100 books like Six Ways

By Aidan Wachter,

Here are 100 books that Six Ways fans have personally recommended if you like Six Ways. Shepherd is a community of 11,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.

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Book cover of Practical Solitary Magic

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Author Of Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition

From my list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been studying American styles of magic for more than 30 years. Having received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, I have explored the idea of magic as a natural counterpart to both religious thought and scientific theory. After teaching courses on this subject to college undergraduates, I recommend these books based on what I have found to be the favorites of students and peers as the most accessible, enjoyable, and practical sources for beginners.

Yvonne's book list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Why did Yvonne love this book?

This is an easy-to-read introduction to magic for people who don’t want to join organized groups or participate in spiritual traditions in order to learn. It allows readers to experiment with practices and techniques on their own and includes everything a beginner needs to know about the art and craft of magic, including visualization, ordinary ethics, ritual practices, and vital safety measures.

By Nancy B. Watson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Practical Solitary Magic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Many students don't want to be tied to a particular group or spiritual tradition, but prefer to search, experiment, and grow on their own/ this book is perfect for these people. Watson discusses the principles that underlie magical practice in a veryeasytounderstand manner. She includes information on affirmations, visualization, spiritual practices, folk magic, and ritual. Safety measures and ethical considerations are stressed throughout.


Book cover of Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Author Of Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition

From my list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been studying American styles of magic for more than 30 years. Having received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, I have explored the idea of magic as a natural counterpart to both religious thought and scientific theory. After teaching courses on this subject to college undergraduates, I recommend these books based on what I have found to be the favorites of students and peers as the most accessible, enjoyable, and practical sources for beginners.

Yvonne's book list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Why did Yvonne love this book?

This is the best book on magic for skeptics and modern, rationally-minded readers. The author, who has a Ph.D. in Psychology, argues that magic can be verified and explained scientifically without all of the “woo-woo” that often requires an extra leap of faith for beginning practitioners. Magic is a natural aspect of reality, and each of us can tap into it skills and techniques with practice and persistence. The book provides a brief history of magic and offers a guide with exercises that one can do to strengthen mental and practical abilities.

By Dean Radin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Real Magic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) turns a critical eye toward such practices as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis. Are such powers really possible? Science says yes.

According to noted scientist and bestselling author of The Conscious Universe, Dean Radin, magic is a natural aspect of reality, and each of us can tap into this power with diligent practice.

But wait, aren't things like ESP and telepathy just wishful thinking and flights of the imagination? Not according to the author, who worked on the US government's top secret psychic espionage program known as Stargate. Radin has…


Book cover of Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic: A Materia Magica of African-American Conjure

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Author Of Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition

From my list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been studying American styles of magic for more than 30 years. Having received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, I have explored the idea of magic as a natural counterpart to both religious thought and scientific theory. After teaching courses on this subject to college undergraduates, I recommend these books based on what I have found to be the favorites of students and peers as the most accessible, enjoyable, and practical sources for beginners.

Yvonne's book list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Why did Yvonne love this book?

If you want to know about some of the earliest forms of magic that originated in America, this book is for you. This book focuses on folk magic, with an emphasis on Hoodoo, the magic of enslaved black people, with practices that include nature and the elements as sources of power. The text provides botanical information on magic plants, and spell recipes for healing and protection. As a plus, the book is lavishly and beautifully illustrated with extensive how-to guides on creating your own charms for good luck and fortune.

By Catherine Yronwode,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hoodoo Herb and Root Magic as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This is the first book of its kind, presenting accurate botanical information about roots and herbs employed in conjure, with sample spells that will show you how to make and use your own mojo bags, spiritual baths, and incenses. 224 pages

500 herbs, roots, minerals, and rare zoological curios, 750 traditional spells, tricks, and magical recipes, 50 black and white illustrations


Book cover of Rootwork: Using the Folk Magick of Black America for Love, Money, and Success

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Author Of Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition

From my list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have been studying American styles of magic for more than 30 years. Having received a Ph.D. in Religious Studies, I have explored the idea of magic as a natural counterpart to both religious thought and scientific theory. After teaching courses on this subject to college undergraduates, I recommend these books based on what I have found to be the favorites of students and peers as the most accessible, enjoyable, and practical sources for beginners.

Yvonne's book list on for beginners who want to practice real magic, folk magic, and Hoodoo

Yvonne Patricia Chireau Why did Yvonne love this book?

Another book on American magic, but with a focus on the folk magic practices of black people. This is an immensely readable guide to the venerable tradition of African American magic, a gift made possible only by the perseverance and determination of those who maintained the old ancestral ways. This book contains gems of wisdom, wit, and lots of information for readers who want the basics on how magic is applied for well-being and happiness.

By Tayannah Lee McQuillar,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rootwork as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A reader-friendly, fun, and practical guide to improving one's love life, career, health, and overall happiness with African American folk magick.

In this groundbreaking book that places Rootwork in its rightful spot among other magickal traditions, Tayannah Lee McQuillar offers a fun and practical guide to improving your life with the help of African American folk magick. Rootwork begins with the basics, from explanations about the magickal powers of the four elements (air, earth, fire, and water) to instructions on creating talismans, charms, and mojo bags. Also included are spells to help you:

-Find your soul mate
-Spice up your…


Book cover of Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens

Melusine Draco Author Of Traditional Witchcraft for the Seashore

From my list on real old-fashioned witchcraft.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am an Initiate of traditional British Old Craft and the Khemetic Mysteries. My own teaching methods and writing draw on historical sources supported by academic texts and current archaeological findings; endorsing Crowley’s view that all magic is an amalgam of science and art, and that magic is the outer route to the inner Mysteries. I have been a member and later Principal of the Coven of the Scales since 2000 having inherited it on the deaths of Bob and Meriem Clay-Egerton and author of some 60 fiction and non-fiction books on the subject of magic and Old Craft in order to shape the reader’s understanding of this particular tradition. 

Melusine's book list on real old-fashioned witchcraft

Melusine Draco Why did Melusine love this book?

This is the book that taught most of my generation of witches their first steps to becoming a witch. "Among those who understand the darkness which is no darkness to them anymore, are those that tread the way of witchcraft. They of their own accord have walked beyond the ring of firelight and learned the paths of the wilderness beyond." Which was heady stuff for those who wanted to learn about ‘real’ witchcraft of the time; the book having been described as one of the main motivators of the so-called ‘occult explosion’ of the 1970s and still in print today.

By Paul Huson,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Mastering Witchcraft as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An enduring classic since its publication in 1970, Mastering Witchcraft is one of the best how-to manuals for those wishing to practice traditional European Witchcraft as a craft rather than a New Age religion. Starting from first principles, Huson instructs the novice step by step in the arts of circle casting, blessing and banning, the uses of amulets and talismans, philters, divination, necromancy, waxen images, knots, fascination, conjuration, magical familiars, spells to arouse passion or lust, attain vengeance, and of course, counter-spells to exorcize and annul the malice of others."A genuine vade mecum."-The Catholic Herald.


Book cover of Red Tarot: A Decolonial Guide to Divinatory Literacy

Amy Torok and Risa Dickens Author Of Missing Witches Deck of Oracles: Feminist Ancestor Magic for Meditations, Divination, and Spellwork

From my list on understanding real modern witchcraft.

Why we are passionate about this?

We are Witches. Real Witches, doing real magic, casting spells, and weaving webs. We are Amy Torok and Risa Dickens–the co-creators of the Missing Witches project, researching what it means to be a Witch. Together, we have put out almost 300 podcast episodes and published two books and an oracle deck of cards: Missing Witches: Recovering True Histories Of Feminist Magic, New Moon Magic: 13 Anti-capitalist Tools for Resistance and Re-enchantment, and The Missing Witches Deck of Oracles: Feminist Ancestor Magic for Meditations, Divination and Spellwork. Our first book appeared on VICE Magazine’s list: The Best Books for Starting an Occult Library.

Amy and Risa's book list on understanding real modern witchcraft

Amy Torok and Risa Dickens Why did Amy and Risa love this book?

In this book, Christopher Marmalejo entranced us with a singular take on investigating tarot cards through a queer and Indigenous lens. Exploring cartomancy as a mirror to understand lived experience, Christopher brings to light a practice that is unafraid to confront, listen, critique, and unveil.

We love how Christopher’s personality shines through this thoroughly academic yet approachable description of tarot cards and their uses. Reading it filled us with hope for a future of liberation and ideas of how we can make that happen.

By Christopher Marmolejo,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Red Tarot as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Designed to be used with any deck, Red Tarot is a radical praxis and decolonized oracle that moves beyond self-help and divination to reclaim tarot for liberation, self-determination, and collective healing.

For readers of Postcolonial Astrology and Tarot for Change

Red Tarot speaks to anyone othered for their identity or ways of being or thinking—LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPOC folks in particular—presenting the tarot as a radical epistemology that shifts the authority of knowing into the hands of the people themselves.

Author Christopher Marmolejo frames literacy as key to liberation, and explores an understanding of tarot as critical literacy. They show how…


Book cover of The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life

Tania Pryputniewicz Author Of Heart's Compass Tarot

From my list on tarot improvisation for writers and artists.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m a poet, tarot muse, and artist whose childhood experiences with vivid night-time dreams and a handful of years on a commune in the cornfields ignited my passion for exploring inner imagery. I read voraciously from science fiction to fairytales to channelings. I discovered tarot in my twenties, using it to read for others, mend my broken heart, and get squared away enough to apply to graduate school for poetry in the heartland at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Ever since, tarot is my favorite mirror for self-reflection. Author of two poetry collections, I wrote a workbook to help others apply the tarot in joyful, healing ways through writing and art.

Tania's book list on tarot improvisation for writers and artists

Tania Pryputniewicz Why did Tania love this book?

Jessa Crispin’s Creative Tarot suggests ways to connect to one’s muse through tarot. Crispin’s chapters match each tarot card’s essence to artists, thinkers, philosophers, and writers, looking at challenges and gifts each personality encountered over the course of their lifetime (and how they manifested in detriment or bloom). One of my favorite lines makes tarot card exploration forever relevant: Crispin writes, “It is about retelling the present.” And it is about how to ground tarot energy in specifics: what does it mean to be a King of Cups? Who has lived such an incarnation? Her “living examples” make tarot tangible for my students; I love her specific suggestions for how to explore the energy of each tarot card through music, film, paintings, art, and literature. 

By Jessa Crispin,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Creative Tarot as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A hip, accessible, and practical guide for artists and creative people looking to tarot for guidance and inspiration in the tradition of The Secret Language of Birthdaysand Steal Like an Artist.

What if the path to creativity was not as challenging as everyone thinks? What if you could find that spark, plot twist, or next project by simply looking at your life and your art through a different lens?

Written for novices and seasoned readers alike, The Creative Tarotis a unique guidebook that reimagines tarot cards and the ways they can boost the creative process. Jessa Crispin guides you through…


Book cover of The Cloisters

Annette Joseph Author Of The Killer Menu: A Delicious Tale of Food, Family and Murder

From my list on mystery books with a beautiful aesthetic.

Why am I passionate about this?

I am Annette Joseph, a writer and food stylist. I spend most of the year at our twelfth-century fortress in northern Tuscany. I have written six books, three cookbooks, and two memoirs about life in Italy. We run private retreats on the grounds. My book My Italian Guestbook is based on these retreats. Writing about everything around me in Italy gives me great pleasure.

Annette's book list on mystery books with a beautiful aesthetic

Annette Joseph Why did Annette love this book?

Set in upstate New York at the beautiful Cloisters. This book is as beautifully curated as the museum it is set in.

When a young woman lands an internship at the Cloisters, she is quickly pulled into a world of haves and have-nots, a world where the privileged dabble in mysticism and magic. Murder becomes a pivotal point in discovering the secrets. The groundskeeper and the intern are soon embroiled in the messy business of unearthing this “who done it.”

I enjoyed the visuals in this book. Beautifully written. I highly recommend it.

By Katy Hays,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Cloisters as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Today Show #ReadwithJenna Book Club Pick

“For fans of The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Secret History…The perfect mystery.” —Jenna Bush Hager, Today

In this “sinister, jaw-dropping” (Sarah Penner, author of The Lost Apothecary) debut novel, a circle of researchers uncover a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters.

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden…


Book cover of I Ching

Tommy Chong Author Of The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint

From my list on for seekers, poets, and philosophers.

Why am I passionate about this?

Tommy Chong is a Canadian-American actor, writer, director, musician, cannabis rights activist, and comedian. He is known for the Cheech and Chong comedy albums and movies along with many other roles. He is a poet and a philosopher and these are his picks for the books that mark his spiritual journey through life.

Tommy's book list on for seekers, poets, and philosophers

Tommy Chong Why did Tommy love this book?

I first did the I Ching when I was in my 20s. The first reading I had was by a guitar player in Vancouver, and it came out like perfection. This was before my success, before Cheech, and it just lit up my path forward in life. It wasn’t until I was headed to jail that I picked it up again. My brother-in-law sent me a copy, and it was the first thing I did when I got inside. The first line I got back was “you are in jail for a reason”. It was astounding. The word penitentiary comes from the word penance, I took that to heart and that is what I did. I view my time in jail as a religious retreat.

By Alfred Huang,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Ching as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Translated by the eminent Taoist Master Alfred Huang, The Complete I Chinghas been praised by scholars and new students of the I Ching since its first edition. A native Chinese speaker, Master Huang first translated the original ideograms of the I Ching into contemporary Chinese and then into English, bringing forth the intuitive meanings embodied in the images of the I Ching and imbuing his translation with an accuracy and authenticity not possible in other English translations. However, what makes his translation truly definitive is his return to prominence of the Ten Wings, the commentaries by Confucius that are essential…


Book cover of The Bathhouse at Midnight: An Historical Survey of Magic and Divination in Russia

Elizabeth Wayland Barber Author Of The Dancing Goddesses: Folklore, Archaeology, and the Origins of European Dance

From my list on European dance in female fertility and health.

Why am I passionate about this?

I’m an information junkie who loves to dance. I fell in love with folk dancing at age 6, European archaeology at 11, linguistics and cognition at 21—and could never drop any of them. My scientist-father always said, “Follow the problem, not the discipline,” and I began to see how these fields could help answer each other’s questions. Words can survive for millennia—with information about what archaeologists don’t find, like oh-so-perishable cloth. Determining how to reconstruct prehistoric textiles (Women’s Work: The First 20,000 Years) then led me to trace the origins of various European folk costumes, and finally even to reconstruct something about the origins of the dances themselves.

Elizabeth's book list on European dance in female fertility and health

Elizabeth Wayland Barber Why did Elizabeth love this book?

I chose this book because it is such a wide-ranging compendium of Russian folk beliefs in general (in English!) as well as of Russian customs involved in trying to ensure the fertility and health of crops, farm animals, and women, all desperately needed for the survival of the community. It is these fascinating and picturesque customs that so often get incorporated into dances. Furthermore, the Dancing Goddesses were often pressed into service for divination of the future, especially by young girls worrying about whom they would marry and how many children they would have, or if they would die first. (I accidentally witnessed one of these ceremonies in Danzig in 1993—they have not died!)

By W.F. Ryan,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Bathhouse at Midnight as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The title of this book refers to the classic time and place for magic, witchcraft, and divination in Russia. The Bathhouse at Midnight, by one of the world's foremost experts on the subject, surveys all forms of magic, both learned and popular, in Russia from the fifth to the eighteenth century. While no book on the subject could be exhaustive, The Bathhouse at Midnight does describe and assess all the literary sources of magic, witchcraft, astrology, alchemy, and divination from Kiev Rus and Imperial Russia, and to some extent Ukraine and Belorussia. Where possible, Ryan identifies the sources of the…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in divination, meditation, and witchcraft?

Divination 26 books
Meditation 289 books
Witchcraft 335 books