I'm so excited that my book is coming out with Llwellyn this summer! Spinstress Craft: Magick for the Independent Witch rips the stitches out of the nasty old stereotype of the "spinster." Like reclaiming the word "witch," this is meant to take back the power owed to strong and independent womxyn. Yes, womxyn. This book welcomes all who choose to identify with the pages and ideas within. The alternate spelling of the word is meant to make room for an alternate definition. A more inclusive one.

A "spinster" was a professional person back before the hype. Like "miller" or "carpenter," it's a job. A spinster was someone who worked a spinning wheel, turning fibers (usually wool) into thread for textiles. Back before machines did all that it was an important job if anyone wanted blankets, clothes, or the like. Since it was first a domestic skill left to the hands of women, it was women and girls that often took this job.

Young women and, yes, also unmarried women, therefore, often became culturally identifiable as the local spinsters. Hence the term. They were working for income rather than relying on a husband. Therein we find their crime. They were an eighteenth and nineteenth century prototype for the "career girls" reviled during the twentieth century by anti-feminists and for the "nasty" women being yelled about in our current time.

There are spells, crafts, and guided meditations that help us to glow up, figure out what we want, and magickly manifest it without fear or shame. The spinstress craft encourages womxyn to support womxyn. As I say in the book, we will work together to brew up the following in our kickass magickal cauldron. We will:

• Choose when to have sex, what kind of sex we like, as well as who we have sex with (including ourselves, obviously).
• Define the boundaries of our relationships both in and out of committed arrangements.
• Make our own decisions about when and whether to have children.
• Choose where to live, how to live, and how to manage our own money.
• Call our own shots on what is right and wrong.
• Own leadership in our spiritual community as a creator, a ritualist, a healer, and more.
• Take care of ourselves as well as the men, womxyn, kids, and critters in our lives.
• Allow ourselves to exist in our authenticity—as emotional, rational, sexual, and magickal beings who are "enough" as we are, thanks very much.

A spinstress is more often a more-action-less-talk sort, so I'm going to give you a brand new and exclusive ritual similar to the ones found in the book. It's based on the premise that self-respect is crucial for living a good life and also doing successful magick. I don't just mean the, "I'm pretty" affirmations to which people are often directed. I mean self-respect that affirms our power as well as beauty. We are powerful and good as well as gorgeous. Sure, vibe off Glinda if you want. As far as I'm concerned, you can glow up with the green skin and basic black while rocking it, too.

The following ritual and spell work are designed like the ones found in the book. It will help you glow up and own your personal power. Glow up hot-girl summer style and also like the glittery and gorgeous power source that you most definitely are.

Time to glow up, already!

Spell for Re-Writing Your Personal Story
Ideal Time: Any time you feel negative ideas bringing you down or notice that they are creating unwanted results in your life.

Materials:
Notebook paper you don't mind ripping out of the book and ultimately destroying. For pens, a few different colors of ink would be fun. If you plan to do flash cards (see below), bring index cards and perhaps markers, even stickers, or whatever you would like to use. Also maybe a nicer notebook for the lists and writing you wish to keep (perhaps your Book of Shadows if you keep one).

For your altar, leave a lot of space for your writing materials. A simple candle (flame or electric) is nice in addition to any little gems or items that really make you feel good. We are going to take that positive energy and increase it in your life! If you work with music, make sure it is one-hundred percent upbeat. Even if sad songs are pretty, you only want a vibe here that makes you feel hopeful, gorgeous, and great.

Circle Up:
Sit in the area you have prepped for your magick and take a few centering breaths. Visualize a pink or purple circle of light surrounding your sacred space. Eyes open or shut for the visualizing will be fine, whatever works best for you. If you aren't used to visualizing you can simply say to yourself that a circle of light (choose which color) is surrounding you. Energy follows thought in magick. The visualization often strengthens over time.

Say, "Within this space, only good vibes are allowed. I draw all happy, loving thoughts and energies toward myself."

Spell Work:
We're going to do an exercise that helps us rewrite our bad old stories about ourselves. I know you will find that it improves your self-esteem and also your magickal power.

Flash-Bang Self-Esteem Self-Quiz
On a sheet of notebook paper, list the "old story" about yourself that you would love to get rid of. Examples might include words like the following:

• Clumsy
• Shy
• Unlucky
• Poor
• (And so on)

On another sheet of paper, come up with an opposite trait that you would like to use to replace each of those from the old story.

• Graceful
• Confident
• Lucky
• Wealthy
• (And so on)

The second list is the outline for your new story! Before we enjoy it, though, we're going to take out the old trash.

Take the list of negative ideas that you had and hold it in your hands. Skim over it one last time and say, "I'm letting this junk go."

Visualize putting an energetic "x" over the list. You are saying, "no way" to the old ideas. You can say so out loud, or something like, "These beliefs do not help me, and I am absolutely letting them go."

Tear the paper at least in half, or even into little pieces. Later, you can burn it if you know you can do so safely. The magick will work just as well if you just throw it away. Tearing the paper breaks the power of the words for the purpose of our magick.

Now comes the more fun part. Time to glow up!

On your nice paper (which may be a journal or a magickal book of shadows), free-write for a few minutes to tell a real story about your new life by using the words on your new list. For instance, using the words in my example:

"I had such a great day today! I feel so lucky that I came into that extra money so I could take my family out for a Sunday brunch. I wore that dress I've been wanting to, the one I didn't feel like I could afford before. Now I can afford anything I like! My mom said I'd never looked better. She called me 'graceful and lovely.' The waiter even winked at me! My little sister said she was jealous of my glow-up. I'm so thankful. I've never had so much fun! I can't wait to see what great things happen next."

This is manifestation magick. Muggles do it, too, nowadays, and call it the power of positive thinking. As magick folks, we already know that our thoughts create. I think sometimes we forget that we should really take this pretty seriously. We can't just turn our power off. It's functioning to create our lives even outside the magick circle, within the realm of our thoughts and beliefs. And I've been learning in my own life that I need to feel worthy of what I want before any spell in the world can ever bring it to me.

Close Up Shop:
Allow your circle of pink or purple light to disappear back into the spiritual source. Say, "I give thanks for the spiritual protection and the glow-up magick I have received. As this circle is closed I send my love back into the source."

Gold Star Extra Credit:
Make yourself some flash cards containing the words you put on your second list. You can keep it simple, or decorate with stickers, glitter, photos, or just about whatever your creativity inspires.

Add new cards every time you need to replace an old limiting belief with something better. Once in a while, especially when you're feeling down, go through at least some of your flash cards. They are also great to use for building up your personal mojo before you do any other magick.

Say them to yourself, like, "Yes, I am graceful." "I know I'm so wonderfully lucky."

To juice this magick up even more, say your new statements into your mirror. Look yourself directly in the eyes. If looking in the mirror bothers you, get so close that you can only see right back into your own eyes. You could also use a hand mirror. Looking right into your own eyes, you are really communicating back and forth with your deepest self.

In Spinstress Craft, I have more mirror magick, including how to pick out and consecrate a magick mirror for your regular practice. You can use any mirror for the time being, of course. I hope you enjoy it. I find mirror magick very, very powerful.

I hope this little taste gets you to join me for the whole spinstress adventure. Either way, I hope you have fun with this little bit of magick. May you have a great time glowing up and finding the most powerful version of you. Check the book, and I look forward to hearing cool details from my readers' own journeys.