Ancient Spells and Incantations

Ancient Spells and Incantations; Echoes of Magic Through the Ages & Across Cultures
Enid Baxter Ryce
Weiser Books
ISBN 978-1-57863-902-1
$13.21

Ancient words whispered fervently into the wind, chanted over a flame, carved into charms or inked onto paper…spells carry undeniable power, and they tend to accrete more with time. While many books of spellcraft focus on techniques and frameworks a reader can use to create their own spells, e.g., the Four Elements, in Ancient Spells and Incantations; Echoes of Magic Through the Ages & Across Cultures, Enid Baxter Ryce offers the words that allow you to work your magic while standing on the shoulders of your spiritual forebears.

Baxter Ryce draws from numerous sources across time and cultures, presenting spells, prayers and charms from Egyptian, Chinese, Mayan, Aztec, Greek, Roman, Yoruban, Irish and Anglo-Saxon sources, among many others. She notably incorporates excerpts from grimoires that are profoundly influential to modern magic, Witchcraft and Neopaganism, but that are rarely cited in introductory works on those subjects and may be less well known to many readers. For example, there are several selections from The Picatrix, an Arabic grimoire from eleventh century Moorish Spain, and The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage from fifteenth century Germany. She includes chapters with passages focused on magical goals of prophecy, love, protection, healing and cursing. There is a comfort in knowing that someone in China 2200 years ago also had bad dreams, and that a particular charm against them is effective enough to have been passed down all that time. Baxter Ryce also includes brief, practical guidance for using words of power in conjunction with magical objects, places, numbers, etc.

While this book is useful and inspiring to a new seeker, every experienced practitioner knows the value of keeping a reliable charm in your back pocket, of having the right words in the moment when you need them. No matter the magical goal, you will surely find those words in Ancient Spells and Incantations.