Debunking The Patriarchal Views on Witches With These Eight Books

“We are the granddaughters of the witches you weren’t able to burn.”

The cult of the Witch has inundated culture for years. That is why this Halloween we wanted to teach you about the real history of witches, herbalist, prostitutes and faires. Witch-themed movies and series, from Sabrina and the Craft, to Suspiria and the sequel to Hocus Pocus, have everybody spellbound and believing witches, Magick and moon Magick is cool. It is 2020, and many like myself believe the secrets of herbalist have the tricks and treats to heal us from the pandemic.   Views on Witches With These Eight Books

Views on Witches

Universities across the world, including those in the Ivy league, offer courses on the history and symbolism of witches. Pop stars such as Azealia Banks, Bjork, Lorde, and Lana Del Rey are evoking witches, either by explicitly casting spells or by merely embracing the witchy aesthetic. My all-time favourite is Stevie Nicks. Witch-themed self-help books and spell books are flooding bookstores, and we have seven suggestions to get your white or green witch hustle on. 

The symbol of the Witch has endured over centuries as a representation of female empowerment. As the outsider with uncanny power, the Witch represents a challenge to patriarchal narratives. The Witch’s omnipresence in literature, cinema, and pop culture reflects the depth of Western society’s obsession. Today, the symbol is taking on new resonance, both spiritually (paganism has risen dramatically ) and symbolically, as activists fighting for their gender, politics, sexuality, or environmental health invoke the Witch as a statement of strength and empowerment.  I personally have been healing friends and family with the secrets of my grandmother.  And just now because of the time tapping into my own healing powers with these books. 

The Ultimate Guide to Witchcraft by Anjou

Written by Anjou Kiernan—named “One of the Magical Women You Should Be Following on Instagram,” by Refinery 29—The Ultimate Guide to Witchcraft is a beginner’s guide to the practice of witchcraft, providing a complete toolkit for cultivating your own practice.

Magic is not for the select few. We all can connect to the power of the natural and supernatural worlds to support our intentions. Blending ancient practices with modern context, this guide gives aspiring witches a practical, easy-to-follow path through the study of natural witchcraft and ritual.

Whether you are looking to commune with spirits across the veil, need an amulet for protection, wish to build your magical apothecary, create a grimoire, or curate a crystal collection for vibrational work, this guide will empower and inform your Craft. Learn how to harness the power of the moon, elements, and seasons to amplify your spells and divination work. Whether for personal development or spiritual enlightenment, The Ultimate Guide to Witchcraft is the perfect guide for teaching you how to tap into your own magic and apply its alchemy to your life. 

The Ultimate Guide to… series offers comprehensive beginner’s guides to discovering a range of mind, body, spirit topics, including tarot, divination, crystal grids, numerology, aromatherapy, chakras, and more. Filled with beautiful illustrations and designed to give easy access to the information you’re looking for, each of these references provides simple-to-follow expert guidance as you learn and master your practice. This book helps you figure out what kind of Witch you are with an accessible descriptive text to guide you in the right direction. 

10-Minute Moon Rituals

Easy Tips for Working with Each Astrological Sign to Develop Your True, Lunar Nature

With this book, you will connect with the primal lunar power with 10-Minute Moon Rituals. Learn what the heavens are telling you, learn how to interpret it, and then how to act on this knowledge. The moon, which waxes and wanes in predictable cycles, is a symbol for the birth, growth, death, and renewal of life on Earth.

10-Minute Moon Rituals has two parts, the first an introduction of all the astrological signs and the basics of moon phases, as well as their meanings. The second part offers discrete 10-minute tasks associated with each moon sign, as well as guidance on working with each sign as the moon passes through it (e.g. when the moon is in Aries, take decisive action, but watch impulsivity).

10-Minute Moon Rituals inspires you to recognize and develop your lunar nature. Learn how—through reflection, ritual, and purposeful action—to understand your emotional nature and inner self more deeply. The book helped me with the moon cycle.

Simone Butler, the author of Moon Power, has been a professional astrologer for 30 years and is a columnist for Mooncircles.com, a popular astrology site dedicated to cycles and astrology of the moon. She also writes for her own personal site, Astro Alchemy. In addition to a worldwide consulting practise on astrology and Astro Feng Shui, Simone offers New Moon collage classes and writes for The Mountain Astrologer. She also wrote for and edited the Starscroll for many years.

The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary

Rituals & Recipes for a Year of Earth Magick and Sacred Medicine Making

Author Marysia Miernowska is the Director of one of California’s most renowned herbal schools and named one of the “top 15 witches on Instagram” (@marysia_miernowska) by Huffington Post.

Mother Earth is a living entity that holds excellent medicine to heal us physically and spiritually. However, in today’s modern world, too many of us are separated from this source of nourishment. With the wheel of the year as a framework, you’ll begin to understand the currents of nature and how to weave yourself back into this terrific web of life.

Using the plants, seasons, and cycles as your tools, you will be able to tap into the potent Earth Magick of life, death, renewal, and rebirth. In harmony with the seasons, You will learn how to:

• Grow medicine
• Harvest from the wild or home garden
• Process plants
• Make remedies

Each season opens a portal of magick that allows you to harvest the literal and spiritual gifts the Earth is offering at that time. The Witch’s Herbal Apothecary will awaken the Witch inherent in every wild soul and guide her into an empowered relationship of healing and magick with the natural world.

Marysia Miernowska teaches herbalism through the Gaia School of Healing and regenerative land practices in California. She is the master herbalist and owner of Wild Love Apothecary and was named one of the “top 15 witches on Instagram” (@marysia_miernowska). As a herbalist, Witch, biodynamic gardener, and Plant Spirit Medicine Practitioner, she is rooted in the Wise Woman Tradition of Healing. Marysia teaches and speaks at conferences internationally on herbal medicine, plant shamanism, regenerative farming practices, and Earth Magick.

Spellcraft

A spell’s power comes from writing about and genuinely understanding the intention behind it. By blending journal entries with spells that help you manifest the best version of yourself, Spellcraft is the perfect living grimoire for a new witch. 

Anyone can follow a recipe for a spell, but with Spellcraft, your practice becomes yours exclusively. Reflect on the purpose of your magic and then learn how to build spells from a host of composite parts on your Witch’s journey to self-discovery. Tuning in to past events, unconscious biases, and the connections that your own mind casts will help you lay down the groundwork for growth, give yourself hope in trying times and manifest new opportunities. 

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White magic spells for 28 cleansing rituals and enchantments are accompanied by 3–5 prompts to encourage personal development. A section on spell building to hone your Craft outlines the essential aspects (crystals, moon phases, incense, or other magnifying components) of making magic. Learn how to make wishes come true and complete rootwork that will help you grow taller and wiser. Maintain your practice with spells and journal prompts revolving around the Wheel of the Year, a cycle of pagan holidays (such as Yule and Ostara) that follow the seasons and revolve around equinoxes and solstices. Light up the magic that is already inside of you. Choose happiness and then bring it into the world.

The Astrology Fix

A Modern Guide to Cosmic Self Care

Heal and flourish with The Astrology Fix. Bestselling astrology and dreams author Theresa Cheung answers daily dilemmas with expertly-crafted cosmic cures. Are you stressed and overwhelmed? Lost and seeking direction? Yearning safety, connection and joy? The universe is here to help. By decoding the heavens and your soul, you begin a transformative journey to self-discovery, growth and fulfilment. Modern astrology is a form of spiritual psychology – one that can help you become the person you were born to be.

Part illuminating life-coach, part contemporary cosmic guide, The Astrology Fix helps you reconnect with your innermost self. Tune into your astrological personality – who you are and your general approach to life. Then try over 50 astrological fixes to transform your emotional, physical and spiritual life. For:

• Joy and Success, try an Aries ritual for motivation, a full moon empowerment chant, a Gemini laughter incantation and more.
• Love and Relationships, try a Venus self-love spell, an inner power visualization, a healing heartbreak bath and more.
• Health and Well-being, try a reconnect to the earth exercise, sun-sign self-care, connect with an air body scan and more.
• Energy and Inspiration, try a Leo confidence pose, an Age of Aquarius reflection, a planetary weekday boost and more.
• Rest and Rejuvenation, try a compassion spell, a Pluto meditation, a calm-down journal and more.
• Protection and Comfort, try a zodiac detox, a Uranus meditation, a colour fix and more.

Two indexes – one general and one organized by specific needs – enable you to quickly address any question or issue that confronts you. Follow your astrological compass to better navigate the world and relate to those around you. Be the master of your own universe.

Theresa Cheung invites you to open your mind to the infinite possibilities within and around you. She is an expert in divine healing, dreams, rituals, and astrology and has published widely on these subjects. She has sold well over half-a-million books, and her titles have been translated into more than 30 different languages. Her books include Sunday Times bestseller Touched By An Angel. She has over 120k Facebook fans and strong media connections. Cheung has featured in the Daily Mail and the Express and on ITV. Her website is theresacheung.com.

The Art of The Occult 

A Visual Sourcebook for the Modern Mystic

A visual feast of eclectic artwork informed and inspired by spiritual beliefs, magical techniques, mythology and otherworldly experiences.

Mystical beliefs and practices have existed for millennia, but why do we still chase the esoteric? From the beginning of human creativity itself, image-makers have been drawn to these unknown spheres and have created curious artworks that transcend time and place – but what is it that attracts artists to these magical realms?

From theosophy and kabbalah to the zodiac and alchemy; spiritualism and ceremonial magic, to the elements and sacred geometry – The Art of the Occult introduces major occult themes and showcases the artists who have been influenced and led by them. Discover the symbolic and mythical images of the Pre-Raphaelites; the automatic drawing of Hilma af Klint and Madge Gill; Leonora Carrington’s surrealist interpretation of myth, alchemy and kabbalah; and much more.

Featuring prominent, marginalized and little-known artists, The Art of the Occult crosses mystical spheres in a bid to inspire and delight. Divided into thematic chapters (The Cosmos, Higher Beings, Practitioners), the book acts as an entertaining introduction to the art of mysticism – with essays examining each practice and over 175 artworks to discover. The art of the occult has always existed in the margins but inspired the masses. This book will spark curiosity in all fans of magic, mysticism and the mysterious.

S. Elizabeth (aka Mlle Ghoul) is a Florida-based writer specializing in art, the macabre and the supernatural. She is a staff writer at Haute Macabre and has written for Coilhouse, Dirge and the blog Death & the Maiden. S. Elizabeth was also the co-creator of The Occult Activity Book (vol 1 and 2) and runs two successful blogs: Ghoul Next Door (ghoulnextdoor.tumblr.com) and These Unquiet Things (unquietthings.com)

Woman As Healer by Jeanne Achterberg

This is where my own personal journey began to discover my own inner Witch. This groundbreaking book examines the role of women in Western healing traditions. It Draws on the disciplines of history, anthropology, botany, archaeology, and the behavioural sciences. Jeanne Achterberg discusses the ancient cultures in which women worked as independent and honoured healers; the persecution of women healers in the witch hunts of the Middle Ages; the development of midwifery and nursing as women’s professions in the nineteenth century; and the current role of women and the state of the healing arts, as a time of crisis in the health-care professions coincides with the re-emergence of feminine values. Restoring my belief that witches were the first feminist. 

Witches Midwives and Nurses A History of Women‍

 Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English

Women have always been healers, and medicine has always been an arena of struggle between female practitioners and male professionals. This book explores two critical phases in the male takeover of health care: the suppression of witches in medieval Europe and the rise of the male medical profession in the United States. The authors conclude that despite efforts to exclude them, the resurgence of women as healers should be a long-range goal of the women’s movement.

This book review has turned to a feminist reading list. After reading these books, my ideas on his-story has changed.  I also am happy to report that will the help of these books, I have healed a lot of friends with what I have learned. The most effective remedies have been for anxiety, stress and cold and flu. 

2020 and the pandemic have helped me get closer to my healing hands and uncover my hidden powers running through these veins—female empowerment as an alchemist. If you have read any of these books, let us know, and what did you learn?  Sign up for the newsletter to get all this greatness in your inbox. 

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Photos: Sachin Ghataaura

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