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Tag Archives: witchcraft

Year of the Witch, by Temperance Alden

Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature’s Seasons through Intuitive Magick, by Temperance Alden
Weiser Books, 9781633411876, 224 pages, 2020

Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature’s Seasons through Intuitive Magick by Temperance Alden is a charming yet quirky little book.  I say little because the book itself is a comfortable, hand-held size with wide pages and margins roomy for note-taking.  It makes the experience of reading it more pleasurable.  I selected it thinking it would be a guide to practicing with the pagan sabbat days, like Beltane and Yule.  It is, but it takes a meandrous journey getting there.  The author’s thesis is that a witch can customize their experience of “the witch’s year” to be an authentic communion with the Earth and not limited to a conceptual celebration of holidays reflecting seasons that do not align with lived experience in one’s locale. 

For example, the author resides in South Florida, and moved there after living in Montana – so her experience of autumn has varied widely.  She wants witches and people exploring a witchcraft practice to feel empowered to claim their own sacred Earth holidays.  Therefore, her personal annual celebration of seasons includes “Shark Season” and “Avocado Harvest.”. 1

Alden makes it clear from the get-go that her aim is for fledgling witches to develop a connection to the Earth and an appreciation for local nature spirits. She goes into great detail towards what this practice entails, beginning with what I found to be the very best explanation of what intuition is that I’ve ever come by (and a message I very much needed to hear):

“The most common questions asked by those beginning their paths of witchcraft usually boil down to a variation on ‘Am I doing this right?’…. These questions often indicate that someone is going too fast down the path…and trying to run before they learn to walk’…. It is necessary to first learn how to distinguish between the voices of anxiety, ego and intuition…. Intuition is the literal gaining of knowledge without any conscious thinking or reasoning.  Intuition hardly ever comes in the form of an impulse. More often it feels like a lazy afternoon breeze flowing through our lives without any effort.”2

In Chapter 2, “Cycles, Seasons, Death and Rebirth,” she talks about hormonal cycles, the cycle of the seasons, cycles in climate, and astrological cycles as well.  Here, the book takes a sharp and unexpected twist when [TRIGGER WARNING] Alden reveals that she does not believe in climate change and cites some academic sources to back up her point of view!!!  This is not what most readers seeking guidance on how to work with earth-based witchcraft are going to expect, and frankly I don’t know what to say about this.  We are all entitled to our opinion on whether the science supporting the actuality of climate change is accurate, but in this book, her opinion stands out like a big yellow caution sign.  Everything else in this book is wonderful (if not a bit divergent at times), but throwing climate change denial at an unsuspecting reader bites a bit.

From there in Chapter 3, “Elemental Magick,” Alden goes on to explain the elements — earth, air, fire, water and spirit — and their role in magic work. In Chapter 4, “Sheparding the Land,” she comes across as a true eco-activist, insisting that students of her magical-methods make it part of their spiritual work to create ways of reducing their footprint on the earth, such as not using single-use plastic water bottles, and buying seasonal produce from farmers instead of shopping big box grocery stores. 3

My only other criticism of Year of the Witch, is that in Chapter 5, “At the Gates of Witchcraft,” Alden deep dives into a rant about being called a “plastic witch.”  She accuses witches who use this term insultingly as spiritually bypassing their privilege.

“I believe the term plastic witchcraft is twofold in its meaning. First ‘being plastic’ refers to being superficial and fake. Second, [it] refers to using plastic products. However, the term itself is very condescending and shows an aggressive amount of spiritual bypassing. [It] allows for more privileged witches to ridicule and scorn less fortunate witches.” 4

For a moment, I forgot I am a 46-year-old woman reading a spiritual book of my chosen belief-system from the comfort of my favorite armchair, and I was transported into my 16-year-old-self up in my bedroom flipping through the latest issue of Sassy Magazine and reading an essay written by the staff intern who just passed Psych 101 with a B+.  All I have to say about that is I think this book aims at a younger audience….

Finally! After all that drama, and through some delightful ideas about creating altars and building spiritual gardens outside, we get to the end of the book where Alden presents the traditional “year of the witch” and explains the eight sacred sabbaths: Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, and Mabon.  For each holiday she goes into traditional lore and a suggested practice for celebrating.  The chapters are brief, but they are well referenced and offer some fun ideas, such as bread-baking recipes to celebrate the harvest feast at Lughnasadh (also called Lammas).

Alden’s ending conclusion in Year of the Witch is that if you are a witch living in a region with a climate differing from the classical four-season year, you can make your own holidays and create your own personalized “year of the witch” to follow.  Adding to the overall charm, she put in a recipe to make your own Florida Water and also for cascarilla powder in the appendix, along with a calendar of all pagan holidays celebrated in different countries around the world.  Overall, this is a fun book!

Queering Your Craft, by Cassandra Snow

Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins, by Cassandra Snow
Weiser Books, 1578637218, 288pages, November 2020

From now on, whenever someone asks to me to recommend a book about getting started in witchcraft, this is the book I am going to recommend, whether or not that person is queer.  I say this because Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins by Cassandra Snow breaks the practice of witchcraft down into simple components that can be picked up by anyone, anywhere and used however they wish, making the craft of magick much more of a personal celebration of creativity, passion and power.  To make the craft of magick-making accessible to a diverse, marginalized population, Snow guides their readers on how to customize their craft so that it can hold meaning and be powerful, even when practiced individually, on a budget and with limited resources. 

This is a “how-to” book on making magick and living a magickal lifestyle. First though, Snow tells us why we need a specifically “queer” magic textbook. The two most influential craft-based magical lineages in the West, Gerard Gardener’s Wicca and Alistair Crowley’s Thelema use symbolism and themes strongly rooted in gender-binaries, which can be alienating to the growing population of the magickally inclined who identify as non-binary. 5

For Snow, queering magic is recreating symbols, themes, and sacred space for a wide variety of gender and sexuality variance.  Their first step on this path is offering a “Queer Witch Manifesto” in the introduction of the book, which Snow refers back to repeatedly throughout the book as an ethical framework for practicing magickal craft and identifying as a witch.  Snow’s “Queer Witch Manifesto” acknowledges (in sum):

✨Infinite genders and sexual identities. (Throughout the book Snow uses the abbreviation LGBTQIA2SP+ whenever referring to queer-identified individuals)
✨The need to dismantle white supremacy and patriarchal power and the need for this dismantling to come from the non-white community.
✨The positivity of all expressions of consensual sexuality.
✨That anyone can invoke Goddess energy regardless of whether they have a uterus.
✨Physical, emotional, and mental disabilities do not make a person unable to practice magic.
✨Personal healing is a precursor to collective healing.
✨We must protect and heal the Earth.
✨We are all equals in magic.
✨All bodies can be magical, regardless of ableism.

I kind of want to needlepoint this onto a pillow! How about you?! 

Laying out this list (with much clearer articulation and more detail than my summary here) at the beginning of the book, the rest of the book is about practicing the craft of magic-making.  Snow knows history and as a result is able to deconstruct magical rites, rituals, and practices from their origins in order to present them as something simple anyone can start to practice. For example, they note the transformative magick of making lists, ““My money magick usually… starts with a list of my financial goals and immediate needs and then I add a list of long-term goals.” 6. Then for the the transformative magick of prayer to a spiritual being, Snow writes “Prayer is so easy, free, and accessible that anyone can do it…. A quick prayer that is literally just ‘thank you’ when you get unexpected luck or a despairing “please help” when you’re feeling your absolute worst is enough.” 7

Snow strongly advocates a DIY Witchcraft, which is making your magickal craft out of what is available to you and infusing your magick with intentions specific to you.  While she does discuss some examples of collective magick, such as covens or working spells in a group context for political aims, Snow acknowledges that for queer people, the most powerful accessible magick may be that which they create on their own from their own hodge-podge of wisdom, creativity, desire, and power. Snow even offers a “how-to” worksheet for designing one’s own spells.

My personal favorite parts of Queering Your Craft is the section on “Fashion and Style Witchcraft” where your magickal intentions can be enhanced by dressing a certain way. Snow writes, “I might pull out a purple outfit for creativity.  I also might pull out a long pencil skirt and a button-down to give myself that “professional writer” feeling.”8 Then later in the book, I also really like Snow’s list of LGBTQIA2SP+ aligned gods and goddesses, including Athena, Loki, and my personal favorite discovery — a Drag Queen God from the Voodoo tradition named Ghede Nibo.9

For the seasoned practitioner, this book may seem elementary.  Snow summarizes common methods of divination such as tarot, astrology, and runes.  They explain the significance of the Four Elements (five including “Spirit”) and how to call them in. They offer a guide to the Lunar phases and Sabbat holidays. This is truly an inclusive essential starter handbook, inclusive on all fronts! However, the manner in which Snow explains the cornerstones of witchcraft and presents them in regard to the Manifesto outlined in the front of the book widens the lens through which these practices are understood and used — and this is exactly the point.  For the purpose of this book is to make magick accessible to anyone and to make magick empowering to those who may not feel at so at home in straight cis-gendered spaces. 

Queering Your Craft concludes with a queer grimoire, including spells “A Protection Spell for Trans People in Small Towns,” “A Protection Spell for QTBIPOC,” A Spell of Protection Against the Patriarchy,” “An Anti-Gatekeeper Spell,” and “A Spell to Protect Activists,” plus many more spells to fill all categories.

Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches, by Ellen Canon Reed

Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches: Rituals, Meditations & Magical Tools, by Ellen Canon Reed
Weiser Books, 1578637379, 288 pages, February 2021

..In Wicca, our approach to magic is usually through the Gods. Having done all we are capable of doing on this plane, we turn to magic, and will often ask for the help, guidance, and blessing of specific deities….Egyptian legend says that Ra invented magic. The Gods were too busy to do everything, so Ra gave humankind magical powers, heka, so that we would be able to handle the unseen world ourselves.1

The writings of author, Ellen Canon Reed (1943-2003), have been widely accepted and long used as foundational points of reference within the Craft and practice of Wicca. Her teachings have been noted as holding true to the philosophical approach of the Witch as well as serving as a foundational path towards increasing one’s knowledge beyond the basics of witchcraft, including the Qabalah, Egyptian Magic and more. During her lifetime she was considered to be one of prominent resources regarding the Craft and even after her death her books are used widely within the pagan community.  

Her book Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches: Rituals, Meditations & Magical Tools fills all of the check boxes in creating a read that is both informative and able to be used in practical application. Although it is not as robust as some of the many titles we are finding in more abundance about the spiritual practices and religious philosophies of ancient Egypt, it is true to and in keeping with informing a Wiccan practice. This is one of the things that set this book apart from the others in offering a “way” to the Egyptian deities that is compatible with any system you are already employing, especially that of the  witch.

Something the reader will encounter throughout is the use of the term “Tamerans” in place of Ancient Egyptian. This serves both a pragmatic approach for the author and offers an alternative to the readily used term of Khemtic that we often encounter around writings of Ancient Egyptian magic. And, I believe the statement below illustrates Reed’s very simple and authentic approach in a desire to share the knowledge and offer a point of path for any who seek the wisdom…

…I discovered very early in writing this book that typing “ancient Egyptians” became tedious. If it’s tedious to write, it might well be tedious to read. Here’s how I solved the problem. An ancient name for Egypt was Tamera, which means “Beloved Land”… I will refer to ancient Egypt as Tamera and to its inhabitants as Tameran.10

This book lives up to its title in content. Reed provides the reader with enough information to begin the journey of spiritual connection for more than two dozen Egyptian Deities, and in doing so also expands the baseline of the more traditional gods/goddesses that are more prominently served. At 288 pages there is not nearly enough space to even scratch the surface of the cosmic view embedded in all of ancient Egyptian life, but the structure of the book lends itself well to a satisfying sampling of ways to engage in the profound energies of this pantheon, its culture, and its magic. 

Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches is separated into three parts, beginning with an introduction to the deities that can be called upon. Part 1: Gods and Goddesses of Egypt begins with one of the most well-known goddesses, Nut…

…The ancients portrayed Her stretched across the heavens with her feet to the East and her head to the West. The stars, they said, were jewels on her body, and the Milky Way was milk from her breasts.11

The hieroglyph representing the deity being discussed graces the top of the page and some basic information about the energy offered by that deity follows. I appreciated the image of the hieroglyph(s) because it lent an additional layer of use for connecting with that deity utilizing the strongly visual nature that humans inherently have.

Reed engages the reader with an easily recognizable portrayal of these larger than life deities through the use of personal examples of interaction or the experience of their calling as part of her coven’s ritual workings. This approach is used throughout the book and is a style common to the writings of Reed. She was able to encourage her readers to approach Wicca and the practice of a Witch without fear and/or the need for distancing oneself from the honoring of the divine beings that are our co-creators of this spiritual path. The final section of Part 1: Gods and Goddesses of Egypt provides the reader with an additional snapshot of forty-plus lesser-known Egyptian deities, their hieroglyphs, and just enough information to prompt further exploration.

I especially enjoyed Part II: Meditations, Rituals, and Developing Relationships with Deities. The primary focus of this section is one of practical experience as a tool towards bringing these deities into your life in a meaningful and deeply connected way. Reed states…

…We’ve used these techniques individually and as a group. Those who were involved-students, friends, other covens-almost invariably gained something more than knowledge of the Gods. They gained a relationship with Them. To us, these Gods are not abstract ideas or energies. They are not distant unreachable energies. To us, They are known, and loved…greatly loved.12

This statement sets the tone for what follows as a gift of meditations, mantras, rituals, recipes for food, incense and oils, and songs with lyrics and musical score. Each of these components has been tested for efficacy by Reed’s coven, Sothistar; and its members crafted many of the recipes for incense, food, and drink. I really enjoyed the ritual “Celebration of the Birthdays of the Gods” shared that Reed’s coven enacted annually….

…. For many years Sothistar held a “Birthday of the God/dess” party , to celebrate the birth of the five Egyptian Deities (Asar, Aset, Heru, Nebet Het, Set). … These celebrations were held on the Saturday or Sunday that fell within the five days preceding July 19th, the date of the rising of Sirius.13

Part III: Magic and Magical Tools wraps everything up nicely with suggestions and instructions for creating amulets, pillows, creating a sistrum (the sacred instrument of Hathor), and more. There is a section with images of various basic hieroglyphs that can be inscribed for magical workings, another dedicated to some unique ways of using Divination with the overlay of Egyptian magic, and one about Reed’s process of trial and error. This seems a fitting way to conclude the journey that began with introduction to the Deities you would be working with, putting into more practical use the relationship that developed.

The Appendices add to the resources provided in Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches. Appendix A: Tameran Names is a wonderful addition of recommendation for those wishing to take a magical name that is in keeping with the Tameran language and meanings. We are told that Appendix B: The Calendar is a reflection of information found on the Cairo Papyrus regarding the various dates observed by the Egyptians. This resource is not one that is usually included in other books and provided another layer to be used in deepening our connection to the Ancient Egyptians. The calendar spoke to each day of the year and the trials or joys, festivals of the gods and more… 

…The Tamerans had a calendar of twelve 30-day months, with five “extra” days called the epagogemental days occurring right before the New Year.  The year began the first day Sirius (Sothis) rose at dawn after the rising of the Nile. This took place approximately July 19 on our present day calendar.14

The Glossary at the end of the book and the Bibliography provided serve as additional reference tools and opportunities to explore other writings related to the Ancient Egyptians. 

Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches is definitely a title worth reading whether you are committed to a path aligned with Egyptian magic or another. In fact, this book is a reminder that many of the religious and spiritual practices of the Egyptians are those that were adapted and refined to mold more easily to the cultures in which they were introduced. By gaining an understanding of these older deities and practices of the Ancient Egyptians, we gain a deeper understanding of those that have followed as Celtic, Greek, and others.

Witch Hunt, by Kristen J. Sollee

Witch Hunt: A Traveler’s Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch, by Kristen J. Sollee
Weiser Books, 1578636990, 256 pages, October 2020

Kristen Sollee has written several books on the legacy of the witch, a subject that is hugely interesting to me. Yet I have to say, the thing that excited me most about Witch Hunt: A Traveler’s Guide to the Power and Persecution of the Witch is that not only was it a book about witches and history, but it was also about travel. After this past year of pandemic lockdown, a virtual tour of the world and of witchcraft was just the thing I needed to bring a little adventure and magic to my cabin feverish soul.

Sollee records her travels throughout Europe and North America as she visits significant sites connected to witches, witch hunts, and the persecution of witches. Somehow, she manages to write about episodes in this history that are terrifying, violent – and at times harrowing to the degree of being unimaginable – with grace, thoughtfulness, and insight, as well as second sight.

The author deftly weaves her own imaginings of witchy characters, their voices, thoughts, actions, and motivations into her telling of historical periods, beginning with Giovanna, a sultry fifteenth century sex witch proficient in glamour magic that takes a seat next to the author on a park bench in Florence, Italy.

As we move through Italian cities and witchscapes, we arrive at Vatican City in a chapter chock full of the most delightful descriptions of surprisingly witchy art pieces and artifacts, including a fresco of the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, a statue of the Egyptian lioness goddess of war, Sekhmet, and a ceramic kylix depicting the Greek goddess of wisdom, Athena. Also spotted: “…another beautiful Roman mosaic from the third century AD where Medusa makes an appearance with her glorious snaky mane unfurled.”15 I have never desired to visit Vatican City until now.

We continue our trek moving through France, meeting Joan of Arc in a wonderful telling of not only how she affected her current time, but also how The Maid’s legacy is still influencing diverse groups of people today, being not only the most famous “witch” figure to have ever lived, but the most famous saint as well.

Our visit to Paris is bedecked with not only the history of The Affair of the Poisons but descriptions of alleged Satanic rituals that were reported in confessionals and resulted in executions. The confessed sins, as well as the execution methods, are truly horrifying (and for me fell into the unimaginable category).

Sollee’s journey then takes us up onto German mountaintops (where witches were accused of arriving via flying broomstick), where we visit a witch themed amusement park complete with museums filled with torture devices, before traveling on to Ireland, England, and Scotland.

In the last five chapters we meet the witches of America with visits to Virginia, Delaware, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York.

Sollee does a wonderful job connecting history with the present, and this was probably my favorite aspect of the book. Her way of presenting how past events influence us today and her vivid characterizations of place, which not only include visual descriptions but energetic ones as well, I found captivating.

The author recounts that as she was settling into bed while in Virginia, she turned on the TV to see the 700 Club with Protestant preacher Pat Robertson. She watched until she could stomach no more; she turned the TV off and found herself pondering how much and how little the American religious landscape has changed since the days of King James. I found myself having similar thoughts through the entire reading of this book. How much and how little, indeed.

I also found myself ready to hop on a plane, and much of the time the desire I had was to revisit places in Europe that I have already been, but was previously never aware of these specific places or history. For me, reading this book was like seeing all these places anew. My travel wish list has now doubled in size.

The book concludes with nearly two dozen pages of travel resources and a lengthy bibliography for those inclined to book a witch trip or do further research.

I enjoyed Witch Hunt and highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in witch lore, witch history, and travel. It fits the bill and ties all three of these interests together into one enchanting tome.