#rose orriculum

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.

The first book I’d like to talk about is Rose @orriculum‘s of witchcraft and whimsy: A beginner’s guide of witchcraft. A great book for beginners, it covers what is and is not witchcraft and all of the basics from terminology to spell crafting. Even if you feel you’ve pushed past the basics, I’d still recommend this short book for it’s correspondences and all of its teas, bindings, curses, and over 30 spells.  She even breaks down how to write your own! Only 93 pages because there is 0 fluff, just useful and applicable knowledge. I look forward to her writing more! 

BIBLIOPHILIC WITCH REVIEWS » Non-Fiction :: Witchcraft Of Witchcraft and Whimsy by Rose Orriculum (@orriculum)

Of Witchcraft and Whimsy is a fantastic witchcraft 101 book. It gives a great introduction to many of the foundational basics of the practice, defines many terms not always covered in similar texts, and addresses many common misconceptions found in the more easily accessible publications out there. I will absolutely be recommending this book to many looking for a basic introduction of witchcraft along with my usual suggestions. Not only was the information sound, but the author repeatedly used inclusive language to shut down many discriminatory arguments found within the community while also reminding the reader to be respectful of closed traditions and of their local laws.

There were a handful of times I felt the author could`ve taken more time to go more in depth on certain topics. I think these same topics could have been better supported with sources or a “further reading list” to present why some of the misinformation often addressed and argued over within the community is incorrect. I also feel that a disclaimer should have been included at the beginning of this book outlining that when reading any occult book, including this one, the reader should always be critical and discerning.

Finally a note on being self-published and in e-book format. This book did not escape the basic self-publishing grammatical errors. There were several incorrect words such as “or” instead of “of”, missed capitalizations for new sentences, and a few sentences that need some editing to clarify the meaning and/or create better flow. I’m also very unsure how I feel about the use of links. If the reader is reading while connected to the internet this makes a much more interactive and informative experience, but an Internet connection is required and if the author changers their Tumblr URL or deletes their blog the book suddenly finds itself lacking where it depending on links to detail a topic.

★★★★✰

Hello lovelies! I wanted to start a tag of book recommendations so I figured I would start it today! 

Of Witchcraft and Whimsy: A Beginner’s Guide to Witchcraft by Rose Orriculum is a book I found on Amazon for $5 so it is extremely affordable for all the other broke witches out there! It is a very easy read that covers the very basics of different aspects of witchcraft such as different types of spells, potions, and tools. It also covers some different properties of items and how intent is used in witchcraft. Along with this basic overview of the craft it also includes several spells, potions, and teas for the practitioner. 

"of witchcraft and whimsy: a beginner's guide to witchcraft" (yes, in all lowercase) is a book written in 2017 by Rose Orriculum, known here on Tumblr simply as @orriculum. This book is 93 pages long and has paper of...slightly better than mediocre quality, let's say.

I'm gonna be honest here: I love the content of the book, and all of my complaints have to do with editing errors.

Here are the ups:

Queer-inclusive, even mentioning some nonbinary genders by name

Warns against appropriation

Several DIY tutorials that are simple and useful

Very useful potions overview and glossary

Many safety and common sense warnings (my firefighter heart loves the fire safety section)

Emphasizes that witchcraft is what you want it to be

Has a section on when spells fail and what to do afterwards

Separates medicine and witchcraft

Sections on tea, storm, and seasonal magic

I especially want to draw attention to the fact that Orriculum breaks things down into simple steps that are easy to follow. As someone with so many brain things that makes reading and following complicated instructions difficult, I appreciate the bulletpoints.

I'm also thankful that the font isn't very small (not like the fucking Iliad I got) so it's easier on my poor, damaged eyes.

There's also an extensive section on spells separated by category, in case you haven't seen their blog, their original spell storing blog, or their "Pastel Spells" book (which, yes, I'll be reviewing later because of course I got both). I was delighted to see a few of their pop culture spells included (such as the Rose Quartz Shielding Spell, the Lapis Water Binding, and the Venus Transformation Glamour).

And as I said, my complaints really just boil down to my editing brain noticing typos, capitalization issues, inconsistent spacing and paragraph breaks, and other miscellaneous things.

Official Jasper Review: 10/10, a very good book for beginners

"Pastel Spells" is a book written in 2017 by Rose Orriculum, known here on Tumblr simply as @orriculum. This book is 139 pages long and has paper slightly better than mediocre quality, much like "of witchcraft and whimsy".

Unlike the other book by Orriculum, this doesn't teach you about magic. This book is a compilation of Orriculum's original spells in a paper format for those of us that struggle with gathering spells or struggle with reading screens and need books.

Like with the other book I've reviewed, most of my complaints center on editing errors, but there are fewer than there were in "of witchcraft and whimsy". However, some spells take one page, some fall onto the next page, and some have weird spacing at the top of the page. It's pretty weird.

Also, the both covers are grainy as fuck. I'm glad I can still read it, because the white font on the pink background is bad enough even when the letters are sharp. I don't know if this is a problem through the publisher (cough, Amazon) or if it's someone else's fault, but it's something to make note of.

But that's enough griping, because this is a good book! The spells are broken down nicely into categories (though there are more spells in some categories than others) and are super easy to read because of the large font. As someone with vision problems, thank you Orriculum for that!

There's a pretty standard array of spells that you normally find in these books along with a few curveballs to keep you on your game. The spells are broken down into the following categories:

romantic

sexual

anti-love

platonic love/friendship

relationship help

sour relationship help

self-love

self-care (habits)

self-care (emotional) - by far the most expansive section

healing

gender & orientation spells

curses

The foreword is honestly beautiful to read and fascinating, because it gives you some insight into Orriculum's craft and how it's based in love for everything. It's what I would call "sappy as shit" and it's very nice.

And like in Orriculum's other book, their pop culture and music spells make an appearance!

Official Jasper Review: 9/10, a very good book to keep on hand and reference if you can't access the internet all the time, but consider doing another round of editing

And once again, every spell in this book is available on Orriculum's blog or saved on @orriculum-grimoire. When you buy this book, you're paying for the convenience of having them all right in front of you. If you don’t want to buy the physical book through Amazon, Orriculum offers the PDF/DOC versions of their books on their Etsy store!