[Review] Pagan Portals Ancestral Healing Edited by Trevor Greenfield

Title: Pagan Portals: Ancestral Healing
Editor: Trevor Greenfield
Publisher: Moon Books
Publishing Date: August,1 2020
Pages: 112


The origin story of every culture contains a description of animism; humans in direct relationship with the land and, through the reciprocity of that connection, evolving together.

The livelihood of humans and Nature is intertwined. If one ails, so does the other. History is littered with stories of losing that connection, and the toll this takes in the form of humans against each other, humans against Nature. 

Between colonization, conscription into the Church, imperialization, and industrialization, we have created systems of destruction that have decimated our relationship to the land, and to each other. 

From within these systems institutionalized racism, sexism, and all aspects of 'othering' became embedded in our political and social structures. As modern pagans, we recognize the need to tear down these structures and build supportive, inclusive new ones. 

Our spiritual paths are Nature-based and Ancestor-honoring, the rituals of which heal land wounds and ancestral trauma, to create sacred recovery and activism for all. This anthology presents modern pagan activists working through their spiritual lines to do better. 

Edited by Trevor Greenfield, publisher of Moon Books and editor of Naming the Goddess, with contributory essays from eleven pagan voices. 

A big thank you to the publisher for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I'm always so thankful to have these opportunities! 

This book is a little different in that it's an anthology of essays from various authors, so it feels a little off to review the book as a whole when each author's voice is different and each essay has different information. 

A definite pro of these sorts of anthologies is that you can flip open to an essay at random - they don't need to be read in chronological order, and each is complete on their own. Each is about 10 pages in length. 

Using some bibliomancy has been interesting with this book as well. Connecting to the ancestors, and then asking which essay and message I needed at the moment, and then flipping open to a random spot gives me a place to start reading when I wasn't sure what I needed to hear. 

Walking the Bones by Taz Thornton is probably the one that hits the hardest for me. The first few sentences just hit home. 

"Neglect. That’s the word that echoes in my head and heart, time and time again, when I connect to the threads of our past – or, at least, the spirits and energies I find there"

Overall, I'm really happy with this little anthology - just over a hundred pages of great information to help with ancestral healing. If you're looking for some deeper work during the pandemic - this might be a great place to start!