New World Witchery – The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft
A show about magic and witchcraft in North America
Thoughts on writing, publishing, and what’s next…
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.
Link to video: https://www.youtube.com/embed/vESgjvro2Ac
Hi all!
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.
Literally couldn’t do it without you!
Thank you for your support!
Be well!
-C&L
It’s contest time!
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:
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?
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!
-Cory
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!
And, as always, thanks for reading!
-Cory
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 Power and 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
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?
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.
Thanks so much for reading (all the books!),
-Cory
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!
Oh, and AthenaBeth ALSO made a video about it you can find here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGNnGERcnRM
And here are the shops we visited:
Thanks for watching!
-Cory
Greetings everyone and hope you’re having a lovely New Year so far! What’s more, we hope to make it even lovelier for you by giving you the chance to win some truly marvelous journals from one of our friends and supporters, Cat at Datura Dreamings Etsy shop. She makes gorgeous journals and sketchbooks with astoundingly lovely cloth covers that would be perfect for any grimoire or spellbook you might be putting together. She’s also giving our listeners a 15% discount if you order from her by January 31st, 2019, and use the code “NWW15” at checkout!
We announce our winner of this contest (congrats Abbi C.!) and also launch a new contest in which you can win one of these two beautiful journals from Datura Dreaming:
So what do you need to do to enter?
Hello Magical Folk!
Above you’ll see (hopefully) a video for our latest addition to our YouTube channel. In it, I’m sharing some of the things I picked up on a recent family trip to Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida. I focus especially on stuff with a magical edge to it, so it might be interesting to some of you. Sorry about the grainy film quality and the weird out-of-sync mouth/words about halfway through the video–no idea what happened!
In the video, I also mention we’re doing a contest that you might want to get in on, too! The rules of the contest are simple:
*We’d especially love it if you shared around our Compass & Key Charm School video on Sea Witches and Merfolk, since that has a tie-in to this project. We’d also love it if you’d consider subscribing to the YouTube channel, too!
That’s it! If you’re one of our awesome Patreon supporters, you automatically get an entry into the contest, too. And you can get multiple entries by sharing multiple videos (just leave a separate comment for each one you share so we can add you to the tally properly).
So what can you win? I’m glad you asked! The prize pack for this contest includes:
That’s a lot of good stuff!
The contest will run through December 31st, 2018, so get your shares out there by then and make sure to comment on the video at the top of this post once you’ve shared so that you can get your name in the Sorting Hat for this contest.
Good luck, and thanks for watching!
-Cory
Above is the first in what will hopefully be a series of videos featuring “Everyday Magic” on our new YouTube channel. We’ll be trying to post new short videos on topics you can read about on our site. We’ve also started converting our back catalog of podcast episodes to video as well (there’s not much to see, but for those who like to listen to podcasts on YouTube this should help).
We definitely plan to do more with video in the future, too, so subscribe and keep an eye on the channel! And if you like what you see, please share these videos around wherever you think people might enjoy seeing them.
Thanks everyone!
-Cory
Hi all!
We just want to let you know that we’ll be doing a live broadcast on Sunday, October 29th, around 9pm EST via our Mixlr channel. We’ll be discussing tales of the supernatural and paranormal that you, our listeners, have shared with us! Please feel free to continue sending in your spooky encounters via email or by leaving a message on our voice mail if you prefer: (442) 999-4824 (that’s 442-99-WITCH, if it helps). The night of the broadcast, you can also listen live and even live chat with us while you are listening via that Mixlr page!
Hope to hear you soon!
-Cory & Laine
New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft 