The Crow's Collection of World Magic

A Voyage Through the World’s Magical Practices

Landscapes influence our cultural practices as much as the people who create them, and magic is no stranger to this effect. Magic is omnipresent in our world, but many people who practice don’t call it “magic.” Thanks to stigmatization, disavowal, and punishment for magical work, as well as christo-colonialism, many non-Wiccan or Pagan practices have gone unseen in the contemporary occult community. Crossed Crow Books’ first-ever anthology, The Crow’s Collection of World Magic, collects ten essays by writers and practitioners around the world about their magical practices, histories, and communities. 

This anthology sheds light on lively, underrepresented traditions and embraces the diversity of the magical world. Explore Kenneth Johnson’s initiation into Indigenous Mayan traditions, study Finnish runes with the tietӓjӓ and Aili Marjatta Kerttula, and learn how cabildo communities in Afro-Diasporic Cuba drew Lukumí from Yoruban practice with Oracle Hekataios. Enrich your understanding of the magical world around us through the land, history, and practitioners who have come from all walks of life before us.

Authors and topics include:

• Kenneth Johnson: experiences in indigenous Mayan community, initiation into priesthood, and fire ritual.
• Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold: An overview of Macumba.
• Oracle Hekataios: History of and personal experiences with Lukumi.
• Aili Marjatta Kerttula: Finnish magic with a focus on history, saunas, and house spirits.
• Rain Al-Alim: Translation of Kitāb al-Aḥjār, a piece of astrology-heavy Islamic writing on using talismans in magical stones.
• Katerina Sarpione: Balkan magic, with a focus on Bulgarian, including folklore, roles of healer and magician, and ways to apply to contemporary practice
• Frankie Castanea: Dual faith practice in Italian-American folk magic and folk Catholicism
• Laura Davila: An overview of Brujeria Mexicana.
• Brandon Weston: Spirits, fairies, and the otherworld in Ozark folk magic
• P. Sufenas Virius Lupus: Medieval Irish texts and using research responsibly.

Kenneth Johnson is the author of Jaguar Wisdom: An Introduction to the Mayan Calendar and coauthor of Mythic Astrology. His works have been translated into six languages.

Laura Davila is a fifth-generation Mexican witch, a longtime practitioner of Mexican ensalmeria, hechicería, brujeria, and folk Catholicism. Born and raised in Mexico, Laura has lived in the United States since 2010. Laura identifies as a bruja de rancho--a "ranch witch"--a term with great resonance in Mexico, indicating knowledge of botanicals and the natural world. The author of Mexican Sorcery and Mexican Magic, Laura is also a tarot card reader and a flower essence practitioner. Follow her on Instagram @daphne_la_hechicera.