Recommended reading
Dark Mirror: the inner work of witchcraft
by Yvonne Aburrow (The Doreen Valiente Foundation in association with the Centre for Pagan Studies, second edition, 2020)
Inner work is a name commonly given to the inner processes that happen in ritual. 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.
Find out more at Yvonne Aburrow’s website
The night journey: witchcraft as transformation
by Yvonne Aburrow (The Doreen Valiente Foundation in association with the Centre for Pagan Studies, second edition, 2020)
This book is aimed at witches who want to deepen their engagement with their Craft. It explores how rituals work; the witch’s journey through life; the stages and pitfalls of the inner work; the archetype of the witch; witchcraft and the land; working with ancestors; the concept of the night journey, another very old image from the history of witchcraft; group dynamics; being a coven leader; teaching and learning in a coven; egregore, lineage, upline, and downline; power and authority; how to evaluate your Craft; the archetype of the witch and what it means.
Find out more at Yvonne Aburrow’s website
Pagan Consent Culture: Building Communities of Empathy and Autonomy, edited by Yvonne Aburrow and Christine Hoff Kraemer (Asphodel Press, 2016).
How might a Druid, a Wiccan, a Heathen, or a Polytheist understand consent? In Pagan Consent Culture, Pagans show how to ground good consent practices in Pagan stories, liturgies, and values.
Find out more on the Pagan Consent Culture website
All acts of love and pleasure: inclusive Wicca, by Yvonne Aburrow (Avalonia Books, 2014).
All Acts of Love and Pleasure is a companion guide to inclusive Wicca, which includes all participants regardless of sexual orientation, disability, age, or other differences, not by erasing or ignoring the distinctions, but by working with them creatively within initiatory Craft.
Find out more on the inclusive Wicca website
Casting a Queer Circle: Non-Binary Witchcraft, by Thista Minai (Asphodel Press)
Many people come to traditional Wicca or Witchcraft seeking the benefits of shared ritual, spiritual community, and formalized training, but the sex and gender binaries that permeate much of modern Wicca can make anyone who exists outside of that polarity feel unimportant or excluded. Thista Minai has created an alternative. Here you’ll find the fundamentals of queering witchcraft, from casting a Circle and celebrating the Wheel of the Year, to Rites of Passage and creating a coven.
Find out more at Thista Minai’s website
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft by Ronald Hutton
A must-read for anyone who wants to know the history of Wicca, with some reflections on how and why why the Pagan revival happened. Ronald Hutton examines the historical conditions and cultural movements that gave rise to the Pagan revival and the birth of Wicca, and looks at more recent history as well.
Wicca: Magickal Beginnings by Sorita d’Este and David Rankine (Avalonia Books, 2013).
A textual and historical analysis of the possible origins of the rituals and practices of Wicca. This book will be invaluable to anyone with an interest in the history, practices and beliefs of the Wiccan Tradition – and its links to Paganism, Witchcraft, the British Folk Traditions and Ceremonial Magick.
Find out more at Avalonia Books
Three Rivers Coven 