Bookstacks and Bats
It's the B entry into my Pagan Blog Project of 2025, I'm not gonna lie, this was going to be a beginner book recommendations list. Because B is for Books.
But as I started to pile tomes from my shelves, plucking out books I felt were influential to my practice, I realised this was an almost impossible task. I've done this a few times, and I've never compiled a beginner book stack that stood the test of time - lists like that should be in flux, a living document subject to change, and the 'expert' who compiled them. You want to create the ultimate list for the fictional seeker - maybe the inner seeker within us all - that you would lovingly hand over with a bow tie on top. A perfect pile of books that would avoid so much wondering in the wilderness, and so much wasted time. But alas, this is the nature of being a beginner, and seeking. You gotta read some crappy stuff. And I read everything. I mean everything.
I also realised my list that I compiled for this post had some frayed edges - not just literally, but as I spend more time developing my own practice, and being in community, both online and in real life, you sometimes learn enough to turn you askew from recommending some authors in an iron-clad, catch-all list. So I scrapped the idea altogether. I've come to a stage where I will give a few ideas if someone asks, and I'll want to know more about the querent to create a list that is tailored. And that is what a good librarian would do in response to a referencing query.
Anyways, no beginner list today. Instead I decided to post my witchy 'TBR' (To Be Read pile), or at least, witch-adjacent.
I hope to get through most of these this year some time, and they include (from top down, height-order);
Lifting the Veil: A witches' guide to trance prophecy, drawing down the moon and ecstatic ritual by Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone - Crowood Press, 2016
This book has been something I've wanted to read for a while, and when it was re-released recently it popped up in a local independent bookshop, so I snapped it up. I'm interested in learning more about trance and possessory practices in witchcraft so I look forward to reading. (And how beautiful is the cover image - 'Priestess of Delphi' by John Collier. After giving it a quick Google I learned this painting is just an interstate flight away - at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Do I??? Get on a plane for one art work???? 🤔)
Missing Witches: Recovering true histories of feminist magic by Risa Dickens and Amy Torok - North Atlantic Books, 2021
I used to listen to this podcast a LOT - and I fell off for no real reason. There's so much content out there and sometimes you just fall behind on things. This book has been sitting on my shelves probably the longest compared to the others (I got it on release). I hear their new book is really good, too.
The Witch Belongs to the World: A spell of becoming by Fio Gede Parma - Llewellyn, 2023
Parma is a beautiful writer and I've enjoyed all of their other books, so I'm looking forward to this juicy looking work. It is billed as a 'love song to witches'. It is also complimented by compelling photography by Luke Brohman, with glossy pages and production that paints outside the standard offerings from Llewellyn. Nice.
Dreams of Witches by Christina Oakley Harrington - Black Letter Press, 2022.
I acquired this book after watching an author talk by Harrington at Watkin's book shop. I've read a lot of Heselton's biographies about the vanguards of the modern witchcraft revival - including In Search of the New Forest Coven. I look forward to nibbling on more breadcrumbs of the past with this one.
Ecstatic Mother: Portrait of Maxine Sanders - Witch Queen by Richard Deutch - Bachman & Turner, 1977
Speaking of witchcraft histories, this hardback is a biography of Maxine Sanders, complete with many photographs by Jenny Potter. A rare book that is a window into history, I'll probably need to read it gently with those little white gloves after I tried to look it up online just now. And maybe slip it onto my 'in case of fire' grab list.
Women of the Golden Dawn: Rebels and Priestesses by Marry K. Greer. Park Street Press, 1995.
My junket into occult history continues - especially the hidden figures who were definitely colouring outside the lines of 'accepted codes of behaviour'. Revolutionaries, secret societies, weird Victorian ladies. What's not to love? Also, in my continuing appreciation of cover paintings, it's A Masque of the Four Seasons by Walter Crane. Yum.
Tarot Grimoire: Spreads and Spells for a Magical Life by Ethony Dawn. Llewellyn, 2024.
Ethony is a friend and my first tarot teacher, and she also published my Penumbra Tarot - so I have to read all of her books and get all of her decks! It's just like, the rules of feminism! Shout out to Alba BG for the mad cover art, I look forward to connecting with the spread and spells, as well as a forward by THE Benebell Wenn.
Witch in Darkness: Magick for Tough Times, Bad Days and Moments of Total Catastrophe by Kelly-Ann Maddox. Warkins, 2024.
The one and only KAM with her new book. And with a title like that, who could resist? I liked Rebel Witch, her debut book that is so empowering for beginners (yes, it would have been on my List That Never Was,) and I wish it was around when I first started my journey. I'm a very long time viewer of Kelly-Ann on YouTube, back from the Four Queens days when she commented on my blog and I thought, who is this mad cool Chaos Witch? I really look forward to this one.
Well, that's my To Be Read list! What do you think? Have you read any of these? What's on your TBR stack right now? I'd love to know...