Daily Magic: Spells and Rituals for Making the Whole Year Magical

by Judika Illes

A year-long collection of spells and rituals for harnessing the magical power of each day from the author of the Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells.

We all could use a little magic in our daily lives. But while the year is filled with mystical dates, we don’t always know when and how to celebrate them. By knowing and preparing for these special days we can use their inherent power to change our lives.

Daily Magic is a perpetual calendar focused on days of spiritual and magical significance. April 30th for example, is perfect for spellcasting—especially spells for love, romance, fertility, and prosperity. Judika Illes teaches you how to create rituals and cast spells, provides recipes for potions, and offers advice on creating feasts to honor sacred beings.

While the most spiritually significant power dates of the year are Midsummer’s Eve, Halloween/Samhain, and New Year’s, opportunities to use rituals and spells for the most popular goals—love, prosperity, fertility, healing, and protection—occur every week. Illes offers guidance on when to perform a spell—whether it’s best to conjure now or to wait for a special power date later in the year.

Daily Magic is a spiritual daily calendar that give us the power and the tools we need to take control of our destiny!

Genres: Witchcraft, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paganism, Ebooks, Occult, Wicca

592 pages, Hardcover

Published August 31, 2021

About the author

Born in New York City, my metaphysical career began early: My first encounter with tarot cards at age six was also my first experience of love at first sight! That passion still burns true. Although I do practice other forms of divination, tarot remains the foundation of my practice.

A lifelong pursuit of metaphysical wisdom followed and continues: astrology, mythology, Kabbalah, the Egyptian mysteries as well as spiritual, magical and healing traditions from all over Earth but particularly Africa and Asia.

I've also been a blues and free-form rock and roll disc jockey, a corporate travel consultant specializing in the Caribbean, a skin-care and cosmetics consultant, and a teacher of mythology and multicultural studies. I wrote and edited the Ancient Beauty Secrets section for the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism's monthly online magazine, which integrated modern aromatherapy with ancient methods of body care and decoration.

True love's arrows pierced my heart yet again when I first encountered a vial of essential oil. (Essential oil of frankincense, to be exact, still a favorite.) Essential oils are not true oils but potent plant extracts. Modern aromatherapy, with its roots stretching back to ancient China, Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Middle East, is the manipulation of essential oils for therapeutic and cosmetic purposes. Essential oils are perhaps the purest, most potent expression of a plant's power and play a profound role in rituals, potions and spells. Many are powerful aphrodisiacs and may be used to enhance health, beauty and peace of mind.

Following over a decade of independent study, I earned a certificate in therapeutic aromatherapy. I served on the faculty of the Australasian College of Herbal Studies as an aromatherapy tutor, teaching the certification program.

My special passion for almost fifteen years has been magical and traditional approaches to fertility. Originally stimulated by own reproductive challenges, I was frustrated by the medical options offered to me. I went searching for other avenues, gentle Earth and female-friendly solutions and found them: a vast repository of women's wisdom. Two children and many years later, I still search and research, impressed and empowered by thousands of years of women's inventiveness, endurance, defiance and humor.

Reviews

[Sam (Hissing Potatoes) · Rating 1 out of 5]

-mashes up distinct religions/traditions into contextless ritual suggestions, including those of closed traditions
-makes frequent generic claims like "today is auspicious for X" without explaining where or why
-includes a bibliography, but it contains questionable websites (surely there was some newer, more reliable source than an archive.org link to a geocities page)
-doesn't indicate which sources were used for particular claims, preventing interested readers from efficiently following up
-apparently didn't find anything for some dates and just made things up from popular media or generic trends (e.g. Severus Snape's birthday became a day for potions; a random day in January focuses on magical safety travel tips since it's often snowy in the Northern Hemisphere)
-makes historically inaccurate or, at best, very stretched claims like mid-February dates being associated with Valentine's Day themes for thousands of years (that's on the very first page, by the way) or that we don't know anything about St. Valentine besides his name and burial date

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daily Magic is so much better than I imagined it would be! For some reason I was expecting a book with 365 little bits of magic you can do on any random day. What I got was a treasure trove of witchcraft lore for every single day on the calendar! The introduction provides a great foundation for the history of calendars and special, magical dates throughout the year. Then it is broken down by month, and each date has its own collection of correspondences, deities, special rites and rituals throughout witchy history, and ideas for infusing that particular day with magic. I really appreciated the depth and range of information provided in this book. I am really looking forward to using it as a daily magical bit of reading, and as a reference for planning special dates in the future. Yes -- very soon after starting this advance copy, I went online and pre-ordered my own physical copy, which will be filled with my own marked pages and notes!

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given that I received an ARC, and haven’t actually purchased the book, I wasn’t able to truly use the book as intended- a book of rituals and spells to incorporate into daily life.

I love Judika Illes and some of her previous books, and she really did a ton of research for this book to be able to give such interesting and detailed information about every day’s history, or about a saint associated with that day.

I also enjoyed the variety of the types of spells, most of which weren’t complex and did not have ridiculously expensive and endless ingredient lists, which I appreciated! There were baths, tarot spells, protection spells, oils, and a variety of other kinds of spells- seriously, a completely different one for each day.

This is a book I’m considering purchasing for the future as I am somewhat obsessed with books meant to be referenced daily. The only complaint I have is that I don’t see myself actually working some of these spells. An example of such is a random day in January, the spell of the day is for employment- but it may not be useful for me on that specific day, however it’s a good reference for a future date where I may need one, or simply could note some of the ingredients to build a future spell off of for another day or purpose.

There were plenty of spells I am interested in doing, so for that reason I am likely to purchase this, if not for the information throughout the year alone.

I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

[Ophelia Feyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review: Daily Magic - Spells and Rituals for Making the Whole Year Magical by Judika Illes.
Genre: Body, Mind, Spirit / Magic Studies
Publisher: Harper One / Harper Collins
Release Date: 31st, August, 2021

This book was very kindly send to me by Harper One books.

Video Review on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6WGZL80Br00

About the Author
Judika Illes lives in New York and has been a professional card reader and spiritual counsellor for over thirty years. She is also an aromatherapist and editor. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Communications. Her writing tends to focus on folklore, mythology, astrology, spell casting, herbalism and the occult, witchcraft and divination - all that good stuff! Some of her books include, Encyclopaedia of 5000 spells, Encyclopaedia of Spirits, Encyclopaedia of Witchcraft, Pure Magic and loads more.

About the Book
The blurb on the back says the book is;

"Everything your need for your most magical year yet. Let Judika Illes be your guide to helping you prepare, celebrate, and harness the power of each day. Organised to be used throughout the calendar year, inside you’ll find:
Ideal spells to cast on a specific day, or ingredients to gather to prepare for spells later that week.
Goddesses, spirits, saints, and the feast days when venerating them is most powerful.
Rituals, potions, and recipes to assist with love, fertility, money, protection, guidance, and more.
Power days and moveable feats the allow you to organise your schedule in a more magical way."
On the inside cover it says.

"The year is filled with magical dates, if only we know when and how to celebrate them. How often do we discover that it is the perfect day for a sorely needed magic spell, but, because we didn’t know until the last minute, we lack the supplies and an opportunity for spell-casting and magical celebration is lost?"

I think this sums up the book perfectly. It covers every day of the year. If you’re feeling particularly magickal, and are not sure what to do, then a quick flip to the day in the book provides you with something you can do. Each day has information about all sorts of things related to that day whether it be a spell, a Saint or Goddess. It also features the usual festivals from the wheel of the year.

My Thoughts
Firstly, I think a lot of us start out with good intentions to add all the ‘special days’, that we want to honour or celebrate, to our diaries. But, as Judika mentions, life is busy and time gets away from us. Essentially, with this book, she has done all that hard work for us.

When it comes to reading the book, you don’t need to read it cover to cover. Although, that’s what I did for the review, I think it’s designed to be dipped in and out of during the year. You might read it daily or weekly. Personally, I think it would be good to read it monthly. At the end of one month you can read for the following month. That way you know what’s coming soon, and you can prepare or set reminders for specific things.

I have used tabs to organise the book, and I would definitely recommend doing that as it makes it easier to find the bits I want. I put tabs to mark where the months are, so it’s easy to jump to the relevant month, and tabs for the eight Sabbats from the wheel of the year. Then I added some tabs for other things that I connected with or wanted to be able to easily find. Mostly, I found myself adding tabs for rituals I wanted to come back to or where there was information about deities I was interested in. It’s definitely a book you will want to keep coming back to throughout the year.

As I just mentioned, some of the information I appreciated the most was about deities, particularly the Roman or Italian Gods and Goddesses. I made some notes as I was going through the book as information was scattered about, but it was good to know which days or times of the year are best for honouring particular deities. I did find it a really good resource for the general information it had for different deities.

On the flip side to that, there were too many Christian Saints for my liking. There was always a ‘Saint of the Day’. This didn’t interest me, but that’s a personal thing, other people may want to include Christian Saints in their Craft.

The book is full of interesting information. Some of it can be historical, in the sense that they may be things we no longer celebrate or traditions that are no longer followed. However, it may be that you want to bring back some of the traditions and incorporate them into your year. I think different aspects will appeal to different people. Some things may resonate with you and others just won’t. That’s probably a good thing though because you would be exhausted if you tried to celebrate or do magick every day.

I’ve found with books like this that there are a lot of religious days out there. It explores a lot of different traditions from Christian to Japanese beliefs to Vodou traditions. The information is nice to know, but a good chunk of it wasn’t relevant to me in that I wouldn’t feel comfortable honouring days that are not part of my culture or heritage. If that makes sense. Similarly, it's also important to note that the seasonal festivals do focus on the northern hemisphere. If you are in the southern hemisphere you would have to find the corresponding festival for the season or time of year you are experiencing.

The main thing that I found strange was that on some of the days they seemed to be clutching at straws for something to include. Maybe there wasn’t something particularly ‘magickal’ on that day. For example it might go from a historical or ancient celebration to celebrating Snape’s birthday from Harry Potter. Now, some of these I did appreciate, for example Buffy’s birthday. I’m a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan so that one worked for me, although I don’t think I’ll be trying the vampire repellent that went along with that day. But some others just felt forced, for example, Miss Congeniality Day. I’m not going to explain that one, but yes it’s related to the film.

Final Thoughts
Overall, I really did enjoy the book, although I wouldn’t recommend reading it cover to cover like I did because it could get quite dry with all the information. It’s probably much better to dip in and out of it at the beginning or end of each month.

There are bits and pieces that I will certainly be coming back to, some dates I am going to add to my diary and information I will add to my grimoire.

I think it would make a good gift for Witches or the magically inclined people in your life especially with Yule and Christmas coming up. It would be nice to have at the beginning of the year for the year ahead.

[Agnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I seriously love this. As a baby witch, this is a very insightful introduction full of spells that have details like when to perform them, where, and how long it will take. It's a great place to start on my adventure with more references in the back to continue on my journey

[Marina]

DNF - I have been reading this daily for a few months now and I just don't like it. It is 90% catholic or Christian saints, which is just not what I wanted.

[N · Rating 2 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what I expected when I chose this book but it didn't hit the mark and I, unfortunately, got bored with it rather quickly. Based on the author's account they had a fanbase requesting such information but perhaps I am too much of a novice to understand nor see the worth in the information presented. I hope that others will benefit from the information provided in this book but I did not.

[Jennifer Sacasa-wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Daily Magic: Spells and Rituals for Making the Whole Year Magical” is the quintessential collection of days that pagans of all varieties celebrate around the world. It is a perpetual calendar of dates having spiritual, magical, and esoteric significance, helping readers make the most of the energies and influences that are associated with special power times. Some significant historical events, such as September 11, are also referenced.
April 30, for example, is perfect for spellcasting – especially for love, romance, fertility, and prosperity. If you don’t think days have power, think back to Hurricane Sandy in 2012 that battered the East Coast of the at the end of October. For safety reasons, many communities rescheduled public Halloween events and trick-or-treating for a week or two later. It just didn’t feel the same – because it wasn’t.
The book begins with a history of our calendar and a description of how to use the book. Organized by date – from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve – each month begins with introductory pages that list holidays and magical power days, giving a heads up to what the month will bring.
Days mark commemorations, many coming with suggestions, spells, and the occasional recipe to help celebrate it.
Judika Illes, who is also the author of the “Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells,” began making calendars of important days so she would know ahead of time what was coming, and filling notebooks with details “creating what effectively became the love child of a day planner and a witch’s Book of Shadows.”
“Too often we realize too late that we are missing wonderful opportunities for spellcasting and celebrations,” Judika wrote in the introduction. “How many times have we glanced at social media, only to discover that it is a beloved saint’s feast or the festival of a goddess, and we are woefully unprepared? Alternatively, we discover that it is the perfect day for a sorely needed magic spell, but because we didn’t know until the last minute, we lack the supplies, and so an opportunity is lost.”
This perpetual calendar will not only alert you to mystical dates, it also contains spells and rituals for harnessing the day’s magical power.
The appendixes contain information about working with each day of the week, and about the movable feasts with dates that vary from year to year. There is also a glossary of terms.
Readers of this book will surely find more reasons celebrate. For example, January 19 is the birthday of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and to honor her there are instructions for a powder to repel vampires. This is a great reference book.
Be sure to check out our feature interview this month! An interview with Judika Illes!
Judika Illes is an independent scholar, educator, and author of several books of folklore, folkways, and mythology. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and has a certification in therapeutic aromatherapy. Her books include “Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells,” “Encyclopedia of Spirits,” and “The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft.”

Reviewed by Lynn Woike (The Witch on Wheels) at PaganPages dot Org

[Cozy Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book . Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity to review. My review opinions are my own .

I did not know what to expect with this book and it is such a delightful read. This is a yearly calendar of spells, meditations and mindfulness that every witch can benefit from. I appreciate the authors detail of spells and how so many are easy to assemble and create. The author included here the history of calendars and magical dates throughout the year. She then took each month and date with its own rituals, wonderful detailed witch history, magical spells and meditations. I learned so much reading this that I enjoyed it cover to cover to conclusion. This is a book every witch will want to own and give as gifts. I am pre ordering a copy for myself . I highly recommend this book for all witches and especially new witches to enjoy . Very well done to the author . .

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This comprehensive guide is everything you need to make your year the most magical yet! Judika Illes is well known for her compendiums. This book is a compendium for the entire year with spells, important dates to know, and historical tid-bits that I found really fascinating. Everyday of the year something magical or magically significant has taken place. The author has clearly done a lot of research and put a lot of effort into making each day a chance to learn something new, or try something different. This is the kind of book that I know I will be going back to year after year. I can't wait to get my pre-ordered copy of this book!
Special thanks to HarperOne for providing me an advanced copy of this book to review.

[Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book nearly every day for the past year. I’m giving it my rare five stars, which means I recommend it to readers and non-readers alike.

This book is both full of Illes’ legendary knowledge (truly a once in a generation witch) AND serves as a diary.

My copy is chock full of notes I stuck in from spells I tried. After keeping my five year journal, I realized the funnest part is seeing what I said last year. I can’t wait to reread my notes. Also, a friend told me he wrote in books a lot and I got over my holiness about writing in books. :)

Particular highlight was working with Saint Blaise for some of my health anxiety. I highly recommend if you’re into woo woo and keeping a tome of your life!

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book claims to provide rituals and spells to make every day magical. There are entries for each day, but they are mostly listing the various saints or deities for each day. Many of the listed saints and deities were very obscure and frankly, not very interesting to me. I was expecting to find little rituals, prayers, spells etc. for each day, but that is not the case. There are a few spread sporadically throughout the book. But what was provided was not very inspiring or imaginative. This book was a huge disappointment. I ended up just skimming through each month. The information provided was of so little value and so uninteresting that each month only took me a few minutes. I really don't understand how this book has such a high rating.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Daily Magic is an excellent beginner's tool for finding positivity and flow with day-to-day life while imbuing it with magic and mindfulness. It is easy to follow, offering achievable spells that do not require much special equipment.
It's easy to imagine that using this for an entire year would make one more mindful of their surroundings, life, and intentions and bring peace and tranquility. This book would be a great gift to anyone practicing magic already or anyone who isn't. There's no need to practice the spells provided, and the context of the book could also be read as a daily meditation and education on the world around us.

[McKenzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is going to be great for people either looking for some inspiration for things to incorporate into their calendar or to lift activities directly for yearly celebrations. Illes provides an activity or some magical inspiration for every day of the year from a variety of practices. It contains spells, correspondences, deity and saint descriptions, and folk stories to really power up your magical calendar. It's easy to read and understand, with many of the spells having easy to find ingredients. Overall, I think this would be a great resource for someone just starting out or looking for something new.

[Lucretia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a fantastic book for anyone looking to add magic to daily life with some extra meaning and power. You can tell a lot of work went into making sure that the most could be made from the daily concept. I loved how the power behind each day was explored. I learned a lot both magical and otherwise regarding each day of the year. After giving it a read-through I will be going back and planning which days will hold the most power for my needs, and with the ease of the set-up if anything comes up unexpected, I know I'll be covered. A great book for all levels of practice.

[Mardi · Rating 5 out of 5]

[review of uncorrected page proofs]
Full to the brim of saints and angels and all good things. I'm showing my age here but this is "Hints from Heloise" meets "Practical Magic". Really, she had me at "perpetual calendar." This reference book is the grimoire you wish your great-grandma would have handed down to you. Festivals and feast days, the most powerful days for setting intentions, and the whys and wherefores behind witchy beliefs & practices. An essential for reference for practitioners and a fascinating read for everyone else.

[LittleRead · Rating 5 out of 5]

Each and every day, and there is so much in here you WILL learn something new, but also add your own nuggets to this superb book and make it a true keepsake! It also has a great overview of various calendars and a history of them…being a bit of a history nerd, this was super cool for me.

Forget those spell a day calendars, with so much awesomeness packed inside, you’re going to want to keep this book forever! Especially as you add your own notes and comments throughout each and every year from here on out!, making it your own personalized book of daily magic.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a great book. Exactly what I needed. Having a daily guide for each day is amazing. I immediately looked up today. It is the feast of the Archangel Michael, known as Michaelmas. I will be using this everyday. Judika Illes is the kind of author that writes easy to read books. This is not written as a text book, thank goodness. I recommend it for everyone with an interest in magic. I received this book from Net Galley and HarperCollins Publishing for a honest review and this is exactly that.

[Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

5/10. Is it great? Certainly not. I say this mostly as someone who has been practicing Witchcraft for 5 years. It feels like the author placed everything Magical and whimsical they could find in a blender and wrote this book.

I've been reading it for a while as a daily thing, I take this book mostly how I would a Christmas calendar: some days the chocolate is awful bad (like when fantasy literature is brought in, like, I'd rather you tell me the random meaning of an herb or something) and some other days I get an okay chocolate and even those days I fact check whatever is being said.

[Leilany · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book surprised me with the variety that is offered. It begins with the basic description of how to use the book, followed by practices and spells for each day of the year (including Feb 29!). Each date can contain commemorations, recommendations/suggestions, spells, and recipes. The many possible activities for each day mean no two-yearly experiences will look the same. This is a great addition to the library of someone that wants to be more active with their practice.

[Ainsley McGovern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is really great for planning, but also as a basic tool for understanding all of the different improtances of the days and seasons and cycles of the year. I do think I’d get a lot more use if I own this, but unfortunately this was just a library checkout.

✨✨✨

Too often we realize too late that we are missing wonderful opportunities for spellcasting and celebrations.

Every moment may be a magic moment, but not every moment is identical.

[Lovely Loveday]

Daily Magic: Spells and Rituals for Making the Whole Year Magical by Judika Illes is an intriguing read. Judika Illes goes through every day in the western calendar year and explains in careful detail what magical, folkloric, and spiritual correspondences can be discovered. Daily Magic is a book you are sure to read again and again.

[Jonathan Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wealth of information and facts to find from all over the world where matters of Magick are of concern. From everyday superstitions to ancient acts of worship, this volume is packed with research, knowledge and preserved beautifully in a hardcover edition dedicated just for you. I'll be picking through and keeping this as a nice reference in my permanent collection.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always look forward to books written by Judika. I love how this book details daily practical magic! I enjoyed this book immensely and found it to be very helpful. Without a doubt, this is a great read! I voluntarily read this book via Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

[Jess Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One day at a time

Do the spells one day at a time to learn and grow. This is a great way to improve your life throughout the year. The nice part is you can do it every year and you’ll learn more each time.

[Odessa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super fun and helpful! Such a fun idea to be able to plan ahead some spells and rituals. The only downside is there isn’t much organization besides the dates. For myself I made a little table of contents for things I found I could use repeatedly, and not on specific dates.

[Bree · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very informational, interesting...and a bit overwhelming. It'd be a good book to have on the shelf to refer to on particular days, but not to rent from the library to read through all at once.

[Donnamarie]

Love it, Thank you so much.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reference book for anything from Christian feast days for the saints to the Icelandic Christmas Cat and rituals/spells. I need this book for my library.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not yet read this cover to cover but i do really want to own it. I love the daily info on various myths, history and spells related to each day of the year