Stefani E. Barner

Truth in advertising reigns here: the title of this book pretty much sums up what's inside. Barner has written what looks to be a comprehensive guide to military life for Pagans and their families. (Disclaimer: I have no military background myself, and am probably not the best judge of the accuracy of this book.) She starts at the beginning, with a discussion of enlistment, and moves through key areas of military life: deployment, financial considerations, psychological effects, reintegrating into civilian society, and, yes, funerals.

The Pagan perspective permeates the book. Barner writes at length about exercising your religious rights while not shying away from the fact that it may be difficult to be out of the broom closet in your military career. As of 2008, when the book was published, the Armed Forces had not accepted a single Pagan military chaplain, and the Pagan soldier needs to be prepared for the fact that the military is more conservative in religious matters (among others) than civilian society. But Barner also talks about more "internal" Pagan matters, such as how a Pagan who feels called to the Warrior path can reconcile this with "An ye harm none, do what ye will" and other Pagan ethical strictures.

Call that part faith. As the title promises, Barner works with magick (and ritual) as well. I thought this was especially well-done (heck, I think the book is pretty darn good overall). She has rituals for those areas of military life I mentioned above—for instance, a rite of passage for recruits, an armoring ritual, a disarmament ritual, etc. Spells include a prosperity pot for supplementing the family income, a blessing for a transport, and mojo bags both for the Pagan away on duty and for their children back at home. The book could really have benefitted from a separate list of all these spells and rituals, since they're hard to find by just paging through the book.

While the book is obviously targeted to Pagan military personnel and their families, I'd also recommend it to Pagans with no direct connection to the military whatsoever. Many of us are deeply concerned with our country's military activities (Iraq, Afghanistan), but I'm guessing many of us also know very little about the military itself. This book can hardly replace direct experience, but it has a perspective we should be aware of.… (mehr)