Q: Of the books you’ve written, which is your favourite?
A: They’re all my favourite, but if I had to pick one, it would have to be All Acts of Love and Pleasure: Inclusive Wicca. I am excited to announce that Avalonia Books will soon be publishing a revised and expanded tenth anniversary edition of the book, with new chapters and updated use of language.
I do wish that more people knew that Dark Mirror: The Inner Work of Witchcraft, and The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation, are also about inclusive Wicca, and contain follow-up ideas on inclusive ritual, including rites of passage, as well as information on how to deepen your witchcraft practice, with reflections on folkloric witchcraft traditions like pacts with spirits, the wild hunt, and spirit travel.
Q: What’s it about?
Q: All Acts of Love and Pleasure: Inclusive Wicca is about how to make your witchcraft practice inclusive of a variety of marginalized groups, including LGBTQIA+ people and neurodiverse people. The second edition will also include more information about how to include disabled people and racialized groups (there was some in the first edition, but I have considerably expanded these areas). The book also includes reflections on the nature of truth, tradition as an evolving process, leadership, running a coven, teaching and learning, how Wicca and witchcraft can be compatible with science, eco-spirituality, and much more. It is designed as a guide for covens who want to be inclusive, so it also has a suggested programme of training sessions.
Q: Why is it your favourite?
A: Because a lot of people have written to me to say how it made them realize that there is a place for LGBTQIA+ people in Wicca, and that the rituals can be changed to be more inclusive of us. It really does seem to have made a difference to people. Obviously not every coven magically became inclusive overnight, but it sparked a conversation and inspired people to experiment. Many people had already experimented along these lines, but (as far as I know) it was the first book to talk about making Wicca inclusive for both LGBTQIA+ and heterosexual people, instead of setting up separate queer magical groups.
Q: Tell me a bit more about yourself and any other books you’ve written.
I became a Pagan and a witch because I believe in celebrating being alive, and living our dreams and our potential to the full. I wanted a religion where marginalized people of all kinds could be celebrated and supported, and where Nature is venerated.
I love folklore, ritual, and mythology because they are a symbolic way of connecting humanity to the Earth.
My life’s motto is “Only connect” (from E M Forster), and a common thread that runs through my books is the theme of connection: between people, ideas, communities, and Nature.
My other books include:
- Pagan Roots: Reclaiming Concepts of the Sacred, which explores the core concepts of Paganism, and reclaims concepts like theology, virtue, and grace, all of which were originally Pagan concepts.
- Changing Paths, winner of an award from the Coalition of Visionary Resources in 2024, which is about the experience of moving from one religious tradition to another, including dealing with religious trauma and unexamined baggage,
- Dark Mirror: The Inner Work of Witchcraft, about the inner work of ritual, self-transformation, and embodied spirituality.
- The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation, about how rituals work; Queer Witchcraft; witchcraft and the land; working with ancestors; the witch’s pact; and the concept of the night journey; how to evaluate your Craft; and the archetype of the witch.
Q: Relating to your writing, what plans do you have for the future?
A: I am currently writing a queer witchy novel. It is one that I made a symbel oath to start writing, although I carefully did not make an oath to finish it, as I have a lot of novels that I have started but not finished. If you make an oath over the sacred drinking horn at a symbel (a Heathen ritual involving making oaths for things you intend to do, celebrating things you have done, and toasting the gods with mead and poetry), you have to fulfil it, because you’ve made that oath to the gods. I am getting further along with this novel though, as I have most of a plan for the plot. But anything could happen if the characters decide otherwise.
You can view Yvonne's books here: https://yvonne.carnelianwebservices.ca/my-books/
Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/12/review-all-acts-of-love-and-pleasure.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/11/authors-on-their-own-writing-daniela.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/09/authors-on-their-own-writing-laura-perry.html
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