The Witch's Spellbook: Enchantments, Incantations, and Rituals from Around the World

by Sarah Bartlett

Tap into your intuition and manifest your dreams with this powerful collection of spells, rituals, and enchantments that align with the cycles of nature and the universe.

Magic can be found in every part of the living world—you just need to know how to tap into it. The Witch’s Spellbook reveals how, by casting spells in tune with the natural world, you can shape and take responsibility for your destiny .

Following a brief introduction to the basics of witchcraft , The Witch’s Spellbook holds an abundance of spells organized by concern —including your self , change , wishes , love , home and family , career , money , and protection . Each spell draws upon world traditions, sacred holidays, and lunar events such as solstices and equinoxes.

This eclectic spellbook also uses invocations, blessings, talismans, and amulets drawn from a wide range of traditional magic practice form around the world , including medieval grimoires, ancient Mesopotamian and Egyptian magical tablets, and Greco-Roman Magic tests, all completely updated for the modern-day witch.

The spells
 
Plan your spellwork by date, season, and lunar phase , and identify spells that can be used any time, using the calendar index of spells at the back of the book.

Whether you’re new to witchcraft or have an established practice, this will become your go-to guide to practical magic for every day and every event.

Genres: Witchcraft, Nonfiction, Occult, Paganism, Wicca

176 pages, Hardcover

Published April 10, 2018

About the author

Sarah Bartlett (D.Psych Astrol) is the author of international best-selling books including The Tarot Bible, The Little Book of Practical Magic, The Witch's Spellbook and National Geographic's Guide to Supernatural Places. As contributing astrologer to media such as Cosmopolitan, She, Spirit & Destiny, the London Evening Standard and BBC Radio 2, Sarah now practices and teaches tarot, natural magic, astrology and other esoteric arts. She lives in the countryside.

Reviews

[SA · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a weird one. A startlingly modernist design, for a straight grimoire that draws a great deal from medievalist sources. That was rather interesting -- the author adapted a number of spells from medieval grimoires to a contemporary variation. However, at least a third or half of the spells in the book were ceremonial Wicca/Traditional Witchcraft adaptations of non-European cultural and religious practices that speak to appropriation, colonialism, and institutional racism.

For example, the spell "Make a Lifestyle Change" calls on the Diné deity Estsanatlehi [Turquoise Woman] with the following incantation:

Sky West and crooked her hair falls East
The flames of change lift Earth to North
From the cauldron Silver burns
And Southward flows her gown of Gold
To track the pathways of the Sun
The Moon and Stars will all be One."

Whether this was a straight invention on Bartlett's part, or adaptation of some other text, it's problematic.

I will say this, the author does give a little bit of background to the deity she invokes with each spell, so in terms of learning something it's a little ahead of the "insert coin, call deity" versions of spellbooks that adorn the store shelves for magic and witchcraft. But not by much.

The spells are pretty long, for the genre, and involve multiple steps; the majority of them call on specific days, times, or holidays for effectiveness.

Unsurprisingly the "romance" spells were the worst of the lot; "Ignite Desire", a spell that "attract[s] someone to you" calls for naming someone specific to desire you with the winning cantrip "Let [name] find they want to stay/Each night wrapped close within my arms/Each day infatuated with my charms", because nothing says true romance like binding someone to you without their consent. "Change Someone's Heart" takes that line of nonconsensual intimacy further by having the caster write the name of individual they desire on a piece of paper with the cantrip "Thrice I bind, thrice times their love for me/Thrice I bind and thrice times thrice their ecstasy./For with this charm, they will be mine./Not bound but free to love in chosen time." And of course, for "the spell to work, you must never tell that person about the talisman." I'm really feeling the staying power of this romance.

What fucks me off about this, aside from my standard frustration with the inclusion of spells that apply one's will to another person without that person's consent, is that the author has a short section on the ethics of magic, "Do the Right Thing":

Each time you cast a spell, think about your motives: Are they with goodwill, with no intentions of hurting anyone else?

I guess that sniff test doesn't apply if you really really want person X to get with you, though.

I'd give this one a pass -- there are better volumes out there for the novice and intermediate spellworker alike.

[Sosanna Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting with the cover of the book, my previous review made it hard for this book to keep up. Both were bound the same. The desperate need for a dust jacket was the only flaw here. The book is hard cover with excellently aligned pages and a fabric feel to the cover. On the first page (which is completely yellow) there is a tiny little voodoo doll icon in the right corner. I love this. It set the mood for the book in my opinion. This little touch let me know this was going to be strictly a spell book. There is a very brief introduction with about six pages on tips, tools and tricks and then BAM! We're into the magic.

The spells are broken down by category with all the usual needs. Love. Money. Home and Career. And where would we be without a section on protection, am I right?

Each page is a spell. It covers what you need for the spell, when to cast and the history behind the spell origin or source. There are references to Minoan, Roman cultures as well as astrological references and even Hecate makes an appearance. She is called upon by the epithet - Trivia.

In the section titled Career and Success

Part of the incantation reads:
"Come hither, Trivia,

Come now to the crossroads of choice

Come, having one mind with me

Draw near, and bestow grace upon my desire."

~The Witch's Spellbook page 120

I like this book as it pulls from different paths. Just a short 10 pages later we come upon Norse symbolism in the spell for enhanced Charisma. The author uses Ansuz, Hagalaz, Jera, Dagaz, Mannaz, Wunjo and Inguz to pull together an incantation to sell your ideas, market your wares or increase your charisma.

Part of the incantation reads:

"Ansuz, Laguz, golds of old

Let my powers of persuasion begin to unfold

That all I say, write or desire

Will me the dreams to which I aspire.....

~The Witch's Spellbook page 130


Over all, a really informative book and one that I could see a beginner or maybe even a skilled witch look to for references across alternate paths of study.

[Maggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine as a reference work but the around the world aspect doesn’t do much for my practice. I don’t want to appropriate from previously victimized cultures that I can make no claims of descent from. Learning about various Native American/Haitian/Jewish etc. magick rituals is interesting but a majority of it is traditions I have no right to insert myself into so a lot of value of the book is lost for me.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book and the collective organized calander in the back is so great for planning a witchy year!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good little book of spells, mainly based off of Wiccan rules such as threefold law etc.

[Bucky F · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the format a lot, and the illustrations. The assigned times and dates seemed arbitrary at times, without relevant connection to the festival or holiday being cited.