A review by laurareads87
Spellwork for Self-Care: 40 Spells to Soothe the Spirit by Lyn Pastuhova

informative inspiring fast-paced

3.0

Spellwork for Self-Care is an introductory book featuring spells focused on protection, wellness, love, finance/future, and sovereignty. I appreciate a lot about it: there are clear attempts to be inclusive (particularly with respect to language not being cisnormative or presuming the reader’s sexual orientation), Monica Ramos’ illustrations are charming (and much more body size inclusive than many books like this), and the spells are, broadly speaking, accessible (they don’t require much in the way of fancy supplies beyond a mortar and pestle and a burn-safe bowl and they’re mostly written in ways that don’t presume able-bodiedness at all). The introductory section emphasizes the ‘work’ in spellwork in a way that I appreciate. The appendix on correspondences is not particularly comprehensive but it’s clear and includes relevant safety notes on essential oils, and the overall tone of the book is inviting and encouraging without being overly prescriptive. 

The book is written with an audience of mostly young folks in mind – particularly young women – as the book is addressed to womxn and uses ‘we’ presuming a reader who identifies this way, and refers to ‘finding your first adult job’ in one of the spells. 

My criticisms would be that the book does reproduce language of ‘light’ + ‘white light’ as positive and ‘darkness’ as negative and advocates offerings to Oshun and the creation of mojo bags in ways that feel a bit superficial and definitely potentially appropriative. I will also say that I don’t love when spell books effectively advocate littering – no, please don’t bury non-organic candle wax outside or toss things in your local body of water, use some common sense here. 

The bibliography is... a bit strange, and includes a lot of sources that have nothing whatsoever to do with spellwork, and some of the resource page is now outdated, but I am glad that these were included. 

Finally, I will note that I do not love that the author’s name is not included anywhere in the book as far as I can tell. It is frustrating to not know what tradition(s) this author practices in, what (if anything) else they’ve written, etc.