For those who are interested in attending the upcoming 54 Devils Cartomancy Class but who may not be able to do so for financial reasons, we have a solution!
We’re offering a lottery-style scholarship to five (5) people that will let you attend the course for free. There are a few general conditions you’ll need to be able to meet:
You must be able to attend at least the first live session (on July 7th from 7-9pm Central Time). You can do the video recordings for the last two if you need to, but are highly encouraged to attend all live sessions.
You must be able to access the Google classroom independently (have your own Google account) and agree to not share the information from the class with anyone outside the class without express written permission.
You must abide by class rules which will be sent out to all students (of course).
You are requested to participate in at least half of the discussion posts in the Google classroom.
I would very much like you to fill out the end-of-course survey as well!
With this you’ll get access to the class, a digital copy of 54 Devils, and all the bonus content that comes with the course, too.
We’ll pick five random winners from the pool of applicants by Sunday, July 6th, and contact you via email with further information (please make sure to enter your email address correctly when you apply). You do not have to disclose any financial information to be eligible for this scholarship, either.
If you’d like to apply, just fill out the Scholarship Application by no later than midnight on Friday, July 4th!
Have you ever wanted to learn practical cartomancy (fortune-telling with playing cards)? Well here’s your chance!
We’re running a 3-class course on card reading (and more) and you can sign up at our website! Link in bio or visit http://www.newworldwitchery.com
Greetings all!
As some of you may know, Cory wrote a book some ten-plus years ago called Fifty-four Devils: The Art and Folklore of Fortune-telling with Playing Cards. Last year, he released the Tenth Anniversary revised edition, which expanded the original text to include more depth on readings, revised options for non-binary readers and clients, ways to read playing cards in conjunction with other divination methods, and even some guidance on spellwork with cards!
Early in 2025, Cory also test-ran a three-session cartomancy course for New World Witchery Patreon supporters, which got some great reviews!
Cory Hutcheson’s The Fifty-Four Devils cartomancy course was a delight from start to finish. Cory is a very knowledgeable and experienced playing card reader who has devised a method that is simple, effective and practical. He also teaches the system in a clear and engaging manner with lots of humor and charm. Besides learning the card reading system, you get history, folklore, mythology, and magic! It is a great way to expand your cartomantic reading skills -Karen C.
So now we’re opening that course to the public! Here’s the details:
Dates: July 7, July 14, July 21 (Monday evenings 7pm-9pm Central Time) – All classes are held by Zoom and recorded so if you miss one you’ll be able to watch it later
Cost: $64 per student*. That includes:
Three live and video-recorded sessions covering the history, folklore, and practice of playing card cartomancy
Access to our online classroom which will include discussion forums, practice prompts, no-pressure quizzes to self-check your learning progress, and more!
A copy of the e-book version of the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Fifty-four Devils
Additional bonus materials like video sample readings and printable PDFs
How Do I Register?
Good question! All you need to do is go to our Patreon page and purchase the post “54 Devils Cartomancy Class.” (You don’t have to be a monthly Patreon supporter to purchase this class, as you can do just a one-time purchase). When you purchase that post you’ll be able to open the entire thing and get the link to our online classroom to join us!
Registration will stay open until the first day of class, July 7th, 2025.
I already knew that Cory is an exceptional teacher and storyteller, but I was still pleasantly surprised by how skilled he was at engaging with the class and making cartomancy feel accessible and fun. The after-class lessons and quizzes he provided made me think carefully about readings and how to practically apply these new skills. -T. King
The course will be limited to a cap of fifty students for the sake of manageability. If you want to take the course but know you can’t afford it at this time, never fear! We’ll have a scholarship option available soon and open up five no-pay slots for students who will be selected at random from our pool of scholarship applicants.
If you’ve ever wanted to learn to do practical cartomancy with someone who’s been reading cards for decades while also engaging with a cartomancy learning community and getting some additional bonuses and perks, this class will be the one for you!
I hope to see you there!
Be well,
-Cory
*Please note that while the flat fee for the class is $64, some apps and platforms (such as iOS apps) may charge additional processing fees. The best way to ensure you get the $64 price is to visit the Patreon purchase site from a web browser.
We hope you’ve survived the eclipse in one piece and are looking forward to the moon waning again.
Since we’re in the celebrating spirit and all, we wanted to share with you that we’ve got something new going on. For those of you who support us on Patreon, you know that we usually produce something called an Annual ‘Zine for our patrons (typically sometime in the Spring, and yes, we know what 90s kids we are). Patrons at the $5 level get a digital copy of it, and patrons at the $10+ levels get a physical copy mailed to them. We’re in the midst of sending out our 2023 and 2024 ‘zines (we missed last year due to life circumstances but did a double ‘zine this year to make up for it), and until now we’ve made the ‘zines something available only to patrons as a bonus perk of supporting us. However, in order to support some of our efforts and the rising costs associated with our work, we have decided to put ‘zines from previous years on sale in case anyone in the general public is interested in acquiring them.
We are selling both digital copies of the ‘zines (for $5 each) and physical copies (price varying by materials). The physical copies are from our overstock, so quantities are limited there and once they are gone, they are gone. They are available on our Etsy shop (just because that’s the easiest place to sell them from). Right now we’re selling two Annual ‘Zines:
Fur, Fang, & Feather (2021) – A look at animals and magic including a personal essay from Laine, some bird folklore, animal-based charms, and a “trash familiar manifesto” from Cory. It’s 23 pages long and the physical copy is printed on good ole standard ‘zine copier paper. Digital copies are $5 and physical copies are $10 plus shipping.
RED (2022) – Our look at the folklore and magic of a crimson hue. We talk about red thread in magic, review some red-themed divination decks, look at a few (in)famous red books in magic, examine the housle or Red Meal in traditional witchcraft, and more. It’s a 31-page long ‘zine printed on recycled 80lb paper with a red paperboard cover. Digital copies are $5 and physical copies are $13 plus shipping.
These are definitely a limited-quantity offering, so if you’re interested in them please check them out sooner rather than later!
We will eventually make our 2023 and 2024 overstocks available, too, but we’re making sure everyone who was a supporter prior to the cutoff date gets a copy first. If you want to make sure you don’t miss a future ‘zine (and that you get a discount on purchasing past ‘zines), you can always join our supporters on Patreon, too!
Even if you don’t buy a ‘zine, we’re grateful to you for being a part of our readership and listenerhood (is that a word? well, it is now…). Thank you for your ongoing encouragement and support, and happy reading!
Our book, Conjuring the Commonplace–which looks at the folklore and magical uses of a wide variety of household objects–is now available for e-book preorder!
It’s a very cottage-y, cozy sort of book that will let you see the magic in a cup of tea or a butter cookie tin full of buttons, and we’re incredibly proud of it. If you’ve ever wanted to know about fortune telling based on falling silverware, love divinations with burning matches, or the myriad portable spell ingredients in your purse at this very moment, this book will be one you want to pick up. We collaborated on every chapter and Cory did most of the internal illustrations, too, so this is really a labor of love (and maybe a hint of enchantment).
You can order e-book copies during pre-release from:
Cory shares some thoughts on being a published author one year (plus a bit) after releasing New World Witchery, why publish witchy books in general, and what’s coming next from him in terms of writing.
This is just a super quick update to let you know that our Patreon tiers have been updated/changed this week. We’re trying to streamline the work process for Laine and me, while also adding a few extra perks for most levels!
The new tiers are:
Tier 1 (Omen Readers) – $1/mo. – You get the monthly newsletter, early access to any shows we release, and Discord access
Tier 2 (Fairy Doctors) – $5/mo. – You get the physical #54devils #cartomancy book (after 6 mos. of support) and a digital copy of the annual #witchyzine. You’ll also get priority during our NEW live reading cartomancy sessions, which we’ll do every six weeks or so (priority means you get to submit questions early). You’ll also get bonus episodes released on Patreon.
Tier 3 (Doodlebugs) – $10/mo. – Access to bi-monthly live chats. A digital review copy of the NWW Book by Cory. Plus a physical copy of annual zine. AND you’ll get an Annual Cartomancy Report done by either Cory or Laine (as an emailed PDF)
Tier 4 (Bone Shakers) – $20/mo. – You’ll get an Annual Swag Mailer (usually a book of some kind, a physical copy of the zine, and a few other little bonus gifts). You also get a signed copy of NWW Book (one time after 6 mos of support). We’ll also be featuring one Bone Shaker as a “Sponsor of the Ep” each month, and if you’ve got a business/podcast/project you’d like us to mention as part of that we’ll be glad to do so (some restrictions apply—no racist or homophobic stuff, for example). PLUS you’ll get access to a Live Zoom Cartomancy session with us twice a year where only patrons are invited and get to ask questions and receive readings!
So, yeah, that’s it! Hopefully it makes it easier for Laine and I to streamline some of the work while also adding more benefits for supporters.
HUGE thanks to everyone who has and does support us, too! We are incredibly lucky to get that support and we are so thankful to everyone who chips in to make this possible.
One of the kind of cool perks to creating New World Witchery is that we often get access to lots of books coming out on magical topics, and sometimes publishers even send us an extra copy or two of some books so we can give them away. I have been very lax in doing these sorts of giveaways, but I’m chalking it (loosely) up to Fate. Well, okay, and a touch of being a little overwhelmed with all the projects I do. But why Fate?
Because I have a few projects that I need your help with, and I thought why not combine those projects with an opportunity to give away a whole bunch of books? Maybe I’ve just been stockpiling these so that I would have a good cache of verbal treasures to send out as potential “thank yous” to a few lucky folks who help me out with my work!
So how can you help (and also get a chance to win one or more of these books)?
I’m currently doing a few research projects and I need people to share their experiences with me, so I’ve decided that if you participate in my project, you can also enter to win a book! Here’s how to participate and enter:
Fill out our “Campfire Tales” survey with your favorite spooky/funny/weird/eerie tale from around the old campfire! Importantly, please make sure it’s one that you’ve actually heard told to you, and not just read (or one that you’ve told and not just read) as I’m trying to get stories from the oral tradition. It’s totally fine if they’ve also been written down somewhere, too (and if you grew up reading the Alvin Schwartz Scary Stories series, you’ll know exactly what Campfire Tales are!), but definitely tell me the story in your own words! Make sure to leave a good email address with the survey so we can contact you if you win (we do NOT share your email address with advertisers or third parties).
Fill out our “Research Survey: Slumber Party and Supernatural Games” form. It will ask you questions about any spooky, weird, or slightly supernatural games you might have played/still play, including everything from “Bloody Mary” to using Ouija boards to newer versions of games like Midnight Man or Three Kings. Again, if you fill out this Google Form survey, make sure to provide an email address if you want to be considered for one of the books as a prize; we don’t share those with third parties or advertisers).
You can participate in one or both of these surveys to get an entry into our contest! If you’re one of our Patreon supporters, you’ll also get an automatic entry as well (just one of the perks of being a patron!).
So what are some of the books up for grabs?
Making Magic, by Briana Saussy (at least three copies) – A lovely guide to working everyday magic into your life through ritual, art, craft, and intention
Outside the Charmed Circle, by Misha Magdalene – All about magical and ritual explorations of gender and sexuality
Urban Magick, by Diana Rajchel – A great look at working funky, potent, animistic magic in a cityscape
What is Remembered Lives, by Phoenix LaFae – A book about working with ancestors, the Fae, and spiritual powers
The Magick of Food, by Gwion Raven – A marvelous overview of magical cookery, including historical recipes, ritual menus, and more
The Crooked Path, by Kelden Mercury – An introduction and orientation to Traditional Witchcraft
Besom, Stang, and Sword, by Chris Orapello and Tara-Love Maguire (not pictured, but a great book!) – A wonderful introduction to animistic, locally-rooted witchcraft by two amazing witches
Fifty-four Devils, by Cory Thomas Hutcheson (at least two signed copies) – My guide to the folklore of playing cards and a basic system of cartomancy
I may also add more books into the mix, depending on what I get/find/mysteriously find under a rock between now and when these contests end. Speaking of, get your entries in by no later than midnight, October 2nd, 2020 by EST to be considered for one of the book prizes!
You can win a prize in both contests, but only one book per survey (and multiple survey responses don’t increase your chances of winning). I’ll be picking the books and winners at random when the contest is over, then contacting winners to confirm a shipping address for any and all books you win.
There is no cost to you to participate in this contest, and you can also choose to do the surveys and not be entered into the drawing for the books if you like (but seriously, free books, why wouldn’t you?!?!)
Huge thanks to Llewellyn, Weiser, and Sounds True publications for all their generosity in offering these texts!
Best of luck, and my immense thanks to everyone who participates!
Time to open the dusty and ancient tomes once more! We continue with our Book Club, featuring the work of Scott Cunningham.
We’ve had a busy couple of weeks so our apologies that we haven’t gotten this up sooner, but we thought it would be better late than never to get some of the questions we had in our book club discussion onto the website.
This time around we were talking about Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Preface and Part I (Ch. 1-5), which pretty much covers the background and introduction of the book. Cory brought up a few points, noting for example, the very strong distinction Cunningham makes between a purely internal, “personal power” type magic and something that is channeled through these outside elements/objects/actions. This sort of ties into the recent interview with Mat Auryn, who works largely with what he calls Psychic Witchcraft. In EAFW we see something different, something gritty and earthed and a good bit messier and lived in than trying to operate solely in that “inner space” of the psyche (not that there’s a problem with that–just not Cory’s style). We’d love to know if you see that distinction, or if we are maybe missing some of the ways that Cunningham blends these two sides of witchery?
Laine let a friend borrow her copy, and got a really interesting note on the role of the moon in witchcraft versus that of the sun. The note says “perhaps the night holds a power/feeling because the sun is not present and we aren’t saturated by its power. We at night can feel our own power because the embodiment of the sun is reduced.” What do you think? Is the moon carrying the sun’s power in a different way, or do you feel it as something totally separate?
We also threw some questions out to our Patreon supporters and have had some good discussions circulating there, too. We thought we’d put a few of those questions here for you to ponder (and respond to in the comments if you want), too!
I wanted to throw out some questions for this second round of the book club, too, before I post up anything on the website. I’d love to hear about any of the following from anyone interested in discussing (as well as any topics you might want to bring up, too):
1. How do you feel about the “Akasha” thing? Does that enter into your practice at all? Does the idea of “cosmicness” play into your magical work somehow?
2. Do objects (esp. natural ones) help you to do magic, or is most of your magic internally driven? Are you more attuned to what Cunningham describes as “Natural Magic(k)” or more to what Mat Auryn describes as “Psychic Witchcraft” or both or neither or some other alternative?
3. How do you feel about his admonitions about evil and doing negative workings? Do you think those are a product of the time? How do you handle the idea of curses/hexes or similar magic?
Would love to hear what you have to say! Join in and discuss below!
My very weather-beaten copies of Earth Power and Earth, Air, Fire, & Water by Scott Cunningham, which will be our books for the 2020 NWW Book Club
Greetings and salutations!
If you read this blog, then it’s probably safe to assume you like to read in general (and even if you don’t, maybe books of magic are a different story). We’ve hinted a bit at something we’re trying out for 2020 in a few episodes, and with the release of our latest episode (Episode 157 – Evolving Witchery), we began what we’re calling the “New World Witchery Book Club” for 2020. The basic idea is that we’ll pick a book (or a small series of books–we know everyone already has piles of books by their bedside so we don’t want to overburden you) and then read it in sections each month. We’ll discuss the writing, the actual information, historical context, practical applications, folkloric roots, and just about anything we can come up with.
For this year, we’re going back to our own roots and looking at a pair of books that greatly influenced both Laine and I as we were starting out: Scott Cunningham’s Earth Powerand Earth, Air, Fire, & Water. These books are chock full of folk magic, albeit somewhat adapted through Cunningham’s eclectic Wiccan approach. We think we’re going to unpack some really good material here, especially as his focus on what he calls “natural magic” very much overlaps with the sorts of folk magic we find here in North America.
The basic breakdown for reading this book will be as follows:
Reading Plan for Earth Power and Earth, Air, Fire, & Water
January: Earth Power – Preface, Introduction, and Part I (Ch. 1-4)
February: Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Preface and Part I (Ch. 1-5)
March: Earth Power – Ch. 5 (Earth Magic); Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Ch. 6 (Earth Power)
April: Earth Power – Ch. 6 (Air Magic); Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Ch. 7 (Air Power)
May: Earth Power – Ch. 7 (Fire Magic); Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Ch. 8 (Fire Power)
June: Earth Power – Ch. 8 (Water Magic); Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Ch. 9 (Water Power)
October: Earth Power – Ch. 16 (Rain, fog, & storm Magic), Ch. 17 (Sea Magic); Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Ch. 17 (Wishing Well Magic), Ch. 18 (Sea Magic)
November: Earth, Air, Fire & Water – Ch. 15 (Ice Magic), Ch. 14 (Snow Magic)
December: Earth Power – Afterword; Earth, Air, Fire, & Water – Ch. 19 (Creating Your Own Rituals), Afterword
We will also try to put out little reading-related blog posts to offer ways to expand upon whatever we discuss and keep the conversation going each month.
These books were staples on our shelves growing up, but we also know that not everyone has a copy yet, so we’ve got some good news on that front, too! Firstly, Llewellyn Publications has agreed to offer our listeners and readers a 20% discount on any orders of Earth Power or Earth, Air, Fire, & Water you make between now and June 1st, 2020. All you have to do is go to www.llewellyn.com and pick up those books, then use the code “SCOTT20” at checkout for the discount (you must be logged into your Llewellyn account to use the code, but it’s an easy and free signup). They frequently have free shipping and other discounts going on, too, so check them out and stock up on some magic books!
The other way we want to make these available to you is, of course, a contest! We’ve got two copies of each of the two books we’ll be giving away (thanks Llewellyn!), with each winner receiving a copy of both Earth Power and Earth, Air, Fire, & Water. How do you enter?
Support us on Patreon! If you’re already a Patreon supporter, great news, you get an automatic entry in the contest! 🙂
Share this post on your social media (Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram especially) and tag us (or come back and leave a comment with a link where we can see your post)
Share a picture/post showing and/or describing what “natural magic” looks like or means to you on Twitteror Instagram. Tag us if you can, and make sure to use the hashtag #newworldwitchery when you post so we can find what you’ve shared easily.
That’s up to three entries per person! All contest entries must be completed by midnight Eastern Standard Time on January 31st, 2020. We’ll pick two lucky winners on February 1st and send them their copies of the Cunningham books (as well as maybe a bonus item or two).
So that is the basic idea, and even a chance to win some books. Not a bad way to go into the new year!
We hope you’ll join us as we work our way through these books, and share your own thoughts and interpretations of the material as well.
I’m currently doing some traveling, but while staying in Nashville, TN where we visit with my in-laws each year I was fortunate enough to have a day where both Laine and our friend (and fellow YouTuber/witchy bon-vivant) AthenaBeth made the drive in to meet up with me. We did some witchy shop-hopping and visited four different stores, where I picked up a few fun items (and probably more books than I should have). I made a video of it so please check it out and feel free to comment and/or share it around!
New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft 