Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins

by Cassandra Snow

“As evident through the pages of this book, Snow holds a vision for the queer aspirant who hears the call to witchery, to find healing, empowerment, strength, and pride through their craft. Through creative and unique journal prompts, introspection, rituals, and spells, Snow achieves this beautifully, and herein lays the perfect guide for the queer witch to stand in their power and stand beside others; truly queering our craft with compassion and pride.”--Mat Auryn, author of Psychic A Metaphysical Guide to Meditation, Magick, and ManifestationWitchcraft has always belonged to the outsiders and outcasts in society, yet so much of the practice enforces and adheres to the same hierarchy we face in the world at large—a hierarchy that isolates and hurts those living beyond society’s binaries and boundaries. While there are books that address magick for resistance and queer myth, until now there has not been one that specifically addresses the practice of queer magick from an LGBTQ+ standpoint. Queering Your Craft combines queer aesthetic and culture (like DIY culture and an emphasis on chosen family over formal covens) with pagan and metaphysical spiritual practice in a way that is commonplace but has not been written about until now. This book covers the personal, the collective, and the political, and how deeply intertwined all three are in a magickal practice for those who are LGBTQ+. In this introduction to witchcraft, Snow presents why/how each concept is important to a queer craft, or how to approach it from a queer mindset. For example, conventional prayer, words, and symbols have always been problematic in a queer How to make them work and still be true to yourself? The bulk of the book is about learning the craft. The latter portion is a grimoire of spells. While accessible to beginning witches, Queering Your Craft provides new and inspiring information for longtime practitioners interested in a pure and personal approach that avoids the baggage of history and stereotype.

Genres: Witchcraft, Queer, Spirituality, Nonfiction, Paganism, LGBT, Magic

288 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2020

Reviews

[K Kriesel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand the hype around this - did we all read the same book? Here are the problems:

1. Snow lists herbs without mentioning how dangerous some of them are. People who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant shouldn't handle pennyroyal, but Snow has no warnings at all when they recommend working with the herb.

2. No citations or bibliography, there is a list of botanical references. So aside from trying to guess what botanical information came from what listed reference, there's no way of knowing where Snow got their info.

3. Several deities and figures are listed as "LGBTQQIA2SP+ or LGBTQQIA2SP+ Aligned Gods" with no mention that several of these are from closed traditions. These include Haitian Vodou, Voodoo, and Mexican folk Catholic figures and although Snow names these traditions, they neglect to mention THESE ARE CLOSED TRADITIONS!!

4. If you're not going to talk about Two-Spirit people with actual references to actual First Nations peoples, just don't mention them. Same goes for Indigenous people altogether. Snow demonstrates no knowledge of them and yet "2SP" and "QTBIPOC" are used several times.

5. Honestly the patronizing language used around Black (Snow says "BIPOC" but all contexts are only about Black stereotypes from a white savior perspective) people is throughout the entire book. Snow writes about "QTBIPOC" queer people living in poverty over and over and over again as though there's no other way they could be. Although they offer both a spell for the protection of "BIPOC" queer people and spells against white supremacy, Snow doesn't challenge white readers to deconstruct our own whiteness and our role in it - I hate to say it, but this book gives me no reason to believe Snow has done this for themselves.

I'm giving this 2 stars instead of 1 because the way Snow writes about white non-binary witchcraft would have been incredibly reassuring to me a decade ago when I was trying to figure out how my gender relates to my witchcraft and before I decided to deconstruct my own whiteness.

[KL · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the more inclusive witchcraft books I’ve read, and I appreciate the author calling out white supremacy, transphobia and cultural appropriation when most witchcraft books I’ve come across go for a “good vibes only” approach or focus heavily on womb worship.

However, I do wish that some of the ideas had been beyond a beginner level, and that they had a hardcore editor take a closer look at the distracting typos and grammatical errors throughout.

[Bri · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book from Weiser in exchange for an honest review, and I'm so very grateful that they sent one to me. Queering Your Craft is a truly perfect beginner book, especially for anyone struggling with integrating their identity with their practice. Our community often places a strange emphasis on gender binaries, on femininity, on the power of womanhood, etc. Queering Your Craft challenges that in such a beautifully nuanced way. Snow does a remarkable thing by shedding light on the many ways witchcraft can be for absolutely anybody.

They don’t focus on calling anyone out or making anyone feel guilty for the way they want to practice. With such a delicate tone, you can tell their intention is truly to make a positive difference for those who need one. There is so much pure, unfiltered intention poured into the writing of this book, it feels as though it is a magickal act in and of itself.

Queering Your Craft covers a wide myriad of subjects and inlucdes everything you need to get started. Snow covers all the basics: meditation, altars, grimoires, shadow work, elements, sabbats, astrology, moon magick, and manifestation. Except Snow enhances this education with the lived experiences and perspectives of the LGBTQIA+ community. So, even if you've already read other beginner books, this one offers the insight you might need to apply that information to your individual experience. What I love the most about this is that Snow acknowledges there is no one true way to live or express that truth in your craft. Rather, Queering Your Craft is all about exploring yourself and learning how to celebrate yourself as an individual who is unique, even within that community.

It’s difficult for me to put into words precisely what it is I love about this book so much. All I know is that I can’t recommend it enough. Even if you identify as straight and cis, I still think this is a book you should read. Gaining other perspectives is essential in building a community that is inclusive and willing to adjust for those that it has historically ignored. There's absolutely zero reason why you shouldn't pick up this book. I truly believe it belongs on everyone's shelf, and it's going on my own shelf of favorites. A huge thank you to Weiser for sending it to me!

[Gianmichael Salvato · Rating 5 out of 5]

Few books are as powerfully impactful as Cassandra Snow's "Queering Your Craft" -- written from a depth of personal experience, insight and a willingness to be vulnerable, while empowering themselves and others, this book is such a remarkable contribution to the world of magickal practitioners, witchcraft and Queer spirituality.

As a Queer witch who has felt marginalised within my own intersectional communities -- as a gender queer and non-binary person... a non-pagan, older folk-magick practitioner, and a person whose Craft didn't resemble the practices of so many of those I love and work with over the past fifty years, I've long wished there were a community built around the very tenets of Snow's book. And in reading it, I instantly felt less alone.

I highly recommend the book, whether you identify as LGBTQ+ or not. This book is a gamechanger.

[Rain · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not done reading this yet, but I wanted to write down some of my thoughts so far. I'll come back with a full review when I finish!

What is book is:
- I love the idea behind this book, and I think Snow takes a really well-rounded approach to the topic. This book is written mostly for the beginner witch, which might turn off more experienced people, but I'm definitely the right audience for it. I think an experienced witch who's recently come out/started engaging with queer communities would also find a lot of helpful stuff here.
- Snow takes a hard stance against cultural appropriation and white supremacy in the witchy and pagan communities, which is great to read, but it comes off a little heavy-handed sometimes. I think this book would benefit from more examples of what exactly cultural appropriation and white supremacy can look like, and what we can do to stop or change it. From reading other comments and reviews, it seems that some of their facts about cultural appropriation are off the mark, too. Always do your own research when it comes to this stuff, folks, and use resources actually written by the people and communities affected by it.
- I appreciate the appendix with associations. I've been looking for something like that for a while! I think it could have been a little more concise by listing the botanical names of things next to them instead of in a separate appendix, though.
- There's a lot of stuff about chosen family, community, and living at the margins, which I think it a needed perspective and one that definitely resonates with me (though I'm certainly privileged as a white, mostly-able-bodied person living in North America). This book seems like a good companion to Revolutionary Witchcraft: A Guide to Magical Activism, which I'm also currently reading; Lyons tackles a lot more about environmental justice, decolonization, and anti-racism, whereas Snow leans more into class, sex positivity (including sex workers' rights), and queer identities and subcultures, but they definitely overlap. Good stuff! This one has a lot more spells, if Lyons' book left you wanting more.
- Snow is very aware of the variety of traumas, disabilities, and living situations queer people can have, and offers a lot of good alternatives for how to do witchcraft on a shoestring budget, how to work on overcoming religious trauma, how to adapt practices to physical disabilities, etc. So if you're not queer but have had trouble getting witchcraft to work with you because of your disability, financial status, or mental health, this might be a good book to check out.

What this book isn't:
- One thing I was really hoping for here was some concrete advice on how to tackle gender binarism in witchcraft. A lot of Snow's other tips and ideas are kind of intuitive, but dealing with the gender binary isn't, and I often wish there was a guidebook for "how to not feel dysphoric when an otherwise good witchy book keeps assuming you're a woman" or "how to respond to people who are being cisnormative in witchy spaces". So far, this isn't that.
- In that same vein, I wish there was more about queer(ing) deities and archetypes. I want to be able to connect with mother figures, for example, but it's really hard when I usually avoid associating myself with motherhood in any way.
- That said, I think there's more of that stuff in Queering the Tarot, which I haven't read yet but also recently picked up.
- I wish there was an index.
- There's a bibliography, but no actual citations. Why are citations never a thing in witchy books? If you're going to go through the trouble of making a bibliography, I think you should actually associate the information with your sources (via in-text citations, footnotes, endnotes), so that a reader can go to that source and verify it.
- Related: I've said it before and I'll keep saying it until people stop doing it... Please tell us why, not just what and how, especially when it comes to spell ingredients. Associating roses with love is a given, but this is the first I've heard of cold press coffee being associated with prosperity (p. 235), and I'm unlikely to use that in my practice unless I understand the reason behind it.

[A. Llewellyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cassandra Snow offers a book at odds with itself, one that fails to say anything truly new or interesting about either witchcraft or queerness.

On one hand, we have a so-called ‘introduction to witchcraft’ that is fundamentally incurious about witchcraft history and modern practice. Historical facts are often inaccurate, and representations of modern practices and groups at times frustratingly biased or misleading. Words unfamiliar to a beginner are not defined; organization of the chapters and their contents is confusing. On the other hand, we have a ‘queer grimoire’ with such a shallow, unpleasant approach to queerness I’m not sure who it is for.

As I read the book, apart from my dislike, I found myself wondering where the editor was. Ranging from typos that should have been caught (’deity’ misspelled as ‘diety’ multiple times to a rare instance of ‘altar’ instead of ‘alter’) to larger structural issues: inconsistent formatting, seemingly missing images, oddly placed chapters or sections… It often felt that this book was not given an opportunity to be, even at minimum, good, that there was little oversight. Yet at the same time I had to convince myself that there was editorial or publishing meddling, because it makes no sense for this book to attempt to be an ‘introduction to witchcraft’ otherwise.

Snow’s strength lies in their exercises and the ‘spell book’ portion of the text - the latter half. There, in the practical application, we see interesting spells and ideas. Though I still do not think this section is good, it holds potential.

Contrasted with this is the atrocious first half of the book. Snow attempts to convey basic witchcraft concepts through a queer lens, but without a clear understanding of what queerness means in the text we are left with a vague and unhelpful ‘DIY’ approach. Snow constantly suggests adapting witchcraft to your own life situation and ability, while also at times being oddly prescriptivist. Magic is defined so nonsensically a beginner will have no good starting point, and a more advanced practitioner will have read better books or deepened their own practice enough to not need the trite tidbits offered here.

The lack of clarity on what Snow means by queerness impacts the book quite negatively. Snow seems to be talking to a very specific, limited queer person. Queer, according to this book, means activism to the point of burnout, poverty, and trauma. With more trauma. More than anything, the impression one comes away from is that queerness and trauma are so deeply entangled one will never run into a happy queer person. The few mentions of ‘queer joy’ do not make up for the thirtieth mention of queer suffering and sorrow. What ‘queering your craft’ really means - beyond a vague, useless ‘Do It Yourself!’ - is never found. I still don’t know what Snow means by it.

An incredibly disappointing read. I hope any future offerings from the author will be better.

[Heather (bookish downtime) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Queering the Tarot by Snow (gave it 5 stars) so I was disappointed to find this one fell a bit flat for me. This is a witchcraft 101 book written for, IMO, a very specific queer individual who has had a very specific queer experience. This ultimately made it very hard to connect with so much of what was shared.

There was a lot I liked in this book but sadly there was also a lot that I didn’t and so, overall, it was just an okay read for me.

[Sunny :) · Rating 2 out of 5]

TL;DR: Really wanted to like this book, should've been a blog instead, feels surface-level at best

Alongside practical issues with this book that others have mentioned (such as listing stones and plants and not warning about toxicity or safety at all), I have several other, maybe more subjective issues with this book.

There are a wealth of spells at the end to read, tweak, and rework for your own purposes, which I do really appreciate, even if reading wordy titles such as "A Hex on Those Who Rail Against Queer Rights and Actively Hurt Queer People" made me roll my eyes a bit. This is probably the strongest section of the book, and frankly it probably could have just been published on its own with a short introduction from the author.

Its activism and inclusion in the actual writing and information given is performative at best, and the lack of an actual conviction on anything that isn't ripped straight from a Tumblr textpost makes it feel as though the author is too afraid of getting cancelled to have any thoughts of their own. The back and forth between being very personal and attempting to reach a general audience is incredibly frustrating to read through.

The author speaks only from their own perspective, fine, but then doesn't offer any resources for anyone outside of that perspective. A particular section about grounding really irked me, with a "some disabled people can't do this!" without offering ANY alternative. Why even include the disclaimer?

Speaking of lack of resources, there are no sources cited! For anything! Stating things as fact with nothing to back it up, ESPECIALLY in this context is extremely irritating to me. There are witchy, queer, feminist, and antiracist scholars doing important queer research that would have such a wonderful place in this book (they were around in the 2010s, too). In terms of offering other perspectives, even a video essayist or blogger would do!

For a book that (rightfully) harps on community and togetherness, this book is STRIKINGLY isolated, refusing conversation with other texts, other authors, other practices, other anything, really.

I did not and still do not expect this book to be a one-stop shop, have an answer for everything, or to be perfect. I expected this book to be queer in a way that went beyond gender neutral terms and "hexing the patriarchy," which it was not.

[Euphemia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, as it was heavily recommended to me, and I enjoyed the concept of witchcraft centered around the queer community and identity. I do believe there are some valuable ideas here — I particularly enjoyed the correspondences of brick/cement and incorporating hanky code into your craft — but to be honest, I couldn't get all the way through it for a number of reasons.

First of all, it's a bit of a snoozefest. I understand that it's not exactly supposed to be an enthralling literature experience but even witchy books I've hated had more entertaining prose. Snow dips into autobiographical territory sometimes, which I understand is common with witchy books, but I personally feel like Snow could have done a better job weaving it into the text. On that topic, the flow is strange, and about halfway I really started to feel like Snow was repeating themselves.

Snow references and speaks out against gender bioessentialism and white supremacy often, which is obviously a good thing. But the anti-white supremacy starts to become heavy handed, and Snow has some interesting passages in here that rub me the wrong way.

Quote: "As a white person, I am very aware that not all of my ancestors were good people. For me to be here, in the United States, they had to be colonizers and therefore relatively unscrupulous. Part of my work with my ancestors is recognizing this unscrupulous behavior and using it as motivation in my anti-racist and pro-Earth workings. It's my job to reconcile and to try to make right the things that my ancestors did that weren't great. I'm also an optimist when it comes to the afterlife and how souls come to terms with their behavior here on Earth, and I think my ancestors know now that moving here and taking this land and doing who even knows what else was not okay. I think they're trying to use me as a tool to right their wrongs, and that's a responsibility I think white people in general need to take seriously if they're going to work with their familial ancestors."

This passage is, as my annotation says, "sus as hell." At best, it's poorly worded, and I'm being nitpicky and over-pessimistic, which I absolutely can be. But it really does sound like Snow is apologizing for their colonialist ancestors in a very performative way, almost babying them (they realize what they did was wrong 🥺). The part about their ancestors using them as a tool to reconcile their actions reads a lot like white saviorism lite, and the fact that Snow describes the violent acts of colonialism as "not great" and "not okay" was bitterly hilarious to me.

They sort of toe this same line when talking about Heathenism and the Heathen reconstructionist white supremacy movement that's prominent within the religion. While acknowledging it is obviously okay, Snow ends the passages of this topic with something along the lines of "But I know many Heathens who are actively working against white supremacy inside the community and out🥺". Its just so weird to me.

Another topic Snow touches on is protection spells, and they share an anecdote.

Quote: "I've also recently learned the hard way what happens if you don't protect yourself spiritually. I thought I didn't need protection magick beyond my home, my shared car, and my health and then someone that I loved platonically and deeply turned out to be someone very different than I thought."

It's definitely the skeptic in me that made this catch my eye, but nonetheless I still find issue with this. I'm big on discernment. The idea of Snow not spiritually protecting themselves or their relationship with this person somehow influenced how this person acted or what they did to Snow is not okay to me. People being awful people and hurting others will never be spiritually influenced. This idea perpetuates a dangerous reliance on magic and inspires paranoia within novice practitioners. It also comes off as thought Snow is blaming themselves, or at least could easily be twisted into a victim blaming mindset.

Finally, my last criticism. Are you sick of me yet? Snow mentions Lilith as a "sex deity" and this is where I stopped reading. Let me be clear: LILITH IS NOT A DEITY THAT GOYIM CAN WORK WITH. Lilith is a deity exclusive to early Jewish texts, she isn't your girlboss yas queen that's up for grabs for any practitioner. And chalking her up to a "sex deity" is EXTREMELY disrespectful on top of being appropriative.

And a bonus unrelated to the magic parts of the book: Snow mentions that despite their "deep disdain for our justice system and mass incarceration" (which is sort of randomly thrown in a middle of a sentence) the person that did awful things to them was rightfully arrested and imprisoned. I'm definitely not trying to undermine their trauma and I'm glad this person is no longer in a position to hurt Snow. But I find it a bit hypocritical when prison reformist/prison abolitionists (this isn't a problem exclusive to Snow) state things like "incarceration is bad .... except when someone that personally affects me gets incarcerated." Sigh.

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, enough to give it five stars. I think it’s a great introduction to spell crafting in particular, a subject underexplored.

My only complaint is that the takes on cultural appropriation here were... a bit questionable. The author refers to Lilith as a “sex goddess” (she’s an appropriated Jewish folkloric figure and not a goddess in any sense); at the same time the author claims osteomancy is specifically African when it was quite famously done in Greece and essentially spread with the sheep due to the shape of the astragalus bone, whose Ancient Greek name comes from the word for “dice” because it was rolled to tell fortunes and as a primitive dice in games.

Because this is a niche complaint and not really the point of the book, it didn’t hugely detract from my enjoyment (which was definitely closer to 100% than 80%) but it was mildly annoying so I thought I’d bring it up.

[Brigid · Rating 2 out of 5]

While this book did have a good bit of beginner information, it often felt patronizing at parts. There is a fine line to walk between promoting self care and making someone feel like you are coddling them and this book failed to feel empowering rather than belittling at parts. I will say that I liked that there was an acknowledgment of what you can do differently if you do not have extra money to spend on your practice or ways to modify your practice if you have physical disabilities. However, my biggest problem with this book was the blatant lack of research done into parts of LGBT history such as associating bricks with the stonewall riots when even the briefest of research from first-hand accounts will tell you that no bricks were ever involved and that the riots were not merely started and lead by two people.

[Amber Spinella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a thoughtful, inspiring and validating book. I appreciate the author's anti-oppressive and intersectional lens.

One of the many things that makes this book stand out from the crowd of similar titles is the fact that the author recognizes that witchy accoutrements can be expensive. She makes an effort to make the spell ingredients as affordable and accessible as possible.

My only gripe is with the numerous proofreading errors that should have been caught by an editor. That wasn't worth taking off an entire star though.

[rach · Rating 5 out of 5]

For other queer witches looking for ways to make their craft more authentic, this is the book for you. For awhile now, I have been struggling with the elements of Pagan and Wiccan practice that are gendered for no good reason - the binary is everywhere and it was very alienating. This book taught me all the ways that I can make my craft my own, and just how much of the bullshit binary I can ignore.

Especially for Wiccan practitioners looking for a more nuanced and non-binary reading of The Goddess, The Horned God and the whole idea of divine gender polarity, Cassandra Snow gives a lot of other options for deities, and I really enjoyed the section they spent bringing the queerness of many deities to the forefront.

This is also a book for any queer activists or green witches that are looking for collective spell work that looks out a bit further than ourselves. I loved that the grimoire was a mix of spellwork to keep ourselves strong as well as keep our communities safe.

[Briar 🏳️‍🌈 · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beginner book with some great ideas and focal points specifically for queer people!

[Rhiannon Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really useful introductory guide to witchcraft on queer and DIY context. For me personally, this swung between very familiar (I've read a fair number of instructions to witchcraft, including some, like Urban Paganism, which aimed at overlapping audiences), and fresh insights (it's helpful, for example, to see how someone else is thinking through trans and nonbinary inclusion in their practice). As the author clearly expected, not all of it will work for me personally, but there are definitely ideas I'll be exploring further or trying out.

[Lane Campbell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be a bit lackluster. The spells they included seemed sing songs and rhymey. It was just really basic. I was hoping done some more in-depth analysis. Really looking at queering witchcraft rather than coming at witchcraft from a queer perspective. And some of the stuff written about POC felt a bit patronizing.

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent. I would have loved this if it wasn't another 101 book. The journal prompts and grimoire we're the most helpful parts.

[Angy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best, well-rounded guides to witchcraft I have read so far, and definitely a good place for any beginner to start reading, especially if they identify as queer or otherwise marginalized (i.e. a racial or cultural minority). The descriptions of Wheel of the Year and the five elements were easy to follow yet interestingly written, for instance. However, there were a couple of aspects of the book that I didn't appreciate as much. One of which is that I think Cassandra Snow needs a better editor, as I found a few typos scattered throughout the book. Their tone vibed a bit condescending or too self-assured that their way is the right way at times, so it's important to remember that one must form their own opinions when it comes to magick and consult different resources. I do appreciate the book's care in remaining inclusive, especially when it comes to not defining women by female anatomy (and men by lack of it) because that's something which has bothered me in countless other books. The emphasis on sex and sexuality did bother me (and I wish there were more representation for the asexual spectrum, even though Snow does acknowledge aces at infrequent times), but I also did like how Snow emphasized the importance of chosen family. Overall, there's a lot of good to take from this book and it's a refreshing way of looking at witchcraft, but of course, keep an open mind while reading.

[Myriah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF

I was so excited to read this book and then completely disappointed. I ended up skimming about halfway through and couldn’t even finish that way.

There is nothing unique or interesting here, it’s mostly just lists and dumps of (sometimes inaccurate) info and then a side note about how queer people will relate. Written for a very specific queer person, because apparently we’re all mentally ill white women activists obsessed with art and with no money.

CONSTANTLY preaches that queer witches have to do things. Takes every chance to mention the longest acronym for LGBT but gives no POV or firsthand accounts from anyone else.

Virtue signaling at every turn. “glittery- but earth safe!”

I did appreciate the opposition to womb magic as that is the worst aspect of witchcraft to me.

A lot of the book, and it seems the whole second half, is just spells, which seems to be the only version of the craft she practices.

The information is so basic I don’t see any use to a practicing witch. I thought “queering” would mean an alteration and deeper meaning to an established craft, but this is just barely 101 with some rainbow sidenotes to make it stand out.

[Abby Messina · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Goodreads would let me, I would probably give this book a 3.5-3.75. It's a great beginner book with really insightful points, and it has a really refreshing take on witchcraft that is inclusive, non-materialistic, and talks about the problems of spiritual bypassing and how important it is to use the craft towards activism and cultural change. That being said, while queerness was definitely an important aspect in the book, it felt like it was often interjected rather than fully incorporated into theoverall practices introduced in the book. I think I felt this because it is a beginner book, rather than a book about how we can take the already existing principles of witchcraft and incorporate queerness. This is not to say that queerness is not thoroughly considered throughout the book--just not exactly in the way I was hoping for. If you're new to the craft and are looking for a queer point-of-view of it, however, this is definitely worth the read.

[Nyx Vera · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't all that I was hoping, but my expectations were probably unfairly high. It's certainly not completely unproblematic, but it's definitely trying hard not to be, and still miles less problematic than 99.999% of other witchcraft books.

Definitely don't pick it up if you're looking for a "rainbow witchcraft" book - the word Queer is used in its full political context, and while you don't need to be a queer, kinky, polyamorous, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, activist to find excellent value in this book, you'll definitely love it even more if you are any (or all) of those things.

Would definitely be fine as a beginner/introductory book, but be aware that there is a decent bit of discussion around sex magic and other sexual topics (for those who are younger or uncomfortable with those topics).

[Mackenzie Chance Harte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed (the first half of) this quite a bit. After reading so much lately about masculine and feminine energies and seeing how often authors find other ways to put what should be a limitless topic into bizarre binaries, it was so affirming to have someone be explicitly queer. I thought Snow’s approach to both queerness and witchcraft worked together beautifully and appreciated some of the ways she waded into “controversial” topics within the community.
That being said, there were moments when I felt Snow’s writing towed the line of being generic and surface-level when it came to discussions of other marginalized communities. This was especially apparent during the grimoire section where some of the spells that mentioned racial justice bordered on cheesy and feeling forced.
3.8 rounded up to 4 and I look forward to considering much of what Snow presented in the time to come.

[Lorien Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall I would rate this book 5 stars, except that there is a journal prompt towards the beginning where even reading the journal prompt can trigger a depression anxiety spiral pretty easily and there's no warning. There's another one later in the book that I also believe warrants a warning but isn't quite as bad.

Overall though this would make a great intro to witchraft book, and was a great addition to my collection of witchcraft books as many of the things it brought up will help deepen my practice.

I would have preferred more conceptual stuff instead of the many many pages of spells at the end, but that's probably just because no spell in any book I've read so far is a spell I'm likely to try as I have yet to find a spell that satisfyingly brings in movement &/or music, but that's very much a personal thing.

[Sebastian Fuentes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author assumes that gay people, or their base audience, have all experienced some form of trauma related to their coming out or developed insecurities. The author's periodic comments on these assumptions were a little unrelatable - at least for me, but I can see how others might not have felt that way.

Overall, the book was great for giving a broad foundation. I liked how concepts around tarot and the worship of deities were reinterpreted here through a queer lens or how the reader might understand a topic discussed from a queer perspective. In this regard, the author was successful in achieving their goal. I highly recommend that all gay practitioners add this book to their library.

[Lilliana Blackstar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough, but I feel like I was expecting more. I can't quite articulate what was missing - it is a decent enough beginner book and Introduction to witchcraft, and the book does a decent job of including queerness into Magical practices. I guess it just all felt very surface-level, and it lacked depth that I was hoping for with a book on this topic. I really wanted to give a better review, but this one just fell flat for me. Possibly really great for beginners though! (I have just read so many books on witchcraft that -even with the queer-inclusion, I didn't feel like there was much "new information" for me. But I admit that's just my personal experience and others might get a lot out of this book)

[Larissa Kratz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book if youre looking for some alternative perspectives on witchcraft. The author puts a lot of emphasis on witchcraft for activism, which wasn't for me, but provides relavant ways in which anyone can relate to the material and got me thinking of how I want to personalize my craft.
Didn't care for the practical magic grimoire in the back, but it was informative on how one can structure spells.

[Liz Lytle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rating: 5/5 ⭐

This witchcraft book is very different from every other book I have read. From start to finish they analyze witchcraft and explain through the lenses of the marginalized and queer communities. This book is well-written, inclusive, and open to interpretation. This book does not command you to follow a particular path, it just makes suggestions for the journey. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in witchcraft.

[Rae · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has blown me away on several occasions. Its so welcoming and easy to read that I flew through it. I was hooked from the first paragraph and coukd barely put it down. It was so informational and it gave me a broader way of thinking about things. I really appreciate this book and author and I cant reccomend this enough!

[Maanasa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first book I've ever read on witchcraft and I loved it deeply. I am aware there are some culturally insensitive statements, so I highlighted and marked those for my own reference, however the bulk of the book I found incredibly reassuring as a queer female interesting in the world of spirituality.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, I'm not new to witchcraft or queerness but there were still a lot of things I found of value in it. It was great to hear some things that I've sort of felt intuitively actually spelled out. And I liked the spells and rituals. It was a great book for any queer witch.