Living Your Best Magickal and Mundane Life
Once upon a time, I wrote a book called The Goddess Is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch. I’d written two books before that one and have written many since, but there was something special about The Goddess Is in the Details. Of course, I hope that there is something special about all my books, but this one seemed to hit a chord with a lot of people.
Goddess has, at the time of this writing, gone on to have six printings, more than any of my other books. I get more notes and emails from readers telling me that The Goddess Is in the Details has helped them, touched them, and inspired them, and I must confess, it is my favorite too. (Shhh…don’t tell the other books.)
So what is it about this particular book that made it stand out? After all, I’ve written spellbooks and ritual books, books for covens, and books that help people practice Witchcraft without spending a lot of money. What is different about The Goddess Is in the Details?
I think the answer lies in my intent when I wrote the book. I wanted to go beyond the usual “101” books, the ritual and spellworking basics—not that these kinds of books aren’t wonderful and useful; I have shelves filled with them. But living a magickal life isn’t just about casting spells, chanting under the full moon, and celebrating the sabbats. To me, living your best magickal and mundane life means moving beyond the separation between the two; in fact, if you are truly going to walk your talk as a Witch, there can be no separation.
This doesn’t mean that you have to go around telling everyone you meet that you’re a Witch. What it does mean is finding ways to integrate your spiritual beliefs as a Pagan with your day-to-day life. And that was what The Goddess Is in the Details was all about. From home and family to mindful eating to dealing with times of crisis, I tried to come up with suggestions that were meaningful but also reasonably fast and easy to fit into most people’s already overwhelming demands on their time and energy. From the response to the book, I’m guessing that I succeeded.
So—why write another book with the same basic theme?
Well, I might have left a few things out the first time. After all, you can only fit so much into any one book without making it so large it would constitute your daily exercise just to pick it up. And frankly, I’ve learned a few things since then and changed the way I view other things.
At the time I write this, I have been practicing Witchcraft for almost seventeen years: five-and-a-half years studying with my first high priestess, a year as a solitary after I left that group, and then ten-plus years as high priestess to my own group, Blue Moon Circle. Needless to say, over that time things in my life—and in me—have changed, and how I practice my Craft has changed with them. Even Blue Moon Circle has changed, fluctuating over the years from the three core people it started with, up to as many as eight or nine, and back down to six.
I’ve also made connections over that time with many of my readers, some of whom have asked me questions that never got answered in any of my other books. So right about the time I signed the contract for my first published novels and said to myself I guess that’s it for the nonfiction, a little voice in my head said, “Wait! There’s one more book you have to write first.”
Yes, ma’am.
Never ignore that voice.
Which brings us here, to this book. It is, in theory, a follow-up of sorts to The Goddess Is in the Details. But it is also a book that stands by itself, and you certainly don’t need to have ever read anything else of mine for this book to work for you. I cover some things in both books (in different ways), and some things only in this one.
The main thing these books have in common is their intent to help you live your best possible magickal and mundane life. We all walk very different paths as Pagans and Witches, and what is right for one person won’t be right for the next. But my aim is to make it easier for you to find and follow the path that is right for you, integrating spirit and magick and heart into your everyday tasks as you walk it.
Because isn’t that what all of us really want? To be our best selves, to live our happiest and most fulfilled lives, and to walk our paths with grace and wisdom, with occasional stops along the way to dance with joy?
I hope this book helps you to achieve that, and I am honored that you are bringing me along on the path with you.
Blessed be,
Deborah
A Note on Names
Writing a book about Witchcraft can be kind of tricky. There are Wiccans and Witches and Pagans—oh my!—not to mention the folks who follow some kind of spiritual path that is more or less one of the above but doesn’t fall under any of those categories or who prefer not to put any name at all on what they believe. And then there are the people who are curious or open-minded or interested in some aspects of a Witchcraft practice but not others.
Yoinks.
I use the terms Pagan and Witch pretty much interchangeably most of the time, mostly for ease of use. Feel free to mentally substitute whatever label makes you the most comfortable, and just know that in most cases, I’m talking about “you, the reader” no matter what name I use.
Maybe I should have just used Bubba. You know, like: To be a well-rounded Bubba, you should always bathe before rituals. (Snicker.) Never mind. I guess I’ll just stick with Witch and Pagan.