Word Witchery: Walking the Path of the Poetry Priestess

by Katie Ness

Abundant with archeological finds, historical research, practical rituals and spells, this book sheds fresh light on ancient magical word craft and unearths the fragmented lives and voices of women mystical poets, writers, chantresses, and bards; many almost lost to obscurity. From Petroglyphic stone magic traversing caves and desert gorges, incantation bowls found in the ancient Near East, votive tablets to goddesses across the mediterranean, notation blessing knives of renaissance Europe and more, Word Witchery explores our intrinsic desire to commune with the divine and supernatural forces via poetry and magical writing. Includes practical writing ritual and spell prompts for the modern Word Witch and Poetry Priestess to connect with feminine divinity, to conjure their own poetry magic and weave their worlds with words.

Genres: Witchcraft

304 pages, Paperback

Published November 18, 2025

About the author

Katie Ness is a historian-in-progress, and yoga instructor specialising in folklore and spirituality, holding a BA Honours in Fine Art from UCLAN, Level 4 certifications in Prehistoric Art: From Paleolithic to the Iron Age, The History of Folklore, The Practice of Magic in Medieval Society and Death & Devotion: The Art of Death across the Middle Ages from Oxford University, and extensive expertise in Yoga history, Vedic philosophy, Tantra, Sanskrit and the Śākta Traditions from the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. Her MA to become an Occult Historian & Folklorist is forthcoming.

As an Ayurvedic yoga instructor (Hatha & Nidra) and wellness educator specialising in women’s spirituality and health-- in particular Grief Yoga and Ritual, Katie integrates yogic principles and foundations in Counselling with pagan practices, priestess ceremonies, women’s circles, womb healing and anointing oils together with therapeutic arts and folk-crafts, and she also offers instruction on the history and philosophy of yoga, available as a guest teacher for teacher training programs.

She has been a contributing writer for Kindred Spirit Magazine, Femme Occulte, Witches Magazine, Occulture Magazine, Haunted Magazine, The Feminine Macabre, The Pagan Dawn and Girl God Books, among a variety of others. Two of her short stories feature in Mulberry Literary and a book collection entitled ‘Incurable’ published with Running Wild Press. Her poetry is published widely with an array of anthologies and two poetry collections entitled ‘Aphrodite Fever Dream’ and ‘Juggernaut’.
Her non-fiction book entitled 'Word Witchery: Walking the Path of the Poetry Priestess' which is out now on Amazon and where books are sold.
She is working on two new manuscripts for potential future publications!


She is a passionate globetrotter, Katie has explored over 25 countries, backpacked through 5 of them, and even set down temporary roots in Cyprus, Bali, and Australia, all while pilgrimaging to sacred sites on her adventures! As an enthusiastic linguaphile she has been learning Italian for over 1.5 years and is also studying Sanskrit consistently with her guru Lakshya and Persian with teacher Layla Shams.

As a devoted Bhakti Yogini of the Shakti tradition and initiated Magdalene Priestess, Katie beautifully weaves together her spiritual practice centred on the sacred feminine with hereditary hedgewitchery and folk magic.


Find her here: katie_wild_witch

Reviews

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating, and in-depth look not just at poetry and magick, but words, goddesses, and their power. Broken into three parts, the first two are the longest, and perhaps the most important. The first part goes in-depth into history, not just of certain goddesses, and poets, but also the etymology of certain words. Although I was familiar with some of those discussed, I learned quite a bit too. This was clearly very well researched, and it’s written and broken down in a way that makes it accessible not just for someone reading it the first time, but to be used later as a reference book. The second part goes in-depth for your own personal practice, and using poetry and spell work. All the chapters in this section were quite helpful, and I’ll definitely be referencing it later. The third section is quite short, and contains some extra poetry and journaling prompts. Overall, this was an excellent and fascinating resource that I highly recommend for anyone who is curious, or who wants to begin writing their own spells but is unsure where to start.

[Elyse Welles · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful introduction for anyone new to using poetry as a magical tool. You’ll meet goddesses and priestesses of the past who worked with poetry as a temple art, and find rituals that help you embed poetry into your spiritual practice. I also appreciated Katie’s discussion on being both a witch and a priestess — even though initiatory witchcraft has a priestess structure, and even though priestesses often do magic, those two communities can see each other as different way too often 🤣 I use both terms myself and I appreciated Katie’s exploration of that in the book, especially in context with ancient cultures.