An awful lot of the pagan literature out there is all about how to cast a circle and celebrate the seasons, what tools to use and which color of candles to burn. Refreshingly, there are also several books out now that deal with the philosophical and deeper theological aspects of pagan practice and thought. All of this is wonderful, interesting and useful, but sometimes we forget that we pagans live in the real world, too. Alternately, as soon as we start living in the real world, we forget (at least some of the time) our paganism! Either way, we are losing out on the true meaning and daily joy of our spirituality.

In THE PRACTICAL PAGAN, Dana Eilers points out -- with humorous examples and a (usually) gentle voice -- that it's not as hard as you may think to be pagan in today's world: what you need to be is a practical pagan. She starts off helping you identify whether or not you are pagan (or how much of one you are), and proceeds into chapters about self-education, pagan networking (whether you want to practice with a group or not), "looking" pagan and finding pagan supplies ("Help! There is no pagan K-mart!"), telling (or not telling) your family/friends/coworkers/significant others, discrimination issues and your rights under the law, even your sex life.

Though Ms. Eilers occasionally gets preachy about being a clean, good, decent person, she does make a point ("like it or not, you are an ambassador for pagans everywhere"). And although she tends to repeat herself and there are four or five passages where a little judicious editing would have been nice, the spirit of the book (and the general good style) are not appreciably diminished. THE PRACTICAL PAGAN is a guide for the beginner and a timely reminder for the more advanced; I'd recommend it to any pagan as a useful and entertaining read.

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