A Confluence of Witches: Celebrating Our Lunar Roots, Decolonizing the Craft, and Reenchanting Our World

by Casey Zabala (Editor)

Featuring a “Who’s Who” of voices from the contemporary witchcraft community, A Confluence of Witches is an invitation to practicing witches, and those newly drawn to the craft, to explore the authentic intersections of magic, spirituality, personal development, and social justice.

A Confluence of Witches aims to highlight how witchcraft has always been a diverse, constantly evolving, culturally specific practice with many lineages and rich traditions. It features essays, spells, and reflections from witches, traditional healers, herbalists, and artists on themes of magical activism, animism, and merging ancient practices with modern technologies, among other mystical subjects. The diverse representation of contributors will honor and celebrate the multicultural and multivalent ways that the witch operates within our society.

With an increased interest in and practice of witchcraft comes a greater need for authentic sources of wisdom that are culturally relevant and sensitive to the many lineages and traditions of witchcraft, healing work, and magic. A Confluence of Witches provides insights and perspectives from a diverse range of people who in one form or another identify as a “witch.” The anthology’s contributors are from the African diaspora, Indigenous traditions, Latinx practitioners, of Romani descent, and mixed-race witches—each with their own sacred blend of spirituality to share. These voices come together to illuminate the multitude of ways one can practice.

Contributions to this anthology have been made by the following adrienne maree brown, Aja Daashuur, Alejandra Luisa León, Amanda Yates Garcia, Angela Mary Magick, Ariella Daly, Aurora Luna (aka)Baby Reckless, Damiana Calvario, Dori Midnight, Edgar Fabián Frías, Eliza Swann, Jessie Susannah Karnatz, Jezmina Von Thiele, Kiki Robinson, Kimberly Rodriguez, Liz Migliorelli, Madre Jaguar, Maria Minnis, Olivia Ephraim Pepper, Rachel Howe, Sanyu Estelle, Star Feliz

Genres: Nonfiction, Witchcraft, Audiobook

221 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 7, 2024

Reviews

[Laurel · Rating 3 out of 5]

”…magic is a force akin to gravity or light. It is essential, inherent, sentient, existing for its own purposes and by its own rules. We can bend magic so it produces and amplifies particular results, just as we can bend white light through a prism to produce refractions of color. This is where art comes in. We bend the forces of magic through ritual, sound, image and poetry to point its energy in a particular direction to produce an astounding array of quantum outcomes.”

This compilation of diverse texts is a compendium of spells, histories, essays, meditations and other writings that show how witchcraft has existed in various forms throughout time and cultures.

“The stage had already been set by the patriarchal Greek culture that celebrated taking the earth goddess out of the oracles’ mouths and replacing their voices with that of the sky god. Colonial culture continues to skew its measure of intelligence and comfort toward the rational male who dwells in cities, and to model its definition of stupidity and terror after an irrational female who dwells in nature.“

I received an audio advanced reader copy from NetGalley — I would recommend getting this as a paper book, though. I imagine anyone who is personally interested in exploring this topic will want to flag and mark up their own copy, and be able to flip through as a reference.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting on multiple levels, but the 1st half is really just random tidbits on paganism across various cultures worldwide. The information was interesting but was quickly followed by unrelated but also interesting information. It did not feel cohesive. I kinda felt I was listening to an anthology of paganesque worldwide practices. It was interesting but chaotic.

This is basically a 'bible' of spells, practices, histories, medications, essays, and other writings on the topic of Lunar importance in worldwide pagan belief systems.

This definitely has value and adds to the conversation on witch or pagan beliefs and practices worldwide focusing on the moon. I just think this needed to be more ordered in the dispensing of this knowledge.

This audiobook is narrated by Morgan Dalla Betta and Krysta Gonzales. They both did a job keeping this somewhat loose text flowing and interesting.

Thank you to Casey Zabala, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. All opinions and viewpoints expressed in this review are my own. 

[Dee Burk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange an honest review.

This was a really enjoyable and informative book. I have read quite a few books about witchcraft and this modern edition was really great. I learned about parts of witchcraft that I never knew before.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to know more about witchcraft and different parts of the practice.
This book is a collection of different authors and stories, combined to give a broad picture of what witchcraft is.

[Nicole Bergen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun in bite-sized amounts from many different cultures. It contains many interesting ideas, even if they’re not all for me.

[Edie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely, lovely book. A Confluence of Witches explores a variety of personal journeys in a collection of essays and practices. If you are interested in the spiritual paths of other people, in indigenous practices, in the intersection of community care and social justice, this book will provide plenty of food for thought and action items while challenging you to explore your own path. Thank you to the authors, editor, narrators, publisher and NetGalley for the audio ARC.

I am always a bit sad that I only get to live this life as myself and appreciate anytime I get to peek into someone else's lived experience. This book is that gift. This is not my spiritual journey - it was a joy to encounter such a thoughtful and compassionate collection of others' experiences. I particularly loved the chapter on bees. The sheer variety of voices made for a thoughtful reading experience. The care that went into assembling this collection is evident.

[Rae · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Confluence of Witches is a compilation of myths, witchy history, essays, meditations, and commentary gathered from a variety of practicing witches. I loved the diversity of voices that we hear from in this anthology, and some of the rituals and reflections described gave me eager inspiration for my own.

I did find the first half to be particularly dry, and other than an interesting fact here and there, I didn’t really enjoy the book until the second half. I personally wasn’t a fan of the writings on digital cosmology, but not everything is going to resonate with everyone. It was an interesting read and stirred some genuine reflections, but it’s not something that I’ll come back to.

[Misty · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I loved about this book was the different perspective each writer had concerning their craft. The stories flowed together nicely and made listening to the audiobook enjoyable.

I think I would have rather had a copy that I could visually read so I could reference back to it.

Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Audio for the Audio ARC.

[Angharad · Rating 1 out of 5]

No <3

[Anonymous · Rating 4 out of 5]

Equal parts fascinating nonsense and insightful analysis.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was not for me, I didn’t really connect with the stories, and some of this was downright weird to me.

I still appreciate getting a variety of opinions and styles though.

[Louisa Mackay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. Will be rereading it again and again. Thank you, Casey and all contributing writers, for being.