Skip to content

A Guide to Taking Notes on Witch Books

A couple years into my craft, I decided that I wanted to read some witchcraft books. I got a notebook and a pen, decided to try to take notes like it was college. Whatever book it was that I chose to read was full of things that just didn't work for me or with me, but I tried to power through. It didn't work, I got frustrated and abandoned the book within a few days. I tried again nearly a year later, this time with a book that's pretty infamous if you've followed my Tumblr for any amount of time: The Modern Witchcraft Spell Book by Skye Alexander.

Y'all. It was bad. My notes started to become arguments with the text. "Skye, I don't think that's as common as you think it is." "Skye, what are you talking about?" "Skye, I don't think that's how that tradition works." And lemme tell you, that one-sided argument was the best thing that happened to my craft. Reading a book that was so cartoonishly terrible that it forced me to deconstruct what I was doing was an invaluable experience.

Recently my friend Ali asked how I take notes and write my witch book reviews. Apparently the conversation ended up being more helpful than I was expecting, so now I present this little guide to you.

Which Books to Pick

  • Truly, any book. Don't worry about whether it is a 'good' witch book or not. Every book has something to teach you, even if that thing is 'this author is talking out of their ass'.
    • Backwoods Witchcraft was one of the best witch books I've read. It taught me what a practice can look like when a practitioner thoroughly knows the ins and outs of their own craft, and has a very solid understanding on what works for them. I learned about folk magic techniques, and how to use what is on hand rather than specialized items.
    • The Modern Witchcraft Spell Book is one of the worst I've read. It sent me on a research mission where I learned about the Law of Attraction, what kinds of things it teaches, and how prevalent those things are in standard witchy advice. This taught me how to identify places in my own craft that had been unintentionally influenced by it, and allowed me to weed those things out. I learned how to analyze a spell and find techniques that intrigue me, even within a spell that is entirely useless otherwise.
  • Read something that is similar to your own craft. Find the author's reasoning for doing what they do, and see if it matches your own. You might find new ways to describe your craft. You might also find that though your methods appear similar, your reasoning or core beliefs are different.
  • Conversely, you can read things from practices that are very different from your own. Identify the differences and similarities to your craft, and figure out why they are there.
  • Read the latest witchy book that's trending on witchtok/booktok to see what all the fuss is about.
    • Is it really a good book? Or does it just have good marketing? Or is it perhaps just pretty?
  • Read whatever crap witch books are available at your local library.
    • Knowing what books are readily available and likely to be someone's first introduction to witchcraft is a useful thing to keep track of.

What to Make Note Of

  • The book title and author obviously, but also the publication date and when you started/finished reading it.
    • Sometimes it's important to have context such as "Oh this book was published pre-9/11" or "Oh this was from his FIRST presidential term..."
  • Quotes from the book, followed by your thoughts/commentary on the quote.
    • I filled a whole page with my thoughts after Fire Lyte had an almost throwaway statement about how you can't buy your way into skill, which was a far more useful for me than 'you don't need fancy tools'. Sometimes you do need the fancy tools! But also you can't buy a fancy tool as a substitute for practice and experience! One tiny little line from The Dabbler's Guide to Witchcraft helped me solidify that thought in my head!
    • Somteimes a quote is followed up by one single "No." Sometimes the witch books are so cartoonishly bad that you don't need any more complicated rebuttal than that. Writing down things that are a hard disagree is important too, if only to remember why you hated a particular book!
  • Spells that you want to remember, try, analyze, or use as a template.
    • Particularly useful for library books.
  • Tangents. If a book made you think about something in your craft that you want to check in on, something that you want to do a little different, something that you keep meaning to do but haven't for some reason, etc... make note of that too! Sometimes witch books make you think about stuff that's not necessarily related to the content within it, and that's helpful too.
  • Thoughts on the author, tone, writing style, intended audience, etc.
    • My notes are private, so yes I will shit-talk these authors in my own commentary, because who is gonna know? Santa's not watching.
    • Sometimes you love the content of a book but you want to punch the author in the face for being insufferable about that content. (*cough*Jason Miller*cough*) Or maybe they're a wonderful writer but what the fuck are they talking about?
    • I often find myself making note of how a book is good at explaining beginning concepts, and that while none of it is useful to me personally, it's something that I would consider recommending to a new witch, or someone new to a particular topic within witchcraft.
  • TL;DR - The most important thing to note is what you think about what the book is saying or trying to teach you.
    • Witch, know thyself.

Useful Tools

  • A notebook or document that you will actually use
    • Fancy notebook makes you feel intimidated? Use a junk notebook you don't care about 'ruining'.
    • Cheap notebooks make you sad? Get a nice one with pleasant paper that makes you want to write in it.
    • Digital life more your thing? Cool, make a document on your laptop, or notes on your phone.
    • But for the love of fuck keep your notes in one place.
  • A hilighter-safe pen, and a hilighter.
    • I like using Mildliners or other similar hilighters with both a chisel and a fine tip. The fine tip allows me to make nice titles for chapters and sections, making my notes easy to skim later, and the chisel is useful for hilighting direct quotes to separate them visually from my own commentary.
    • I also like to use a different color scheme for each book. This also helps with finding particular books when looking through my notes later, and it breaks up the monotony. "This book may suck, but at least my notes are cute."
    • Gel pens are great, but if they're gonna make you sad every time they smudge from your hilighter, maybe grab a decent ballpoint instead.
  • Stickers and washi tapes, but only as much as they will add to your fun and not to your perfectionism.
    • If you're gonna get hung up on making your pages as cute as possible and give yourself a mental block about studying your witch books because you're scared of your stickers, maybe ditch the stickers for a bit.
    • If the thought of getting out your stickers and washi tapes makes you excited to reach for your witch book, then hell yeah, go all out!
    • (Sometimes this is an excuse to buy more of those Halloween sticker packs that Michael's releases each year. Sometimes this is me forcing myself to use those sticker packs and stop hoarding them.)