99 Books Like Enchantments

I adore this book because it offers such practical, grounded strategies for navigating and facilitating change, drawing deep inspiration from the natural world.

Its insights feel both wise and usable, and they speak to a worldview and way of being that are profoundly dear to my heart.

It’s a touchstone for me—so much so that it permanently lives on my office bookshelf.

I’ve read this book twice and I would read it again and again because it taught me so much about myself in relation to how I want to approach and understand love. It affirmed my feelings about love and gave me the language and tools to understand the dynamics of love in platonic relationships, familial relationships, or romantic relationships.

I enjoyed how Hooks discussed themes such as spirituality, values, trauma, and greed. I consider this book to be an essential read and one I will always go back to when exploring concepts of love.

Michelle Tea is an inspiration to witches and punk rockers alike, allowing us to delve into our magic without fear, shame, or submission to dogmatic religions. I would not have written a tarot deck without her inspiration and guidance, as it was originally a collaboration between us.

As Next World Tarot became more and more of a platform for my ancestral magic, Michelle Tea delved into this masterful text on Tarot itself. I love this book because it is a beacon for anyone who wants to access their intuition through tarot but does not find comfort or connection towards the gatekeeping culture behind it.

Tarot is complex and historical and feminist and revolutionary—and we do not learn that in most historical contexts. Luckily, Michelle Tea has both documented and exercised this truth for us. This book exposes Michelle’s unique experience and wisdom, merging humor, truth, grit, and tradition with our… show more.

This book is so deeply tampered with by society and Western modalities of health that a book like this is necessary for the act of reclaiming our magic. Black Queer Feminist editors Cara Page and Erica Woodland showed me that collective care and radical love are vital ingredients to cultural work. Ancestral medicine and healing were not offered to queer folks, sex workers, people on many margins—and our right to magic has been taboo for too long.

I love this book because it names ancestral medicines and healing practices as necessary tools for community survival—communities that have survived centuries of violence. Community and survivor-led care strategies shaped my vision in the Next World Tarot, and this book articulates that vision as praxis. Centering disability, reproductive, environmental, and transformative justice and harm reduction, revolution becomes human.

An unlikely complement to Huizinga tracing the overlap between magical beliefs in religion as well as astrology and the emerging accusations of witchcraft. Deeply immersed in research about 16th-17th century England, this book offers a form of historical anthropology for baseline views of the strange ideas that drove spiritual life.

This was the first book I ever read by HP Lovecraft and after reading it, I read everything else that I could find by such a talented writer. Lovecraft’s stories are dark, doom-ridden tales that are filled with cosmic horror, nightmarish landscapes, and indescribable monsters. But it’s not only the tales themselves that captivated me, it’s the style in which they were written. Lovecraft has such a beautiful literary style of writing that really made me feel what the characters felt and see what horrors they witnessed. His work definitely inspired me to pick up pen and paper and write stories of my own.

This was the first occult book I ever bought, so it holds a special place in my heart. The title alone, drew me to it and I was not disappointed. The book is full of all kinds of spells and information on herbs, amulets and talismans, ceremonial magic, Satanism & Witchcraft, potions, and many other wicked goodies. I love old occult books and this one, first published in 1970, started my occult library which has continued to grow. 

I pull this book off my shelf all the time. It is so beloved that I might need a new copy; some of those pages look old. This is the oldest book I recommend and the only reference book, but if you’re practicing witchcraft, you need reference books.

I find that the internet can be very helpful for research, but also weirdly unreliable. You just don’t know what you’re getting. But I know I can trust Scott Cunningham, I know he researched every word in his books and that the information is grounded in that research. So when I’m doing a spell and I need an herbal concoction, or I just want inspiration, this book is my go-to.

This is an excellent, yet brief history of the Black Arts and the famous (or infamous) people who practiced them. It was while reading this book, particularly the chapter on LaVoisin, that inspired the story of Christina Lafage, the main character in Widdershins. The book also describes other interesting practitioners, such as Dr. John Dee, Eliphas Levi, Nostradamus, Aleister Crowley, and many more. The chapters on Black Magic and Sorcery and Raising the Dead also contributed to my ideas for my book. I often find myself referring to this book over and over again for great source material.

As he was a friend and mentor to me, I got to see this work evolve from the seed idea to the final form just as our beloved Raven passed from this world. As his last book, What We Knew in the Night takes lore and tradition not readily available today, drawn from Raven’s living experience as a Witch and occultist in the lively and secretive California communities. He would speak about the traditional ways lore was passed at the time, mouth to ear, and this work is the manifestation of his deep desire to see those important teachings brought together and passed to a new generation as the world changes.