Alexandra Chauran

Thank you to NetGalley and Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd. for allowing me to read and review an ARC of Modern Guide to Mudras: Create Balance and Blessings in the Palm of Your Hands by Alexandra Chauran! I’ve been wanting to read more nonfiction books lately, and when I saw the title of this book, I thought it would be perfect. I practice Buddhism, so I often use mudras in meditation, and the history behind them is generally fascinating to me. Unfortunately, the book did not live up to the hopes I had for it.

The strongest aspects of the book are the author’s notes about cultural appropriation and her inclusion of all types of people. Writing about mudras can be difficult to navigate considering how sacred they are in many cultures, but Chauran does exceptionally well by emphasizing the importance of respecting cultures and only using these mudras with pure intentions.

Similarly, Chauran has a section where she explains that her book is meant for everyone. She states that, despite certain mudras being considered feminine or masculine, they can be used by people with multifarious gender identities. Likewise, she admits that some of the mudras can be difficult to form, and that if a reader cannot form a mudra due to physical disability, there is no need to stress. She encourages the reader to try their best and have good intentions, and the rest will follow.

Despite these positive aspects, the book was simply not what I thought it would be. I found a lot of it very repetitive. Chauran often reexplains mudras that she explained in the first section of the book, and I think this repetition could have been circumnavigated by having an index with all the mudras, or having the reader refer back to the beginning of the book.

Additionally, the title of the book does not really indicate that Chauran describes magical spells, hexes, etc. and these were unexpected, and not in a good way. Personally, if I wanted to read about magic, hexes, or curses, I would pick up a fantasy book. The title does not mention these aspects at all, so I was expecting more of an objective description of mudras, and maybe how they are frequently used. I was not expecting a how-to book on using mudras in spellcasting.

Overall, this book was simply not what I was looking for. I think there is certainly room for literature about magic and spellcasting, but most readers would prefer to know what they are about to read before diving into those topics. The instructions for the mudras were pretty clear, but I would have preferred a more objective or historical take on the topic.… (mais)

See this and all of my reviews on my blog Mystereity Reviews

This is a great resource for anyone who would like to learn more about the use of Runes in divination, whether you're just getting started or an experienced user. The detailed and easy to understand information covers everything from the history and meanings of the runes to how to cast and create your own set of runes.

When I began this book, I already had a set of runes and some basic understanding. While some of the rune names are different then what I learned (the book calls one rune Neid, I know it as Nauthiz) it was easy to understand and I liked the suggestions for how to remember the meaning of each rune. I also learned a great many new casts to try out, and I look forward to exploring them. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on creating bind runes, something I always wanted to try but never found any instruction on how to do it.

Overall, Runes for Beginners is an enjoyable and informative book, great for anyone interested in Runes or divination.

Thank you to Llewellyn and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in return for an honest review.
… (mais)