Llewellyn’s 2025
Featuring
Ari & Jason Mankey, Autumn Damiana, Kate Freuler, Deborah Castellano, Gwion Raven, James Kambos, Nathan M.
Hall, Charlie Rainbow Wolf, Stephanie Rose Bird, Melanie
Marquis, Lilith Dorsey, Najah Lightfoot, Blake Octavian
Blair, Dallas Jennifer Cobb, Laura Tempest Zakroff, Lupa, Tess
Whitehurst, Phoenix LeFae, Ember Grant, Barbara Ardinger,
Rahjeena Drabarni, Emily Carlin, Dodie Graham McKay, Michelle Skye, Emma Kathryn, Elizabeth Barrette, Diana Rajchel
Llewellyn’s 2025 Witches’ Companion Copyright © 2024 by Llewellyn Publications. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
Llewellyn Publications is a registered trademark of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.
Art direction and cover design: Shira Atakpu
Cover art © Tim Foley, © Anikó Kutas-Czinege, © Pixie Cold, © Nadia Turner
Interior illustrations:
Tim Foley: 1, 2, 9, 18, 26, 36, 45, 51, 251
Pixie Cold and Nadia Turner: 63, 64, 75, 84, 92, 98, 105, 113, 251
Anikó Kutas-Czinege: 121, 122, 130, 139, 148, 156, 166, 251
Jerry Hoare and Nadia Turner: 173, 174, 186, 196, 208, 220, 229, 240, 251
ISBN 978-0-7387-7202-8
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Practical Magic
Kitchen Magic by Charlie Rainbow Wolf 64
Magickal & Spiritual Candles: How to Avoid Getting Burned by Stephanie Rose Bird 75
Sensing Energies: Connect to the Energies of the Natural World by Melanie Marquis 84
Magickal Morning Coffee with the Ancestors by Lilith Dorsey 92
Get Your Hands in the Dirt: The Magick of Gardening
The
Magical Ideas
The Human Element of Witchcraft in the Age of AI by Laura Tempest Zakroff 122
Changing Spiritual Paths by Lupa 130
The Goddess as Queen by Tess Whitehurst 139
Reclaiming the Crone: Embody the Wise Woman Archetype for the Modern Age by Ember Grant 156
Let’s Be Friends with Our Goddesses and Gods by Barbara Ardinger 166
Magical Action
Witchcraft for Sale: How to Find a Legitimate Professional and Avoid Scams
Witchcraft and the Deep Green Cause
Coming Out of the Broom Closet to Friends and Family
ARI & JASON MANKEY
Witchcraft is empowering and life-changing. Magick allows us to take control of our lives and circumstances. Honoring the Wheel of the Year brings us closer to nature and deepens our connection with planet Earth. Relationships with deity strengthen our resolve and make us the best versions of ourselves. Witches can travel to the veil between the worlds and back again, resulting in continuing relationships with lost loved ones.
But not every aspect of the Witch experience is a positive one. For many of us, “coming out of the broom closet” (revealing to friends and family that one is a Witch) can be a heartbreaking and painful experience.
The world is much more tolerant today of alternative spiritualities than it was even twenty years ago, but telling those around you that you are a Witch can still result in broken friendships, lost job opportunities, and estrangement from family. There is no one way to come out to others about your practice of Witchcraft, but thanks to our own experiences (both good and bad), we have what we hope is some good advice.
Jason’s Story
When my grandparents found out that I was a Witch, they were heartbroken. That’s my most painful memory of “coming out of the broom closet.” My grandparents, who had accepted my gay brother without a second thought, simply couldn’t wrap their heads around a member of the family leaving the Christian faith. Growing up, I was extremely close to my grandparents, and their disappointment in me stung. Perhaps worst of all, my grandparents’ disapproval hurt the relationship we had. Now every phone call we shared felt just a bit strained, and I began limiting what I would take over to their house to read. I knew that my grandparents still loved me, and I accepted their misguided worry as a reflection of that love, but more than anything else, I wanted our relationship to be what it had been previously. Many Witches might have resorted to magick to rectify the situation, but I chose to write them a letter.
Years later, I call that letter the “Unitarian Universalist Letter,” and it’s an apt title. (Unitarian Universalism is a diverse movement that includes Christians, Jews, atheists, and many Witches and Pagans.) My letter was not a plea to be okay with me leaving Jesus behind, but instead was an attempt to share with my grandparents the divine in everything. As a Witch, I have never believed that I hold all the answers or some sort of absolute truth. As long as people are treating others with kindness and decency, I don’t care what type of religion they practice (or don’t practice).
My letter had the desired effect, and my relationship with my grandparents was mended. Going forward, we no longer talked about religion, but my grandparents also no longer believed I was a devil worshiper sacrificing babies and spitting on effigies of the Christian cross. The tension that had been present in phone calls and letters dissipated, and things mostly returned to the previous status quo. (And after meeting my then Witch-girlfriend Ari, my grandparents might have started thinking that Witchcraft was good for me!)
My grandparents both passed in the early 2000s, but as a Witch, I can still feel them. At Samhain every year, their picture goes up on our ancestor altar, and I spend a few minutes once again in their presence. Now that they’re on the other side of the veil, I’m convinced that my grandparents are more than happy with my Witchcraft practice because it allows us to be together once again.
There were some close-minded friends who didn’t like my choice to live as a Witch, but I’m guessing those friendships would have ended anyway. A friend who can’t accept the personal choices of another is not a friend worth having.
With the exception of my grandparents, I didn’t really have any other bad experiences coming out of the broom closet. Certainly there were some close-minded friends who didn’t like my choice to live as a Witch, but I’m guessing those friendships
would have ended anyway. A friend who can’t accept the personal choices of another is not a friend worth having.
Ari’s Story
Jason was twenty-one and in college when he found Witchcraft. I was sixteen, going to Catholic school, and living in a townhouse with two brothers, one sister, and an overly religious mother and stepfather, so both practicing the Craft and coming out of the broom closet were nonstarters. My magick and rituals all took place secretly in the middle of the night while the rest of my family was asleep. It would be many more years before I dared to share my faith in the Goddess with my family.
After graduating high school, I went away to college, and with my family now an hour away, I began openly practicing the Craft on campus. But my Witchcraft practice was still something I couldn’t share at home, and I will never forgive my stepfather for once following me to an open Lammas ritual during my first summer home from college and embarrassing me in front of the other Witches and Pagans there. At that point, my mother and stepfather had figured out that I was a Witch, but they kept telling themselves it was “just a phase” and talked about the Craft in condescending and insulting terms. That was the last summer I spent at home with my family.
My father has always been supportive and understanding of my Witchcraft practice, while my mother threatened to skip my wedding and keep my younger siblings from attending if the ceremony wasn’t in a Catholic church. (I made sure to plan my wedding for a weekend when my dad had custody of the younger children.) Over the years, the more judgmental members of my extended family have started weird rumors about my spirituality and relationships, but the end result has usually resulted in my close-minded aunts and uncles
looking like fools. My life has turned out pretty well, and the petty rumors come across more like sour grapes than anything else.
Twenty-plus years after learning that I was a Witch, my mother still has problems dealing with it. Holiday cards always mention Jesus, and she’s the only family member who is unaware that I wrote a book on spellcraft with Jason and some other members of our coven. The situation will never be ideal, but I just remind myself that the loss is hers and not mine. As a Witch, I am an even better version of myself!
Coming Out to Friends and Family
While Witchcraft is an important part of our lives, we are both more than just Witches. We both have a variety of hobbies and interests away from Witchcraft, as well as friends outside of the Witchcraft world. In many of those spaces, Witchcraft doesn’t even come up, nor does it have to. Your spiritual beliefs are your business, and they don’t have to be shared with anyone. If telling your eighty-five-year-old great-grandmother that you are a Witch is going to upset her, why bother? Many of the first modern Witches happily spent the majority of their lives inside the broom closet. But there are lots of circumstances where that is just not possible, and besides, who wants to hide who they are!
Let People Judge You for You
Because we live in Silicon Valley, California, casual acquaintances and new friends all assume that we both work in the tech industry as computer programmers. When people ask Jason what he does for a living, he usually responds with “write books about history” instead of leading with “Witchcraft author.” Over time, people do find out that he writes Witchcraft books, but by that point, most of them have already decided that he’s okay to hang out with and a pretty decent person. The Witchcraft part becomes just another facet of his life, not the only defining characteristic of his existence. Human beings
are complex creatures, and we are more than just our spiritual beliefs. Most of us have a wide variety of interests, hobbies, and friends.
You Don’t Have to Hide the Craft, but You Don’t Have to Be Loud about It, Either
Ari once went to a local art fair with a coworker she had been growing close to. While looking at jewelry, Ari oohed and aahed over a ring decorated with a crescent moon and a piece of onyx. Ari’s coworker already knew that Ari had an interest in crystals, but a ring with a crescent moon? Putting the meaning of the crystals and the ring together, Ari’s coworker deduced that Ari was a Witch!
Crystals, astrology, tarot, and candle magick are more popular than ever and are topics of interest to a wide variety of people. Sharing an interest in those things can lead to discussions about one being a Witch. And if no one ever connects the dots between your herbal apothecary and your crystal collection, that’s fine too! But if you want to share your Witchcraft with others, it’s possible to do so subtly over time, and by doing so, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how they will react to the news.
You Don’t Have to Advertise Being a Witch
It simply doesn’t make much sense to introduce yourself as a Witch to someone you’ve just met at a coffee shop, or make Witchcraft the first topic of conversation at a new job. In fact, doing so might result in an immediate (negative) judgment, or simply make you an object of curiosity. We are both proud to be Witches, but it’s not the only thing that defines who we are as people.
Be Honest
We get to choose our friends, but not so much our families, and as a result, sharing a Witchcraft practice with certain family members can be daunting. Coming out of the broom closet to a judgmental and close-minded family member is never easy, but a little honesty will go a long way. Explain why you are a Witch and how it benefits your life.
Point to similarities between the Craft and (any) former beliefs you might have held. Ask that your new practice be respected, and share your respect and love for the people with whom you are sharing this new part of your life.
Sometimes no matter what we do, a parent or a friend just won’t accept that Witchcraft is a part of our lives. In such cases, the best thing to do is keep being you. Be a good friend, be a good relative, live a giving and decent life, and those around you will have little choice but to accept you and your practice. And if someone does choose to shun you over the Craft, just remember that it is not your fault. They are the ones losing out on a friend, a brother, or a daughter.
Ari Mankey has been practicing Witchcraft and creating spells for over twenty years. Away from the Craft, she has devoted her life to medical laboratory science and developing the perfect whisky ice cream. She is a coauthor of The Witch’s Book of Spellcraft.
Jason Mankey has written nine books for Llewellyn and is a frequent speaker and teacher at Pagan festivals across North America. He lives in Northern California with his wife, Ari, where they run two local covens. You can follow him on Instagram and Twitter @panmankey.
