Martha Kirby Capo and Vincent Higginbotham, Thrifty Witchery: Magick for the Penny-Pinching Practitioner. Woodbury, MN: Llewellyn Worldwide, 2023. ISBN: 9780738770529.
Do you want to start a path in witchery but worry about the costs?
Are you already practicing but worry about having to keep up with all those witchy influencers on social media?
Fear no more.
The book is arranged in two major parts: the Intangibles and the Tangibles. We start with the intangibles, which you already have and/or can build up. The intangibles are intuition, wisdom, and intention. These three things are the core of your magick and power. These are the elements that really make your magic work. The tangibles then are foraging, finding, and fabricating. Once you master the intangibles you can go about foraging, finding, and fabricating what you need, very often with materials you have already. In addition, the book features a foreword by Jason Mankey and a bibliography of works cited throughout the text. Many of the works listed in the bibliography are freely available online sources.
The authors take you through the paces. The first part is about empowering yourself. You get lessons and exercises to build yourself up because you can't do the material stuff until you work on yourself and develop your own power. The magick is in you. Material things can be nice, but at the end of the day if you have intuition, wisdom, intention, and you stand in your power then you can do magick. The authors provide solid and practical advice to build and develop your inner strength and power. Just this first part makes the book worth reading. If you stop reading at the end of part one and follow the lessons, you'll have gained plenty already to strengthen your craft and seeing the world through a witch's eyes.
However, do keep reading because you get the more material elements in the second part. From making your own cartomancy cards to foraging and finding items to fabricating what you need with what you have, the authors give you instruction and details for practical actions and crafts. As in the first part, the exercises are great, and they are things you can do if you are willing to put some work in and maybe a little elbow grease here or there.
The book is interesting, and it is very accessible. For someone like me still on the early stages of my craft journey, this is a great book that motivates and inspires. You feel that the practice can be done and if you put in the work you will get results. Plus you are doing it without spending money, or spending very modestly if you need to spend money. The exercises are definitely a strength in the book. I read through the book so I could review it, but this is a book to read and work through a bit at a time. For me, this is a book I need to go back and start working with it. It is a book to keep handy on your craft reference shelf. This is one I definitely would buy for myself, and I already ordered a copy for our library.
I strong recommend it for any libraries collecting pagan and esoterica materials.
5 out of 5 stars.
Additional reading notes:
From Mankey's foreword:
"Unlike the candle magick book I read in college, Vini and Martha start their book the right way, by helping us to embrace the magick we all carry within us" (xxii).
Mankey on the authors not being judgemental. As I often say, you work with that you have:
"The world we live in is a complicated place, and it doesn't need to become more complicated through shaming others for their choices. In some areas, the dollar store and the fast-food joint are the only options around" (xxiii).
Take your witch power back and wield it with power through Thrifty Witchery:
"In truth, magick does note have to be expensive to be effective, and this book offers a practical, penny-wise roadmap to successful and power-filled spellcasting. Regardless of whether you are starting out on the path of witchcraft or are a seasoned professional in the magickal arts, this is your reminder that the cost of witchcraft is not primarily monetary" (1).
This is a path anyone and everyone can do and follow, open to all.
The 4 lessons of empowerment presented in Chapter 1:
- To know. You need to study and you need to be curious. You also need to carefully evaluate what you read and find in terms of information.
- To will. Have the confidence to act on your knowledge and exert your will.
- To dare. Be willing to try, fail, try again, succeed, learn. Persevere.
- To keep silent. Yes, you need to also know when to be quiet. Discernment. Your magick is yours.
On why the thrifty witch should hone their divination skills. I happen to agree because I believe the practitioner needs to hone, use, and take advantage of any tool available. However, for other witches their mileage may vary. It is their magick after all.
"In short, divination-- particularly because so many of the methods require little or no financial outlay--is a penny-wise practice that the empowered witch can embrace and should spend time developing. Honing your divination skills will sharpen your overall effectiveness as a witch. Why? Because the more aware you are of your own insights and deep knowings, the more powerful your spellwork will be" (65).
Again, you need read, research, study:
"Understanding the world of witchcraft and its many traditional and nontraditional practices is vital to your development as a witch. It is only through gathering information that anyone is able to decipher which path they want to explore in depth. A firm knowledge base of folk magick, high magick, initiatory and lineaged paths equips a practitioner to make choices based on what their intuition has led them to understand is best for them. Additionally, a witch who is aware of a wide array of cultural practices is armed with wisdom on why those practices work. If so inclined, they can adapt or use different practices from a place of respect and understanding" (80).
As the Blood Ravens say, "Knowledge is power. Guard it well."
Once more, take time to learn, research, study:
"Taking the time to learn the magickal precepts of various systems and form a knowledge base of these paths can only enhance our understanding of how magick works in a multitude of ways" (93).
Finding is different than foraging:
"Finding comes from knowing what you need and going out into the world to locate it. Foraging is more centered around happening upon items while out and about without an expectation that you will find a specific, predetermined object" (178).
What magick is about:
"Magick was never and still is not about profligacy-- it is and always will be about using what is on hand when you need it" (185).
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