My Biggest Mistakes as a Witch

I’ve made a lot of mistakes in more than two decades of practicing witchcraft. Some have been silly, and others have had farther reaching consequences. I spent some time reflecting, and came up with these five that I think of as my biggest. Being too scared to try something and putting off my first rituals …

Other People’s Witchcraft

Do you ever think about how little we actually know about each other? Like, how telling you I'm a witch doesn't actually give you much information at all about what I'm actually up to? And how even words like "Wiccan" and "Gardnerian" don't actually tell you very much, because lots of people use them differently? …

Next Level Witchcraft (or whatever it’s called)

The second book is complete and in the hands of the good folks at Llewellyn! The tentative release is September 2021, and I hope to see the first round of feedback in a few weeks. I confess to being a little nervous about this one. Will they like it? People always ask me how I …

The Pressure to Be a Professional Witch

It comes as a surprise to many that I have a day job. Yep–I get up every morning and go to my cubicle (well, to the other side of my house, during COVID) and clack away on a keyboard, purely for the sake of a paycheck and health insurance. It’s pretty mindless. I don’t love …

Baby Witches?

In this video I wonder about the implications of the use of the term “baby witch” to describe beginners. Maybe you’ve already been hearing this term, and if not, it’s all over many social media platforms (especially TikTok). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIsSLfNPfd4&t=5s Some takeaways, if videos aren’t your cup of tea: “Baby” can be a term of endearment, …

When I Do Spells: Thoughts on Working Magic and the “Craft” of Witchcraft

If witchcraft is a craft (in addition to being a religion, as it is for many of us), then what exactly is the “craft”? And how often do we have to be engaging in that craft in order to really be witches? For a lot of people–both witches and non-witches–we immediately think of spells. Witches …

Fake Witch Books?: Amazon, Bots, and Consumers

Just a lady on a bicycle and not subtext I swear. You’ve probably seen something by now about the “fake books” that are being marketed through Amazon, dominating the sales charts and potentially influencing newcomers. Some of these appear to be ghostwritten, some are perhaps plagiarized (or at the very least recycled), and practically all …

My Five Favorite Recent Witch Books

I’ve made a lot of blog posts and videos in the past about favorite books: advanced books, beginner books, books for people interested in taking things in a new direction, classics I think everyone should read, and books that I’ve got in my personal to-be-read pile. But I was recently asked to share my thoughts …

The Benefits of Outer Courts and Training Circles

I know. Running an outer court can be a pain in the ass. Running any kind of grove, maiden coven, study circle, or other “pre-initiation” style group, especially on top of an inner court or initiate coven, can really bite the big one. They’re exhausting, they involve an impossible amount of emotional labor, and they …

Creativity, Competition, and Community

One of my thesis advisors in graduate school told me, as I was working up my proposal and trying to figure out exactly what I was going to focus on, that building a new argument is a lot harder than tearing down someone else’s. In other words, don’t use this opportunity to only dismantle something. …