Book Review The art of Doodle Words by Sarah Alberto 144 pp. Race Point Publishing “The art of Doodle Words” is an inventive, amusing look into a playful art style: Sarah Alberto’s “doodle words” are hand-lettered art pieces which incorporate fun pictorial imagery into the construction of a hand-lettered word or phrase. For example, the word “tools” can be spelled out with different types of tools, or a line of cursive may be incorporated into a larger drawing. The introduction walks the reader through the basics of creating doodle art (including some suggestions for brain-storming and laying out a specific design), while the first part of the book gives numerous…

March I’ve been working with astrology a lot in my craft lately, and it’s starting to work its way into all my designs! Here, I’ve added the planets associated with each day of the week in a flow of stardust — this is pretty, but it’s also a way of labeling the days and reminding me of the planetary associations. This March, the full moon is on Ostara, the Vernal Equinox. It brings with it a great potential for manifestation of personal works. To harness this power and celebrate the season, I’m making a renewed effort to spend time on my garden. My husband and I moved a little over…

Book Review Witchbody A Graphic Novel By Sabrina Scott 74 pp. “Can magic teach us how to love?” asks Sabrina Scott partway through their graphic essay, “Witchbody: A Graphic Novel.” As Scott builds up layers of radical environmentalism and transformative animism through the book, the answer crystallizes: yes, magic can teach us how to love, because empathy and experience are the way forward, and magic gives us the tools to learn and practice both. While it is difficult to pin down a single thesis for this essay — perhaps only because the scope of Scott’s topic is so broad — one clear theme is that through the intentional sharing of…

Book Review Psychedelic Mystery Traditions Spirit Plants – Magical Practices – Ecstatic States By Thomas Hatsis 271 pp. Park Street Press Although it has been the subject of great speculation and demonetization by various religious and political bodies, psychedelic mystery tradition remains one of the great buried seeds of Paganism, hidden under mythology, misinformation, and religious and political oppression — not to mention suppression of information. In “Psychedelic Mystery Traditions,” Thomas Hatsis uncovers a vast history of psychedelic spirit plants in Western tradition and ritual, focusing especially on Greco-Roman tradition and the early days of Christianity. From the earliest prehistoric discoveries of psychedelic plants and their spiritual potential to the…

Imbolc, the Seed, and Growing Abundance Imbolc has long been a sign of the beginning of the end of winter. In many parts of the world, this is the time when seeds that have long laid in the deep belly of the earth at least start to spring forth with green shoots. Accordingly, seeds wind up in Imbolc cakes, the white and new green of the young shoots is associated with the Sabbat, and even the name of Imbolc means “in the belly,” referring to the pregnancy of ewes, and the seeds in the earth. This year, I’m trying to embrace prosperity and grow abundance as my way of celebrating…

Tarot Journaling at the New Year Many witches use their journals to aid in the study of divination by tracking readings from sources such as Tarot, bone throwing, scrying, and others. There are many different kinds of divination, and many ways to track these practices, but today I’m going to focus on one of the most popular: Tarot. Tracking Tarot in a bullet journal can be a very rewarding practice, as it reveals patterns which aren’t always obvious, such as “stalker cards” which follow you through several readings over a period of time, or the appearance of a card connected to a season or a timely event. One exciting way…

As an eclectic witch, one of the most transformative practices that I’ve adopted is the practice of setting intention. At its root, intention is a really basic method of manifestation: make a plan, then execute the plan. But as I’ve explored the idea of intention over time, I’ve come to see a beautiful effect that results from the ongoing process of self-examination. It’s not just the external result of manifesting my dreams, but a reminder to check in with myself and make sure I’m on the right path. After all, if I can’t answer the question, “What’s my intention in doing this?” for any given action I am taking… then…