When you hear the word “grimoire,” what do you imagine? Is it something mystical and rough, like the above? Would it surprise you to know that it can look more like a journal or scrapbook, like the below? Possibly descending from the French word grammaire, meaning ‘grammar’ or ‘learning’, a grimoire is a book with a variety […]

“Our society doesn’t talk about wounds of consciousness. We don’t even have a common language for it.” It’s that Samhain season, when the veil is thin, and if you live in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, as I do, our world is cooling. Leaves are beginning to fall. Each night touched with an […]

Before there were chemists, there were alchemists. In fact, the two “sciences” come from the same root word, chem, which may be derived from the Ancient Egyptian term keme (black earth, a reference to the dark, fertile soil of the Nile) or the Greek chyma (to cast/pour together). It is unclear when the practice of […]

On Healing the Inner Child “Of pain…and beautiful times we had” When we address wounds of our past, we often talk about healing the inner child. We think of our smallest, most vulnerable selves and the earliest harms we experienced. This is important work, and I think we may neglect another young self—our inner teenager. […]

The Gardener and the Devoted “Any conscious change is by definition magick.” In the Northern Hemisphere, as August dissolves into September, we move closer to the harvest season. You don’t receive the harvest through a single act of spontaneous planting, and suddenly, BOOM! A food forest! You spend months germinating, cultivating, pruning, tending, defending, watering, […]

Those who found themselves on Twitter in early 2017 might remember the small, yet vocal witch movement to cast spells to “bind Trump” from harming Americans. Over the course of months, they agreed to partake in rituals in sync with the full moon. Even singer Lana Del Rey participated in the ritual. Around the time […]

Ever since René Descartes declared the mind and body separate in the 17th century, Cartesian dualism has dominated Western understandings of the human corpus for centuries.1 Biomedicine today is largely navigated through empirical research and the scientific method, modes of inquiry that have given us pharmaceutical drugs, public hygiene laws, and surgical breakthroughs. These discoveries […]

“The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the […]

The Sword and the Chariot “Magick is an action-based declaration that we can manipulate and change our reality” Today I introduce another of my divination tools to you: my angel cards. They’re not my typical go-to tool, but they called to me quite directly today. They are connected to the traditional tarot cards found in […]

Analyzing a Modern Trend Through the Words of a Literary Legend Somewhere between the genres of speculative fiction, science fiction, and fantasy—whose differences often come down to publishing goals—lies the subgenre of “romantasy,” which has been enjoying quite a lot of popularity recently. Despite the explosion of consumer interest, criticisms of romantasy abound, and are […]

The Stream of Creation “I find the Rider-Waite to be a mirror deck, wonderful at reflecting what is and the reality of the material world.” If you have followed my channelings in any way, you will have noticed that I hardly use the typical Rider-Waite deck with the familiar major and minor arcana. They were […]

Answer: A trial from 1474. (Among other things, allegedly.) In 1474, in the good city of Basel, an independent city under the protectorate of the Holy Roman Empire, a rooster was burned at the stake for “witchcraft and defying natural law.” This account comes to us in 1626 in the Kurze Basler Chronik by Johannis […]

Science, Magic, and Power: The Bruising of Qilwa and Contemporary Portrayals of Magic in Media In Naseem Jamnia’s 2022 fantasy novella, The Bruising of Qilwa, magic weaves through the narrative. In Jamnia’s world, magic has many disciplines and each specialization requires intense study with masters. Characters experiment with it in laboratories and write research texts […]

Hello to the inquiring minds of the Inglenook readers. I am bringing you an offering as your Transformation Features Writer. This reading starts familiar but takes on a different shape than my typical readings. This is not a reflection reading. This is a message. It started with my letter box filled with magnetic words for […]

Grief is a universal experience, but its ubiquity does not make it any easier. To cushion the blows of a loved one’s death, magical practices have had their own special place in grieving processes. Magical rites are enacted at the time of death, at funerals, at memorials, at graves. Some practice magic every day in […]

Holding a Mirror to the Mirror Hello to the inquiring minds of the Inglenook readers. I am bringing you an offering as your Transformation Features Writer. Just as in my last reading, I was drawn first to my box of magnetic words, a toy from the early 2000s used to make poetry or silly phrases […]

They say you can buy anything in New York City, and it’s true–even a dose of magic. Or a witchy brownie, whatever suits your fancy. There are many New Age / crystal / spiritual stores in NYC, including Enchantments in the East Village, open since 1982, Alum Shanti and Namaste Bookshop on opposite sides of […]

As long as I can remember, I’ve been curious about fairies—faeries? Fae? (How do we address those tiny winged beings? Are they in fact winged? Tiny? Real?) Part of the draw for me is the mystery, which has followed fairies across the generations. As Jonny Dillon, archivist of the National Folklore Collection at the University […]

The word ‘psychic’ frequently inspires images that belong in a Spirit Halloween storefront – crystal balls, fog machines, and tarot cards. Yet more often than not, ‘psychic’ simply refers to someone with sense that goes beyond normal perception. That can include a wide range of abilities from heightened empathy to the occasionally oddly prophetic dream. […]

Have you been hearing that witchy call lately? Maybe the plethora of witch-themed paraphernalia and tchotchkes has been catching your eye more and more. Maybe you’ve started noticing witchy book titles and folklore when browsing stores and libraries. Or maybe you’ve been lingering outside longer, even in the cold, just to breathe with the wind. […]

Magical acts have gone by many names: the devil’s work, voodoo, sorcery, trickery, dark arts, and illusory stage tricks. What is considered magic appears to be determined by an observer’s own biases—whether they believe in the supernatural, and if so, whether magic is a force for good or evil. To understand magic and the way […]

Where do you go for refuge when times are chaotic and difficult? Typically, refuge is a place we go to get away, like gardens, temples, or a wooden trail. Lately, I’ve found there is a different kind of refuge, one that comes through the choices we make: choose the path that serves your true nature […]

Have you reached your witchy era yet? Are you looking for way to recognize or perhaps broadcast some witch-curious signals? Or maybe you’re a fan of fantasy and want to know more about witch symbolism to make your reading experience more fulfilling. Regardless of whether you have spellcasting aspirations, it’s helpful to know some of […]

How Magical Realism Reveals Possibilities for the Future When looking at the effect of human dominion over the past five centuries, it seems there is no question that Earth’s plight is a crisis of self-destructive anthropocentrism. Philosopher Donna Haraway, in her book Staying with the Trouble, urges us to imagine a world without the human […]

It was stories of the ancient past that first drew me to Celtic witchcraft. I was halfway through my final year of university when I read about the Menai Massacre for the first time. A Roman-led attack on the island of Anglesey which was, at that time, a major druid stronghold. Countless men, women and […]

What is a spiritual book club, and what can it do for you? With the number and variety of books being published today, it can be difficult to choose what to read and when. That might be why so many readers are increasingly choosing to read with book clubs. In fact, book clubs made up […]

            It’s fun to think of astrology as personalities. The most reductive forms of astrology are the tastiest sugar all over our teeth.             Personality prescriptions are many of those astrology memes, or when someone says, “You’re a Leo. You must be obsessed with romance (or yourself).”             Despite that, astrology is useful to me […]

For many practitioners of magic, divination requires some basic ingredients. Candles, prayer books, crystals, incense, spices, and tarot cards often serve as tools that help shape and alchemize thoughts and desires into meaningful changes in one’s life. But at what point do magical “materials” cross the line into “magical materialism”? It should come as no […]

Fall: the season of dead things brought to life, when spirits rise, vampires stalk our TV screens, songs are sung about – and possibly for – witches. This year, spooky season didn’t end with All Hallow’s Eve, thanks to the recent release of Wicked: For Good. One can almost hear the echoes of “No One […]

We have a bone to pick with Roald Dahl. It’s not that we don’t love his mischievous, real-world tale of witches lurking in 1980s England — we do. The Witches is a classic. It’s suspenseful, adventurous, and filled with danger and vivid imagery. But Dahl’s witches are bald, clawed, square-footed, and “allergic” to children. They’re […]

It’s a powerful thing when a book opens your mind to questions about the human condition, the self, and the nature of existence. Novels that are philosophical in nature take us to fictional worlds that somehow reflect and comment on the human condition better than reality, making you question where you stand and what you […]

At the start of this tale, one Smoky Barnable sets off to marry Daily Alice—but first, he has to find her. Edgewood is off the beaten path, much like Little, Big itself—no ordinary dwelling place. The upstate New York mansion has three hundred and sixty-five stairs, seven chimneys, fifty-two doors, twelve (“twelve what? There must […]

A teenage boy tosses and turns in bed. He can’t stop his racing thoughts, and it feels like the weight of the world is on his shoulders. A dark force looms over him, threatening everything he loves, but he feels isolated and afraid. No one believes his concerns, even as it’s plain to see the […]

Who says witches have to be villains? Some of the greatest modern storytellers certainly don’t think so. Authors like Pam Grossman and Madeline Miller are flipping the script on witch stories, offering empowering and nuanced alternatives to the stereotype of the old hag in the woods who curses princesses with spindles. It’s important to tell […]

Are you reading this article when you “should” be working? Good. That means you’re already well on your way to mastering the art of slow living.  Slow living isn’t just about taking more naps or promising not to check your email during your lunch break (but for the record, you should absolutely do both). No, […]

What does love mean? Really sit with this question for a moment. If you were to create your own dictionary right now, what would you say about it? Jot your answer down somewhere. Text it, type it out, write it on the napkin laying next to you—just put “love” into words.  Are you surprised by […]