#kristen j sollee

[swampstew]

Hi if I wanted to get started on practicing witchcraft, could youtube videos be a nice idea or do you have any other advice?

Hi anon ~ sorry it took me a minute to answer this! I just got home and I wanted to make sure I got all my ducks in a row before addressing your question. Hope you find it helpful and/or resourceful!

Flirting with Witchcraft for Beginners under the cut🡇

It took me a few tries to comfortably settle into Witchcraft - I found myself struggling with my personal faith, the world around me, and generally felt lost with everything I'd been force fed or otherwise indoctrinated with. I also struggled with feeling silly for 'being a Witch' because it sounded so outlandish. Before I could open my mind and heart up to the world of Witchcraft, the first thing I had to do was understand myself and my needs.

So my question to you is, what are you looking to get out of Witchcraft? Understanding what you want out of Witchcraft is critical to the process otherwise you can get overwhelmed with how much knowledge is out in the world, what is the best fit for you, figuring out your own brand of power and growing with it. There's also cultural impact to keep in mind, improperly appropriating certain rituals may backfire for the uninitiated.

I've mostly read books and online forums, joined Discord servers and FB groups with like minded individuals (results may vary), had my own cultural background to pull knowledge from, or followed someone on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok. I can give you a few recommendations that I really vibe with but the journey is really about finding what you feel comfortable with and can reasonably see yourself practicing :)

Books I've read: - Witches, Sluts, Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee - The Goodly Spellbook - Old Spells for Modern Problems - Wicca for the Solitary Practitioner and The Truth About Witchcraft by Scott Cunningham

Socials I follow: - A Good Witch, a fairly badass elder master of vibing. - Chaotic Witch Aunt, folk magic and queer friendly space, especially for anyone of Italian ancestry - Ella Harrison, Germanic Folk Magic - The Witches Cookery, I really like her vibe and energy and she talks about a little bit of everything - Jasmine, I follow her on TikTok and I love her. Keeps it real, keeps it brutal, and she just started this podcast. More content on her TikTok channel though!

[lonita]

The ever-expanding potential TBR pile

I've finally decided to go through all those book videos I bookmark on TikTok and make an ever-updating list of them - and any other book I see suggested online. Some are books I know of and haven't read, and some are new to me. This is going to be an easier place to find them than dozens of saved video bookmarks.

Please feel free to make suggestions if you have them.

So far we have:

Let This Radicalize You - Kelly Hayes, Mariane Kaba

Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in 21st-Century America - Michael Ratner, Margaret Ratner Kunstler

The Palestine Laboratory: How Israel Exports the Technology of Occupation Around the World - Anthony Loewenstein

Fight Like Hell - Kim Kelly

The Wretched of the Earth - Frantz Fanon

Stokely Speaks - Stokely Carmichael

Orientalism - Edward W. Said

Border & Rule - Harsha Walia

As Long As Grass Grows - Dina Gilio-Whitaker

Undue Border - Shefali Luthra

Consumed - Aja Barber

State and Revolution - V. I. Lenin

The People's Hospital: Hope and Peril in American Medicine - Ricardo Nuila

Socialist Reconstruction - Party for Socialism and Liberation

A World Without Police - Geo Maher

Assata - Assata Shakur

The Uninhabitable Earth - David Wallace-Wells

Black Liberation and Socialism - Frank Chapman

A Few Rules For Predicting the Future - Octavia Butler

Everyone Who is Gone is Here - Jonathan Blitzer

Erasing History - Jason Stanley

How to Go Mad Without Losing Your Mind - La Marr Jurelle Bruce

The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics - Marc Lamont Hill, Mitchell Plitnick

+ + +

2054 - Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis

A Minor Chorus - Billy-Ray Belcourt

A Prayer for the Crown-Shy - Becky Chambers

A Room of One's Own - Emma Southon

After the Flood - Kassandra Montag

Against Progress - Slavoj Zizek

All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess - Becca Rothfeld

America is in the Heart - Carlos Bulosan

American Pastoral - Philip Roth

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

Anatomical Venus - Courtney Bates-Hardy

Annihilation - Jeff VanderMeer

Appleseed - Matt Bell

Are Prisons Obsolete? - Angela Davis

Babel - R. F. Kuang

Becoming Abolitionists - Derecka Purnell

Beloved - Toni Morrison

Between the World and Me - Ta-Nehisi Coates

Black Meme - Legacy Russell

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

Boulder - Eva Baltasar

Boy Like Me - Simon James Green

Bullshit Jobs: A Theory - David Graeber

Bunny - Mona Awad

Carbon Democracy - Timothy Mitchell

Carol - Patricia Highsmith

Cat Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine - Kristen J. Sollee, Pam Grossman

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

Children of the Wind - Kareem El-Baradie (unpublished)

Christmas at High Rising - Angela Thirkell

Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

Colonizing Palestine: The Zionist Left and the Making of the Palestinian Nakba - Areej Sabbagh-Khoury

Deadlands - Victoria Miluch

Death By A Thousand Cuts - Shashi Bhat

Decolonial Marxism - Walter Rodney

Dhalgren - Samuel R. Delaney

Disaster Nationalism: The Downfall of Liberal Civilization - Richard Seymour

Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison - Michel Foucault

Disordered Attention - Claire Bishop

Do You Remember Being Born? - Sean Michaels

Dowry of Blood - S. T. Gibson

Dreamers of the Day - Mary Doria Russell

Empire of Normality - Robert Chapman

Eunoia - Christian Bok

Everything For Everyone -

Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune - M. E. O'Brien, Eman Abdelhadi

Evidence of the Affair - Taylor Jenkins Reid

Existentialism is a Humanism - Jean-Paul Sartre

Extinct: A Compendium of Obsolete Objects - edited by: Barbara Penner, Adrian Forty, Olivia Horsfall Turner, Miranda Critchley

Fear and Trembling - Soren Kierkegaard

Feed Them Silence - Lee Mandelo

Femlandia - Christina Dalcher

Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture - Kyle Chayka

Friday's at Enrico's - Don Carpenter

Ghosts - Dolly Alderton

Go Tell it On the Mountain - James Baldwin

Greek Fire, Poison Arrows, & Scorpion Bombs - Adrienne Mayor

Hard Rain Falling - Don Carpenter

Here Be Dragons - Stella Gibbons

Hour of the Star - Clarice Lispector

How to Be an Antiracist - Ibram X. Kendi

How to Kill a City - P. E. Moskowitz

Human Acts - Han Kang

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

Imagination: A Manifesto - Ruha Benjamin

Immediacy or, the Style of Too Late Capitalism - Anna Kornbluh

Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism - V. I. Lenin

In Ascension - Martin MacInnes

In the Heart of the Sea - Nathaniel Philbrick

In Watermelon Sugar - Richard Brautigan

Insurrecto - Gina Apostol

Interlibrary Loan - Gene Wolfe

Intimacies - Katy Kitamura

Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality - Renee DiResta

James - Percival Everett (retell: Huckleberry Finn)

Julia - Sandra Newman (retell: 1984)

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 - Cho Nam-Joo

Kitchen - Banana Yoshimoto, Megan Backus

Lakewood - Megan Giddings

Last Boat Out of Shanghai: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Fled Mao's Revolution - Helen Zia

Laziness Does Not Exist - Devon Price

Little Weirds - Jenny Slate

Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

Love and Terror - William Herrick

Loved Egyptian Night - Hugh Roberts

Madonna in a Fur Coat - Sabahattin Ali

Malign Velocities - Benjamin Noys

Matterhorn - Karl Marlantes

Maurice - E. M. Forster

Mercy Street - Jennifer Haigh

Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine - Honor Cargill-Martin

Moon of the Crested Snow - Waubgeshig Rice

Moon of the Turning Leaves - Waubgeshig Rice

Mother Country - Etaf Rum

Murdle, Volume 1 - G. T. Karber

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

On Tyranny - Timothy Snyder

Orlando - Virginia Woolfe

Orphans of Canland - Daniel Vitale

Our Spoons Came From Woolworths - Barbara Comyns

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield

Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

Prisons Make Us Safer - Victoria Law

Project Hail Mary - Andy Weird

Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative - Isabella Hammad

Red Africa - Kevin Ocheng Okoth

Red Clocks - Leni Zumas

Research for People Who Think They Would Rather Create - Dirk Vis

Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering - Malcolm Gladwell

Ring Shout - P. Djèlí Clark

Scattered All Over the Earth - Yoko Tawada

Self-Help - Lorrie Moore

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

She's Always Hungry - Eliza Clark

Silent Queen - Nghi Vo

Slewfoot - Brom

Small Things Like These - Claire Keegan

Sold - Patricia McCormick

Something Happened - Joseph Heller

Song of Solomon - Toni Morrison

Sophie's World: A Novel About the History of Philosophy - Jostein Gaarder

Speak - Laurie Halse Anderson

Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You - Jason Reynolds, Ibram X. Kendi

State of Paradise - Laura van den Berg

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

Stoner - John Williams

Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present - Ruth Ben-Ghiat

Surviving Autocracy - Masha Gessen

Tales From the Cafe - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Teaching to Transgress - bell hooks

Tennis Lessons - Susannah Dickey

The 1619 Project - Nikole Hannah-Jones

The Artificial Silk Girl - Irmagard Keun

The Birth Yard - Mallory Tater

The Blood of Others - Simone to Beauvoir

The Bluest Eye - Toni Morrison

The Body Is Not an Apology, Second Edition: The Power of Radical Self-Love - Sonya Renee Taylor

The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife - Meg Elison

The Color Purple - Alice Walker

The Common Good - Noam Chomsky

The Common Good - Robert Reich

The Concept of Anxiety - Soren Kierkegaard

The Core of the Sun - Johanna Sinisalo

The Enchanted April - Elizabeth von Arnim

The End of Men - Christina Sweeney-Baird

The Ethics of Ambiguity - Simone de Beauvoir

The Faithful Executioner: Life and Death, Honor and Shame in the Turbulent Sixteenth Century - Joel F. Harrington

The Feed - Nick Clark Windo

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth Book 1) - N. K. Jemisin

The Garden Party - Katherine Mansfield

The Giver - Lois Lowry

The Glass Castle - Jeanette Walls

The Hands of Men - Gin Sexsmith

The Hate You Give - Angie Thomas

The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee - David Treuer

The History of Information - Chris Haughton

The Iraq Papers - John Ehrenberg

The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdoms Book 1) - Tasha Suri

The Jungle - Upton Sinclair

The Man With Compound Eyes - Wu Ming-Yi

The Myth of Sisyphus - Albert Camus

The Origins of Totalitarianism - Hannah Arendt

The Pill versus the Springhill Mine Disaster - Richard Brautigan

The Power - Naomi Alderman

The Pump - Sydney Hegele

The Reckoning - Robin Blackburn

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt - Toby Wilkinson

The Savage Detectives - Roberto Bolano

The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir

The Shapeless Unease - Samantha Harvey

The Sorrow of War - Bao Ninh

The Trial - Franz Kafka

The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead

The Wager - David Grann

The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America's Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War - Andrew Delbanco

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration - Isabel Wilkerson

The Water Cure - Sophie Mackintosh

The White Tiger - Aravind Adiga

The Women Could Fly - Megan Giddings

The Years - Annie Ernaux

This One Summer - Mariko Tamaki, Jillian Tamaki

Trout Fishing in America - Richard Brautigan

V. - Thomas Pynchon

Venemous Lumpsucker - Ned Beauman

Voice and Phenomenon - Jacques Derrida

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma - Stephanie Foo

When the Clock Broke - John Ganz

White Malice - Susan Williams

White Oleander - Janet Fitch

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal - Jeanette Winterson

Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America - Talia Lavin

Witches, Sluts, Feminists - Kristen J. Sollee

With and Against - Dominique Routhier

Women Race & Class - Angela Davis

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype - Clarissa Pinkola Estés

Yellowface - R. F. Kuang

You Feel It Just Below the Ribs - Jeffrey Cranor, Janina Matthewson

Young, Gifted and Black - Jamia Wilson, Andrea Pippins

[samwisethewitch]

Witchcraft and Activism

The word “witch” is a politically charged label. If we look at how the word was used historically, it referred to someone who existed outside of the normal social order. The people accused of witchcraft in the European and American witch trials were mostly — experts say between 75% and 80% — women. They were also overwhelmingly poor, single, or members of a minority ethnicity and/or religion. In other words, they were people who did not follow their society’s accepted model of womanhood (or, in the case of accused men, manhood).

If you choose to identify with the witch label, you are choosing to identify with subversion of gender norms, resistance to the dominant social order, and “outsider” status. If that makes you uncomfortable or uneasy, then you may want to use another label for your magical practice. Witchcraft always has been and always will be inherently political.

In her book Witches, Sluts, Feminists, Kristen J. Sollee argues that the “slut” label is in many ways a modern equivalent to the “witch” label. In both cases, the label is used to devalue people, most often women, and to enforce a patriarchal and misogynist social order.

Superstitions around witchcraft are connected to the modern stigma around abortion (and, to a lesser extent, contraception). Midwifery and abortion were directly linked to witchcraft in the European witch hunts. Today, women who seek abortions are condemned as sluts, whores, and murderers. The fight for reproductive freedom remains inextricably linked with the witch label.

During the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s, the socialist feminist group Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell (W.I.T.C.H.) used the image of the witch to campaign for women’s rights and other social issues. They were some of the first advocates for intersectional feminism (feminist activism that addresses other social issues that overlap with gendered issues). They performed acts such as hexing Wall Street capitalists and wearing black veils to protest bridal fairs. The W.I.T.C.H. Manifesto calls witches the “original guerrillas and resistance fighters against oppression.”

In her book Revolutionary Witchcraft, Sarah Lyons points out that both witchcraft and politics are about raising and directing power in the world. In a postmodern society, most of our reality is socially constructed — it works because we collectively believe it does. Money only has value because we believe it does. Politicians only have power because we believe they do. Our laws are only just because we believe they are. Like in magic, everything in society is a product of belief and a whole lot of willpower — and that makes witches the ideal social activists.

Lyons argues that witchcraft is inseparable from politics, because witches have always opposed dominant political power. She makes a connection between the witch trials and the rise of capitalism and classism. She connects the basic concepts of magic to historic activist groups like the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), who used ritual as an act of protest.

Not every witch is a hardcore activist, but every witch should have a basic awareness of political and social issues and be willing to do what they can to make a difference.

Ways to Combine Witchcraft and Activism

Perform a ritual to feel connected to the earth and her people. Activism should come from a place of love, not a place of hate. Make sure you’re fighting for the right reasons by frequently taking time to reconnect with the planet and the people who live here. This can be as simple as laying down on the ground outside and meditating on all the ways you are connected to other people, as well as to the ecosystem, animals, and the earth herself. If getting up close and personal with the grass and dirt isn’t your thing, try to find a beautiful place in nature where you can sit and journal about the interconnected nature of all things.

Unlearn your social programming. This is the most difficult and most important part of any activism. Before you can change the world outside yourself, you have to change your own psyche. Think about how you have been socialized to contribute to (or at least turn a blind eye to) the issues you want to fight against. For example, if you want to fight for racial justice, you need to understand how you have contributed to a racist system. You can do this in a variety of ways: through meditation, journaling, or divination, to name a few. Note that whatever method you choose, this will probably take weeks or months of repeated work. Rewriting your thought and behavior patterns is hard, and it can’t be done in a single day. Also note that if you are a victim of systemic oppression or prejudice, this work may bring up a lot of emotional baggage — you may want to involve a professional therapist or counselor.

Go to protests. Sending energy and doing healing rituals is great, but someone has to get out there and visibly fight for change. If you are able to do so, start going to protests and rallies for causes you care about. Don’t just show up, but be an active participant — make signs, yell and chant, and stand your ground if cops show up. Be safe and responsible, but be loud and assertive, too. If you want to go all out, you can don the black robes, pointed hats, and veils of W.I.T.C.H.es past, which has the added bonus of concealing your identity.

Turn your donations into a spell for change. When you donate to a cause you care about, charge your donation with a spell for positive change. You can do this by holding your cash, check, or debit card in both hands and focusing on your desire for change. Feel this desire flowing into the money, filling it with your determination. From here, make your donation, knowing that you’ll be sending an energy boost along with it.

Organize an activist coven. Do you have a handful of friends who are interested in witchcraft, passionate about activism, or both? Start a coven! Go to protests together, hold monthly rituals to raise energy for change, and collect money for donations. Being part of a group also means having a support system, which can help prevent burnout. Make a plan to check on each other regularly. You may even choose to do monthly group rituals for self care, which may be actual magic rituals or might be as simple as ordering takeout and watching a movie. Activism can be intensely draining work, so it’s important to take breaks when you need them!

Hold public rituals with an activist slant. Nothing gets people’s attention like a bunch of folks standing in a circle and chanting. Holding public rituals is one of the best ways to raise awareness for a cause. You might hold a vigil for victims of police brutality, a healing circle for the environment, or some other ritual that is relevant to the issue at hand. These rituals serve a double purpose, as they both bring people’s attention to the issue and give them an opportunity to work for change on a spiritual level. Use prayers, chants, and symbolism that is appropriate to the theme, and ask participants to make a small donation to a charity related to your cause.

Begin your public rituals with a territory acknowledgement. If you live in the United States, chances are you live on land that was taken from the native people by force. If you seek to have a relationship with the land, you need to first acknowledge the original inhabitants and the suffering they endured so you can be there. Use a website like native-land.ca to find out what your land was originally called and what indigenous groups originally lived there. Publicly acknowledge this legacy at your ritual, and publicly state your intention to support indigenous peoples. (Revolutionary Witchcraft has an excellent territory acknowledgement that you can customize for your area.)

Make an altar to your activist ancestors. If activism or membership in a marginalized group is a big part of your life, you may want to create a space for it in your home. Like an ancestor altar, this is a space to remember influential members of the community who have died. Choose a flat surface like a tabletop or shelf and decorate it with photos of your “ancestors,” as well as other appropriate items like flags, pins, stickers, etc. As a queer person, my altar to my LGBTQ+ ancestors might include images of figures like Sappho, Marsha P. Johnson, and Freddie Mercury, as well as items like a pink triangle patch, a small rainbow pride flag, and dried violets and green carnations. You may also choose to include a candle, an incense burner, and/or a small dish for offerings. Just remember to never place images of living people on an altar honoring the dead!

Do your research. Staying educated is an important part of activism — not only do your actions need to be informed, but you need to be able to speak intelligently about your issues. Read the news (on actual news websites, not just social media). Read lots of books; some I personally recommend are Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, Love and Rage by Lama Rod Owens, and (as previously mentioned) Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons. If you can get access to them, read scholarly articles about theories that are influential among activists, like the Gaia Hypothesis or Deep Ecology. Read everything you can get your hands on.

VOTE! And I don’t just mean voting for the presidential candidate you like (or, as is often the case, voting against the one you don’t like). Vote for your representatives. Vote for city council. Vote for the county sheriff. Voting gives you a chance to make sure the people in office will be susceptible to your activism. Yes, your side might lose or your electoral college representative might choose to go against the popular vote. Even so, voting is a way to clearly communicate the will of the people, and it puts a lot of pressure on the people in charge. It’s important — don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.

In my experience, combining activism with my witchcraft is a deeply fulfilling spiritual experience. It strengthens my connection to the world around me, with helps grow both empathy and magical power. I truly can’t imagine my practice without the activist element.

Resources:

Witches, Sluts, Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

The Study of Witchcraft by Deborah Lipp

The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith

[jennystahl]

The witch has as many moods and as many faces as the moon. Most of all, she is misunderstood. — belongs to @claudvonriegan.

[imaginemirage]

The witch has as many moods and as many faces as the moon. Most of all, she is misunderstood.

Kristen J. Sollee

[f0restpunk]

31 Days Of Horror: The Witches Of Hollywood Salem Horror Festival movie review

31 Days Of Horror: The Witches Of Hollywood Salem Horror Festival movie review

The Witches Of Hollywood is a short but essential documentary on witches in cinema, analyzing 80 years of horror movies through a feminist and psychoanalytic lens! It’s as entertaining as it is informative.

Hook-nosed shrew; malicious seducer; devilish beast; potion connoisseur; magical spell-slinger; Satanic temptress of unbridled sexuality; seemingly harmless neighbor; or caring housewife;…

[cillixn]

Hey would you drop your reading list? [if you have one that is] — your friendly neighborhood spideyman

sure! so spidey my dude, i wasn’t sure if you were looking for books or fics so i’ll just do both ☺️

so for books, i’m currently reading richard hell’s autobiography i dreamed i was a very clean tramp, as well as witches, sluts, feminists by kristen j. sollee

after that i’m probably gonna read just kids by patti smith and i thiiiiink i’m gonna reread tomie by junji ito

as far as fics, i feel terrible bc i’m SO behind 🙃 but here are the fics that currently have me by the throat:

pleasure and pain by rottenpumpkin13 on ao3

whole day off by @acapelladitty (literally clawing my face and chewing on drywall in anticipation for the next part lmaooo)

the lockdown sessions by @cillmequick (i mean, obv. fr am i really recommending you fics if i don’t throw my literal all time favorite in here?)

i’m also currently tucking into both family ties and bend the rules by @peakyscillian (apologies in advance to laura for how absolutely fucking annoying i’m gonna be about both of these fics 🙈🙈🙈)

[sexandstyle]

“The idea of the witch has always been about subversive feminine power that doesn't align with conventional norms.” - Kristen J. Sollee

Excerpt From: Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive. Imagery: Witches of Eastwick

[upthewitchypunx]

PBW Witch Shop & Zine Distro

The PBW Witch Shop is a curated selection of witchcraft and magic related zines, books, pin-back buttons, tarot cards and more.

We focus on traditional and folkloric witchcraft, animism, chaos magic, secular witchcraft, magical herbs and plants, queer witchcraft, tarot & Divination, witchcraft & magic in politics, history, culture, and social & racial justice,  and aspects of non-Wiccan forms of witchcraft, magic, and paganism.

Pre-Covid the Portland Button Works primarily made custom pinback button. Selling zines and books was secondary and more of a hobby for me to share things I’d like to read. Right now our business is pivoting to focus on books and zines that people can read in the comfort and safety of their own homes. Some items are from well known witchcraft and occult publisher and some are titles from small publishers with interesting items I don’t see in other shops but I’m excited to elevate.

Not everyone has income to buy books right now, we totally understand that, but I would love it if you were able to reblog this post or share Portland Button Works and PBW Witch Shop with your friends.

If you have been looking for a book about something specific, or if you think something would be a good fit for our catalog, get in touch. We can order almost any book in print, even if it isn’t witchcraft or magic related.

With that being said, here are some categories of items we carry:

Some good books to get you started studying witchcraft:

Grovedaughter Witchery by Bree NicGarran

Making Magic by Briana Saussy

Magical Power for Beginners- How to Raise & Send Energy for Spells That Work by Deborah Lipp

Weave The Liminal by Laura Tempest Zakroff

Some creative books to help build your witch craft practice:

Spellcrafting- Strengthen the Power of your Craft by Creating and Casting Your Own Unique Spells by Arin Murphy-Hiscock

D.I.Y. Magic -a Strange & Whimsical Guide to Creativity by Anthony Alvarado

Psychic Witch- a Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick, & Manifestation by Mat Auryn

Urban Magick by Diana Rajchel

Standing and Not Falling - a Sorcerous Primer in Thirteen Moons by Lee Morgan

Tarot Books

Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow

Tarot for Troubled Times by Shaheen Miro & Theresa Reed

Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea

Tarot Decks

Next World Tarot (regular and pocket sized)

Science Tarot

Rider-Waite-Coleman Smith Regular sized and Mini sized

Crow Tarot

Modern Witch Tarot

Cat Tarot

Check out the tarot and divination books in our catalog and also check out tarot and divination decks in our catalog here.

Condensed Chaos by Phil Hine

Advanced Magick for Beginners by Alan Chapman

Chaos Protocols by Gordon White

Hands on Chaos Magic by Andrieh Vitimus 

Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter Carroll

Other books in the Chaos Magic section

Anthologies: Becoming Dangerous: Witchy Femmes, Queer Conjurers, and Magical Rebels, Bringing Race to the Table: Exploring Racism in the Pagan Community, Shades of Ritual: Minority Voices in Practice

Magical Resistance: Witchcraft Activism by David Salisbury, Magic for the Resistance by Michael Hughes, Revolutionary Witchcraft by Sarah Lyons

Witches and Feminist Perspectives: Caliban and the Witch by Silvia Federici, Witches, Midwives and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English , Witches Sluts Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

Pagan Anti-Capitalism: Pagan Anarchism True to the Earth: Pagain Political Thology by Kadmus, All That is Sacred is Profaned: A Pagan Guide to Marxism by Ryhd Wildermuth, A Pagan Anti-Capitalist Primer

Queer Witchcraft: Witchcraft and the Gay Counter Culture, Sapphomanteion a Lesbian Oracle, Queering the Tarot

Check out the Witchcraft Culture and History and Witchcraft Politics and Resistance sections of our website.

Green Witchcraft: The Green Witch by Arin Murray-Hiscock, Green Witchcraft by Paige Vanderbeck

Plants and Herbs: Under the Witching Tree by Corinne Boyer, Under the Bramble Arch by Corinne Boyer

The Poison Path: Veneficuim: Magic, Witchcraft and the Poison Path by Daniel Schulke, Pharmo/Gnonsis: Plant Teachers and the Poison Path by Dale Pendell , Plants of the Devil by Corinne Boyer

Witchy Crafts: Pestlework: a Book of Magical Powders and Oils by Bree NicGarran, Sew Witchy by Rachel Henderson, Sigil Witchery by Lara Tempest Zakroff

Other books in our Plants, Herbs, and Magical Crafts section

Books on Atheopaganism

Godless Paganism (anthology)

Atheopaganism by Mark Green

Other Pagan Perspectives

Jailbreaking the Goddess: A Radical Revisioning of Feminist Spirituality by Lasara Firefix Allen

The Wakeful World: Anismism, Mind, and the Self in Nature by Emma Restall Orr

Circling the Star by Anthony Rella

All That Is Sacred is Profaned: A Pagan Guide to Marxism by Rhyd Wildermuth

All Other Pagan books

Traditional Witchcraft: A Cornish Book of Ways by Gemma Gary

A Deed Without A Name: Unearthing the Legacy of Traditional Witchcraft by Lee Morgan

Crooked Path: An Introduction to Traditional Witchcraft by Keldon

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards

Besom Stand and Sword A Guide to Traditional Witchcraft the Six-Fold Path the Hidden Landscape by Christopher Orapello & Tara Love Maguire

Southern Cunning: Folkloric Witchcraft in the American South by Aaron Oberon

Folk Witchcraft by

The Flame in the Cauldron by Orion Foxwood

Craft of the Untamed by Roger Horne

Check out the rest of the books in our Traditional & Folkloric Witchcraft Section

What are zines? Small independently made magazine and pamphlets filled with stories and unique ideas that you won’t find from major publishers!

Some topics you will find in zines we carry are Secular Witchcraft, the fantastic Fiddler’s Green Pamphlets and lots of zine on the places where Politics, Paganism, and Witchcraft intersect.

Check out all of our witchy zines here.

Other Stuff

witchy buttons

 magnets and hand mirrors

We carry more than just witchy books.

Here are some of the other titles we carry:

You Were Born For This: Astrology for Radical Self-Acceptance by Chani Nicholas

When Language Runs Dry: An Anthology for People with Chronic Pain and their Allies

What is Gender Nihilism?

Be Gay Do Crime by The Mary Nardini Gang

Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher

You Black Friend by Ben Passmore

Learning Good Consent an Anthology edited by Cindy Crabb

How To Talk To Your Cat about Gun Safety and Abstinence, Drugs, Satanism and Other Dangers that Threaten Their Nine Lives

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Honoring your Ancestors by Mallorie Vaudoise

Do-it-Your Self Guide to Fighting the Big Motherfucking Sad by Adam Gnade

Yes, I’m Flagging: Queer Flagging 101 by Archie Bongiovanni

Full online catalog of books, zines, buttons and more can be found at PortlandButtonWorks.com and the PBW Witch Shop can be found here.

All items are shipped from Portland, Oregon in plain packaging or United States Postal Service Flat Rate envelopes or boxes with the return address as Portland Button Works. We ship daily and most order come with small fun gifts of buttons or magnets.

Thank you so much for supporting your local witch!

[iwillstandbydaenerysforever]

I was tagged by @pinksapphicprincess Thank you!! ^_^

♡ fave colour: Baby pink <3

♡ currently reading: Nothing but I am planning to read Witches, Sluts, Feminists: Conjuring the Sex Positive by Kristen J. Sollee at some point ^^

♡ last song: Numb by Linkin Park

♡ last series: I'm on season 2 of The L Word: Generation Q

♡ last movie: I think it was Multiverse of Madness? 🤔 Lesbophobic trash 😒

♡ sweet, savoury or spicy: Savoury 😋

♡ currently working on: My Minecraft world and my SimCity BuildIt city >.<

Tagging: @tidustargaryen @pinkprincess @urmumhaha @lovinglystar and everyone else who wants to do it :3 If you're tagged you don't have to do it, btw.

[harryfeatgaga]

hi! this is book anon from a day or two ago and i was wondering if could give your tbr? i’m sorry for being nosy but i literally have a month off of college and absolutely nothing to do and i want to read anything and everything 😭

HI YES OFC SO CURRENTLY I GOT NEXT TO ME

central park by gullaume musso

such a fun age by kiley reid

the course of love by Alain de Botton

love is a mix tape by rob sheffield

norwgeian wood by haruki murakami

savage appetites by rachel monroe

true crime addict by james renner

then she was gone by lisa jewell

roomies by christina lauren

the lying game by ruth ware

the women in the window by aj finn

the flight attendant by chris bohjalian

witches sluts and feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

and my current read rn is member of the family: my story of charles manson by dianne lake

ALSO read a book like two years ago I loved all the light we lost by Jill Santopolo

[samwisethewitch]

Sam's Masterlist of Beginner Resources

These are some of my favorite books, podcasts, and blogs that can help you develop your spiritual practice even if you have zero previous knowledge. All of these resources are approachable enough for total beginners, but I also recommend them for more advanced practitioners who want to brush up on the basics. Some books are listed in multiple categories because they cover multiple topics.

This list will be updated continuously as I find new resources that I want to recommend.

Secular Witchcraft (witchcraft that is not part of an established religious or spiritual tradition)

Witchcraft for Everyone by Sam Wise

A Witch's Guide to Spellcraft by Althaea Sebastiani

"Witchcraft for Skeptics | Science and Theory Behind Magick" by Jessi Huntenburg on YouTube

A Green Witch’s Cupboard by Deborah J. Martin

By Rust of Nail & Prick of Thorn by Althaea Sebastiani (this book is about protection magic specifically)

Witchcraft Traditions (witchcraft that is part of an established religion or spiritual path)

Wicca For Beginners by Thea Sabin

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

Reclaiming Witchcraft by Irisanya Moon

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk (written by a founder of Reclaiming, but also contains elements of Wicca and Feri)

Betwixt & Between by Storm Faerywolf (about the Feri tradition)

Witchcraft in History and Culture

Waking the Witch by Pam Grossman

Witches, Sluts, Feminists by Kristen J. Sollee

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deidre English

Paganism

Wicca For Beginners by Thea Sabin

Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk (written by a founder of Reclaiming, but also contains elements of Wicca and Feri)

Irish Paganism: Reconstructing Irish Polytheism by Morgan Daimler

Morgan Daimler's YouTube channel (Irish paganism and Fairy lore)

Lora O'Brien's YouTube channel (Irish paganism)

The Irish Pagan School

Temple of the Cosmos by Jeremy Naydler, Ph.D. (Kemetic paganism)

The Way of Fire and Ice by Ryan Smith (Norse Heathenry)

On Black Wings: A Site for Fire & Ice Heathen spirituality and practice: https://www.onblackwings.com/

Skald's Keep: https://skaldskeep.com/ (Norse Heathenry) (on tumblr as @skaldish)

North of Annwyn: https://northofannwn.wixsite.com/home (author is Heathen but posts about magic and paganism more generally; author is currently on hiatus) (on tumblr as @north-of-annwn)

American Folk Magic

New World Witchery podcast

Southern Cunning by Aaron Oberon (Southern folkloric witchcraft)

Mountain Magic by Rebecca Beyer (Appalachian folk magic)

Backwoods Witchcraft by Jake Richards (Appalachian folk magic)

Sticks, Stones, Roots, and Bones by Stephanie Rose Bird (Hoodoo, African-American magic)

Divination

Kitchen Table Tarot by Melissa Cynova

Astrology for Real Life by Theresa Reed

Fifty-four Devils: The Art & Folklore of Fortune-telling with Playing Cards by Cory Thomas Hutcheson

Religion, Spirituality, and Politics

"Rethinking How Paganism Engages Culture" by Sam Wise (blog post: https://www.samwisethewitch.com/post/rethinking-how-paganism-engages-culture)

Bringing Race to the Table edited by Crystal Blanton, Taylor Ellwood, and Brandy Williams

"Witchcraft PSA: The Chakras & Cultural Appropriation" by Anthony the Witch on Tumblr (https://anthonythewitch.tumblr.com/post/187293358858/witchcraft-psa-the-chakras-cultural)

Bright-sided by Barbara Ehrenreich (deals with toxic positivity)

McMindfulness by Ronald Purser (this one is a little bit dense but has a very important message about how American mindfulness culture misappropriates Buddhist practices)

UPDATE 10/11/2024: Removed H. Byron Ballard's book due to transphobic posts on the author's social media. (See here for proof, but huge trigger warning for transphobia, biological essentialism, and pseudoscientific talking points.) I've replaced Ballard's book on the list with two other beginner books on Appalachian folk magic from authors who, as far as I know, are not transphobes.

UPDATE 1/20/2025: Removed Jambalaya by Luisah Teish due to someone pointing out that Teish has spoken at anti-transgender events hosted by the TERF org Women's Declaration International. I hate not being able to recommend Teish's work anymore, but as she's actively using her platform to spread hate, I just can't promote her books in good faith.

[spiralhouseshop]

NEW IN THE PORTLAND BUTTON WORKS CATALOG!

1 APRIL 2022

Cat Call Reclaiming the Feral Feminine by Kristen J. Sollee

Fixer Erase Zine #6 by Jonas

Miracles of Our Own Making: A History of Paganism by Liz Williams

Year of the Witch: Connecting with Nature's Seasons through intuitive Magic by Temperance Alden

[churchofsatannews]

TRANSMUTATIONS, HEALERS, WITCHES, ORACLES at Raymond Buckland's Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

TRANSMUTATIONS, HEALERS, WITCHES, ORACLES at Raymond Buckland’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

TRANSMUTATIONS, HEALERS, WITCHES, ORACLES photographic works by DESTINY TURNER, ALEXIS KARL, COURTNEY BROOKE, NAHW YG, LORENA TORRES MARTELL, with words by KRISTEN J. SOLLEE. and an accompanying compendium of witchy vernacular photographs from the collection of Stephen Romano Gallery at Raymond Buckland’s Museum of Witchcraft and Magick, Cleveland, Ohio. MARCH 4 – APRIL 30 2021 “A Witch is born…

[vuruncaherseycalisir]

Tesekkur ederim💗 WITCHES SLUTS FWMINISTS kitabin adi yazar Kristen J. Sollee... bu kitap turkce ceviri olarak var midir sence Melissa? Amazonda 400 kusur yaziyordu bwlki de ben yanlis baktim turkce ceviri midir acaba bu kitap almak o kadar istiyorum kiiii💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

olabilir arat sitede 

[thatshannonkid]

"If we read the bible as normative Social literature, the absence of the goddess is the single most important statement about the kind of social order that the men who over many centuries wrote and re wrote this religious document strove to establish and uphold."-

Kristen J. Sollee