Erica Feldmann

The perfect book to read after Marie Kondo's books. I borrowed it from my library, but there are so many things I actually want to try/implement that I'm going to buy my own copy. It's a perfect Witchcraft 101 book as well. I've read other witchcraft books, and while they've been helpful it's felt a bit overwhelming. The focus on witchcraft in one particular area (the home) in HausMagick makes it feel far more accessible. Feldmann does a spectacular job of contextualizing the actual how tos, making them feel achievable, and providing the flexibility to reach readers regardless of personal design preferences and goals. The sections were great and felt like a comprehensive approach to creating and owning your best home space.

Also I really appreciated Feldmann bringing up the important topic of cultural appropriation and providing additional references.… (mais)

My super fun neuro-divergent brain has been acting up lately, and I wandered through my library pulling books off the shelves that looked fun to read, since, ya know, I didn't want to read anything I already have on my stack of thousands. *head desk* And I'm not a witch and the chances of my becoming one aren't actually high, although I admit that mixing up potions in pretty bottles and channeling the energies of the universe into them always sounds like fun to me. But if I could defeat my own skeptic, I would probably just embrace the religion I already have. So I'm not coming at this as a practitioner, and normally I wouldn't even rate or review a random read that is not in my home court as it were.

But, as luck would have it, this book has committed sins, my friends, and as a consequence I can't just let it be. Given the circumstances, I should probably write a nice essay about it, but if I had the energy for that I wouldn't be pulling random books off the shelves in the library instead of reading the books I've already assigned myself, now would I? So I'm just going to keep this short(er), make a few points, and go.

1. The crystal thing. As I said, I am not a practitioner, and so I'm going to leave all the business about energy and the quartz battery example alone. HOWEVER, this woman introduced me to the concept of the crystal elixir, which is a thing I did not know people were doing and now that I do know, I am really, really alarmed. The crystal elixir goes like this: You take your pretty rock. (Wow, I love pretty rocks.) You put your pretty rock in water. (Wait - What?) Then once your water is charged up with crystal power, well, I'll let the author explain:

In this liquid form, you can access the healing power of any crystal by using a few drops of its essence. For example, you can ingest it by putting a few drops of the essence directly on your tongue or by diluting them in drinking water. You can also use them topically by dabbing your skin with drops or adding essences to skincare or beauty products. Or you can create some pretty magical room sprays and cleaning products, as I'll be showing you how to do during our journey together.



People. My folks. All you humans out there. No. Do not lick the rocks. Do not steep the rocks in water like tea. Do not drink the rocks. Because you know what happens to many (especially crystalline) rocks when they touch water? It's science, my friends. They dissolve. They crack. They erode. And then, not only have you destroyed or damaged your pretty rock, but you have released the components of that rock, which may include heavy metals (copper! aluminum! arsenic! mercury!) and other great things (asbestos!) into your nice tall glass of water. You will probably not make a solution strong enough to kill you, but really. Don't do this. Or, if you must lick your rock, lick something nicely inert in water. (You do the homework for what rocks that would be; I'm not going to do anything to encourage this horrible, horrible practice.)

2. Cultural theft. The author handwaves at appropriation and notes it's bad, but then she implies that if you respectfully study the cultures you can, I don't know, steal their stuff respectfully? This is not true, and colonialism in the name of spiritual practice is one of the more heinous forms of colonialism, IMHO. Don't do it.

3. Especially don't do it when the pursuit of closed practices puts additional pressure on scarce or endangered resources, like, say, palo santo and white sage, making it more difficult for the people whose tradition you're stealing to obtain and use.

Anyway, that's my spiel. The library is also kicking me out, so I'm wrapping this up. This is not a good book. Find a better one.… (mais)

Haus Magick. Hekserij voor je huis. Geef jezelf en je huis magische krachten. Door Erica Feldmann.

De cover van dit boek trok meteen mijn aandacht: de zwarte kat, de boekenkast, de schouw vol herinneringen,… En dan de ondertitel: hekserij voor je huis. Heksen, dat is altijd al mijn ding geweest. En toch, het bleef bij veel interesse en weinig praktijk, wegens te zweverig?

Dit boek komt mij daar tegemoet, op basis van 6 thema’s: manifestatie, bescherming, harmonie, zuivering, comfort en balans geeft Feldmann handige, eenvoudig toepasbare tips & tricks voor je huis en jezelf. Denk aan de juiste kristallen in de juiste kamer, je eigen vloerzeep maken, beschermingsbuidels vullen, tarotkaarten lezen,… Ze legt uit hoe je zout kan gebruiken, een kruidenbundel kan maken, een housewarmingstinctuur zetten,… Meer ‘magisch’ wordt het niet, wat dit boek geschikt maakt voor een breed publiek. Mooi is ook dat ze oog heeft voor de heilige ceremonies van inheemse volkeren, ze wijst ons bijvoorbeeld op het foute gebruik van het woord ‘smudgen’.

Jezelf en je huis magische krachten geven opdat je vol positieve energie in de wereld kan staan, dat allemaal op een eenvoudige/aardse/betaalbare manier, gewoon door een boek te lezen!? In feite is dat pure magie, merci heks Erica!… (mais)