Spooky season is among us and what better way to celebrate than to put on a comfy sweater, grab a cup of your favorite hot beverage, and grab one of the following books to get you in the spooky holiday spirit.
- The Unofficial Wednesday Cookbook by Iphigenia Jones Ulysses Press; Aug. 2023; $19.95
The Unofficial Wednesday Cookbook offers fare inspired by your favorite goth girl’s quirky family, macabre adventures, gothic authors, murderous schemes, and more. Inside you’ll find frightfully fantastic recipes, like:
- Taxidermied Mushrooms
- Gorgon-zola and Pear Salad
- Spaghetti al Nero
- Goo Goo-lash Muck
- Piranha Punch
- “Secret” Ginger Snaps
- Death by Chocolate Birthday Cake
- And more!
2. The Horror Movie Night Cookbook by Richard S. Sargent Ulysses Press; July 2023; $19.95
If you’re looking for kitschy Pinterest recipes like coffin-shaped cookies or zombie finger sandwiches, look elsewhere. With The Horror Movie Night Cookbook, you’ll enjoy thoughtful and tasty food and cocktail pairings inspired by the actual content of chilling classics like Jaws, Psycho, Scream, The Conjuring, The Evil Dead, Halloween, and more of horror’s most frightening favorites! Inside you’ll find recipes like:
- Crawling Steak (Poltergeist)
- Campfire Sour (The Blair Witch Project)
- Zombie Baby Kale Salad (Dawn of the Dead)
- Bloody Floaties (Jaws)
- Alligator Bites (Crawl)
- The Mama’s Boy Martini (Psycho)
- And more!
3. Coffee Magic for the Modern Witch by Elsie Wild Ulysses Press; Oct. 2023; $17.95
In Coffee Magic for the Modern Witch, we’ll be spilling the coffee beans on the magical properties of coffee and all its many forms, from the protective power of espresso to the loving quality of mocha. Inside you’ll also find original recipes, spells, and rituals that will add a bit of coffee magic to your life, including:
- The “I Love Me a Latte” brew to perk up your self-love
- The “Are You Seer-ing This?” coffee scrying ritual to divine the future
- The “Cleans Me in Coffee” coffee bath recipe to release negativity
- And so much more!
4. The Retrograde Guidebook by Jennifer Billock Ulysses Press; Dec. 2023; $15.95
Go beyond the stereotypes of mercury retrograde and dig deep into the planetary cycles, discovering how they can affect your everyday life from day to day and year to year.
Every planet except Earth goes into retrograde at some point, and each planet has its own bundle of joys and pain points that come with it. The Retrograde Guidebook aims to take the mystery out of planetary retrogrades, providing an overview of what retrograde means astrologically and its basic principles. It offers a breakdown of every planetary retrograde’s function and effects—and why three main celestial bodies, the Earth, sun, and moon, don’t ever go into retrograde.
You’ll also learn how planetary retrogrades will affect you as an individual, tips on coping with resulting effects, and how to maximize the benefits so the planets work on your behalf to improve your life.
5. The Herbal Tea Magic for the Modern Witch Oracle Deck by Elsie Wild. Ulysses Press; April 2023; $29.95
Harness the power of green witchcraft and divination with this combination guidebook and fully illustrated forty-card oracle deck of herbs, florals, and more.
Tea magic has been used for centuries to uncover hidden truths. Now, with the Herbal Tea Magic for the Modern Witch Oracle Deck, you will find solutions for everything from a broken heart to aligning with your highest self. Want to know which herbs will bring you good luck or enhance your mood? This oracle deck will show you just that with detailed descriptions on the significance of the herb in the companion booklet.
This oracle deck and companion guide contains forty different herbs, each with their own metaphysical meaning that you can use to divine the future, reflect on the past, or even interpret the present. Perfect for beginners or more advanced witches, there are endless ways to use this deck either as a traditional oracle deck or more free-form by asking a question, drawing a few cards, and creating your own spellbinding brew to help guide you to the answers you seek.
Discover the metaphysical meanings of:
- Cinnamon
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Thyme
- And much more!
6. Spell Jars for the Modern Witch by Minerva Siegel Ulysses Press; May 2023; $16.95
Spell Jars for the Modern Witch will guide you through the entire process of jar spellcrafting—creating spells inside sealed containers—from setting your intentions, to cleansing your ritual space, to building and activating your spells. But before diving into individual spell jar recipes, you’ll first learn all about magickal color, crystal, number, and astrological properties; how to best time the creation of your spell; and the power meaning of certain herbs, flowers, and other natural ingredients that will help you decide what to include in your spell jars.
Then begin manifesting your goals with fifty step-by-step spell jar recipes for everyday life, including spells for:
- Protection from nightmares
- Financial abundance
- Manifesting self-confidence
- Successful job hunting
- Memorializing a loved one
- Cultivating a stable, happy home life
- And more