You are Magical by Tess Whitehurst. 2018, physical print. Llewellyn.

3/5 – Good, but not for everyone and has some ~ eh moments.

This review has been sitting on my hard drive for over a year. I remember nothing of this book. Like, nothing. Maybe that says something, but it’s probably more that the past year or so has been a lot.

I’d also like to start by saying this book isn’t really written for me. I’ve been practicing magic as a key component of my life for nearly 30 years. This information is nowhere near new for me. It’s also written with a spiritual path in mind – not a particular one, mind, just spirituality mixed with witchcraft and that’s not precisely how my paradigm, my worldview, works. I’m a secular animist witch – I have a set idea of how the world works when it comes to spirits and deities and so on, but my actual worship of these beings are completely severed from my witchcraft. All that is shared in the same worldview – the same paradigm.

So this book was personally running up against hard walls for me. Gender and time are irrelevant unless defined by individuals, energy exists but it’s in a complicated mix of “yeah, elements are a thing, but magic / energy are mostly the same thing, except not, and sometimes, shit doesn’t go right.”

I have nothing against the material – unless stated otherwise – and I have nothing against the author, I just personally struggled with some of the material because it doesn’t work for me. I can see it working for a great many people because my worldview is very much a minority kind of thing. I also have no background in Christianity so this book smacks a bit of some Christian proximity thinking that someone like me, with no background in Christianity, kind of puzzles at. Like, I get it, the thinking is solid (and there’s lots of tasty thinking in this book) but it reminds me too much of the few church events I’ve been to. Maybe someone with a better background in this can state the similarities more clearly.

Anyway, onwards to the review.

The book opens up with a bit of soul exploring on the spiritual side. It covers quickly some history, suggests the patriarchy is awful, and moves onto the good stuff.

As said, this book certainly intends to connect you to a divine energy – whatever that may be for you. And it does a great job of that, covering things like ancestry, polarity, elements, and divine masculine/feminine. However, the book straight up states “all goddesses are one Goddess, just as all gods are one God” (pg 44). While this is a common view, hard polytheists, like myself, will struggle with this section.

The only thing I made a face about – beyond my personal clashes – thus far was a particular section on the ancestry that I took to mean that you should write down things that interest you – regardless of where they come from – and explore them. You can absolutely read and research about foreign cultures and practices. Read about closed practices. But there was no mention of cultural appropriation – the snatching of the “good bits” from various cultures and practices – often POC or closed to outsiders – and using them in your own way. Plus, just because a religion isn’t Judeo-Christian doesn’t mean it’s pagan, as we use the word pagan today. Hindu are Hindu. Shinto followers are following Shinto. These religions can use the word pagan in a technical discussion during comparison religion discussions, but they’re not really pagan the way you might think of them. There’s rites and culture surrounding those beings. You can’t just pluck them out of their culture and swap them like you would a pair of socks.

At first, I didn’t honestly don’t believe this was intended to be read this way – I’m just always giving a hard look at such sections. But a few pages later, because of the believe that all goddess are one goddess, there’s a mention that the goddess may appear to you as Quan Yin for some phase of your life and then shift to Aphrodite. As said, I have issues with this – not just as a hard polytheist, but as someone who wants cultures to be respected by outsiders for what they are – not what you can make of them.

Without a warning being explicitly stated, a beginner could easily make a mistake, offending someone or causing themselves regret. Most of us try to do as little harm as possible, especially in our spiritual practices, and I’ve heard one too many times people who came to spiritual practices via some sort of culturally appropriated thing and they feel regret and guilt for it. They didn’t know any better and now this information is tainted for them. Something they loved – even if it shouldn’t have been theirs to begin with – is marred. They can’t even enjoy it as an outside observer. It’s a pit of sorrow.

Anyway – the book moves onto safer pastures with time. Moon phases, astrology, and the timing of spiritual rites and spells. Naturally, the Wheel of the Year is covered. No mention of adapting or shifting those sabbats to actually match your environment, but I don’t think I’ve run into a published book yet (as of this post) that actually does.

Next section is energy work. Auras and chakras (western view of chakras). There’s some simple energetic cleansing techniques. Up to this point, there’s been some meditation level sort of workings offered with some connecting to energy. Discussion of magical hygiene, which, yes, that’s a pretty good term for cleaning, grounding, centering, and cleansing oneself.

The next chapter covers the more intuitive, psychic stuff as well as various popular divination methods. There is NOT a summary of the tarot cards, however, so if you’re picking this book up as your 101 first book, you’ll need a separate guide to get started with the tarot.

We finally get to the spellcasting chapter. It starts with calling in the quarters and casting a circle. This is the first mention of quarters and I remember being a baby witch (little nine year old Crown) being somewhat confused. Were quarters the same thing as elements? Are we calling in the directions north, south, east, west? Why are we calling them in if they aren’t the elements and aren’t part of the circle’s protection spell / cleansed space?

Turns out, the quarters refers almost exclusively to the element under a different name and this book is no different.

Anyway, the author presents their own way of calling in the quarters and casting a circle. Followed up with what to do while casting the spell and followed up by thanking the quarters and closing up the circle. I actually quite liked it for a ritual that’s not my cup of tea.

(I do cast magical circles, but I don’t do it this way)

Earthing the power is just another name for grounding, really. More like a specific technique of grounding.

There’s a self-initiation rite included to a selected patron. These are kind of weird spells in my opinion because you’re usually a beginner and you’re granting yourself status while not actually knowing much unless you’ve done a ton of research outside of the book. Like you skip the free trial and moved right into the paid subscription without knowing if you even want the service. These rites were very popular in the 90s and 2000s, but I don’t see much of them these days. I see more dedication rites – as in, I’m dedicating myself to exploring this path. Maybe I’m just a snob though and being WAY too picky?

The author has previously written a book on magical housekeeping (which I haven’t read yet) so the next section on living a magical life is excellent because it’s familiar stomping ground. While some stuff are things I say all the time – cleaning is magic as much as cleansing is! – I don’t agree with everything written.

“… If you have a television, be a self-respecting magical person and cover that thing with an attractive cloth or tapestry when you’re not covering it.” (pg 114) Okay, I’ll tell you exactly where this comes from – black screens are like black scrying mirrors. In fact, some people use darkened screens, like a TV or phone, for exactly that. Because you can see your reflection, it can be used like a magic mirror.

A lot people cover mirrors – not just witches, but lots of people from a variety of cultures. Others keep mirrors or reflective surfaces out of certain rooms, like bedrooms. TVs often get the same handling. Interior design often wars with ways to either or feature TVs and other electronics.

This is something that may annoy your or not, and it may change over time.

Now, I personally don’t like TVs, computers, video game consoles, mirrors, or sacred shrines in my bedroom. I like my sleeping space to be peaceful without distractions or even electronics. If I had the space to keep my computers and so on in a different room, I would. I don’t though, so I separate my sleeping space with heavy curtains, which fixes some of the problem. I keep my magic mirrors tucked away in cloth bags in drawers, to avoid breakage. I don’t cover the TV or monitor screens themselves because I don’t like the visual clutter it adds. Also, cats. Cats will pull a loose cloth right off a TV, monitor, or mirror if they can reach it. It’s what they do.

So it’s a very individual process and something to think about on a personal level. Play with it and see what works for you.

Decorating your home like a temple may work – unless you share the space or you don’t want certain spaces to feel sacred. Again, maybe I’m being picky, but there’s no mention of sharing spaces – ie living with people or pets – and considerations for them. Maybe that’s covered in her other books?

Enchanted eating is a decent section, actually talking about doing what’s best for you and consuming in moderation. Following that is a blurb on fitness, which is decent, and the Akashic Records, including a past life recall meditation. There’s a couple pages of finding your people (coven members, friends, community members, etc). The chapter finishes out with a planning a month of everyday magical living which is a great idea if that’s something you want more of in your life.

Part two is all about the magic. A good chunk of the spells are not secular – they invoke divine energy – but the spells are solid by themselves. There’s certainly a lot of them for a book this size that isn’t exclusively a spell book. About five per chapter, I’d estimate. BUT, please refer to the aforementioned rant on cultural appropriation and out-of-context deities for some of them.

Manifesting abundance, prosperity, money, and wealth. Generating success, fame, new jobs or businesses, career goals, and work-life balance you can get.

Love spells, of course, but beauty spells too. Harmonizing spells also are featured. (I usually call them happy home spells). There’s a spell for self-love body image instead of an actual weight loss spell, which I’m fine with.

A whole section on blessing and protecting spells for various circumstances (new home, home in general, baby, children or pets, or business).

I’m impressed that binding and banishing exists. These sorts of spells are omitted usually. There’s the usual “only use as a last resort” and “do no harm” spiel, and actual jargon definitions for banishing and binding.

The spells themselves bind people causing physical harm, spiritual harm, and legal harm. Other spells banish lingering exes, unwanted houseguests, and general negativity.

The next section covers breaking hexes and negative energy. Break a hex or curse, redirect a hex, break up love (or get over your crush), getting out of a rut you’re stuck in, or transforming a problem into a blessing.

Chapter 17 is healing spells of the physical and emotional kind. For both yourself and others.

The final chapter before the conclusion hones your magical power, including an interesting spell that’s pretty much a tarot card reading. I liked this chapter because it’s useful to people who already have practices – such as a rediscovering your magic spell.

Overall, the book’s a good one for someone who has a little bit of knowledge – enough to know what their beliefs are to some extent (soft poly, hard poly, monotheist, etc) but still wants the basics. It’s definitely a 101 book. But that’s not a bad thing. I give it a 3 – it’s good for what it is, but it has some issues with modern issues (it’s from 2018) and it’s definitely has some cultural appropriation borrowing – it’s not taking from closed cultures necessarily, but certainly cultures that aren’t pagan.

This book focuses on a mix of spiritual and witchcraft, which is what most people are looking for. For some people, this book is exactly what you’re looking for. For others, you may find yourself giving it a miss.

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