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aimeecdo's review
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Essential reading for anyone looking to deepen their magical practice with polarity.
ravenousrose's review
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Thought provoking and very in-depth. Definitely a “to-buy” reference guide for any inclusive practitioner.
Content Warnings
Minor: Religious bigotry
simazhi's review
5.0
tl;dr This book makes you think about polarity and how to fit it into your practice with the general framework most people share today. It would be good if it became a shared classic drawing down the Goddess a new baseline for future work. Well done Deborah!
Things I struggled with while reading:
* The first section is too short and shallow to be of real use but may be useful for some readers. Contrasting this with the second section (where case studies of binaries are provided), it feels not quite there yet. In particular I'm thinking of the oft-cited example of yin-yang 陰陽 but the introduction of this particular idea into the European society of the 1700s (let's say Leibniz) which then probably trickled down into the beloved mystical example we now love today is something that's completely left out. This is a gap in the general occult knowledge that urgently needs to be filled, but perhaps not in this book.
* The selected binaries are generally good and inclusive (e.g., self vs. other, dominance vs. submission) as they can be prompts for further meditation on them. Despite this, I am gonna go full-on lexical semanticist here and say that choosing particular antonymic pairs without considering if there are other ones available for some terms is cherrypicking and like those sugary cherries they put in cocktails this should be avoided. Consider the provided Death vs. Rebirth (p. 233) but what about Death vs. Life or Death vs. Birth, those clearly are also in polar opposition.
* Some things fundamentally are not binary polarities and Lipp does mention this in relation to the four elements. I was hoping that non-binary (in the sense of more than 2 poles) polarities would also get more attention. That would have really made this an even better book. As it stands, it really is Bending the binary throughout most of it, while I think the book wanted to be Playing with polarities. Or at least that's what I was hoping for.
Things I particularly loved:
* The book reads quite personal and down-to-earth. That is good.
* The polarised Tree of Life at the end was a neat finding and its inclusion in the book is something I will definitely take from this to sit with and climb on, I guess lol.
* The what's next section has some really good tutorials that follow Lipps' earlier work and are hence very clear and instructive.
* The focus on the liminal space / the union that is created from two polarities. This is somewhat of a philosophical trick (similar, though perhaps not entirely equal to, thesis-antithesis-synthesis) but it is a very useful one.
All in all a thought-provoking book. I should probably mention that I got an advanced copy through NetGalley and I don't regret doing so.
Things I struggled with while reading:
* The first section is too short and shallow to be of real use but may be useful for some readers. Contrasting this with the second section (where case studies of binaries are provided), it feels not quite there yet. In particular I'm thinking of the oft-cited example of yin-yang 陰陽 but the introduction of this particular idea into the European society of the 1700s (let's say Leibniz) which then probably trickled down into the beloved mystical example we now love today is something that's completely left out. This is a gap in the general occult knowledge that urgently needs to be filled, but perhaps not in this book.
* The selected binaries are generally good and inclusive (e.g., self vs. other, dominance vs. submission) as they can be prompts for further meditation on them. Despite this, I am gonna go full-on lexical semanticist here and say that choosing particular antonymic pairs without considering if there are other ones available for some terms is cherrypicking and like those sugary cherries they put in cocktails this should be avoided. Consider the provided Death vs. Rebirth (p. 233) but what about Death vs. Life or Death vs. Birth, those clearly are also in polar opposition.
* Some things fundamentally are not binary polarities and Lipp does mention this in relation to the four elements. I was hoping that non-binary (in the sense of more than 2 poles) polarities would also get more attention. That would have really made this an even better book. As it stands, it really is Bending the binary throughout most of it, while I think the book wanted to be Playing with polarities. Or at least that's what I was hoping for.
Things I particularly loved:
* The book reads quite personal and down-to-earth. That is good.
* The polarised Tree of Life at the end was a neat finding and its inclusion in the book is something I will definitely take from this to sit with and climb on, I guess lol.
* The what's next section has some really good tutorials that follow Lipps' earlier work and are hence very clear and instructive.
* The focus on the liminal space / the union that is created from two polarities. This is somewhat of a philosophical trick (similar, though perhaps not entirely equal to, thesis-antithesis-synthesis) but it is a very useful one.
All in all a thought-provoking book. I should probably mention that I got an advanced copy through NetGalley and I don't regret doing so.
lexistwick's review
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
4.5
A thoughtful, deep look at the magic and power of polarity, separate from the concept and oppressive application of the binary. I didn't actually get to finish this one, and I hope to return to it again when I can more deeply appreciate its theory and apply it to my practices. There is power to be found here!
The author is rooted in Wiccan traditions but there's broad wisdom for occult practices, and beyond.
The author is rooted in Wiccan traditions but there's broad wisdom for occult practices, and beyond.
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