Meet Belinda. She’s a witch who loves to count things in her creepy castle. Unfortunately, it’s not always so easy to find the things she’s looking for. In this enchanting new counting book, kids count along with Belinda as they search for spooky items hidden throughout her castle. The “Where’s Waldo” format is sure to delight children as it reinforces their reading and math skills. Each 32-page book features controlled text with age-appropriate vocabulary and simple sentence construction. The rhyming text, colorful design, and spooky art will excite and engage emergent readers.
From the podcast host of The Witch Wave and practicing witch Pam Grossman—who Vulture has dubbed the “Terry Gross of witches”—comes an exploration of the world’s fascination with witches, why they have intrigued us for centuries and why they’re more relevant now than ever. When you think of a witch, what do you picture? Pointy black hat, maybe a broomstick. But witches in various guises have been with us for millennia. In Waking the Witch, Pam Grossman explores the impact of the world’s most magical icon. From the idea of the femme fatale in league with the devil to the bewitching pop culture archetypes in Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Harry Potter; from the spooky ladies in fairy tales to the rise of contemporary witchcraft, witches reflect the power and potential of women. Part cultural analysis, part memoir, Waking the Witch traces the author’s own journey on the path to witchcraft, and how this has helped her find self-empowerment and purpose. It celebrates witches past, present, and future, and reveals the critical role they have played—and will continue to play—in the world as we know it. “Deftly illuminating the past while beckoning us towards the future, Waking the Witch has all the makings of a feminist classic. Wise, relatable, and real, Pam Grossman is the witch we need for our times” (Ami McKay, author of The Witches of New York).
A Community of Witches explores the beliefs and practices of Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft - generally known to scholars and practitioners as Wicca. While the words "magic," "witchcraft," and "paganism" evoke images of the distant past and remote cultures, this book shows that Wicca has emerged as part of a new religious movement that reflects the era in which it developed. Imported to the United States in the late 1960s from the United Kingdom, the religion absorbed into its basic fabric the social concerns of the time: feminism, environmentalism, self-development, alternative spirituality, and mistrust of authority.
My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. Each new settlement asks for a new journal, and so this Book of Shadows begins... In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate at the hands of the panicked mob: the Warlock Gideon Masters, and his Book of Shadows. Secluded at his cottage in the woods, Gideon instructs Bess in the Craft, awakening formidable powers she didn't know she had and making her immortal. She couldn't have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life. In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life for herself, tending her garden and selling herbs and oils at the local farmers' market. But her solitude abruptly ends when a teenage girl called Tegan starts hanging around. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth begins teaching Tegan the ways of the Hedge Witch, in the process awakening memories--and demons--long thought forgotten. Part historical romance, part modern fantasy, Paula Brackston's New York Times bestseller, The Witch's Daughter, is a fresh, compelling take on the magical, yet dangerous world of Witches. Readers will long remember the fiercely independent heroine who survives plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality to remain true to herself, and protect the protégé she comes to love.
Some young readers may be unfamiliar with the child-stealing witch well known to Russian folklore. After reading this captivating book, they'll know all about Baba Yaga and other legendary creatures of Russia, such as the Brosno Dragon. This high-interest volume features colorful images paired with stimulating text. Eye-catching sidebars are included throughout the book and feature even more information about these interesting stories and creatures. This innovative book is sure to be a hit with curious readers of many ages and abilities.
An everything-you-wanted-to-know and somebody asked compendium. This book grew out of the authors- Open-Sesame website, where more than a million readers a year asked questions. From the most basic, like Do witches fly? to the most sublime, including How do we explain the things that happen in our lives?, A Witch's Book of Answers provides the answers- answers you can apply to your life and your practice, whether you're an interested newcomer or have been practicing your whole life. A Witch's Book of Answers is widely informative and contains essential information modern witches need to know. In addition to the questions and answers that are the foundation of the book, Holland and Cerelia also provide exercises and general information throughout, including how to use visualization in magic, how to ground yourself after a ritual, and what to do if a Tarot reading predicts something terrible. Learn about covens and how to find the right one, how anger can affect magic, and the power of dream interpretation. Including an Index of Magical Workings and a glossary of Wiccan terms, A Witch's Book of Answers provides a comprehensive guide to what it means to become and live as a witch.
"Witches are gathering." When most people hear the word "witches," they think of horror films and Halloween, but to the nearly one million Americans who practice Paganism today, witchcraft is a nature-worshipping, polytheistic, and very real religion. So Alex Mar discovers when she sets out to film a documentary and finds herself drawn deep into the world of present-day magic. Witches of America follows Mar on her immersive five-year trip into the occult, charting modern Paganism from its roots in 1950s England to its current American mecca in the San Francisco Bay Area; from a gathering of more than a thousand witches in the Illinois woods to the New Orleans branch of one of the world's most influential magical societies. Along the way she takes part in dozens of rituals and becomes involved with a wild array of characters: a government employee who founds a California priesthood dedicated to a Celtic goddess of war; American disciples of Aleister Crowley, whose elaborate ceremonies turn the Catholic mass on its head; second-wave feminist Wiccans who practice a radical separatist witchcraft; a growing "mystery cult" whose initiates trace their rites back to a blind shaman in rural Oregon. This sprawling magical community compels Mar to confront what she believes is possible-or hopes might be. With keen intelligence and wit, Mar illuminates the world of witchcraft while grappling in fresh and unexpected ways with the question underlying every faith: Why do we choose to believe in anything at all? Whether evangelical Christian, Pagan priestess, or atheist, each of us craves a system of meaning to give structure to our lives. Sometimes we just find it in unexpected places.
Telling the stories of ordinary people who have discovered that life is enchanted, this exploration of witchcraft presents the leaders of the movement and experienced practitioners and delves into what it really means to be a witch. Describing powerful rituals and moving magical encounters, these witches discuss working with natural forces, including sexuality and the seasons, and how they craft spells and personal rituals, and use incense and herbs. With insights from many different traditions including Wicca and Paganism, this guide celebrates the pleasures and mysteries of contemporary witchcraft.
