It’s the Holiday Season! That means it’s time to buy stuff for people (if you are so inclined) and get stuff from people (assuming other people like you). I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with our “buy stuff” culture, and I get it. If that’s you, don’t read any further. But if you like buying things for your friends or are looking for some ideas of things you might want, this is the spot.
This year’s list was not as heavy on the crafts and art as I would have liked (I just ran out of time), but all the links from previous years still work and there are some great ideas in my older editions of this series.
Pagan Things Made By Pagans For Pagans (2014)
(More) Pagan Things Made By Pagans For Pagans (2015)
I’ve tried my best to link directly to publishers and artists, but there are a few links here that go to Amazon. The best place to buy things is at your local Witch shop, even if that costs a little bit more than buying it online. Witch stores aren’t just places to buy stuff, they are also meeting spots and community centers.
TALKING TAROT
One of my favorite Yuletide traditions these days is playing Secret Befana with the coven. It’s like Secret Santa but cooler, because it features an Italian Witch. We generally limit the amount of money every is allowed to spend to twenty-five bucks, which means a lot of us get and give Tarot Cards. That’s not a complaint either! I don’t think I’ve ever met a Witch who was disappointed because they got a new Tarot Deck!
Last year while browsing new Tarot Decks at my local Metaphysical Shop I stumbled upon the Smith-Waite Centennial Edition in a commemorative tin with two additional pieces of Pamela Colman Smith artwork. This new edition is designed to accurately re-create the look and feel of the 1909 original, and mostly succeeds. One of the things that I most love about it are just how small the cards are. Most Tarot decks these days feature cards that are about the length of an adult’s hand, these are tiny cards, and are about as long as my palm. The small cards make the experience novel and unique and this is quickly becoming my favorite deck.
Spirals? Scrolls? Stones? Mirrors? An Owl as a Hang Man? The Chrysalis Tarot Deck is not your standard deck, but it’s the one my coven have been using the most these days on divination nights. I think we like that it’s not your standard deck of wands, swords, pentacles, and cups. And its unorthodox nature means we have to spend a little bit more time thinking things through and ferreting out the meaning of each card. Did I forget to mention that the artwork is absolutely magnificent and otherworldly? Probably not, so I’m adding that in right now. We love this deck!
Want a Tarot Deck almost literally hot off the presses? Check out the new English Magic Tarot Deck. It’s not completely witchy or even traditional throughout, but that might be why I like it. Instead of the usual tropes this deck focuses on the history of England and its very magickal past. This is the perfect deck for the Renaissance Faire and its images are bright, lively, and easy to interpret.
Want the perfect book on Tarot to hand out with your favorite deck? Then look no further than Llewellyn’s Complete Book of Tarot by Anthony Louis. I thought this one actually lived up to its rather grandiose name and it’s now my “go to” book when I have a Tarot question. There’s a look at every card, all sorts of Tarot spreads, good accurate history, and correspondences for just about everything involved with the cards. It’s also beautifully laid out and well written. There are a lot of Tarot books out there these days, this is one of the best ones, as is our next item . . .
Most Tarot books are focused on how to read for others, but often times we want to consult the cards for our own needs. That’s why Courtney Weber’s Tarot For One is such a valuable and welcome addition to the world of Tarot books. Reading your own cards is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to Tarot because we know what we want the cards to say. Courtney (and I think I can call her Courtney because we’ve met and are friends) addresses this problem head on and offers advice on when it’s best to step away, something often lacking in our magickal books. This is the perfect book to hand someone alongside a deck of cards.
I’ve never had much luck with the paper boxes that most Tarot cards come in, which means my wife and I store a lot of our decks in Tarot bags. There are lots of options here (including making one yourself), and Etsy alone has dozens of choices. There’s also Tarot Totes with a wide range of bags and reading mats. If you want to go all out, the prettiest storage card storage solution I’ve found is at Contrived to Charm, featuring hand-made custom crafted leather cases! These are gorgeous.
BOOKS
I’ve always loved giving books as gifts. Part of that is because I’m a terrible wrapper of presents, and books are about the easiest things to wrap-up in the world. So my reasons for recommending books as gifts is directly tied to my ineptness with scotch tape and shiny paper.
I know there are some of you out there who are going to chuckle over my recommendation of Love Magic: Over 250 Spells and Potions for Getting it, Keeping it, and Making it Last by Lilith Dorsey, but this is much more than a book of love spells. Sure those are a part of this book, but that’s only a small part of the whole. As a happily married guy there was a lot of stuff in this book for me, things for keeping a relationship hot and passionate, along with some solid sex magick appropriate for beginners and the well experienced. Not surprisingly there were also some tasty recipes in this book designed to get the juices flowing. Most importantly there was a lot about self-improvement in Love Magic’s pages. It’s hard to fall in love without loving yourself first, and that’s a truth Lilith totally gets. This is a fun, witty, book that will appeal to those looking for love and those who want the love(s) they already have to grow. It also crosses traditions a great deal, moving from Voodoo to Wicca to Hoodoo and even some Christian magick with ease.
Many Pagans continually lament the lack of advanced books out there these days. If you’ve got a friend saying that to you pick them up a copy of Brandy Williams’s For the Love of the Gods: The History and Modern Practice of Theurgy Our Pagan Inheritance. This is a well researched history book and a practical manual on deepening one’s relationship with deity (or deities). It’s rare these days when a Pagan book takes me to new places, but that happened in Love of the Gods. Brandy explores all sorts of often forgotten corners and all for our benefit. It’s a challenging book, but a challenge well worth taking up.
It is possible to write 250 pages about Witches and magick mirrors? You bet, especially when your name is Mickie Mueller. Mickie is one of Pagandom’s greatest artists, while also being a heck of a writer and an all around great person. Mickie has been working on tarot decks and contributing to Llewellyn’s almost countless almanacs and collections for several years now, but The Witch’s Mirror is her first full book, and it’s a treat. It’s full of spells and all sorts of crafty projects, and because most of utilizes a mirror, it’s surprisingly fresh and different. We use mirrors for spells sometimes, but I was blown away with the sheer number of ways to use as outlined in this book. Since Mickie is both a writer and an artist you can pick also gran “an upgrade” to her book on her Etsy shop. And Mickie’s whole store is awesome, I could do a gift guide featuring just her stuff!
Looking for something to get your favorite Traditional Witch? Well it doesn’t get much more traditional than James Baker’s The Cunning Man’s Handbook: The Practice of English Folk Magic, 1550-1900. This isn’t “witchcraft” per se, but it is magick and it’s magick that’s been in continual use for hundreds of years now. It’s a scholarly book in a lot of ways, and certainly not for people just beginning the magickal path, but it’s a must for history nerds (like me!) and anyone interested in occult history.
Lasara Firefox Allen’s Jailbreaking the Goddess is one of the most revolutionary books I’ve read in a long long time. This is one of those books people will still be talking about in fifty years. Not only is it a completely new way of seeing Goddess, it’s also one of the best primers on drawing down the moon (the process) that I’ve ever read. Pick this one up.
JEWELRY & STATUARY
I’ve been a little Cernunnos crazy the last few months, much of it because I was able to see the Gundestrup Cauldron up close and in person this past September. Sadly the British Museum and the Scottish National Museum weren’t smart enough to sell a replica in the gift shop, but Sacred Source has them! It’s resin and not made out of silver, but it’s better than the alternative (which would be me trying to steal the Cauldron and ending up in jail). I’m hoping it ends up under my Yule Tree this year! At nearly 240 bucks it’s quite an investment, but if you are Cernunnos crazy totally worth it.
A little less expensive is Maxine Miller’s new statue of Cernunnos (from 40 to 60 dollars). Miller’s version of Bridgit occupies a special place on my coven’s shrine and when I heard she was doing a Cernunnos I about jumped out of my seat I was so excited. Cernunnos comes in three different finishes, and the art has Miller’s usual flair for the dramatic and expressive. (The faces on her statues are exquisite.) This is going to make a lot of people happy.
Since it’s had to take statuary (and even large bowls) on the road, why not put Cernunnos around your neck? Vis a Vis Jewelry is a longtime favorite (and my wife and I have a lot of artist Virginie “Vie” Blakey’s stuff) and released this stunning scene from the Gundestrup Cauldron earlier this year and it’s a must. Vie has lots of other wonderful necklaces and rings too, and is constantly adding to her inventory.
Sean’s Celtic Creations is another longtime favorite at our house, and half the rings I wear come straight from Sean. With a coven named the Oak Court we love tree imagery and Sean has some lovely Tree of Life rings and necklaces. It’s also where I got my absolute favorite Green Man ring several years ago. Everything on Sean’s page is worth browsing, and if you’ve got non-Pagan friends there’s some good stuff there for them as well.
CALENDARS & OTHER ODDS AND ENDS
These lists take hours to create, and I try really hard not to repeat things from year to year. However, I have a special place in my heart for calendars, and these tend to be on the list most every year, and why not? They are sort of the perfect gift each year, and thankfully there are all sorts of great Witchy and Pagan-like calendars out there.
My favorite (and I make no bones about it) is the GBG Year and a Day Calendar. Featuring more holidays and Craft related birthdays than any other calendar, the GBG Year and a Day will give you something to celebrate and commemorate every day of the year. And it also features pictures of Craft elders that you generally can’t find anywhere else. I like the heavy (nearly card stock) paper it’s printed on too. It’s durable, and the shrine to my coven’s Mighty Dead feature a few pictures cut out from this calendar.
The prettiest calendar year in and year out is Llewellyn’s Witches’ Calendar. I love the style of this calendar, and it’s also available just about everywhere. Perfect when you are running out of time and need a gift now. I wish it had more holidays on it, but when you want a calendar that doubles as a piece of art this is the one.
The ritual room at our house is full of art by Laura Tempest Zakroff, and you can peruse all of her great work at Owlkeyme Arts, including her new 2017 calendar. Tempest will sell out of this calendar, so order one now!
I don’t want to be known as the Calendar Guy, but I’ve got to add one more, and that’s the Luna Press Lunar Calendar. The moon information from the calendar is unparalleled, and it’s cool to do the year by moon phases instead of months. This one has been up in our ritual room all of 2016 and it’s been handy when preparing for moon magick.
When you need a little bit more than a calendar (and just want some light reading) there are some fantastic almanacs and other resources out there for Witches and Pagans. The grand-daddy of them all is probably the original Witches Almanac, which has been published annually since 1971! This year’s edition features an interview with Maxine Sanders alongside lots of other goodies. Not surprisingly there’s lot of astrological information, including the Chinese Zodiac.
It’s hard to keep up with the sheer amount of Llewellyn almanacs every year. There are almanacs for spells, astrology, the sabbats, herbs, and probably a few things I’m forgetting. My favorite is probably the Witches Companion, which is less an almaanc and more a great collection of essays, spells, and ideas by some of the best writers in Pagandom.
Want to know something that surprises me every year? Just how many people I see using Llewellyn’s Witches’ Datebook every year. I’m serious about this, I’ve seen all sorts of people all over the country take this one out of their bags and purses. Looks like a good stocking stuffer to me.
DONATE
If you don’t like stuff or don’t want to buy stuff can I suggest making a donation to an organization such as Planned Parenthood, The Human Rights Campaign, The Trevor Project, The NAACP, and lots of other ones. Charities can often be controversial, so I suggest checking to see which charities actually give most of their money to the causes they support. Donating to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline is something I really recommend this holiday season too.
And don’t forget to pick up copies of The Witch’s Athame and the Witch’s Book of Shadows for you and all your friends. According to everyone I’ve talked to The Witch’s Athame is the best book ever written just about athames (it’s also the only one!). I’m also equally proud of my Witch’s Book of Shadows book (it’s a book about books!) which will be out early next year.
These lists take HOURS AND HOURS to create, so help me out by sharing it on social media. I’d appreciate it.
Happy Holidays!!!
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