses and Gods, rites of passage and the Wheel of the Year, The Woven Word feels complete and exhaustive. One minor quibble is that the structure of the book isn’t as tight as it could have been. Some of the categories of rituals and chants seem a little vague and scattered. For example, although Brigid has a dedicated section of prayers and rites, there’s an additional call to Brigid that’s been put in a completely different section for some reason. Perhaps future editions of the The Woven Word could be tidied up a little to give this book that extra polish of excellence.

I particularly admire Rivers for sticking closely to the theme of words. It would have been been easy for her to go off on a tangent (as many Pagan writers do) and start talking about crystals and herbs, but she sticks firmly to the topic at hand and limits her writing to the basics of verbal ritual. This simplicity, coupled with the book’s solid introduction to the basics of ritual and its in-depth exploration of the various kinds of ritual, makes The Woven Word an especially good book for beginners. Although I have to say, I am a fairly experienced ritual writer and I will certainly be referring to The Woven Word for inspiration and guidance!