The Bardic Handbook: The Complete Manual for the Twenty-First Century Bard

by Kevan Manwaring

How to inspire and enchant with magical words! Ever wanted to be a storyteller’ To stand up and perform one of your own poems’ To use magical words to bless, honour, heal or celebrate’ The Bardic Handbook contains all you need to know to start you on the path of the Bard. An easytofollow, 12month selfstudy program, with weekbyweek exercises and minilessons about bardic lore, will lead you along the Way of Awen. The book is divided into 5 parts, corresponding to the elements of the Western Magical Air, Fire, Water & Earth—with Spirit at the center. With an experienced bard as guide, you will learn * practical techniques and exercises * Bardic terminology * The Bardic Chair * on Being a 21st Century Bard * preparing for performance * how to run a Bardic Circle * also includes a Certificate of Initiation

Genres: Paganism, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published July 30, 2006

About the author

Kevan Manwaring is a prize-winning writer & lecturer in creative writing who lives on the ancient downs of Wiltshire. He is the author of over twenty books including The Windsmith Elegy series of Mythic Reality novels; Desiring Dragons, Oxfordshire Folk Tales, Northamptonshire Folk Tales, The Bardic Handbook, and Ballad Tales (ed.). He loves walking in other worlds, but sometimes he prefers to ride his Triumph motorbike.

Winner of the One Giant Write SF Novel Competition

Reviews

[Ben]

Read this book if you are open to a bit of neo-paganism and want to become more creative. It is a bit discursive, but it's also certainly supportive of a person trying to find themselves as an artist. In terms of its credentials as a bardic resource, it seems to be rooted in the bardic movement that is less than two hundred years old, a recreation rather than a revival of a system that was lost. This said, it follows a logical progression that a performer wishing to have a philosophic framework may find attractive. It is laid out rather as a course of studies. I find that it leans on a religious system more than a rational one, which will make this appeal to the sort of person who wants their art or performance to be rooted in something beyond themselves, but may fall short for the more concrete, logic-loving person. I am caught between the two. I feel the desire to connect to a higher power, and an affinity for that power to relate to the physical world around us, but I want more substance, more meat on the skeletal framework of this course. It is possible that what is good in this text is worth reading it and what is lacking may be added to or developed by the person or people who wish to develop it further.

[Roger Hyttinen]

The Bardic Handbook is a handbook to teach you how to be a modern day bard: a storyteller, a poet or a musician and how to enchant those in your community with words or song. This step-by-step guide is full of practical tips, techniques and suggestions on how to hone your artistic craft and honor your community while doing so. An inspiring and motivating read for anyone on the creative path.

[Bookwyrm Jim]

Especially useful for the checklists in the back.