Book Endorsement for Energy Magick - A User Guide

Moon Books is bringing out a new practical magic title tomorrow - the same day it's officially publishing my first Gothic novel, Erosion. Yes, it's a busy month for interesting books. Energy Magick: A User Guide for Empowerment, Protection, and Healing is by Mark NeCamp. Here's the endorsement I wrote about it:

“All witches need to be able to manipulate magical energy. It’s a fundamental skill taught in all good covens as basic training, but if you’re a solitary practitioner learning on your own, you’re likely to need help. Energy Magick by Mark NeCamp is the perfect guide – an instruction manual for all kinds of magical energy work from grounding through to invocation and evocation. It explains what these forces are, how they work, and how you can learn to sense and manipulate them.

"At each step of the way there are practical exercises. The book is in two sections: basic energy work, and advanced techniques. If you’re a complete beginner I’d recommend working your way through everything. If you’re more experienced then skim the early stuff as a refresher, then go on to section two. This should be an essential text for any trainee in the magical arts. The book is well written, concise and packed with useful information.”

You can view Energy Magick on Amazon and at collectiveinkbooks.com/

(Note: I earn commission from some links. This helps subsidise my blog at no extra cost to readers.)

Other previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/06/book-news-first-physical-copies-of-my.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/07/book-review-pagan-portals-planetary.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2023/11/books-on-witchcraft-fairy-path-by.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2024/04/rounding-year-milestone-for-my-book.html

Review: Dark Mirror - The Inner Work of Witchcraft

Dark Mirror - The Inner Work of Witchcraft is a book every witch should read.

There are shelves full of books on how to cast circles, how to celebrate the Wheel of the Year and how to do spells, but most of them concentrate on the outer actions rather than the inner thoughts and feelings involved. Dark Mirror redresses that.

Author Yvonne Aburrow says: "I have observed that some witches spend a lot of time getting the words and gestures right, but do not focus on what is happening in the psyche of the practitioner. That is what inspired me to write this book."

I would say, if you want your magic to work, fully engaging your mind, emotions and senses when you do witchcraft is far more important than remembering all the words correctly or doing movements accurately.

The description of Dark Mirror on Lulu says:

Inner work is a name commonly given to the inner processes that happen in ritual. It can also mean the transformation of the psyche that comes about through engaging in religious ritual. However, the best kind of inner work also has an effect outside the individual and outside the circle. When rituals are focused only on self-development, they tend to be a bit too introspective. Ritual is about creating and maintaining relationships and connections – between body, mind, and spirit; with the Earth, Nature, the land, the spirit world, the community, and friends. It is about making meaning, weaving a web of symbolism, story, mythology, meaning, community, and love. Creating a community that welcomes and celebrates diversity. Creating strong and authentic identity to resist the pressures of consumerism and commercialism and capitalism. Weaving relationship with other beings: humans, animals, birds, spirits, deities.

In some ways I liken the inner work of witchcraft to Luke learning to "Feel the Force" in Star Wars. Feeling the Force is essential for anyone who wants to be a Jedi in the movie; feeling the energy of the web of life is fundamental for anyone who wants to be a real witch. This book teaches how to do that.

The web of life, of course, includes the world around us, the cycles of nature and our relationships with others. Dark Mirror moves on from explaining how to become more attuned to our own feelings, to ways of sensing the connection between ourselves and all of these seemingly external things.

Dark Mirror - The Inner Work of Witchcraft by Yvonne Aburrow is available on Lulu:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/yvonne-aburrow/dark-mirror-the-inner-work-of-witchcraft/ebook/product-23525122.html

Previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/12/review-all-acts-of-love-and-pleasure.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2018/02/petition-for-pagan-events-code-of.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2016/04/games-pepys-wild-flowers-and-learning.html

Two Events on Tuesday: Trees and Past Lives

Here are two events happening tomorrow evening that I have just added to my list of pagan events in and near London:

Tuesday 16 August; Dancing with Trees - Silent Disco on Primrose Hill, London. Free event. Starts at 6pm. Details and tickets: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dancing-with-trees-silent-disco-tickets-27090783262

Tuesday 16 August; Healing Energy Workshop: Discovering your Past Lives with the Sensing Energy and Intuition Development Meetup Group. Venue: St Stephen's Church Hall, 48 Emperor's Gate, London SW7 4HJ. Tickets: £15. Time: 7pm. Details and booking: http://www.meetup.com/Sensing-Energy-and-Intuition-Development/

The photo at the top shows Primrose Hill and is copyright Lucya Starza. If you want to reuse it please credit my name and www.badwitch.co.uk

Review: Hay House Basics - Energy Healing

What surprised me when I read Energy Healing: Unlock Your Potential as a Healer and Bring Healing into Your Everyday Lifeby Abby Wynne, was just how much the techniques of energy healing have in common with witchcraft.

The *real* training of witchcraft is all about how to raise magical energy and then how to focus that energy to effect change - to make spells work. The key to doing that well is to learn to recognise and trust what your intuition is telling you, along with the ancient lesson of "know thyself". That's pretty much what Energy Healingteaches how to do. Okay, the emphasis in Abby Wynne's book is on using energy for personal healing rather than, say, spells to make your wishes come true but, as a witch, magical healing is one of the things I do get asked for frequently.

Energy Healingis in the Hay House Basics series, which means it is a straightforward guide aimed at beginners. The book is primarily intended for those who are suffering from stress, anxiety or depression in their life and want a self-help guide that teaches them how to make changes. Energy work is good for that, and the lessons in the book explain the theory with plenty of exercises to put it all into practise.

Hay House's description of the book says: "In this book, energy healer and psychotherapist Abby Wynne explains the basic concepts of energy healing and gives you exercises and techniques for getting started right away. You don't have to look outside for someone to help you heal - now you can take the first steps yourself. Learn how to: ground and centre yourself; bring healing into your everyday activities to help you feel calmer and more balanced; open to a healing light; send energy healing to loved ones."

You certainly don't need to be a witch, or even a pagan, to try out the techniques - anyone can give them a go. However, if you are starting out on a path of spiritual self-discovery or even witchcraft training, regular practise of personal energy healing will stand you in good stead. If you simply want to get over emotional issues that you feel are holding you back and stopping you enjoying life to the full, energy healing can be just the thing too. Energy Healingteaches how to do it clearly and succinctly.

To find out more, Hay House's website for the Basics series is: http://www.hayhousebasics.com/. At the site you can find free downloads to go with each Basics book. Abby's Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/AbbyEnergyHealing?

Links and previous related posts
Energy Healing: Unlock Your Potential as a Healer and Bring Healing into Your Everyday Life (Hay House Basics)
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/03/review-hay-house-basics-mindfulness.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/04/review-hay-house-basics-lucid-dreaming.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/05/review-hay-house-basics-past-lives.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/01/review-angels-lead-new-series-of-basics.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/02/review-hay-house-basics-crystals.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/04/review-tarot-how-to-read-and-interpret.html
http://www.hayhousebasics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AbbyEnergyHealing?

Spirit of the City

I have recently started some freelance work in London EC2, at an office in a converted warehouse in the maze of streets between Old Street station and Moorgate.

It is an area where 21st-century financial corporations are spreading out from EC1, building mirror-glass and polished granite skyscrapers amid the crumbling decay of 19th-century sweatshops and goods stores. Everywhere there is scaffolding, 'For Sale' and 'To Let' signs and the old juxtaposed with the new.

Even my choice of where to eat offers a similar dichotomy: a traditional greasy spoon cafe or a trendy Cost-a-Lot coffee bar.

The energy in this part of London is very strange indeed. It is vibrant, but also cold and unforgiving. It is a place where I feel I need to appear strong and confident, so I wear my work-face as I walk from the station in the grey morning gloom with the commuting crowds.