Witch Wednesdays

Today I'm chatting with Casey Zabala about the anthology A Confluence of Witches. A Confluence of Witches aims to highlight how witchcraft has always been a diverse, constantly evolving, culturally specific practice with many lineages and rich traditions. It features essays, spells, and reflections from witches, traditional healers, herbalists, and artists on themes of magical activism, animism, and merging ancient practices with modern technologies, among other mystical subjects. The diverse representation of contributors will honor and celebrate the multicultural and multivalent ways that the witch operates within our society.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wandererstarot/

All about the energies and magic of November plus a few November holidays to highlight.

I'm chatting today with Jezmina and Paulina about their new book, Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling!

In Secrets of Romani Fortune-Telling, Paulina Stevens and Jezmina Von Thiele share the knowledge and personal experiences of being raised to be fortune-tellers. They share divination methods, tools, and techniques that have been created, adapted, or popularized by the Roma, including card reading, palmistry, dream divination, and tea-leaf and coffee reading. They share exercises to strengthen your intuition and discover your natural gifts, and explain how divination helps with shadow work, blockages, and self-awareness.

Find More:

romanistanpodcast.com

jezminavonthiele.com

romaniholistic.com

https://www.instagram.com/jezmina.vonthiele

https://www.instagram.com/romanistanpodcast

https://www.instagram.com/romaniholistic

Today I'm joined by author Judika Illes to chat about her newest book (and all the other things she's contributed to the witchcraft community!) Let us know - who is your favorite cinematic witch?

WITCHES: A COMPENDIUM is a concise compendium of witches through the ages, from earliest prehistory to some of the most significant modern practitioners, Witches explores who and what is a witch. Also included are an exploration of the sacred and the profane, the myths and misconceptions of witchcraft, a travel guide for the witch curious, and introductions to practicing witches of today.

 
Witches explores what a witch is and the different ways to be one. Judika Illes presents the history, mysteries, and diverse natures of witches from around the world. Featuring a who’s who ranging from famous—or infamous—historical witches such as Tituba, Sybil Leek, Aleister Crowley, Isobel Gowdie, and Countess Erzsebet Báthory (widely known as the Blood Countess) to popular literary, cinematic, and TV witches such as Endora, the Scarlet Witch, Melisandre, Storm, Agatha Harkness, and the Wicked Witch of the West, Witches also offers travel tips for witches and a guide to the tools of the trade such as brooms, wands, cauldrons, and mirrors.
 
This celebration of witches and witchcraft also features:

Judika Illes is a lifelong student, lover, and practitioner of the magical arts. She is the author of numerous books devoted to spells, spirits, and witchcraft, including Encyclopedia of Spirits, as well as Pure Magic, Daily Magic, Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Encyclopedia of Mystics, Saints, and Sages, and Magic When You Need It. She has been a professional tarot card reader for over three decades and is a certified aromatherapist. A native New Yorker, Judika teaches in the US and internationally, live and virtually. Follow her on Instagram @judikailles and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AuthorJudikaIlles/.

Today I'm joined by author Kris Spisak to chat all about her newest (and fifth!) book, Becoming Baba Yaga.

Becoming Baba Yaga (https://redwheelweiser.com/book/becoming-baba-yaga-9781642970517/) is an in depth look at the Baba Yaga mythos and history through Slavic folklore. The book is filled with historical and cultural context and analyses, and is a comprehensive resource for anyone hoping to learn more about this ambiguous character and how her multifaceted presence still ripples through the present day. 

Spisak explores Baba Yaga’s connection to nature as an Earth goddess and as an herbalist. She also delves into the Shadow Self and Baba Yaga’s aspect as a trickster and places her in a modern context as not merely a witch of the woods but also as an archetype and force for finding your own path.

Find Kris:

https://kris-spisak.com/ 

https://kris-spisak.com/becoming-baba-yaga/

 https://www.instagram.com/kris.spisak/

 https://www.facebook.com/KSWriting

Kris Spisak earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William and Mary, her master of liberal arts from the University of Richmond, and did further graduate work in fiction through the University of Iowa. She taught college writing courses at schools including Virginia Commonwealth University before stepping away from the classroom to pursue her own writing work. Kris has been spotlighted in Writer’s Digest and HuffPost for her work as an editor and author dedicated to helping other writers. She is the author of The Baba Yaga Mask (a novel) and Get a Grip on Your Grammar. Kris fully believes that well-written words and well-told stories have always changed the world and that they will continue to. She can’t wait to tell you her next story.

I'm joined today by author and witch Michelle Tea to chat about her newest book, Modern Magic. We talk all about growing up as a goth witch in the 80s, finding your own ritual groove in your practice, playfulness in witchcraft, and more!

Find the Book:

⁠Modern Magic⁠

An enchanted sibling to the cult classic Modern Tarot, Modern Magic: Stories, Rituals, and Spells for Contemporary Witches, by professional tarot reader and feminist Icon, Michelle Tea provides a fascinating, magical history of spiritual traditions from around the world—giving all the tools, spells, and rituals to navigate our stressed-out lives.

Witty, down-to-earth, and wise, Tea bewitches us with personal tales about crafting her magical practice and coming into her own. She pairs enchanting stories from her days as a goth teen in Massachusetts with insights from her experiences as an adult to share her observations about the world as well as her vision for what it could be. Modern Magic gives us the tools to tap into a stronger, distinctive magic that lies within us, one that incorporates queer, feminist, anti-racist, intersectional values. 

About Michelle:

⁠Website⁠

⁠Instagram⁠

⁠X⁠

Michelle Tea is the author of over a dozen books, including the cult-classic Valencia, the essay collection Against Memoir, and the speculative memoir Black Wave. She is the recipient of awards from the Guggenheim, Lambda Literary, and Rona Jaffe Foundations, PEN/America, and other institutions. Knocking Myself Up is her latest memoir.

Tea’s cultural interventions include brainstorming the international phenomenon Drag Queen Story Hour, co-creating the Sister Spit queer literary performance tours, and occupying the role of Founding Editor at DOPAMINE Books, a Los Angeles-based, non-profit press that publishes work by edgy, emerging queer writers. In addition to helming the imprints Sister Spit Books at City Lights Publishers, and Amethyst Editions at The Feminist Press, Tea produced and hosted the popular Your Magic podcast, wherein she read tarot cards for Roxane Gay, Alexander Chee, Phoebe Bridgers and other artists, as well as the live tarot show Ask the Tarot on Spotify Greenroom and Instagram.

All about the energies and magic of October plus a few October holidays to highlight.

Today I'm chatting with Dr. Cressida Stone about her book, The Secrets of Santa Muerte. I learned so much about this Mexican folk saint from the book but also just from this talk, so I know you will too!

The Secrets of Santa Muerte is a practical handbook on how to connect with the mysterious Mexican folk saint. Drawing from authentic Mexican sources and traditions, it details secret, esoteric knowledge that will foster a deep connection with the Saint of Death. The book covers the fascinating history of this revered folk saint as well as practical tips on how to:

Find Cressida Stone:

⁠Instagram⁠

Find The Secrets of Santa Muerte:

⁠Amazon⁠

⁠Red Wheel/Weiser⁠

Cressida Stone, author of Secrets of Santa Muerte, is an English writer. The author leads a double life as a British doctor of anthropology trained in classic methods at the University of Oxford, while also moving in occult circles as Cressida Stone, publishing grimoires on Santa Muerte, practicing witchcraft, and reading tarot cards for the wealthy elite, the disenfranchised, and sicarios alike. She has apprenticed in Mexico with brujos (witches) and shamans of Santa Muerte at temples to the Saint of Death, learning their ways of working with the folk saint. She embraces a non-dualistic philosophy of life and death.

Stone's book Secrets of Santa Muerte has been praised by Jason Miller, author of Consorting with Spirits, as "the most complete workbook I have found in English on the subject". Stone also received endorsements from numerous famous Mexican Santa Muerte witches and leaders, including Yuri Mendez, Bruja of the Three Virtues, who attests that "Cressida Stone has deep knowledge of the spirituality of Santa Muerte. She has traveled across Mexico where the roots of devotion to the Saint of Death truly originate. She honors our faith and shares the teachings of Santa Muerte clearly, aiding people to respectfully venerate and learn correctly about Santisima Muerte. This is because Cressida has been to those special places where devotion to Holy Death is deep and true.”

Sara is back for the part 2 we promised! She answers some follow up questions about the energy of the sabbats and then we dive into the topic of including children in celebrating the natural cycles and teaching them the magic of the world around them.

Find Sara:

⁠https://www.instagram.com/aranelsara/⁠

⁠https://www.facebook.com/sara.aranel.7

It's such a joy to be joined today by author Amy Blackthorn! We're chatting about her history in witchcraft and her new book, Sacred Plant Magic. But I couldn't help myself, as an avid reader of all of Amy's books, to ask about some of her other works as well. You'll definitely learn a lot in this very fun episode.

Buy the Book: ⁠https://redwheelweiser.com/book/blackthorns-book-of-sacred-plant-magic-9781578638307/⁠

Renowned herbalist Amy Blackthorn shows readers how to bring plant spirits into their daily spiritual practice with therapeutic access, subconscious learning, and divining skills that help them understand plant spirits on a deeper level.

Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic showed a new generation of witches how scent affects people, whether they understand it or not. In Blackthorn’s Book of Sacred Plant Magic, we travel even deeper into the magical garden of scent. We know that a walk down a summer street can bring back the smell of childhood summers with friends, riding bikes and swimming. Spring breezes carry with them the clean soapy smell of your second-grade teacher. We experience scents not only in the here and now but also filtered through the lens of our past. Using the power of scent, we can create a sense of the sacred in our daily lives. Part reference guide, part recipe book, and part ritual journey, Blackthorn’s Book of Sacred Plant Magic offers readers an in-depth exploration of the vital connection between scents and magical practice.

Amy Blackthorn is a professional intuitive and the bestselling author of several books on botanical magic, including Blackthorn’s Botanical Magic, Blackthorn’s Botanical Brews, and Blackthorn’s Botanical Wellness. The founder of Blackthorn’s Botanicals, she has a certification in aromatherapy and was ordained by the Order of the Golden Gryphon. Amy lives in Delaware. Keep up with Amy’s book news at ⁠amyblackthorn.com⁠ and view her tea shop ⁠blackthornsbotanicals.com⁠