Books I Recommend For Beginners
I recommend these books for beginner witches (or even other magic users!) who don't know where to start and need a foundation built. These are my go-to recommendations, taken from my recommended reading page. But here, I hope to explain why I recommend these.
Every book here is by an author that is queer/queer-friendly, anti-appropriation, and explains things in a simple way that beginners shouldn't have trouble with. All opinions are my own, nobody gave me any money (but I wouldn't turn down a pizza night tbh) and my reviews are often scathing, so some of the high numbers here should speak for themselves.
If you'd like to see my recommendations for specific topics, send me an ask and I'll scrounge some up for ya!
Grovedaughter Witchery [2016] Bree NicGarran - @breelandwalker (Advice For Beginner Witches page and tag) and @/breenicgarran on Instagram Keywords: secular, practical, DIY and tutorial, spells, plants, candles 10/10 My review
Grovedaughter Witchery is one of my favorite books of all time, fiction and nonfiction alike. If someone came to me and asked for a book that explained fire safety, cursing safely, smoke cleansing without appropriating, solitary witchery and coven witchery, and consent in love magic, this is 100% the one I would give to them.
Kitchen Table Magic [2020] Melissa Cynova - @/melissacynova on Instagram Keywords: secular, broad, spells, divination 7/10
Kitchen Table Magic is one of those books that cleared the hot garbage threshold. It's kinda surface-level and tries to cover a lot in the first half, because the last half is chock full of spells and a guide to several kinds of divination: charm casting, bibliomancy (divination using books), pendulums, automatic writing, scrying and crystal balls, tarot, and bird divination.
The tarot section feels a little...basic, but that may be because I have Kitchen Table Tarot by the same author and I'm very familiar with tarot.
of witchcraft and whimsy [2017] Rose Orriculum - @orriculum (Witchcraft 101 masterpost) and @/orriculum on Instagram Keywords: secular, DIY and tutorial, practical, spells, food, candles 10/10 My review
I would give this book to someone who has never even heard of witchcraft before. It goes over mundane common sense needed for witchcraft (such as "not every divination reading is true" and fire safety), debunking common myths about witchcraft, and how to really get started. There's also information about spell work and making potions and tea spells - in fact, the number of spells in here is quite impressive considering how small the book is.
Every single spell is available freely on Orriculum's blog, so when you buy this book, you're really paying for the convenience of not having to shift through their 101 posts and their spells on their blog.
Queering Your Craft [2020] Cassandra Snow - @/tarotcassandra on Instagram Keywords: pseudo-Wiccan, broad, divination, spells, practical, DIY and tutorial 9/10
This is a thick book. While it's more Wiccan-based than the other ones, I feel like the content is worth enough otherwise to add onto this list. It covers almost everything that a beginner could wonder about, and it approaches it from a queer direction. The author is genderfluid and approaches magic from a queer activist angle, pushing for equality in all aspects of witchcraft and its spaces.
However, there are some problems with this book. It's definitely a pusher for the Wheel of the Year, which is...complicated in its history. The author also says that shadow work (which isn't even witchcraft, it's psychology) is necessary. Mx. Snow also cites poppets as coming from voodoo, hoodoo, or "folk magic" - poppets are from an English folk practice and have been adopted into voodoo and hoodoo because that's part how the practitioners were able to continue their religion, but... Look, I have a whole post in the works with sources discussing poppets and their history, just wait for that.
I also had a note in here about Florida Water and appropriation in this book, but I literally can't find where it was because Past Jasper didn't think to write down the page number it was on. Past Jasper is making things very hard for Current Jasper.
But besides these three (four?) problem spots, I still do recommend it. For a book covering a wide array of topics, it's thick enough that it's able to give most of these topics the attention and respect that they deserve.
