New Moon Magic: 13 Anti-Capitalist Tools for Resistance and Re-Enchantment
Description
Harness the power of lunar magic with 13 essential practices for the modern witch—one for each New Moon of the year
Fresh, fierce, and unapologetically feminist, this is both guidebook and rallying cry: an intersectional and inclusive magical praxis that resists, disrupts, and opens the door to nourishment, abundance, and transformation—for readers of Psychic Witch and The Spell Book for New Witches
In New Moon Magic, Missing Witches authors Risa Dickens and Amy Torok offer Witchy practices to change your life and reshape the world, without falling prey to the commercialization that belies the true heart—and power—of magic.
Witchcraft is praxis: how we do what we believe, and how we make those beliefs manifest. New Moon Magic is an offering to all witches, honoring the Craft’s roots in centuries of empowerment, survival, and resistance—despite capitalism’s attempts to co-opt and dilute its practice.
Here, Dickens and Torok reclaim tools of witchcraft as the ways and means of enchantment, imbued with magic that resists commodification and capitalism. The authors introduce 13 New Moon practices, each paired with a Witch who embodies the Craft:
- Potions with Cerridwen and St. Hildegard von Bingen
- Divination with Lozen and Harriet Tubman
- The Garden with Mayumi Oda
- Ritual & Ceremony with Genesis P-Orridge
- The Circle with Audre Lorde
Through historical research, interviews, and the authors’ own raw personal stories, New Moon Magic offers wisdom and guidance from real Witches past and present. It shows you how to take up tools and practices, discover (or rediscover) your own magic, and nurture a Witchcraft that creates instead of consumes.
Praise for New Moon Magic: 13 Anti-Capitalist Tools for Resistance and Re-Enchantment
"With their first book, Amy and Risa invited us all on a journey of story and magic that followed the rhythm of the Sun. Now we are invited to make another journey; to see ourselves, others, and our tools through the ever-changing and potent phases of the Moon. Come join us, join Risa and Amy, and let us all make magic together!"
—Jinkx Monsoon, Queen of All Queens
"Missing Witches weave together magical history, the potent present, and futurism to offer us inspiration and resources. This is a beautiful guide to healing that emphasizes that healing comes in many forms and that reminds us that we are not alone."
—Sarah Faith Gottessdiener, creator of Moonbeaming, the Many Moons workbooks, and author of The Moon Book
"This book is more than a book. It is an ecosystem teeming with modern Witches, ancestral agitators, anarchic seeds, and embodied practices. This book channels the moon’s medicine of mutability and movement. There is a medicine available for every type of weather and every type of body."
—Sophie Strand, author of The Flowering Wand and The Madonna Secret
"Imagine, for a moment, entering a portal where you are encircled and empowered with the words, the magic, and the wisdom of historical and modern Witches. By holding this book in your hands, you hold the key. Open the portal of the pages of New Moon Magic to embrace ritual, to unlock the stories of spellcasting, to rejoice in rising up together to create change. Amy and Risa’s book contains the juicy secrets and stories of personal Witchcraft to cultivate your own practice in a way that is authentic to you. In New Moon Magic, you are the spell!
—Veronica Varlow, author of Bohemian Magick
"This book is a welcome reminder that we need neither products nor permissions to make meaning, to build community, to exercise our power to shape our spiritual and physical lives. From celebrating our connection with nature to reaffirming our fundamental right to occupy space in the world, New Moon Magic is a timely message of empowerment and resistance."
—Jarod K. Anderson, creator of The Cryptonaturalist and author of Field Guide to the Haunted Forest and Love Notes from the Hollow Tree
"We are at a point in history where, once again, resistance is necessary. Laws, science, nature, policy, equity, inclusion, and freedom are being challenged more than ever. It can be easy to get wrapped up in the veil of “purchasing power,” wanting or needing to buy the “right” tool for your magical tradition. New Moon Magic helps you understand why this isn’t so, how this belief only soils the freedoms we all should enjoy, and how to get results while respecting the traditions of fellow healers, artists, and writers, from all different cultures and experiences. Risa and Amy give you an introduction with tools, stories, and substantial reference points on and for each tool, by those who are in and not in our community of healers. There is something for you in here. Whether you enjoy ritual, nature, geometry, poems, chants, or just want to learn more, you can find what you are looking for or store away the information in a book of shadows or vlog for later. The authors’ truth comes honestly as they tell you about their own lives in ritual and supported by ritual. This helps you to see for yourself the true life of a practitioner—in times of mourning, joy, doubt, hope, and need.
This book is a call to action for those who want to be change agents without increasing the chasm between the social and political. I say this as a coven member, a Patreon contributor, a guest on the Missing Witches podcast, and a fan of their first book. As a practitioner of my own beliefs, I can attest to this book’s wisdom and that it can be used by and shared with any magical tradition. The guidance is gentle—like a friend pulling you aside to share a great secret—but comes with backbone and research behind it. Research that is shared and bared from activists, authors, educators, practitioners, and healers from many other walks of life in addition to Witches. The tools themselves are as vast as the stories that are interwoven in the journey through the text. Bodies, tarot, art, needles, knives, geometry, journaling, poetry, brooms, crayons, and so on. Even though I do not practice in the same way as Risa and Amy, I can use these thirteen tools in a way that is familiar to me, respectful of my needs and ways, without diluting the message. I can’t wait for you to experience this book for yourself and to learn and grow in your practice and join the cause of resistance to capitalism."
—Sherry Shone, author of The Hoodoo Guide to the Bible and Hoodoo for Everyone
