Queering your Craft

Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft from the Margins, by Cassandra Snow, published by Weiser Books, 2020 (9781578637218 pbk).

Witchcraft has always belonged to the outsiders and outcasts in society, yet so much of the practice enforces and adheres to the same hierarchy we face in the world at large—a hierarchy that isolates and hurts those living beyond society’s binaries and boundaries. While there are books that address magick for resistance and queer myth, until now there has not been one that specifically addresses the practice of queer magick from an LGBTQ+ standpoint. Queering Your Craft combines queer aesthetic and culture (like DIY culture and an emphasis on chosen family over formal covens) with pagan and metaphysical spiritual practice in a way that is commonplace but has not been written about until now. This book covers the personal, the collective, and the political, and how deeply intertwined all three are in a magickal practice for those who are LGBTQ+.

In this introduction to witchcraft, Snow presents why/how each concept is important to a queer craft, or how to approach it from a queer mindset. For example, conventional prayer, words, and symbols have always been problematic in a queer universe: How to make them work and still be true to yourself? The bulk of the book is about learning the craft.

The latter portion is a grimoire of spells. While accessible to beginning witches, Queering Your Craft provides new and inspiring information for longtime practitioners interested in a pure and personal approach that avoids the baggage of history and stereotype.

Foreword by Mat Auryn.

Cassandra Snow is a professional tarot card reader and has practiced and studied magick for over fifteen years. She has a special interest in queer theory, history, and culture. Snow teaches classes on Queering the Tarot and Tarot for Beginners, and coaches new and intermediate tarot readers. She runs Gadfly Theatre Productions, a queer and feminist theatre company, and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Visit her at cassandra-snow.com.