Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice

by Misha Magdalene, Michelle Belanger (Foreword by)

Overview

The intention of Outside the Charmed Circle is to help readers live as the truest expression of their gendered, sexual, spiritual self. It is designed to support you as you awaken to who you are, deepen your magical practice, and walk through the Pagan world. Author Misha Magdalene provides hands-on meditations, prompts, and magical workings to help you explore your identity as it intersects with your spiritual practice. With thoughtful insights on embodiment, consent, and Eros, as well as explorations of self-esteem, ability, disability, and your feelings about your body, this book helps those in the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies engage with a wide range of identities in a magical setting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738761329
Publisher:	Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Publication date:	01/08/2020
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	197,357
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Misha Magdalene (they/them) is a multidisciplinary, multi-classed, multiqueer witch. They are an initiate of three lineages of traditional witchcraft: Anderson Feri, Gardnerian Wicca, and Central Valley Wicca. They hold a degree in gender, women, and sexuality studies from the University of Washington. Misha is the recipient of the Leslie Ashbaught Feminist Praxis in Education Award. They live near Seattle, Washington.

Michelle Belanger is an occult expert, educator, media personality, and author of over thirty books on paranormal and occult topics. Founder and lead clergy of the magickal group House Kheperu, Belanger is most widely recognized for work as a psychic on A&E's Paranormal State and Osbourne Media's Portals to Hell. Consulted for numerous documentaries, books, and courses, Belanger has lectured on paranormal and occult topics at colleges and universities across North America and was a National Merit Scholar. A prolific and versatile creator, Belanger has also contributed work to projects as wide-ranging as Marvel AR, HBO's True Blood, CNN Headline News, CSI, Nox Arcana, and multiple RPGs.

To learn more about Belanger's work, start by exploring www.MichelleBelanger.com, where you'll find classes, books, music, and events at the retreat center, Inspiration House. Follow Belanger on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram under the handle sethanikeem.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Charmed Circle Foreword xv

CHAPTER 1: An Introduction to the Book (and the Author) 1

CHAPTER 2: Getting Our Bearings, Knowing Our Terms 29

CHAPTER 3: Embodiment as Magical Praxis 61

CHAPTER 4: Gender in Theory and Practice 89

CHAPTER 5: Queerness and the Charmed Circle 117

CHAPTER 6: Safer Sex Magic for Beginners (and Experts) 151

CHAPTER 7: Form Follows Function: Toward a Consent-Based Magical Praxis 177

CHAPTER 8: Between the Mundane and the Divine: On Negotiating Consent with Gods 195

CHAPTER 9: Queering Your Praxis: Developing and Adapting Magical Practices 211

CHAPTER 10: Greater Than One: Thoughts on Politics, Power, and Community 225

CHAPTER 11: An Ending and a Beginning: What Lies Beyond the Circle 261

APPENDIX A: Recommended Reading and Listening 269

APPENDIX B: Queer Magical Groups and Events 279

Bibliography 283

Editorial Reviews

"Outside the Charmed Circle can guide you outwards and inwards to expand your experience of yourself and your understanding of others. The ideas, viewpoints, and practices are offered with a proper balance of challenge and reassurance that truly engage contemplation and action. This book is for anyone who dares to know themselves and to walk the ever-growing edges of awareness."—Ivo Dominguez Jr., author of Keys to Perception

"Outside the Charmed Circle is a page-turning, thought-provoking delight from start to finish. Misha Magdalene has written a '101 and beyond' user-friendly handbook for magical and social change. As a sexologist, it's now one of my top ten gender education books. As a polytheist pagan, one of my top five magical treatises. I won't leave home without it."—Amy Marsh, EdD, DHS, CH, CI

"The depth and heart that Misha Magdalene has put into this work is a triumph for this topic. This is a voice and perspective that's not only sorely needed, but proves once and for all that the circle is truly big enough for all of us."—David Salisbury, author of Witchcraft Activism

"Absolutely filling the void, Outside the Charmed Circle is a much-needed, magical exploration into gender and sexuality that is quintessential for the times we live in. Beautifully balanced and thorough research combines with accessible exercises and rituals that are suitable for a wide variety of humans—engaging body, brain, and spirit throughout. From diving into queerness, tackling consent, and addressing body awareness to demystifying sex magic and adjusting traditions, this book smoothly tackles many complicated issues that newcomers and experienced practitioners alike will appreciate and learn from."—Laura Tempest Zakroff, author of Weave the Liminal: Living Modern Traditional Witchcraft

"A gem of a book, Outside the Charmed Circle challenges us to examine and question our built-in assumptions about gender, sexuality, consent, and the power dynamics we unconsciously have about magic and the pagan community. Misha Magdalene shows us how to go beyond the masculine/feminine binary of working with magic and to adapt spellwork to our own needs whether we're men, women, both, neither, or anything in-between. From step-by-step sex magic, to the spiritual power of setting boundaries and saying 'No,' to even the politics of consent with the gods themselves, this book has it all for those seeking to expand their horizons of gender and sex within magic."—Tomás Prower, author of Queer Magic: LGBT+ Spirituality and Culture from Around the World

From the Publisher