The Urban Primitive: Paganism in the Concrete Jungle

by Raven Kaldera and Tannin Schwartzstein

Book Overview

You consider yourself a Pagan, or a Magician, or a Witch, because you know there's more to this world than meets the mundane eye. You believe that magic can influence events in your own life and in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738702595
• ISBN13: 9780738702599
• Release Date: October 2002
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Unusual but Awesome!

A little about me: I never take anything I read as gospel. I am not a "pagan" and I do not identify myself with any particular path. I'm a wandering mystic. I just kind of read everything and take what rings truth in me and assimilate it into my personal belief structure. This book fills a very real need in mystical literature for people like me. I am the sort of person who generally prefers cities over the country (although I do enjoy returning to nature occasionally) and so it is hard for me to connect with very nature oriented pagan literature. When you spend most of your days walking around a city, full of concrete, alley ways, faces, and buildings you don't often run into a babbling brook, or a natural clearing of trees, or a patch of clover. It's just a different world and Raven Kaldera expertly shows that spirituality can be found anywhere, even in a dirty alleyway when Skram whispers in your ear and you notice a shadowy figure a ways away and suddenly feel you should be elsewhere. Why can't cockroaches and squirrels and pigeons be totem animals? Some of my friends respect this book merely due to how perfectly his description of the squirel totem person fits me. LOL This is not for the average tree-hugging dirt worshiping hippie nature child pagan. This is for those of us who just march to the beat of our own drummer and find spirituality EVERYWHERE we go, not just in the places you'd expect to find it. Give this book a chance. Seriously. This guy has some fantastic ideas even if you don't adopt his beliefs in rote.

Learning to live magickally in the urban jungle

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all Pagans could afford to live close to nature somewhere out in the country, or at least have a nice big back yard in the suburbs? As a Wiccan I've been lucky enough to have access to some lovely back yards where my Coven could conduct beautiful outdoor rituals. Not everyone is so lucky (Or even so inclined - some city dwellers would be bored silly in the country or the suburbs). What if you find yourself broke and living in the city? Can you still connect with deity? with nature? with other people? Can do you do magic when you don't have money for all those supplies listed in various books? You bet you can. This writer shows you that you can do magick, connect with the spirit of the city, invoke and evoke the gods and goddess of the urban environment and much more! I loved this book and will be keeping it for a reference.

Straightforward and Practical

I found this book to be a refreshing change among the cookie-cutter Pagan books on the market. It is a practical, straightforward description of Pagan spirituality in the city. I like the fact that the authors do not steer clear of subjects that are controversial (like blood letting), choosing instead to offer practical advice.What I like about the book is that it has what many others are missing - it explains how to express *your* spirituality, not try to recreate the spirituality of people outside of your culture, environment and time-frame. There are some hokey things I didn't like, like the urban triple goddess and god, as another reviewer already mentioned. I would not suggest that people read about them and adopt them as their own manifestation of divinity, but choose instead to do as the book tells you to do in other places - communicate with the energies around you and accept the ways it manifests on its *own* terms.The topics covered include practical advice on spellcasting, getting the feel for the energies around you, working with them and cleaning up, clothing and body decoration (with a very good description of the various spiritual purposes behind piercings and tattoos), Pagan children, exploring your under world, small list of resources, and much more. In general I think the book is extremely practical and relevant. It does not recreate old religions, or create new ones, nor does it tell you things must be done a certain way. Good read for everyone I think.Medium sized paper back 255 pages (minus index) 19 chapters.

A Book I Will Actually Use

With so many books going over the basics again and again or outlining complicated rituals and spells, I found Urban Primitive to be refreshing and useful. Pointing out the unique problems inherent in urban living and offering magical solutions in plain language, this book won a place in my heart. In addition, the authors took into account the role of body modification and other modern urban rituals that are being used in the real pagan community. Bravo!

Magick for the real world

All too often books on magick are set in some utopian rural environment. The reality of it is, most of us live either in cities or suburbs. We don't deal on a daily basis with the gods of woodland and field, we deal with the gods of concrete and mass transit. Kaldera and Schwarzstein have put together a great field manual for the urban pagan. Everything from protecting oneself from the dangers of the city to dealing with the urban gods Squat, Scram, Skor and their consorts. This is a good starting point for the newly-pagan urban dweller as well as an excellent reference for the more advanced practitioner seeking to adapt zir practice to an urban environment. Definitely a keeper!