Book review: Outside the Charmed Circle

Hello, pornies. I hope you are doing well! Today I don’t come with good news about books, because not every reading you get will be good, which is okay, but doesn’t make the experience any less bitter. This time, I’m speaking about Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice, by Misha Magdalene. Thanks to the publisher for sending this copy!

• Print Length: 288 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (January 8, 2020)
• Publication Date: January 8, 2020
• ISBN-10: 073876132X
• ISBN-13: 978-0738761329

I doubted if I should review this book at all, to be honest, because it was the total opposite of what I expected it to be. The synopsis promised me a new approach to witchcraft outside the gendered protocols, methods and understanding that have left many witches out. It seemed so amazing that I asked for a copy right away and started as soon as I got it.

However, what I found was something different. Outside the Charmed Circle is mostly a theory book about the meaning and history of terms related to gender and sexuality, and how they could and should be applied in witchcraft. There’s little to no practice in it, and I found the style odd and heavy, since it mixed academic tone with whimsical explanations.

I really wanted to like this book because there are some ideas I liked. Misha Magdalene came to a couple of interesting conclusions, but I found it exhausting to go through all the descriptions, as if everything was vitally important. Hint: No, it wasn’t. The fact that there are almost no practices and exercises made it even harder to finish this book. I ended skipping whole sections at the end, just to be done with it.

If you’re interested in a detailed examination of theories and histories behind genre and sexual terms, perception, conception, and maybe some of the popular slangs that we hear, mostly in the LGBT+ collective, Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice, by Misha Magdalene, is your kind of book. It just didn’t work for me.

About Misha Magdalene:

Photo by Isabel Dresler

Misha Magdalene (they/them) is a multidisciplinary, multi-classed, multiqueer witch. They are an initiate of three lineages of traditional witchcraft: Anderson Feri, Gardnerian Wicca, and Central Valley Wicca. They hold a degree in gender, women, and sexuality studies from the University of Washington. Misha is the recipient of the Leslie Ashbaught Feminist Praxis in Education Award. They live near Seattle, Washington.

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it or not? Let me know in the comments! Kinky regards, K!

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Book review: Playing Card Divination

His pornies! I hope you are feeling amazing today! These have been tough days, but reading is still my first option to keep the panic at bay. I finished another great book I want to tell you about, this time it is Playing Card Divination: Every Card Tells a Story, by Stephen Ball. Thanks a lot to the publisher for the copy!

• Print Length: 312 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (June 8, 2020)
• Expected Publication Date: June 8, 2020
• ISBN-10: 0738764906
• ISBN-13: 978-0738764900

We all know about tarot and oracle cards, but have you thought about playing cards as an option? It doesn’t matter because Stephen Ball did it already and created a system that combines storytelling and archetypes to easily put these decks at use with amazing results. He clearly explains what each card is about and gives interesting historical facts about them to nourish your curiosity and develop several ideas.

I experimented a little with playing cards before to be honest, but I never found a serious and complete approach on the topic, which left me frustrated for a time and thinking that maybe this was a more unexplored ground than I expected. However, Playing Card Divination provides the solid foundation I needed to keep practicing, and after testing the readings and the meaning, I can tell you it definitely works.

Part fantasy, short-story anthology, part divination class, Stephen Ball created an amazing hybrid that will guide you as you discover the magic of this deck. As the title says, each card comes with a story that explains its meaning on a spread, and although I didn’t get as many spreads as I would like, the ones included are interesting enough. I’m particular curious about playing with Fate, but it’s one I’m reserving for when I’m more confident.

Although I was planning just to give it a glimpse because I had other things to do at the moment, Playing Card Divination: Every Card Tells a Story, by Stephen Ball, turned out to be such an addictive reading I couldn’t put it down. Not a single time. It was 2:00 AM of the next day when I could finally breathe and admitted that I fell in love with the descriptions and stories for each of the cards. Creative, intriguing and addictive, this book will become an invaluable addition to your bookshelf if you’re interested in divination.

About Stephen Ball:

Stephen Ball is the author of Elemental Divination: A Dice Oracle and has taught and created systems of divination for over twenty years. He previously published The Apple Branch: An English Shamanism as Stephen Blake, and contributed to Avalonia's anthology Horns of Power and to Steve Drury's Dice Mysteries. He lives in London.

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it or not? Let me know in the comments! Kinky regards, K!

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Book review: Every Grain of Sand

Good morning, everyone! How are you feeling today, pornies? I remain in my read-athon, and I cannot complain since it’s been filled with incredible books. One of these, Every Grain of Sand: A Memoir, by David P. Wichman and Heather Ebert, is the topic for today. Before you keep reading, please, buy a copy of this amazing. Thanks to the publisher for the copy!

• Print Length: 281 pages
• Publisher: W. Brand Publishing (March 10, 2020)
• Publication Date: March 10, 2020
• ISBN-10: 1950385132
• ISBN-13: 978-1950385133

This book tells one of the most painful real-life histories I’ve ever read. After being sexually abused when he was just a child, David P. Wichman recounts how he was physical and mentally abused by his stepfather, ignored by his mother, bullied by his classmates, ended in foster care, and entered an almost deadly relationship with drugs that lead him to an even more unstable life, which almost ended in perpetual incarceration. However, we also discover how being a sexual worker saved him and made him become a one-of-a-kind healer that now travels the world.

I admit that I rarely read memoires, but this one proved to be a powerful, motivating and thought-provoking reading. Every Grain of Sand is one of those books you cannot forget once you are with them. It’s not a matter of what you told, but how you did it, and it is done so well in this book that I cried, smiled, gasped and laughed several times.

Although David P. Wichman says he doesn’t remember some details and that there may be some inconsistencies in the book, I found little to none of either. We get a solid recount of raw, heartbreaking yet inspirational events that will make us see the world from a completely different point of view.

I’m still surprised that he survived everything he wet trough, but once again we are shown that sometimes we come here with a mission. David P. Wichman’s was to live to tell the tale and work with Heather Ebert. He’s a living example that although fear, prejudice and shame could destroy a person, we can always rise from the ashes like a phoenix.

I would recommend Every Grain of Sand: A Memoir, to every single LGBT+ person out there feeling they are struggling to keep on living, everyone who’s insecure of their sexuality, every victim of slut-shaming, because it proves things do get better. It will show you how a drug addict walking a walking rope became a successful sexual healer that fucks away the pain, quite literally, and changed the life of many for the better.

PS: There are cute, funny and sexy photos inside. Cool bonus!

About David P. Wichman:

David Wichman is an author, speaker, sexual healer, and entrepreneur passionate about his message. He is respected and well-known all over the world to those who seek to renew themselves and explore ways to live a fulfilling life free of stigma, shame, and fear around sex, love, and intimacy. David lives with his partners and their three dogs in the Coachella Valley area of California. 

About Heather Ebert:

Heather Ebert is a professional writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. She has more than fifteen years' experience in print and digital publishing and has written for a variety of publications. Heather specializes in memoir, fiction, and narrative nonfiction, helping nonwriters tell their stories with power and beauty. She has written eight other books to date. Learn more at heatherebert.com.

 

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it or not? Let me know in the comments! Kinky regards, K!

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Midnight Thoughts: The Difference between Magic and Witchcraft

Hi pornies! How are you today? As I said before, I’ve been reading a freaking lot, and I just came across an enlightening line (try to day that five times and fast, ha) that I wanted to share. This line is taken from a review copy of A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan and Superstitions in the West, by Frances Timbers (thanks to the publisher, you rock!) which I will review in the near future, so stay tuned!

Three Witches, MacBeth, by James Henry Nixon, British Museum, 1831

One method of distinguishing between religion and magic is to examine the intent of the practitioner. The religious officiant offers prayer and sacrifice to the gods submissively, in the hopes that the gods will be pleased and smile kindly on him or her. The magician, on the other hand, tries to manipulate and control the supernatural spirits to obtain his desires. But this still leaves the question of why Circe is considered a witch but Odysseus not.

It would be too easy, way too easy, just to scream and shout “because patriarchy!” However, after reading the myths of each in the book, the difference is crystal clear to me. Circe is a witch because she harmed Odysseus, while Odysseus simply contacted the dead Tiresias to answer a question. That’s it.

What? Yes, I’m serious about this, and if not, read the book (which is giving me an amazing while at the time of this writing) and you’ll see why. We witches have been perceived as wise and dangerous, mostly that last one.

To know how to heal is to know how to harm. To know how to defend, you must know how to attack. There’s no other way. It doesn’t matter that Circe then helped Odysseus, because in doing harm, she would be labeled as a witch in the future. If she was the daughter of a false God, according to the Catholic Church, said God had to be Satan, which in turn would make her a demon, a witch.

Départ pour le Sabbat,
by Albert Joseph Pénot, 1910

How does this affect my practice? Not too much, to be honest. Although I don’t do harm on purpose, I doubt it not to give back what I got. Whether you wished me luck or ill, I wish you thrice. Yeah, I still carry that bit of my beginning as a Wiccan, with the difference that now it’s me who gives back, not only the Gods.

You may think it is ridiculous or silly, but having a clear definition of what I am, even though I’ve been it since I was 13 years old (okay, I was mostly a caster of spells I found on a magazine, but we all got started somewhere,) is important for me. I have imagined a countless times what I would say if anyone asked me about this very difference, and I wouldn’t come across a solid response. Thank you, Miss Timbers!

This doesn’t mean that you must do harm to be a witch. It means that you need to acknowledge that you know how to do it. I used to say that magic shouldn’t be poised with harm and curses, that it preserved the stereotype, but there always comes a time with you must come back from cloud 9, stand your ground and say “You don’t wanna mess with me, sweetheart.”

To harm or not to harm is a personal question everyone should consider. For example, if someone punched you in the face, what would you do? You’d probably ask them to get away, but what if they keep doing it? Or if they don’t even let you speak? What if they punch your BFF, your sibling, your parent, child, spouse, partner, pet…? I can only speak for myself, and so I can tell you this: I would not hold a puck back, although I’m still waiting for someone to really ask for it. Think about it and let me know what you came up with.

PS: Although this wasn’t written at Midnight, but at 8 PM, I’ll keep the name for this regular section.

Kinky regards, K!

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Book review: Urban Magick

Hi everyone. How are you feeling during this quarantine, pornies? I’ve been reading a lot, since I have limited access to internet in my city, and so I totally devoured Urban Magick: A Guide for the City Witch, by Diana Rajchel, a book I didn’t expect I’d like that much! Thanks to the publisher for sending this copy!

• Print Length: 312 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (March 8, 2020)
• Publication Date: March 8, 2020
• ISBN-10: 0738752746
• ISBN-13: 978-0738752747

While the most common approach to witchcraft is using natural elements, synchronizing with the Earth’s cycles, this books offers an innovative and interesting approach to those of us who live in cities and towns. The author explains how to work with the energy and the one-of-a-kind magic present in cities and the elements that compose them, which I’d like to know why nobody has done before, or at least not in this way.

I wasn’t that convinced about this book when I began, and indeed, the beginning was a bit slow for me, but I picked it up a couple of days after, started from page one, et voila, I was binge reading Urban Magick as if my life depended on it. There’s something in the way Diana Rajchel writes that makes it all look so interesting I couldn’t stop.

Just to name a little bit of what you may find in this book, you get to know different city movements, how they can serve as a frame of reference to work your magic, which can of buildings serve for which kind of work, and even how to use buses and trains to do simple spell work. Yeah, I never thought about that!

What I liked the most about reading it, was that Urban Magick is based on experience and that you can easily adapt everything and anything that catches your attention to your surroundings. Diana Rajchel was clear when she said her examples are based on her own work, and so you need to take them just a reference, and boy will I.

Living in a city has been challenging for me, as I imagine has been for many others. To have such a solid starting point to work with is a relief, and although I still used and comfortable with my own way of doing things, there are many, MANY elements and ideas I will be including from now on thanks to this book.

Finally, I think this is perfect for millennial witches, we the younger generation (although I’m not sure I can be considered part of it anymore; is being 24 years old considered old?) Urban Magick: A Guide for the City Witch, by Diana Rajchel, is an unceremonious yet serious approach to a new branch of witchcraft you definitely want to try.

About Diana Rajchel:

Photo by Nathan McCann

Diana Rajchel is a city priestess, witch, and psychic life coach in San Francisco, California. Her passionate love of myth, magic, and mystery touches all she does. She is the author of the Mabon and Samhain installments of Llewellyn's Sabbat Essentials series as well as Divorcing a Real Witch (Moon Books, 2014). At present, she is working on a book on counter magick.

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it or not? Let me know in the comments! Kinky regards, K!

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Sigil Presentation: Inner Alchemy Sigil

Good morning, pornies! ^^ I hope you're feeling okay today. I've been having tough days lately again, but they will be worth it in the end. You know, regular real-life matters such as college and thesys. #ScreamsInTheBackground

Anyway, there's a new sigil I really want to share with you today, so here we are! As always, you can use this sigil for free, as long as there is no commercial use involved.

How to use this sigil?

• Write a list of what you want to transform in your life and sign it with this sigil and burn it; or visualize it in the fire when you burn.
• Meditate with it to get divine/cosmic/whatever-you-want-to-name-it guidance.
• Draw it in your third eye to connect with the Ancestors for healing purposes.
• Draw it in your third eye to be who you are suppose to be.
• Any other use you can imagine!

Kinky regards, K!

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Book review: Llewellyn's Complete Book of Reiki

Hello there, you guys! How are you feeling?
I'm been reading more about other topics beside necromancy and the Ancestors, because there's always new to learn. I became a reiki master more than a year ago, and wanted to go deeper, discove more about this healing system, and I'm happy to say that Llewellyn's Complete Book of Reiki: Your Comprehensive Guide to a Holistic Hands-On Healing Technique for Balance and Wellness, by Melissa Tipton, was exactly what I needed. Thanks to the publisher for sending this copy!

• Print Length: 408 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications (March 8, 2020)
• Publication Date: March 8, 2020
• ISBN-10: 0738761834
• ISBN-13: 978-0738761831

The author starts by explaining the key concepts behind this pactice and that we tend to overlook (ok, we actually do it, assuming we already know them,) such as energy and matter, after which she goes on to describe what reiki is all about, the history, the myths surrounding it, and the origins or many practices.
Melissa Tipton also offers several meditation and techniques to use, some of them for non-practitioners, some to boost your psychic senses, others to develop a better reiki practice, and many to use during therapies. She also offers guidance in matters such as symbols, how to find the right teacher, how to teach reiki, which are the most heard-of branches of reiki, and so on. Seriously, there's nothing you cannot find!

What I liked the most about Llewellyn's Complete Book of Reiki is that is was easy to follow, to understand and doesn't require anything more than your visualization skills in order to practice. The illustrations offer also a lot of visual help when locating imortant spots on the body of the patient in case you need to apply any of the techniques explained in the book, such as massages, which go hand in hand with reiki to give a better therapy.
To be honest, there was a lot of information I ignored. With so much information out there, it's heard to decide who to trust, but Melissa Tipton is a voice I will listen to as much as I can. She has a style that makes the reading feel like a conversation between her and the reader, but one of those that leave you craving for more since she doesn't hold anyting back. How to practice, how to become more sensible, start a bussiness, even some legal advice, and more!
Llewellyn's Complete Book of Reiki: Your Comprehensive Guide to a Holistic Hands-On Healing Technique for Balance and Wellness, by Melissa Tipton, was everything I hoped it would be and more. I'm still left with some questions and doubts, but it's a matter of practice and experience. If you're a reiki practitioner, someone interested in it, or a teacher searching for a reliable source to know more about reiki, a book you can recommend, go get your copy of this book that honors its title!

About Melissa Tipton:

Photo by Kim Wade,
SilverBox Photographers

Melissa Tipton is an author, Licensed Massage Therapist, Reiki Master and tarot reader who helps people unleash their inner awesome through her wellness practice, Life Alchemy Massage Therapy (getmomassage.com), and her online witchy hub, YogiWitch.com. She lives in Missouri with her husband.

Have you read this book? Would you recommend it or not? Let me know in the comments! Kinky regards, K!

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Sigil Presentation: Gay Warlock Sigil

Hello there, pornies! How are you feeling?

It's been a while since I shared my sigils in here, but I recovered them again, so here we are! Today it is my Gay Warlock sigil that I share, which I utterly LOVE. Sometimes I consider myself a warlock, others I'm a witch, and now and then I'm a fabulous unicorn, but who cares? As always, you can use this sigil for free, as long as there is no commercial use involved.

How to use this sigil? 

• Meditate with it to eliminate any internalized homophobia you may not be aware of.
• Draw it in your heart to heal the wounds connected to the coming out process.
• Draw it in you third eye to connect yourself with the Sacred Masculine.
• Wear it anywhere you want to keep toxic masculinity away from your body, mind, heart and spirit, so you are the best man you can be.
• Any other use you can imagine!

Kinky regards, K!

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Book review: The Dark Earth, Volume 9: The Blood King

First published in Horns Magazine Issue #4: Winter Solstice 2017

High fantasy, magic, action, drawing style and handsome men are a winning combination for me every time. Maybe that’s the reason why I decided to reread The Dark Earth, an independently published manga series I fell in love with at first sight a couple of years ago. I recently discovered its newest, ninth volume, The Blood King.

• Print Length: 120 pages
• Publisher: Raythe Reign (September 19, 2016)
• Publishing Date: September 19, 2016
• ASIN: B01LYVUEJ8

For those unfamiliar with this world, the protagonist Aidan and his adoptive family move to his mother’s house as she finds herself with not enough money. This turns to be a place where Aidan feels awkward and uncomfortable and which is cold toward outsiders of The Clan, a dark cult headed by his grandfather.

However, he soon discovers that he’s not even human, but part of an elf-like race called the Sidhe, enemies of The Clan, and feels attracted to none other than the Dark Prince Asher Vane -- a powerful figure who seems to know a thing or two about his past, his real parents and even the powers Aidan didn’t know he had. If that wasn’t enough, mage Lord Sevra Kos has feelings for him as well, trapping the young man in a strange love triangle.

Such an interesting proposal will captivate those who love the enchantment of young adult plots with the occasional steamy sex scene. The ease with which you can read the pages of each volume makes this an addictive series, where we will discover many more mysteries surrounding Aidan.

To get into the skin of the characters is simpler than it seems at the beginning, whether they are main or secondary and even having such a large cast, because they all have their own moment in the highlight I have a certain preference for Asher, and some might crucify me for what you could call as a mainstream choice, but I'm sure many will agree with me if they know the basics on spirituality and reincarnation and how they are used in this character.

I noticed some inconsistencies throughout the volume, and it mentally bothers me that this volume doesn’t have a short-story written in prose as many of the previous ones. I can understand that short-stories represent an additional creative effort for X. Aratare, the author, but after having those additions so many times I couldn’t not frown when I saw the last page left in blank.

While reading many different comics and mangas in the past, I’ve complained about the lack of similarity in terms of quality and art between the cover and the actual pages. Fortunately, both of them rise to the same level in The Blood King. T. Wolv does a good job with a marvelous artwork for the inner pages and expresses a great deal of emotion in them, especially melancholy and happiness.

Although I expected more sex and hormones in this volume, I’m fine with what I got. It’s hard to wait for the next installment in the series to be published, but in the meantime, it won’t hurt to read this volume again. Who knows? Maybe I’ll catch something I didn’t in the first read.

Kinky regards, K!

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