Overview: Pagan Portals - Circe is a brand new book where we learn about the feared goddess Circe, and how she transformed her enemies into animals and monsters.

Verdict: Meet Circe, feared goddess of Homer’s Odyssey, who used her knowledge of nature and sorcery to transform those who displeased her into animals and monsters.

Author Irisanya Moon reveals the Goddess in her ancient Greek context, and offers unique insight to and explanations of her relationships, deeds, and desires while offering practical advice on how to meet with this engaging Goddess today.

I actually grew up with the spelling as Kirke, here known as Circe, and learnt from an early age that this goddess of sorcery (pharmakeia) was also very much skilled in the magic of transmutation, illusion, and necromancy. Furthermore, she lived on the mythical island of Aiaia (Aeaea) with her nymph companions, if memory serves me well.

When Odysseus came to her island she transformed his men into beasts but, with the help of the god Hermes, he overcame her and forced her to end the spell. Circe’s name is actually derived from the Greek verb kirkoô meaning to secure with rings or more fundamentally hoop around - a reference to the binding power of magic, of course.

One more little tidbit of information, is that Circe’s island of Aiaia (Aeaea) was located in the far west, near the earth-encircling River Okeanos (Oceanus). Whereas her brother Aeetes’ realm in the far east was similarly named Aia (Aea).

As for this brand new prose from prolific author Irisanya Moon, Pagan Portals - Circe does more than simply give pockets of historical information on the entity, moreover it provides critical insight into one of the most fascinating characters in Greek mythology, if truth be told.

As we get deeper into the eight chapters, we learn more and more about Circe, sometimes being scared of her, other times standing in awe of her, maybe even at times siding with her decisions and acts, but what Irisanya expertly does is never take a bias stand on her actions.

Culling from various translations of texts, mythological insights, and even thoughts on the subject matter from women classicists, what we have here is the tale of a strongly independent sorceress born of a Sun God and a Nymph; Fire and Water.

Simply put, if you are even the slightest bit interested, or just a little curious about this powerful entity known as Circe and her spellwork, you can do no better than to purchase this book, settle into a cozy chair with a hot beverage, and allow yourself to be swallowed whole by Irisanya’s magnificent sense of historical spellbound prose.

About the Author - Irisanya Moon (she/they) is an author, witch, international teacher, poet, and Reclaiming initiate who has practiced magick for 20+ years. She has taught in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, bringing her blend of grounded, graceful, and radically authentic facilitation to inspire transformation and liberation at the personal and collective levels.

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