Alive with Spirits: The Path and Practice of Animistic Witchcraft is not a book for skimming. Althaea Sebastiani has been practicing witch for nearly 30 years, active in pagan communities for more than 20, and has been a professional writer and teacher for almost a decade (all as of mid-2024). In all of their experience they have been developing and deepening their understanding of witchcraft within an animist framework (roughly: "spirit-based", but that is *rough*), and in bringing that accumulated knowledge and understanding to their readers they have taken on a self-described "no bullshit" communication style. "Alive with Spirits" is *intense*, as well as practical and practicable. There's a decent chance that you're going to bounce off of this book as not for you, but there's also a chance that it's going to change your life. [Note: unable to find clarity on the subject anywhere I have defaulted to they/them pronouns.]
You won't be out of the second Lesson (chapter) before reading "[t]here may be some aspects of animism that feel uncomfortable; you may even find yourself becoming angry in response to some of the things you’ve read." Sebastiani isn't bragging or trying to be provocative - at least, not for the sake of provocation. Rather, they are- in their own way - reassuring you that you aren't misunderstanding what you've read so far. Their way of understanding animistic spirituality absolutely runs contrary to what many of us our brought up in modern "Western" cultures understand. If that's not you - great! If you've already done the decolonizing work in your life - great! Otherwise, expect to be challenged in far more than just how you practice magic. Just for one example, Lesson 4 is all about the notion of Community; what it means, why modern society has worked so assiduously to break communities down, and why it is a critical part of making contact with the Otherworld (Sebastiani's preferred term for the "spirit world" as it highlights the "other" nature of that state of being) without setting yourself into an immediately adversarial position.
Likewise, Sebastiani does not humor any notions of simply adding a touch of fae into your practice. As they say, "most spirits want absolutely nothing to do with us. They aren't interested in us and they do not want to interact with us.... Spirits owe us nothing. The fact that we are witches does not mean that the spirit world is waiting around for us to reach out and say 'hi'..." Their advice is to approach the Otherworld as you would any other sentient, self-possessed person, respect their consent, and enter any relationship on, at best, equal terms and not in search of servitors to do you favors. Fortunately, if you find yourself resonating with Sebastiani's message then there are a double-dozen exercises throughout the book to help you explore what it means to approach the world as it has been by humans for thousands of years - certainly, longer than our modern folk-inspired practices as found in modern eclectic paganism.
To be completely forthright, your reviewer is for now at least in the category of people that bounced off this book. I recognize that a lot of that is my own baggage, and one more vector of deprogramming how I've been brought up when I'm already working on other things is simply a bridge too far. I think it says quite a lot about the quality of work that I found in Alive with Spirits that I find myself aspiring to some day be ready to give it another try. If you are already doing the work to break out of the colonial/patriarchal modes of living, Sebastiani may have a revelation waiting for you.
~review by Wanderer
Author: Althaea Sebastiani
Red Wheel/Weiser, 2024
216 pp., $18.95
