About the book
The inner work is what happens in the mind and body during ritual, and is intimately connected with embodied spirituality, which celebrates being alive and embodied. Only by connecting the inner and the outer can we create positive change in the world.
This is a book about how to relate your witchcraft practice to everyday concerns; living comfortably in your body; how to be at peace with yourself so you can help others. It is about the inner work of ritual: what happens on an inner level while the outer forms of ritual (gesture, movement, and speech) are going on. It enables you to develop more effective rituals by thinking about how ritual works. That is why it starts from the beginning, thinking about why we set up sacred space in a specific way, why we celebrate the Pagan festivals, and how that relates to Pagan ethics and theology. Witchcraft is a system of practice with specific goals, and this book inquires into what those goals are and how our practice can help us to achieve them, creating meaning in our lives. The book is aimed at people who want to ground their magical practice in a Pagan worldview and lived values, and practice embodied spirituality.
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Praise for Dark Mirror
“Dark Mirror is an exploration of the ‘inner work’ of witchcraft, the internal processes which ritual sets in motion to initiate change and transformation, both within the ritualist and in the world around them. Over and beyond that central goal, though, the book is an outline of Aburrow’s conception of Wicca as an inherently inclusive practice: anti-racist, queer-positive, sex-positive, and body-positive. The scope of what they cover is impressive, from basic techniques of ritual work to discussions of theological principles, all presented in a clear, pleasant writing voice reminiscent of Doreen Valiente, equal parts ‘straightforward instruction’ and ‘chatting over tea and biscuits.’ As an academically trained feminist nerd with a taste for systems analysis, this approach makes me positively giddy with delight.”
– Misha Magdalene, author of Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice
“Dark Mirror will make you think why as well as how you work your magic wherever you are on the rainbow of human experience. LGBTQIA needs, expectations and impressions have never been so well explored in all aspects of magical practice. This book is for absolutely everyone from those who have been leading a Pagan life for years as it reminds them and gives fresh options for doing things to the wonderful new generation of folk who are Witch curious. This is a very readable and reliable textbook for everyone to understand with ease.”
– Geraldine Beskin, The Atlantis Bookshop, London, UK.
“Wicca meets critical theory in this transformative work, which updates Wiccan practices for the 21st century through radical inclusivity. Pushing well beyond “Wicca 101,” this book gets at the heart of modern Pagan witchcraft and is recommended for both beginners and experienced practitioners.”
– Sabina Magliocco, Professor of Anthropology and Chair, Program in the Study of Religion, University of British Columbia, and author of Witching Culture: Folklore and Neopaganism in America.
Table of contents
Introduction: The Inner Work
Part 1: Coming to the Circle
- The Pagan Worldview
- Creating Sacred Space
- Raising Energy – Synergy, Resonance and Polarity
- Magical Names
- Archetypes and the Inner Work
- The Mysteries
- Evocation and Invocation
- Symbolism in Ritual
- Spell Work
- Magical Tools
- The Moon
Part 2: Embodied Spirituality
- Relationships
- “Ye shall be naked in your rites”
- The Erotic and Spirituality
- Inner Aspects of the Festivals
- Grounding and Centering
- Making an Altar
- The Hearth
- Food in Ritual
- Labyrinths; Meditative Walking; Pilgrimage
- Gardening
- Spirits of the Land
- Meditation, Visualisation, Contemplation
- Poetry, Storytelling, and Reading
- Cultivating the Virtues
- Rites of Passage
- Inclusive Wicca
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This is a book about how to do witchcraft, but not like any other I have read. Most of them concentrate on what words to use, what actions to perform or when you should be doing something. This book is about how it feels when you get the magic right – and how to ensure you get that feeling.