Pan's Daughter: The Magical World of ROSALEEN NORTON

So...there is hardly any of her art in this book, and what little there is, is in black-and-white, and not printed very well at that! Also feels like cheap paper. Yeah, there’s a ton of biographical information about her, but the lack of art and the cheap quality of the book is a thumbs down for me. Sorry!

Perhaps the price on this is currently grossly inflated because of the Amazon documentary? I haven’t read this yet, but I can tell you the production quality on this is low. The paper quality is like a newspaper. And even though it’s supposedly 330 pages, it doesn’t have any mass to it at all. I was hoping it would be one of those ultra thick really high-quality collectible paperbacks, but this is wispy and inconsequential. I know the author is an expert on his subject, and so perhaps I will enjoy reading this, but I wish he would’ve insisted on producing a quality document.

This Is a gem In remembrance of the witch of kings cross. Her story and art are amazing! She Is a Witch that needs to be remembered and honored for generations to come.

All of the arr works are in black and white.

Great book and very interesting. Too bad all pictures and drawings are black and white, which is the main reason I bought the book.

Interesting but I wish there had been more artwork.

Book is beautifuly done and well written. It brings her work to light and provides a depth and understanding one couldn't get from the paintings alone.

Rosaleen Norton is one of the most fascinating and overlooked witches in occult history, and a personal favorite. Thankfully there’s Pan’s Daughter: The Magical World of Rosaleen Norton by Nevill Drury. This particular edition is revised and expanded from the original printing of the book. When I saw this book at a local occult shop I had to buy it immediately. This book is the closest to an official biography that anyone can get and Nevill draws on many of his notes from personal interviews and correspondences which he quotes.Rosaleen was a witch who was well known in Australia during the ‘50s and ‘60s as “the Witch of Kings Cross” and Roie by her friends. She was a devotee of the Great God Pan and worked a lot with Lucifer, Lilith and Hecate. A gifted artist, her art was as controversial as she was as a person constantly making tabloids as an “evil witch”. She was definitely a witch in every sense of the word – a strong and brilliant woman who was unapologetic about her sexuality, her art, and her magick.With over 300 pages, the book not only covers her life and romance with her sex-ritual partner and lover, the poet Gavin Greenlees, but also gives you a fairly decent understanding of her beliefs and magickal practices as well as information about her coven and how they operated. She was also very interested in ecstatic practices, working with familiar spirits, tantric sex magick, and out-of-body experiences to go join the Witch’s Sabbath. The book is full of photographs of her and much of her mind-blowing art based on trance experiences or astral journeys. Sadly, all of the art is printed in black and white in the book. This is definitely one of my favorite biographies and one I wish more people would read.

really interesting- would have preferred colour illustrations. Worth buying, Drury looks at her take on magic, contact with entities, Pan, Hecate, etc, and works Crowley into the scenario to the extent of adding an appendix detailing the rise of the OTO. This woman was a real character who delved deeply into trance work to find material for her art and to facilitate her projects through non-human contacts made in an altered state of mind. She once spent 5 days in trance.... there you are, that gives you a flavour. If odd-ball occultists are your thing then buy this -- she was also very intelligent and there are a lot of her writings quoted. She viewed these 'gods' as actual entities, so therefore her views are at odds with contemporary thought on magic(k).

I wanted to like the book, but I think it suffers from the way the book is structured. The biography narrative is fragmented to the point of being jarring at times, The author deals with Norton and her work in some chapters as thematic categories, rather than towards creating a smoothly flowing narrative of Norton's life. I am kind of surprised the editor didn't bang it into shape because it seems a little rough. The book was published originally in 1993 and this edition was released in 2013, so it seems like a missed opportunity to polish it.Ultimately the book is worth reading because Norton and her work are fascinating and this is the only book that has been written about her. The interviewing and source material are solid and Drury's analysis and insight on the occult is knowledgeable.The book contains black and white reproductions of Norton's work. I would have gladly paid more for color reproductions on glossy paper. The paper feels cheap.

Underwhelmed. The book deals with Rosaleen's contemporaries as much as with her life and the reproductions of her artwork are cheaply done.