Make Your Own Magic: A Beginner’s Guide to Self-empowering Witchcraft

In this bubbly guide, poet Lovelace (Break Your Glass Slippers) encourages readers to build a witchcraft practice rooted in self-confidence. Focusing on “small and simple magic that doesn’t stress you out,” Lovelace opens with advice for casting one’s first spell (pair an affirmation that describes “the thing you want to happen” with an action, such as holding a crystal); finding space for a magical altar on which to test out spells, rituals, divination, and meditation; and working with crystals based on mood and purpose. Later sections cover tapping into “magical messages” via divination (by way of tarot cards, oracle cards, or pendulums) and harnessing the energy generated by seasons and the moon’s phases. While the witchy fundamentals can be found elsewhere, readers will be charmed by Lovelace’s affable tone—“No, you’re probably not going to predict someone’s tragic and untimely death,” she clarifies—and wisdom for handling skeptics in one’s life and “practicing in a manner that feels true and authentic to you” (“Experiment, experiment, experiment until you find your groove,” she advises). Wannabe witches will glean confidence and more than a few ritual practices to test out. (Mar.)