Lord of Light & Shadow: The Many Faces of the God the Many Faces of the God

This is not a trivial, "new age", potboiler- it is a book of deep spirituality. Conway has succeeded in showing the proper, traditional interrelation of Goddess and God. Of course, she also points out the patriarchal distortion of the male and female roles in the mainstream Western religions, which no doubt explains the attacks she has drawn from both Fundamentalists and academics that reject the whole matriarchal/patriarchal approach to history. It should be noted that Joseph Campbell raised the same points about western distortion and imbalance in religion.I cannot think of a better book for focusing on the natural balance of male-female energies in the universe. Conway shows that the true, original God was a complex deity, as opposed to the sterile, one-sided, authoritarian idol that was erected in his place. The original God is examined in all of his aspects: divine child, lover and consort, lord of creation, lord of the forest, hero and warrior, trickster, judge, lord of the waters, etc. The examination of his role as sacrificed savior (long before Christianity) is especially interesting. It is enlightening to find that the concept of double birth is symbolized in Dionysus. He who seeks and finds a true spiritual path is granted a second birth- or is "born again." These are not separate, distinct, non-overlapping aspects of different "gods", but are all aspects of the one. Indeed, it is shown that even in individual human beings, not only do we all contain these various aspects, but we also contain all the various aspects of God AND Goddess, for each person is fundamentally both male and female to some extent.As for accusations of errors in the supplemental appendix', anyone can use a bad source now and then. Agrippa's three books are full of such errors, yet no one dismisses them. Just take a look at the excellent and extensive bibliography- Conway is a true scholar of understanding and depth.

A friend gave me this book and I'm glad she did. I don't know if the specifics are inaccurate or not (as other reviews have mentioned), and to be perfectly honest, I don't really care. For me, this book was a chance to look at masculine Divinity without instintively associating it with christianity. I was raised catholic and every time I saw the word "God", it brought to mind all of the negative things I associated with christianity (disregard of women, Spanish Inquisition, etc.). But this book finally allowed me to view christianity in the context of other spiritual paths and realize that it no longer has any power over me. It's simply a path that isn't right for me. In my opinion, this book is interesting, thought-provoking, and a good place to start becoming more familiar with the masculine Divine, despite any inaccuracies that exist. It can inspire you to delve deeper into the areas that interest you and hopefully discover your own truths.

D.J. Conway has the best of intentions with this book. She does a wonderful job of clearing up misconceptions about the God, and writes in an inspiring and beautiful manner about the various archetypes she explores. Also included are meditations for further exploration of the God archetypes.The only downfall of this book is that she tries to encompass more Gods than can be adequately dealt with in a book of this size. Once she gets past the initial explanation of an archetype, she dives into brief "capsule biographies" of the gods which embody that archetype, skimming through each god in a few sentences. The mythology is choppy, and there are a few minor factual errors. However, this probably isn't Conway's fault; there are just too many Gods to fit into a book of this size. Nevertheless, it inspired me to learn more. Use this book as a first step into pagan God spirituality, then go out and delve deeper.Addendum: Upon rereading this book, I came to a conclusion: It would have been much better if it had been presented in an encyclopedic format, like Monaghan's _Goddesses and Heroines_. It comes across as choppy because Conway segues from one god to the next without any real transition; in an encyclopedic format that wouldn't be a problem. She does include a brief compendium in the back of _Lord of Light and Shadow_, and an expanded version of that would have made a better book.

I have two books by this author, the other being "By Oak, Ash, & Thorn," and I must say, I found both of these books to be quite thorough and extremely accurate. "Lord of Light & Shadow" is a must-read for those Pagans who have long shied away from the male aspect of the Old Religion. You will be delightfully surprised...I know I was.

When I saw this book title I kind could not believe. We're always reading about the path, female witches, the Goddess, and it's hard to find some information about the God and "male Witchcraft". Some books and people do not recognize God's value and importance... D.J.Conway's LORD OF LIGH AND SHADOW give us a lot of legends, histories and Story about Goddess' son and lover, and make us see a side of the Craft that have been denied: male's. Both man and woman are extremly important in Witch's cult...their rites and their "ways" could be (and are) diferent, but if we do not see that the Masculine is as sacred as the Feminine, we'll never be able to understand the paganism. LORD OF LIGH AND SHADOWS can help both men and women that are searching for information and culture, and give male witches the support that have being missed in pagan literature.