Merlin: Once and Future Wizard
by
Elen Sentier
As someone who has the pleasure of working with Merlin as a guide and teacher I was really looking forward to reading Elen Sentier’s ‘Merlin: Once and Future King’ and I was not disappointed in any way, quite the opposite. I often find myself reading of others work with Merlin only to see him glamorised or mythicised beyond recognition so it was really refreshing to read of Merlin being described as ‘tricky’ and to feel that yes, this is someone who really has worked with him and who knows him, not someone who’s knowledge has been acquired 3rd hand as it were.
Elen’s account is both personal and academic, in that in her book she generously shares her own journey with Merlin alongside deconstructing and explaining some of the myths and legends that surround as well as looking at those people and places connected with him. This is always done in a thoughtful and considered way, leaving the reader with insight and material which they can use to draw their own conclusion about Merlin.
I love synchronicity and shortly before starting to read ‘Merlin: Once and Future Wizard’, I found myself studying Brocéliande in Brittany, France, in my OBOD work, then discovering that one of my student’s home places is very near Brocéliande and that she knows it well, then finally reading Elen’s version of the same place. I’d like to think Merlin himself had a hand in this although maybe if he did it wouldn’t have been as clear to see 🙂
Solitary Path 
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