As a being of Power, Intelligence, and Love, and the lord of his own thoughts, man holds the key to every situation, and contains within himself that transforming and regenerative agency by which he may make himself what he wills. [italics mine] (6)

Undoubtedly the most wonderful aspect of this book is the amazing plethora of photographs of Goddess-related art and artifacts from around the globe. And I truly do mean from around the globe! Many similar books are content to document merely Classical, ancient Egyptian, and perhaps some Mesopotamian Goddesses, yet this book also containes images of African; Hindu; Asian; Polynesian; European; North, Central, and South American, and prehistoric Goddesses. It even goes a step further by including more modern art that represents the divine Feminine. You may recognize the work of Paul Klee, Sandro Botticelli, Frida Kahlo, Judy Chicago, Henry Moore, Salvador Dalí, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Joan Miró, Paul Gauguin, Gustav Klimt, August Rodin, Andy Warhol, Titian, and others alongside famous pieces of ancient Goddess art like the Venus of Willendorf, the Nike of Samothrace, and the Venus DeMilo.

This book is a wonderful visual resource for the Pagan or mythic artist as well as for the individual who wants a beautiful introduction to the Goddesses of the world.

I specifically sought this work out in order to gain another writer's perspective on the Taoist concept of Te which in this case is translated as "Virtue." Judging from the title and the information on the back cover and inside flaps, I thought I would obtain such a perspective. Although references to Taoism and its principles are made in a number of places, and there are number of quotations from Taoist canon (as well as many from Transcendentalists Emerson and Thoreau),overall I did not feel that this book adequately addressed the title subject: Te. The author seems mainly interested in discussing What's Wrong with modern Western civilization, Confucianism, and the personality types he believes are exemplified by the characters Eeyore and Tigger. In fact, he tends to describe Confucianism in a way strikingly similar to how some angry Pagans regard Judeo-Christianity - as a brutal philosophy that decided to come along and ruin a perfectly good utopian society. While I'm sure Confucianism has its bad aspects, many of which Hoff was eager to document, I thought his presentation was a bit too simplistic. I found a few other things in this book somewhat disconcerting. Taoism has its roots in ancient Chinese shamanism, a worldview that would likey have respected Nature and the animal world, but his account of the "Great Separation" sounds a bit too much like a New Age fairy tale for me to find it personally credible i.e. it amounts to a great deal of lovely fluff, but little substance. For instance, he states that during humanity's Golden Age "the killing of animals for food or 'sport' was unthinkable. Man lived at peace with himself and the various life forms, whom he considered his teachers and friends" (14). He goes on to cite traditional Native American beliefs as a continuation of pre-Separation ideals. However, most Native Americans to my knowledge were hunters as well as farmers and gatherers to a certain extent. The entire chapter "The Eeyore Effect" is essentially a rant about critics, the educational system, the media, certain self-described feminists, etc. Certainly, I believe he makes a number of good points, and I as well as anyone should know that a good rant every now and then is quite refreshing. Despite the fact that this book was written at least ten years ago, many of his observations on world politics are eerily apropos. Unfortunately, the author gets so tangled up in this sort of writing that a direct tie to Taoism becomes lost (though I'm sure he would assert that these writings serve to highlight what Te is not about). While Hoff claims that he "let the book write itself" it seems more as if he let himself write and decided to call it a book.

I was able to find some occassional good paragraph directly relating to Taoism and Te which I greatly appreciated, I just wish that they would have occurred with much more frequency. I would have enjoyed this book much more if it was presented as what it is: a critique of certain attitudes and ideas which includes a contrast of those approaches with Taoism. As it is, I believe the title is misleading as is its supposed status as a companion book to Hoff's other book The Tao of Pooh.

In addition to providing a lovely, poetic translation of the Tao Te Ching into contemporary English, this work provides a verbatim translation which takes the reader through the entire text in its original Chinese, character by character. If the prospect of approaching the text in the original seems intimidating, don't worry, it is realized clearly and concisely. The format and notation of this section, which understandaby takes up a considerable percentage of the book, is visually appealing and easy to comprehend. Previous knowledge of the Chinese language is not a requirement to appreciate the verbatim translation. It also includes an essay on the philosophy of the first verse of the Tao Te Ching and examples of various early English translations of this verse. The author takes care to include notes to clarify many of the verses. He often cross-references the spiritual ideas presented with those present in a number of Hindu documents as well as within other Taoist writings, including Chuang-tsu. While the overall introduction is brief, it gives useful and interesting information on the history of the Tao Te Ching and on the nature of the ancient Chinese language. At the end of the book there is also a concordance section which allows the reader to track a specific Chinese word throughout the entire text.

The Tao Te Ching (also alternatively transliterated as: Dao De Jing, Tao Teh King, and Tao Teh Ching) has been the second most widely translated work following the Bible. Even Aleister Crowley tried his hand at a philosophical translation. Although I think this particular Taoist text has a lot to offer someone of virtually any spiritual persuasion, I think it has the potential to appeal especially to Pagans. To be more specific, it shares many common threads with Wicca: the view of the universe as the manifestation of polarity of masculine and feminine, dark and light, etc., situational ethics, and close ties to Nature among other things. It is even believed that Taoism arose from ancient Chinese shamanic traditions. The Tao Te Ching certainly presents us with the opportunity to deepen our own practice, yet it also offers practical advice that can be applicable to daily life (it will be especially valuable to someone in a position of leadership).

There are very few negative aspects on which to comment in this edition. The translater has also worked with mystical Christian texts, which is not necessarily bad, but I felt that some of his perhaps gnostic sensibilities may have inappropriately bled into this work. For instance, despite his own statements that the Tao is impersonal, he still tends to associate it with and philosophically tie it to more Western ideas of "God" (as opposed to the concept of G!D). These overtones were very slight, in my opinion, and it certainly would not discourage me from recommending this edition to others, especially since this book also gives you the opportunity to develop your own direct tranlsation.

Overall, I would recommend this edition of the Tao Te Ching both to those who are already familiar with other translations since it allows one to delve even deeper into the text and to newcomers for whom it offers a nice literary translation (another equally lovely translation might be the one by Stephen Mitchell). It will also be a treat for those who are fascinated by the Chinese language (to them I would also suggest Alan Watts' Tao: The Watercourse Way).

I feel that this book would be a great introduction to many of Alan's other written works. In The Tao of Philosophy, he touches briefly upon many of the themes he writes more extensively about in The Book: On the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are, which acquaints the reader with ideas from Hindu Vedanta, and Nature, Man and Woman which explores Chinese Taoist ideas. If you have ever been interested in reading some of his other works, if you just want to get a feel for his style of speaking and writing, or if you are simply interested in learning more about Eastern religions in general, pick up this book.
    I believe Alan Watts' writings on Asian philosophies are intelligent, accessable, entertaining, and greatly of value to modern Pagans since many of those philosophies (e.g. Taoism, Shinto, Hinduism, Buddhism, among others) share some common thoughts with Neopaganism. In addtition, there are other benefits to learning about such faiths:

For years I have been studying Oriental ideas, not in the spirit of saying to the West,'You ought to be converted to Oriental ideas,' but rather in the spirit of saying,'You do not understand the basic assumptions of your own culture if your own culture is the only culture you know.' Everybody operates on certain basic assumptions, but very few people know what those assumptions are. [. . .] Therefore, to gain perspective you have to find cultures which are in some ways as sophisticated as our own but at the same time as different from our own as possible. (82-3)