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A few years ago I began dabbling with the title “Enchantress/Enchanter” alongside “witch” because one of my favourite ways to weave magic is through my voice, through words, and through storytelling.

In ancient times, and in many cultures, those who told stories and recited poetry were recognised as powerful magicians, capable of turning the tide of history, bringing good fortune or misery as they chose.

This power of storytelling connects us to our ancestors as in storytelling we use the language they passed us to shape a world, whether for a moment or a lifetime.

It connects us to those that come after us, for in the stories we keep alive we choose what to offer to them, what world and magic we are passing on.

We all tell stories to connect, to entertain, to teach, to inform, to persuade, and for many other reasons besides, even if we don’t think we are storytellers.

Yes, even you.

I love storytelling, and I often do it as a devotional act. I learn stories that connect to my gods and spirits, that remember the Fair Folk, or that carry wisdom from older times, and I share them to keep them alive. I craft new stories, such as the Goblin Circus, to bring that healing which comes from playfulness, so needed in today’s world.

One of my home traditions, Reclaiming Witchcraft, works deeply with stories in ritual and as teaching tools, and this has long inspired me. RJ Stewart’s work taught me how the folk and fairy tales can carry the keys to Faeryland. OBOD begins with the “Bardic Grade”, and encourages creativity as you work through learning the foundations of modern pagan magic. In these and many other modern traditions we have felt the importance of storytelling, and it is common to invite folk to tell tales… but very often there is no guidance on how to do so.

Often people say to me: “I wish I could do that, but I couldn’t remember a whole story!”

But storytelling is a natural human activity, so you already tell stories! And to tell a tale in a way that enchants is a set of skills which you can learn. To craft ritual and magic from stories is, too, another skill you can learn.

In a culture where we receive our stories from media it is easy to forget that storytelling is a natural expression of humanity. And if you have a longing to be part of that ancient lineage, then you can remember that, and recover those skills for storytelling as enchantment, whether you’re performing, bespelling your life, or sharing the tales with the trees.

I wrote this book to show you exactly how you can take each step. Some of the questions answered within are:

How can I connect with the magic of air, words, breath, voice?

How can I find a story? And make it my own?

How can I remember a whole story?

How can I tell a story in a way that is natural for me?

How can I use the magic of myth to empower my spells?

How can I create a ritual from a story, to bring me closer to the magic within?

And, while my focus is on the voice, there are many ways to tell a tale. I’ve included suggestions for how you can use the skills and exercises in this book without sound, and how you might adapt the magic within to your own practice, both solo and for groups.

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