Upon opening Celtic Sex Magic, I was expecting, due to Jon's reputable Druidic career as a seminar speaker, an enlightening, exciting, thorough, and even arousing source of information in this book. Sadly, this was not the case.
The book is broken into three parts; Part One: The Journey Begins, Part Two: How the Sex Magic Ritual Works, and Part Three: Performing Workings and Rituals.
Part One begins with Hughes' autobiography. The author claims that his grandfather was a Druid, which is described as a pagan priest or priestess of the village. His greandfather chose Hughes as his successor, when Hughes' father declined the opportunity. He says,
Each oath is related to the knowledge contained in the student's last Age of learning. The oaths are not related to "keeping the secrets" as in secret organizations like the Free Masons, but to how the knowledge and techniques are to be applied and to how the knowledge is to be passed on in the "complete" form as described above. It is in this context that I believe that I have not compromised or contradicted any of the oaths I have taken.
But just prior to his explaination of an oath, he has stated that,
There are two main reasons why the "secrets" of this tradition are limited to the druid and his successor...the naming process... (and) personal training and learning by Druidic Master and student.
If Hughes' tradition is passed on orally from teacher to student, and the teacher is obligated to make sure that the student understands, then how is Jon G. Hughes not abrogating his responsibility to his family's tradition, and moreso, his audience, by writing this book?
Over and over again, Jon repeats the caution that "a Druid must fully understand the entirety of any concept or material thing before invoking." But, as I read through the book, I found his writing style to be vague and short on explanations. I might add that there are, at no point in this book, any references to specific sources where we might explore further, and in fact only one person is mentioned specifically, a Dr. William Price, with whom Jon has had no contact (that he declares).
There is no mention of his Grandfather's name, his hometown village, nor any other people in his family lineage. Nothing can be corroborated, and no credit is given to anyone for supplying information used in the book.
Within Part One, Jon also states that he will not be using the original Welsh in any part of the book to save the reader confusion. However, by not including the original Welsh along with his translation, he denies his readers the ability to understand the terms of his tradition in it's original form.
At this point in time, I am going to coin the term, "The Monroe Effect," which will be defined as the proclaimation of an ancient source of information, without proof of that source, in order to create the illusion of authenticity. The point of engaging the Monroe Effect, as Jon G. Hughes has done, is to appear to be the master of some ancient, secret magical system to attract disciples.
I might add that, in my opinion, the authenticity of a philosophical or metaphysical idea is based upon it's compatability with an individual, and is relative to the individual. So there is, again in my own opinion, no need to claim authenticity via "ancientness," especially if you aren't willing to back up your claims with proof or evidence. At least Douglas Monroe, for whom "The Monroe Effect," is named, offered fake evidence...
The rest of Part One, which is also the majority of it, contains meditation techniques, descriptions of the creation and use of ritual tools, and then touches on some potions and herbs. If you want to know what this section contained, run to the nearest bookstore, find the most inexpensive book on the basics of Magic, and you'll probably have a more proper understanding of these things in the end. This section, while lengthy, contains vague ideas and descriptions and hardly scratches enough information to actually carry out many of his suggestions. For an example, I have chosen a quote from this book that irritated me, as I am a wandmaker.
The wand is the most important tool for any Druidic priest of priestess. This is the instrument used to connect to and channel energy. The wand directs your personal internal energy, connects you to the collective energy, and allows you to channel and redirect latent energy.
Okay, so how does one go about doing these things? He doesn't say, but I'll let him finish.
I crafted my first and most simple wand with the help of my grandfather. I still have it in my collection. It was cut from a roawn tree growing at the center of our local forest, crafted in the shed in my grandfather's garden, and energized in a ritual at the side of our local river.
All druid priests and priestesses own and use a collection of different wands, each with an individual power and purpose. I now have a collection of about fifty wands, each of which has unique features and is energized for different applications.
That's how it ends. The rest of this segment is spent setting up the next segment, which is Harvesting and Crafting a Simple Druidic Wand. Even after reading that, I have no idea of any of the ways that a wand could be used. As I said before, there are a lot of words in this book, but the book, in part or whole, says very little.
Part Two starts off with a description of Celtic sex magic and the effects it can have. On pages 80-81, and again on 95-97, Jon says,
I believe that there are varying degrees of exhibitionist and voyeuristic tendencies in all of us, and we need only the right circumstances to bring them to the forefront. Sex magic is an extremely healthy outlet for these tendencies and for excercising the suppressed emotions that are within us all. Venting these emotions can be enormously exhilarating and gratifying experience and can work as a stabilizing influence on our personality as a whole. It also gives us reign to a vast range of creative fores that otherwise may not have such a powerful outlet in our everyday lives.
Okay, I can agree with that, as I love having sex, and I love venting emotions. But apparently, Jon doesn't agree with himself, because he has a whole chapter in Part One, entitled The Role of Emotion in a Sex Magic Ritual. In the chapter he states, describes, and concludes that
In general terms, it should be the earnest intention of all those involved in sex magic practices to avoid emotional involvement.
Aside from the contradictions and confusions Jon creates (keeping in mind that a Druid should understand their practices fully), he lays out a mapping of the stages of sex in sex magic;
These stages are nothing new to anyone who reads Teen Magazine. Jon goes into each of these areas, without giving clear descriptions of how to technically do the things he lists, but instead goes into what can only be his own speculation (due to his lack of sources) of what is happening on a metaphysical level in each of these stages.
Part Three deals with the compounding of Parts One and Two into rituals for practical use. Jon includes many scripts that he designed (I have to assume this...again, no sources listed).
The majority of Part three spends time restating what he has already said in other sections, and giving a ritual for each of them. I would have tried them myself but didn't because a) I was so put off by the inconsistencies and vague presentations that I couldn't bring myself to test them, and b) I shouldn't, as Jon reccomends, do anything I don't understand. This leads me to ask the question, "As a comparatively intelligent person, if I cannot fully understand from his book all that I need to participate in these rituals, what is the point of buying the book?"
Overall, I cannot reccomend this book to anyone. The age group he is obviously shooting for is late teens to early twenties, judging by the illustrations of young, sexy Celts. If Celtic Sex Magic can be for anyone willing to seriously attempt it, then where are all the old, wrinkly Druid masters?
I'm also left wondering why this is Celtic Sex Magic? Nothing is specifically Celtic about it. The methods of spiritually enlightening sex that he describes seem no different than Tantrism. His magical tools and meditations were consistent with general modern magic, and his rituals were designed by himself. Does the fact that he's Welsh mean that anything he does is Celtic?
The editing of this book, aside from the composition and development, leaves something to be desired, and that something is certainly not more material from Jon G. Hughes. Please note that the copy I own was purchased for 25 cents, but I suppose, for that amount, perhaps you should buy this book, if not for the pictures of people in the middle of intercourse, then for the laughs.
The only reason I can imagine anyone pursuing ownership of this book is for it's pornographic content, which really only consists of poorly created illustrations. It's sex. It's natural. It's healthy. It's even necessary. You don't need to say, "Oh, that Jon Hughes, I love his style of rituals," just to see naked people. You don't need to include ritual in your sex to make your sex magical. In the words of Penn Jillette,
It's not the sex that's gratuitous, it's all the stuff around the sex that's unneeded. Naked people are their own reward; You don't need an excuse for sex.
Sadly, "Celtic Sex Magic" can only appeal to those looking for that excuse.
Azrienoch ©2004