My first thought on stepping into ‘Living with Honour’ was that so many contemporary members of pagan society are NOT going to like this book. It is indeed sorely needed, as it challenges the current trend for woolly thinking and blindly following ‘tradition’ (spiritual, political and social). It demands from the first that any readers WILL pay attention and relate the questions being asked to their own situations, in order that they may truly live with honour, plotting an honest and unique path through the tangles of modern life.

Without going into too much unnecessary academic detail, the book takes us on a journey through traditional modes of thinking, so ingrained that we don’t even notice them but which are instantly familiar. The reader is inspired to ask themselves why they hold their beliefs, from everyday issues to deep fundamental philosophies of life. Pagan ‘traditions’ (old and new) are naturally a yardstick, but the need to question is paramount, to investigate in a manner that should be familiar from Bobcat’s previous work, but which is easy to forget when stuck in a ‘normal’ 21st century environment.

It takes time to absorb – regular pauses are necessary during reading, to go away, consider, sometimes come to realizations, and then continue. So much is contained in these pages, that a second reading is already on the cards!

Emma’s Paganism demands to be lived, with all of its pitfalls and promise. It is not light and easy, but can be dark, bloody and difficult – but then, so is life. While her previous works were guidebooks, this takes the next step, asking the hard questions that must be addressed if we are to live in a truly ‘pagan’ way, with everything that entails. As representatives of our beliefs, and so of our own selves, ancestors and land, we cannot live by blinding obeying as we are told. We make our ethics, and this book gives us the equipment with which to do so.