October Reads Volume II: Books for When the Veil is Thin

Witches’ New Year Reading List

Welcome to the week of Hallowe’en. There’s a hush to this time of year — a soft turning inward as the light fades and we enter the what the ancient Celts called winter: the “dark half” of the year. They said the veil between this living world and the Otherworld or land of the dead/land of Fairy gets thin at certain times of year, in the fall and in the spring. Samhain (pronounced (SOW-in), beginning October 31st eve and continuing through the month of November, is just such a liminal space: between harvest and winter, life and death, the seen and the unseen.

To the Celts, Samhain was a New Year celebration - the last harvest is done, winter is coming, the year is wrapping up. Many modern pagans and witches have adapted this tradition and consider it a time of reflection and contemplation as the nights grow longer and the year turns over.

In deep contemplation as the veil thins and the dark grows, stories start to slip through — of ancestors, spirits, times past - of endings and new beginnings.

Books, too, can be portals. They open the way to remembrance, to reflection, wisdom. They can remind us of who we are or show us who we want to be in the years to come.

In honour of this auspicious and much loved season, this book list is for the witches! Because we love you!

And, it’s for anyone who is witch-curious, or loves a witch, or witchcraft, or who wants to know more about spirits, animism, and how to live with the land in the way our ancestors did.

So, whether you’re tending your altar, deep in spellwork, out on the land, celebrating with your people, or simply curling up with a candle and a cuppa, these are books for crossing over — for deep listening, lucid dreaming, meditation, trancing out on and finding your place in the turning of the Great Wheel of the Year.

Shadow Work & Inner Transformation

These books guide the soul’s descent and return — mirrors for understanding Self and renewal.

• The Witch’s Path – Thorn Mooney
  A modern classic on deepening one’s practice and walking the crooked path with self-awareness.

• Entering Hekate’s Cave – Cyndi Brannen
  A psychological and magical guide to shadow work, transformation, and reclaiming personal power.

• Weave the Liminal – Laura Tempest Zakroff
  Grounded and poetic, exploring the in-between spaces of magic, art, and daily life.

• The Crooked Path – Kelden
  A clear, grounded introduction to traditional witchcraft for modern seekers.

Ancestral & Cross-Cultural Magic

Honoring those who came before us, and the many ways magic remembers its roots.

• Honoring Your Ancestors – Mallorie Vaudoise
  Practical and heartfelt guidance for ancestral devotion and daily reverence.

• Jambalaya – Luisah Teish
  A foundational work blending Yoruba, Hoodoo, and folk wisdom in a celebration of heritage and womanhood.

• You Are the Medicine – Asha Frost
  Anishinaabe teachings on healing, belonging, and reconnecting with ancestral medicine.

• Of Blood and Bones – Kate Freuler
  Grounded advice on bone magic, offerings, and spirit work rooted in respect and protection.

• Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens – Lilith Dorsey
  Deepens understanding of African diasporic traditions and the sacred feminine in magic.

Spirit Work, Divination & Death Magic

As the veil thins — these titles open doors to communication and divination, if you dare.

• The Bones Fall in a Spiral – David Salisbury
  A reflective guide to death work and ancestor devotion through ritual.

• Spirit Speak – Ivo Dominguez Jr.
  Clear teachings on communicating with spirits and discerning what you hear.

• The Witch’s Mirror – Mickie Mueller
  A classic for scrying and mirror magic, ideal for Samhain nights.

• The Tradition of Household Spirits – Claude Lecouteux
  A scholarly yet enchanting look at the domestic spirits of old Europe — ancestors of hearth and home.

Traditional Witchcraft & Folk Practice

For those drawn to the land, lineage, and the old ways of power.

• A Deed Without a Name – Lee Morgan
  Philosophical and poetic, exploring the animist heart of traditional witchcraft.

• Besom, Stang & Sword – Chris Orapello & Tara-Love Maguire
  A working couple’s approach to contemporary traditional craft — earthy and rooted in land spirits.

• The Devil’s Dozen – Gemma Gary
  Folk witchery steeped in old lore, ritual, and the power of the land itself.

• Ancient Ways – Pauline Campanelli
  A classic of seasonal folk practice, blending nature lore with personal devotion.

Seasonal Living & Renewal

For welcoming the new year of the witch — slow, grounded, and full of meaning.

• The Wheel of the Year – Rebecca Beattie
   Simple, warm guidance through each sabbat, rooted in European folk custom.

• The Witch’s Yearbook – Clare Gogerty
   Cozy, practical rituals and crafts for every turn of the wheel.

• The Spirited Kitchen: Recipes and Rituals for the Wheel of the Year- Carman Spagnola
  A lively, eclectic, and thoughtful blend of cookbook and ritual calendar.

• Sacred Actions: Living the Wheel of the Year Through Earth-Centered Sustainable Practices - Dana O'Driscoll
  A manual of personal empowerment through sustainability as a spiritual practice.

Fiction

Stories where ghosts walk, witches whisper, and time softens its edges.

• The Year of the Witching – Alexis Henderson
  Dark, feminist gothic about faith, power, and forbidden magic.

• The Once and Future Witches – Alix E. Harrow
  Beautifully written historical fantasy where suffragists reclaim witchcraft.

• The Witch’s Heart – Genevieve Gornichec
  A tender, Norse retelling of the Loki myths through the eyes of the witch Angrboda.

• Spells for Forgetting - by Adrienne Young
  A deeply atmospheric story about ancestral magic, an unsolved murder, and a second chance at true love.

• Black Candle Women – Diane Marie Brown
  Generational witchcraft, family secrets, and ancestral curses.

• The Lighthouse Witches – C.J. Cooke
  Atmospheric Scottish gothic blending folklore, witch hunts, and hauntings.

• The Daughters of the Witching Hill – Mary Sharratt
  Based on the true story of the Pendle witches; rooted in land and survival.

• Wildwood Whispers – Willa Reece
  Appalachian folk magic and healing — quiet, green, and redemptive.

• Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery - Brom
  Set in Colonial New England, Slewfoot is a tale of magic and mystery, of triumph and terror as only dark fantasist Brom can tell it.

• Witches of New York - Ami McKay
  A sidelong glance at misogyny through a veil of witches, ghosts, and other mystical entities in 1880 New York.

May these reads keep you company in the dark — as guides, companions and inspo. Each story, each spell, each remembered ancestor is a thread in the greater weave of the best season of the year.

If you’d like to wander further, you’ll find more titles gathered on our October Shelf — a collection on the threshold, for working with ancestors, divination, Samhain and more Autumnal goodness. And if you have a book that always calls to you at this time of year, I’d love to hear about it! Leave a comment or share it with us on Instagram @woodlander_books