I’m so excited to share my newest book with you all!
I just wanted to share a quick note to invite you to the party tonight – starting in 3 hours! There will be a replay in The Enchanted Academy so join us there even if you can’t make it live.
The Book launch party is entirely free, and there will be magic, time for questions and celebrations, and a special announcement about what’s coming next from me…
*Affiliate link for UK folk. Also available wherever you buy your books!
Storytelling for Magic
Learn the bardic art of storytelling to craft rituals, empower your magic, and enchant your life.
In this book are the keys to bringing the gifts of the ancient magic-weavers, the storytellers, into your life. The Bards of old wove magic with their words. Through myth and legend, history and inspiration, they shaped the world around them. Just like them, you can connect with the magic of storytelling to create powerful change.
Join professional performer, ritualist, bard, and witch Halo Quin, and discover how to use your voice in magic, how to unravel the secrets of stories, how to craft your own rituals to bring the power of myths and folk tales into your life, and how to find, learn, and tell stories to enchant the world inside and outside the circle.
Divided for the sake of union, the beginning and end of all that was, is, and must be, God Herself dances the dance of love and desire.
Cernunnos has sat, cross legged, for thousands of years. His antlers pierce the sky like his blade cuts into the hearts of the animals who give their lives to feed us. That which is used to protect can bring pain, and that which brings pain can bring nourishment. He knows both, this horned god, as he is both predator and prey, hunter and hunted.
Lilith refused to lay underneath Adam the way he said she was supposed to. Instead, she chose freedom, and pleasure on her terms. Some people say she birthed all the monsters of the world, perhaps they were just jealous that she did what they never could… accepted herself.
I love being pagan, my deities are vibrant, alive, and sensual. They desire and choose and love. Not every pagan dances with deities, but many do, and there is something precious in the gift of knowing that our gods live, love, and lose just as we do. They are part of this world, part of Nature (yes, including the human nature) and their stories and presence reminds me that the divine really is immanent.
And the gods are kinky.
Kink means anything consensual that arouses which is outside of the “mainstream”, or at least what people call mainstream. And arousal is an altered state of consciousness.
You know, that thing we do in magic.
The kink and magic communities have been learning from each other for a long time, not least because we’re both on the outskirts of the mainstream (however popular witchtok might get). Both deal in changing the mind through multiple techniques – such as endurance, repetition, performance, sensation – and both are exploring liminal realms.
Now, of course, not all kink is magic and not all magic is kink, but there are tools in the kink kit that magicians can use to support their magic.
And conversations – around consent, restitution, self-acceptance, ethics, community, safety, and navigating everyday life as an outsider – that the kinksters have been having for a long time and we can learn from.
We’re often taught that the spirit and body are separate, and bodily things such as pleasure, and desire are either seen as somehow lesser than the spiritual, dirty, and resigned to the hidden spaces, or given primacy, resigning the spiritual to the realm of fantasy. But this is an illusion, and we can find magic in the flesh, the sacred in the dungeon, and power in the hidden places. We are occultists, after all.
We talk about this connection between sex and magic in the Crimson Collective, and it is reflected in the mythology and deities that embody embodiment. From Inanna, to Aphrodite, to Freya, to Babalon, the goddesses of sex and love are also goddesses of magic and battle, seemingly paradoxically. Perhaps because they are present as their whole selves, and embodiment is key to powerful, transformative magic, and the changing of consciousness and raising of power that happens in magic is present in passion, desire, and arousal too.
So why, as magical folk, should we shy away from even talking about the connections between kink and magic, and what can be learned in this expression of desire?
The power of embodiment in ritual, and the connections between passion and magic, can be clearly seen in the realm of BDSM and Kink where activities are often ritualised, power flows, and consciousness is changed through the body, whether or not intercourse occurs. Just as Magickal Will is said to be best enacted under the auspices of Love, kinky practices must be held within the boundaries of consent and safety, and when we explore this, one way in which embracing our own shadow can be held as sacred emerges. (I share some of my journey in magical kink in my book, Twisted)
In The Enchanted Academy (TEA), September 2024, I offered a free online talk on the connections between kink and magic, a reprise of “Kink, Magic, and Embodiment” from the Glastonbury Occult Conference, and shone a light on the magic that is present in the Dungeon, and the kinkiness in the Temple, addressed some misconceptions about BDSM, and highlighted some ways in which kinky activities can not only parallel magical activities, but also, in many ways, be magical in themselves. All in the context of embodiment as a divine state and under the watchful eyes of the deities of love, passion, and magic.
I’m settling back into life after an adventure weaving lunar magic in Italy and reflecting back on some of the powerful experiences and beautiful magic that was shared. One piece was on shapeshifting, a skill that has fascinated me since I first discovered, aged 11, that there were adults who also believed in magic and I wondered;
“If witches are real, are shapeshifters real too?”
I soon discovered that shapeshifting is one of the skills of the witch.
Shapeshifting shows up throughout history, myth, legend, and even into modern practices today. The skill to shift ones shape, to take on a new perspective, new abilities, new understanding.
Today we think of it as an imaginative or energetic practice, and it is. But it is worth remembering that the world is more nuanced than we think, and the physical is not so far away from the spirit.
Historically shapeshifting was often described as being literal, and there are accounts of people flying to safety (1), or becoming bears, wolves, and hares.
Terry Pratchett (2) illustrates the traditional witchcraft practice of faring forth in animal form well, when Granny Weatherwax hangs a sign up saying “I ate’nt dead” and sends her spirit out to “borrow” an animal’s senses, but it was common in this practice that the spirit was sent out in animal form, as a physical presence itself . The witch-spirit-as-animal, running as a hare, could even be injured and that injury would appear on their body the next day. Scottish witch Isobel Gowdie describes a famous example of this. (3)
The line between physical and spiritual is more porous than we might believe.
I first experienced this practice in a group with the story of Ceridwen and Taliesin (4), where they shapeshift during a chase, travelling through the realms, but I’d spent years exploring it beforehand – in dreams, in meditations and journey, out walking, and even playing hide and seek!
Some of the ways you can work with shapeshifting include:
Shifting your energy body to be more inviting or to discourage advances
Changing colours to project different impressions or hide!
Borrowing the heightened sight of the red kite, or hearing of the hare
Exploring different perspectives and landscapes through journeys to learn, and to gain insight
Remembering your relationship to the other beings in the web of life
To be inspired
For fun!
So much in life shifts and changes that exploring deliberate shapeshifting is also a wonderful magical tool for reflecting on what stays the same. What is consistent in you when you become a hare? A cat? A bird? What is, deep down, the core of you?
And what is eternal when everything else changes too? If you feel unsettled and overwhelmed by the fast paced chaos of modern life, finding that thread can be a powerful way of anchoring yourself.
Shapeshifting is, then, perfect for exploring different perspectives and finding the deep truths, for knowing yourself as well as the other.
So I’m really excited to share that I’m offering a FREE “masterclass” on shapeshifting as a witches skill, on Monday 22nd July! You can come and find out more about Shapeshifting, and experience it for yourself, in The Enchanted Academy, which has itself shifted shape and has a new home!
Come deepen your magic and explore the witches skill of shapeshifting in The Enchanted Academy, and gain access to our free community of gorgeous magical folks.
The community is totally free, with monthly events including masterclasses, prompts, healing and oracle swaps. There are courses and such that you can choose to sign up to when you’re ready to dive in deeper!
Why should I listen to you?
I have almost three decades of experience in magic, and many years teaching. Magic is my life (I also have a PhD in philosophy so I have thought about this stuff thoroughly too). My goal is to give you the skills to enchant your life and the world, and I work hard at it. But you can come and see for yourself by joining The Enchanted Academy for free.
How do I access the class?
Sign up to TEA here and turn on your notifications, the details will be posted in the Common Room!
Notes for the curious:
I heard a tale from Peter Stevenson about enslaved people in the Americas growing wings and flying across the sea to home, which he learned from their descendants. There are other examples of this but this was in the last 200 years, so really recent.
This is in “Lords and Ladies” but the whole “Wyrd Sisters” arc in Terry Pratchett’s work has brilliant illustrations of witchcraft.
Isobel Gowdie was a witch executed in Scotland in the 1600s who gave a huge amount of information in her testimony including a famous charm for becoming a hare. Emma Wilby has written extensively on this in her book “Visions of Isobel Gowdie”.
And that’s it. This month, on Imbolc eve, I finished my PhD corrections and submitted the final FINAL version. This week I got confirmation that it has been accepted!
I’m officially Dr Halo!
The thesis! Yes, I have a theme… “The power of storytelling to re-enchant the world” fits it quite nicely, don’t you think?
I celebrated with a trip to the bookshop, hot chocolate with friends, dinner for one and a movie… Then cuddles from my fella the following night, of course!
I started by letting my brain decompress and dealing with those bits of life that now need dealing with, like clearing out some old books to make space for the new ones! And contemplating where I go from here… With a foxy companion for Imbolc reminding me that spring is emerging from the dark, just like me. 🥰
If you’re on my mailing list you’ll know that I’ve got a whole bunch of monthly discussion based classes that I’m offering through Patreon, or which you can sign up for individually if you’d rather, starting with an online elements of magic workshop next month, on 16th March at 7pm GMT. (And in April I’ll be kicking off a ten week course working with them too…)
And the Goblin Masquerade is coming together! Last autumn I was chatting with fellow changeling poet Kate Garrett, and somehow got the inspiration to host a goblin market followed by a Masked fairy ball this spring. Everything is coming together and we have music, talks, dancing, and even the steampunk debut of an Ominous Folk of Hopeless Maine show. It’s going to be a lovely day of community and play, and I’m considering it my party for escaping studenthood with a Doctorate at last!
I’ve also been researching ADHD and neurodivergences… There’s so little support for adults with ADHD and we can do amazing things with the right help! So I’m writing occasional thoughts on that over here… On the newsletter “Living with Squirrels” not sure where it’ll go but you’re welcome to sign up if you like.
So I guess I do know where I’m going next… To play with the goblins and re-enchant the world!
PS: If you want to get workshops, extra posts, advance access to material, and more things as and when the goblins inspire me… And support my adventures so I can keep building the academy into something sustainable you can sign up to my Patreon here:
You know I’ve been pulling my offerings together into The Enchanted Academy (AKA TEA)? Well if you’ve seen my social media today then you’ll know that I’ve built a shiny shiny new website for TEA, which launches officially today! Please go and check it out and subscribe to receive regular “Grimoire Pages” and announcements for new courses at www.TheEnchantedAcademy.com.
Which does mean that I’ll be continuing my more rambly posts here… Which I’ve gotta assume you enjoy as you’re still here! Honestly, the biggest news on this front is that I’ve finally taken the plunge and gone full time freelance witch, or “professional pagan” if you will (which honestly makes me giggle a little every time I hear that!)
Like many (though far from all) of us I’ve had plenty of time to re-evaluate my life over the past 18 months and I’ve found myself in a really good place so I figured, really, it’s now or never! Oh, and I passed my Viva (with minor corrections) last month so by this time next summer I’ll have finally finished my philosophical studies.
Time to seize the day, and walk my talk, and all that.
Thank you for being along for the ride with me, as ever. Life is such a huge adventure and, although the path ahead is unclear, we can choose to follow our hearts each step of the way, closer to the magic.
In delight and enchantment,
~Halo (nearly Dr) Quin
Writer, teacher, witch
Now go! Check out the very snazzy professional glamour and come back to let me know what you think!!!
I wanted to invite you over for tea, but the world being as it is, that’s a bit tricky… so I made an academy for us to all hang out in instead. An Enchanted Academy… The Enchanted Academy, to be precise, or TEA for short.
This is where I’ll be hosting classes and hang out sessions – I’m hoping for a free live chat once every month or two – and you can use the text based forums whenever you fancy. To avoid too many trolls turning up I’ve set it up so you have to register for my mailing list to get an invite link but I do hope you’ll join me there!
I would really love to know what you’d be interested in chatting about, so do drop me a comment below if you’ve got a curiousity about anything magical which you’ve seen me mention, and I’ll see what I can do.
Next up I reckon I’ll do something on divination… with a focus on Tarot. How does that sound?
So, if you haven’t signed up already, here’s a button!
The launch party for All That Glitters was really lovely, thank you to everyone that came! I’ll be sending a link out to the recording via my mailing list soon… *grins* Next up on my writing pile… The sacredness of pleasure, and the divine erotic. Given how important embodiment is to the pagan path, and my kinky poetry book, Twisted out last year I think it’s time to engage with that Iron Pentacle point of Sex (including pleasure, desire, and lifeforce), don’t you?
Halo Quin 