Muses No More
Muses No More: Portraits of Occult Women
by Ùna Maria Blyth
Illustrations by Luciana Lupe Vasconcelos
Muses No More: Portraits of Occult Women is a meandering ghost train through the lives, work, politics and beliefs of both familiar and lesser known female occultists from the distant past to the 21st century. From the freedom fighting New Orleans Voudon Queen Marie Laveau to the witch-next-door personality of Sybil Leek, these biographical portraits bring light to women often sidelined in occult spaces and memory in favour of the (white, male) heavyweights such as Arthur E. Waite, Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner.
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Hexen Press
Royal Octavo (240 × 160 mm)
206 pages
Contents
Section One: Portraits
1 - Margot Adler: Journalist Priestess 2 - Doreen Valiente: Mother of Modern Witchcraft 3 - Marjorie Cameron: Muse No More 4 - Sybil Leek: Witch Next Door 5 - Madeline Montalban: Lady of Lucifer 6 - Rosaleen Norton: The Witch of King’s Cross 7 - Mirra Alfassa: The Mother 8 - Maya Deren: Sorceress of the Screen 9 - Pamela Colman Smith: Tarot’s High Priestess 10 - Maria de Naglowska: Satanic Woman 11 - Annie Besant: Sceptical Seeker 12 - Leila Waddell: Rag-Time Revolutionary 13 - Moina Mathers: A Subversive Wife 14 - Sojourner Truth: Power in Forgiveness 15 - Marie Laveau: Voodoo Queen of New Orleans 16 - Biddy Early: Medicine Woman 17 - Isobel Gowdie: The Confessor
Section Two: Rituals
Banishing the Hungry Ghost The Practice of Oomancy Kinship Candle Ritual Zodiacal Mind Training Unglamouring Ritual A Simple Sabbath Unguent The Arrival Exercise A Beginner’s Guide to Possession Tarot for Creative Blocks Your Ears Can Be Microphones Hexing 101: Know Your Enemy Scrying Musical Notation A Practice for Life Ritual Towards Liberation Ancestral Altar in a Box Eyebright Tea Witch Bottle for Bravery
Bibliography Acknowledgements
Description
Readers will discover that there was much more to Pamela Colman Smith’s magical undertakings than her illustrations for the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck, and that Doreen Valiente, whilst valiantly fighting for the modernisation of Wicca, was an ardent follower of televised football.
Filled with fascinating historical trivia, there are deeper narratives at play in this compendium too - the struggle for women’s liberation, pleas for modernisation of religious movements, the reign of the patriarchy in many magical traditions, and the fight for civil rights.
Thoroughly well-researched and written with the flair of an impassioned queer, feminist occultist, Muses No More tells the centuries-spanning stories of women who threw off their aprons in favour of the search for greater esoteric knowledge.
The book concludes with tried and tested personal practices and rituals, respectfully designed in honour of these wondrous women, so that we might channel their power and knowledge and pursue the mysteries of the vast unknown.
