#kitchen table magic

Making deckboxes out of cardboard is super easy. I’ve been doing it for a little while now and they mostly seem to be holding up pretty well. I do keep my decks inside larger plastic containers, though, so it no doubt would be a different story if you subscribed to the “throw the deck into the backpack” school of transport options. I just took some photos while I was making a few more boxes…

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.

I remember winning countless games off of Foul-Tongue Shriek of all cards.

I had this small deck mainly built around the Magic Origins Elf package, which tbh was probably what won my most games, but Shriek was often such a nice finisher for when punching through usually wasn't enough.

You could usually amount pretty huge boards, but at the time I had no amount of evasion and I don't think there was any proper elf lords printed around that time either? So some times Shriek was the only way to actually finish the game.

Actually a couple of games might have been one off of some cheeky Might of the Masses plays as well.

Another kinda janky common spell from origins that really overperformed at kitchen table magic.

It just had to be Rosewater, right? Early issues of The Duelist are wild. Although I was surprised it took until issue 8 until I found any decklists — that weren’t examples of limited pools or part of tournament reports at least. Issue 4 did have a run down on how you can make smart trades and take advantage of Ante to improve your starter deck (essentially a bigger booster pack with basics) and…

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Treat

How about a cool passage out of one of my reference books?

From "Kitchen Table Magic" by Melissa Cynova:

CORDS

Knot magic, also known as cord magic, can be used to bind an intention or to release it. Think of it as a little pouch. When you tie the knot, you bind the intention inside it. This is a quick, easy magical tool that you can use for almost anything - health, wealth, to hold your attention or focus, and so on. You can use anything from thread to rope to scarves to hair to create the knots and can put charms or beads for a symbolic push. You can use natural cord if you want to burn or bury it. I always keep something on hand too. You never know. Some folks who are far craftier than I are spinning their own cords. This is an amazing way to be 100 percent certain of what's in your tool and invest as much energy in it as you want.

You tie the knot: the spell is cast. You untie or burn the knot: the spell is released. When I was in junior high, knotted friendship bracelets were huge. Someone would make bracelets out of a series of knots and give them to their friends. I wore one for about six years straight and never took it off. When it finally broke, I felt a small sense of loss. I can't really describe it. It was as if I had been given a little bit of grace, and when the bracelet broke, the grace dispersed.

Cords perform powerful magic and are used to bind the item into the working. You are using your hands and skills to build something tangible, and there is magic in that action alone. Making and unmaking - these are the two sides of the universe. Each causes a shift in the energy of the universe, and having a hand in these shifts is powerful stuff. Even tying a knot makes a shift.

I’ve not picked these up yet. I’ll just start with that, I think. Prerelease was last week, so I could have grabbed them then. I had gone into my LGS for Combat Patrol league. So given my normal reviewing system is “how much do I want to play with this?”… they clearly don’t rank highly by that metric. Though it is also (still!) the school holidays, and I’m still recovering from the whole…

This is part of a series where I aggregate reviews and other information about an older preconstructed Magic: the Gathering deck. The idea is that anyone who is interested in finding content – be it contemporary or more recent – about it for whatever reason can use this as a jumping off point. Turnabout So I have absolutely no idea why the screenshot below has a Commander field. Though,…