Sponsored by Amy Blackthorn, Author (amyblackthorn.as.me)
Queer Rites by Enfys J. Book:
Embrace Your Personal Power with 20 Queer-Specific Rituals
Queer people go through all kinds of unique milestones and rites of passage as we grow into our true selves. Whether you are coming out, attending your first Pride parade, or changing your pronouns, this book will help you enter these rites of passage thoughtfully and spiritually.
Enfys J. Book (they/them) is the author of the Gold COVR award-winning Queer Qabala, co-author (with Ivo Dominguez, Jr.) of Sagittarius Witch, and author of Queer Rites: A Magickal Grimoire to Honor Your Milestones with Pride (Llewellyn, 2025). They are the High Priest of the Fellowship of the Ancient White Stag coven near Washington, D.C. Enfys has taught classes on magickal practice around the world. They are also the creator of majorarqueerna.com, a website devoted to queer magickal practice, and host a podcast called “4 Quick Q’s: Book Talk with Enfys,” where they interview pagan authors using questions determined by a roll of the dice.
"Imposter syndrome is the human's natural predator."
-Lauren Parker
Spells for Success: Deck and Guidebook 40 Spells to Set Intentions and Manifest Everyday Wins by Lauren Parker
Sponsored by Amy Blackthorn Intuitive (https://amyblackthorn.as.me/schedule/5eacb6fa)
Lauren Parker stops by the Podcast to talk about growing up on the move, "My hometown is the back of a station wagon."
After you listen, go read 'Wise Child,' by Monica Furlong.
Edited by Cassandra Snow. (Cassandra-Snow.com)
Cassandra is a professional tarot card reader, and teacher, writer, and theather maker in Minneapolis, MN. Cassandra's writing focuses on tarot, paganism, arts journalism, queer lifestyle and personal storytelling. They are the author of Queering the Tarot and Queering your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins and co-authored Lessons from the Empress: a Tarot Workbook for Self-Care and Creative Grow
Sponsored by Amy Blackthorn Intuitive (amyblackthorn.as.me)
Media mentioned during the episode.
Becoming Dangerous: Witchy Femmes, Queer Conjurers, and Magical Rebels by Katie West
Queer Magic: Power Beyond Boundaries by Lee Harrington
Queering the Tarot by Cassandra Snow
Queer Devotion: Spirituality Beyond the Binary in Myth, Story, and Practice by Charlie Claire Burgess
Radical Tarot: Queer the Cards, Liberate Your Practice, and Create the Future by Charlie Claire Burgess
78 Acts of Liberation: Tarot to Transform Our World by Lane Smith
Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness by Rachel Pollack
Finding the Fool: A Tarot Journey to Radical Transformation by Meg Jones WallTarot Original
1909 Tarot Circular Deck Cards, Sasha Graham
Next World Tarot: by Cristy C. Road
The Linestrider Tarot Cards by Siolo Thompson
The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans
Deviant Moon Tarot by Patrick Valenza
Crow Tarot by MJ Cullinane
Fat Folks Tarot (Fat Folks dot org)
Slow Holler Tarot Deck https://slowholler.com
5th Spirit Tarot Charlie Claire Burgess
Jasper @queerconjure
Houseplant Tarot: A 78-Card Deck of Adorable Plants and Succulents for Magical Guidance by Minerva Siegel
Moonlight Dream Tarot deck
In this episode I'll be answering listener emails!
BlackthornGrovePodcast@gmail.com to submit your questions.
Podcast sponsored by Blackthorn's Botanicals. Tea of the day: The White Witch (of Narnia), for an almond black tea, with cream and ginger.
Topics discussed today:
- Where does Witchcraft live?
-Brief discussion of tarot
-How Witchcraft works
Agency.
-How to write a spell
Example: Stabilizing finances
Ancestors
Plant spirits
Example: frankincense
-Magical Specializations
-Advice for new practitioners
-Initiation through Death -Celebrities Practicing WitchcraftAmy references her positive experience on "This Circle is Podcast" https://thecircleispodcast.buzzsprout.com and mentions public figures, noting the complexities and potential backlash celebrities may encounter when sharing their spiritual practices.
-Witchcraft Practices and Book of Shadows Discussion on whether a Book of Shadows is necessary in witchcraft.
-Length of Service vs. Credibility in WitchcraftLength of service does not automatically equate to authority or credibility, and experience is subjective and context-dependent.- Group Mind in Coven Dynamics Examines how the addition or departure of members affects the group mind or collective thought form of a coven. -Belief and Thought Forms in Magic Discusses the importance of belief in magic and the creation of thought forms. - Doubt and Skepticism in Magic Addresses how doubt can undermine magic, as doubt is described as the "killer of all magic." The speaker encourages healthy skepticism but poses a question about what might be lost—such as childlike wonder or ancestral connection—when realism overtakes magical belief. Listeners are invited to share their thoughts and experiences.
Sources:
Blackthorn's Botanical Magic by Amy Blackthorn
Blackthorn's Protection Magic by Amy Blackthorn
https://www.thecut.com/2019/09/i-want-to-believe-that-jennifer-aniston-has-formed-a-coven.html
Diana Rajchel, author of Hex Twisting: Countermagick Spells for the Irritated Witch, stopped by the podcast to talk the nature of curses!
DianaRajchel.com
Sponsored by AmyBlackthorn.com
Food has the power to nourish both our bodies and our spirits. The Kitchen Witch’s Culinary Oracle Deck harnesses this spiritual nutrition to provide guidance and inspiration from the foods and tools already in your home.
With recipe suggestions and simple spells, these 50 cards invite you to go beyond divination and to harness the power of food to nourish and energize. Come learn about the different associations, connections, and uses of the different ingredients and utensils in your home, like:
So come, pull a card, make a meal, and nourish your spirit. With instructions on different card layouts and a QR code taking users to even more information and inspired recipes, this oracle deck is the perfect gift for anyone who loves the warmth of the kitchen, including yourself!
Crystals for Psychic Self-Defense: 145 Gemstones for Banishing, Binding, and Magickal Protection Paperback – A full-color guide to protection, cleansing, and countermagick with crystals
• Presents magickal techniques with crystals for warding off harmful energies, binding, and curse breaking, including crystal grids, amulets, spells, and rituals
• Explains how to discern the symptoms of psychic attack and offers multiple methods for cleansing your energy field and your crystals
• Includes an in-depth directory of 145 of the most powerful and effective crystals and gemstones for protection, banishing, and recovery from psychic attack
Blackthorn's Protection Magic contains a 13,000 word escape and evasion course that includes how to evade a stalker, escape kidnapping, lose a tail and make it home safely.
Take care of each other.
LTZ: Artist, Author, Witch.
An artist, author, and fusion bellydance performer, Rhode Island-based Renaissance Witch Laura Tempest Zakroff is a simmering cauldron of talents and projects. They stopped by. TBG to talk about their work, Templefest shenanigans, book recs and more!
https://lauratempestzakroff.com/
Stuff discussed in this episode includes:
Adobe Fresco app
Blackfeather Mystery School: The Magpie Training by Irene Glasse & Caine Dreamwalker
A Witch's Ally: Building a Magical Relationship with Animal Familiars & Companions by Dodie Graham McKay and Kelden
Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small by Ted Andrews
Wise Child by Monica Furlong
Over Labor Day weekend (US) I was the keynote speaker for Templefest, put on by the amazing members of the Temple of Witchcraft. The lovely CD offered to record the speech and it is offered here for your listening enjoyment. I 100% endorse anyone attending Templefest and hope you find it as loving and inclusive as I did.
Blackthorn's Book of Sacred Plant Magic is available now, wherever fine books are sold.
Beck Lawrence (they/them) lunar witch, and polytheist, is battling an unjust law in the state of Pennsylvania, making it illegal to read tarot or engage in 'fortune telling' activities. This is their story.
Please feel free to sign the petition to overturn this archaic law.
https://www.change.org/p/challenge-the-constitutionality-of-pennsylvania-title-18-section-7104
Davezilla became in 2001 the first blogger to be sued by a billion-dollar company (he won). Because of this, there is a Davezilla Wikipedia page and Dave has the dubious distinction of being a verb in the Urban Dictionary. He is a Gardnerian witch (initiated 1979), Discordian (hot dogs on Fridays), Ngangalero (initiated 1993), Santero (initiated 2006), and full-time illustrator. He prefers to paint occult, cryptid, alien, and other fringe topics. He has over forty years in occult/new age religions and thirty years of illustration experience.
https://davezilla.com
Sabrina is a teacher, diviner, writer, and coach. Over the last 40 years, she's developed her own system of reading and teaching tarot using round tarot cards. She's an Elder in the Blue Star Tradition of Wicca who also practices Buddhism, and a graduate of the Gryphon’s Grove School of Shamanism. In a former life, Sabrina was a social scientist who loved being a professor. During her academic career, she excavated Mayan ruins as an archaeologist and directed an interdisciplinary Urban Health Ph.D program as a medical anthropologist. Now she's a full-time Diviner who specializes in deep dive-readings that encourage personal transformation. Most of her clients are teachers, healers, witches, and change agents---people who are here to create a new kind of world.
Jamie Anderson said, “Grief is just love with no place to go.”
Today we hear from three experts on grief in their chosen fields and discuss how it applies to the witchcraft community.
Lulu- @thesalemplantwitch on TT. Runs a therapeutic group for witches in berevement.
Mortellus @acrowandthedead on Insta. Author of 'Do I Have to Wear Black? Rituals, Customs and Funerary Etiquette for Modern Pagans' and 'The Bones Fall In a Spiral: a Necromantic Primer.'
Courtney Weber @courtneyaweber on Insta. One of the hosts of That Witch Life podcast; author of the forthcoming 'Sacred Tears: A Witch's Guide to Grief.' Out June 2024.
Books mentioned in this episode include:
It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand by Megan Devine and Mark Nepo
Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them): A Practical Perspective on Death and Dying by Sallie Tisdale
The Worm at the Core: On the Role of Death in Life by Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, et al.
There Is No Good Card for This: What To Say and Do When Life Is Scary, Awful, and Unfair to People You Love by Kelsey Crowe and Emily McDowell
For children dealing with grief:
Death Is Stupid (Ordinary Terrible Things) by Anastasia Higginbotham
“A beautiful blend of folklore, botanical science, acquired wisdom, and spiritual guidance.” —from the foreword by Luisah Teish
Stephanie Rose Bird is a painter and the author of several bestselling books on earth spirituality, hoodoo, and anthropology, including Sticks, Stones, Roots and Bones; 365 Days of Hoodoo; Light, Bright and Damned Near White; and African American Magick. Bird, who holds a BFA cum laude and MFA, is a devotee of the Divinely Feminine. She is an Elder, Priestess, magick maker, and keeper of the spiritual wisdom of her indigenous African ancestors. Her work centers on the nexus of earth wisdom and the legacy of Black cultural heritage. Find her at stephanierosebird.com and follow her on Instagram @s.r.bird.
Also mentioned in this episode, Jambalaya: The Natural Woman's Book of Personal Charms and Practical Rituals
Deborah Castellano is author of 'Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want' and 'Magic for Troubled Times: Rituals, Recipes and Real Talk for Witches' along with an assortment of short erotica pieces published by Cleis Press. She is an independent maker of ritual perfumes and other fineries and active in her local chosen communities. https://www.deborahcastellano.com/
Sponsored by Blackthorn's Botanicals
The delightful Thumper Forge @fivefoldlaw has stopped by to to talk about divination, and their lithomancy/geomancy practice and other fun things along the way!
In this episode recorded March 2022, Devin Hunter from Modern Witch dot com interviews Amy.
https://modernwitch.com/
Join The Blackthorn Grove in welcoming Victoria Laurie, author of the Psychic Eye Mysteries, as well as several other amazing series to talk about life as an author, questions she gets as a Medium, and how to balance it all and get words on the page!
Sponsored by Blackthorn's Botanicals tea shop.