I love mermaids, and I love spirituality, and I love it when books talk about both of those topics. Om nom nom.

Here’s a huge ol’ review of all the mermaid books in my library.

Mermaids 101 by Doreen Virtue

Mermaids 101 by Doreen Virtue

When something is called 101 the idea is that you would get a good grounding in all the basic info. This book kind of does that. It’s very cute and is full of lots of self-indulgent pics of Doreen in her a-mazing mermaid tails, but doesn’t really have a lot of info. It chirps on vaguely about Atlantis and Lemuria, rehashes the Aquatic Ape theory stuff from Goddesses and Angels, stuff on incarnated mermaids and merangels that was in her Earth Angels book, and it jabbers on about dolphins, a really tiny wee bit about mermaid deities, and then a LOT about dressing up and swimming as a mermaid. Which is a bit weird for a spirituality book, and since I’ve been a professional mermaid for a while it’s a bit lost on me.

(Yes, that’s right people. Professional Mermaid in the house.)

Honestly, it has very little to do with mermaids and spirituality in it. (Which is a theme among almost all mermaid spirituality books.)

It’s like Doreen Virtue Concentrate – lots of Doreen ideas and “channelled” stuff with no backup at all.

The Tao of Mermaids by Kitty Bishop

This book mentions mermaids perhaps 5 times in it’s 264 pages, and the Tao only in the introduction. This book is almost entirely about Misc New Age Stuff, and nothing about mermaids at all. Sad face. Pages and pages dedicated to archangels, crystals, numerology, more angels, and tons of stuff on Lemuria and Atlantis.

I will admit to finding this book hard to finish as there is SO LITTLE about mermaids in it, but I did get the impression that the reader was a bit Glastonbury Whacked, ie. so deep in the hippy lands of Glasto that she’s kinda lost touch a bit, and likes to talk about being an Evolved Soul because she/we are spiritual ie. we are better than the un-evolved souls, which narks me greatly. But I still pick it up and read it every now and again, when I want a super new age boost.

Mermaid Magic by Lucy Cavendish & Serene Coneeley

Moving on to Lucy Cavendish’s Mermaid Magic, which I have reviewed before, it is also pretty mermaid light. It should be called Mermaids And Friends, as more than half the book is talking about dolphins and crystals and shells and water and Atlantis and stuff, with a few chapters chatting about mermaids.

I think maybe no-one really has anything to write about mermaids, so everyone goes on about dolphins and Lemuria instead.

It’s a wonderful book to use as an interesting read to learn about ocean related stuff and I remember reading it fondly (cos I am really fond of Lucy’s soft style of writing) but being a bit frustrated as well as there is so little about mermaids in there! I guess the subtitle “Connecting with the energy of the ocean and the healing power of water” is a more accurate representation of what’s in there. Maybe that should have been the name.

Mermaids by Skye Alexandra

This book is gorgeous! just gorgeous. It’s super sweet – it’s just all about legends and stuff of mermaids from all around the world, with a wee bit of hippy thrown in. Lots of awesome stories about mermaids around the world, little bits and pieces about mermaid deities, and beautiful prints and engravings in blue ink. In fact, it’s all in blue ink. They went the whole way with this one.

It’s more like how a book about fairies is written – lots of lore and interesting stuff about fairies rather than forests, which is unusual as mermaid books tend to be the other way around.

 

 

Mermaid Magic by Amy Sophia Marashinsky

This is the first mermaid book I read, picked it up cheap at a discount store, and still hands down the best for mermaid spirituality. It’s the most witchy of the lot. It talks about mermaid goddesses from around the world, legends and lore, modern stories, and gives you guided meditations and rituals to do to connect with the mermaid goddesses and use their power and energy in a witchy way.

It gives you seaweed recipes, craft ideas, all sorts. And it’s only tiny. It’s super inspiring and brilliant – I still love this one, and I like to dip into it to inspire me to create mermaid goddess paintings from time to time.

*****

So that’s my mermaid library. Amy Sophia’s Mermaid Magic comes out tops in my book, followed by the book o’ lore – I am glad I have Tao of the Mermaids, but I couldn’t recommend it, and Mermaids 101 was bought for me as a present and I am glad it was as if I had paid full price for it myself I would be very disappointed, but as a present I love it. I still like dipping in and out of Lucy’s Mermaid Magic every now and then, but it’s not exactly a how-to guide on how to work with mermaids really either.

The more I read about mermaids the more I feel that spiritually they are something to be inspired by rather than worked with like, say, Angels. They are a little too, well, mermaidenly to write a how-to book on – they are changeable and inconstant and mysterious and vague. Maybe mermaid topics, like sex, addiction, love, grief, and emotion are a bit too difficult for people to write about yet.

I think if you want to work with mermaids in a magical or spiritual sense, you need to get Ana Sophia’s book and create your own path towards them.