I am not the most well-read pagan; far from it. Between my normal reading and the work I've done for FacingNorth, however, I suspect I'm climbing into the top 50% at least? In any case, I ponder that only as I say that I just finished the most pleasant book in this sphere that I've ever encountered. There have been authors with a warm and inviting tone, invoking excellent teachers in your life, and there have been books with a kind of fervent excitement that can be energizing or off-putting depending on how you come to the material. Halo Quin, however, is a passionate advocate for their material without ever being pedantic or over-reaching. Your favorite teacher would like Halo Quin if they ever met them. Now in their latest book, Storytelling for Magic: Bardic Skills and Ritual-Craft for Witches and Pagans, they focus their passion on (what seems to this reader, at least) the most direct expression of their own practices to date.
Ostensibly this book is a launching point for people who see themselves as starting on a bardic path, but I think it's much more than that. There are so many different ways that narrative skills can enhance your practice, from ritual writing to spell crafting and execution. I think most people aren't thoughtful about how to tell a story, which is not to say that all of those people are bad at it. As Quin points out, storytelling is one of the oldest art forms, and humans (to varying degrees) intuit the nature of stories by growing up with them. Nevertheless, stopping to consider the story as an active art, the same as dancing, is a learned skill. There is a whole chapter in this book on how to *learn* a story; not to relate it, not yet, just learning how to have the action, the characters, and the deeper meanings of a tale under your fingers so thoroughly that you can work with it like clay. Then in the next chapter you delve into storytelling in general, and after that you are led into a discussion of how to apply these skills to rituals, guided meditations, and even applying your newfound skills in learning stories to help guide your research - you know what you need to understand a story, so you know what you still haven't found yet when learning about something new, for example in mythology.
It's actually taken me a long time to gather my thoughts about Storytelling for Magic in order to write this for you. I love this book as a lovely exploration of the nature of narrative while at the same time it's a completely practical guide to developing and using your storytelling skills. It belongs on your shelf right next to Stephen King's On Writing (which, if you don't know about that one, I suggest you run-don't-walk to the library and avail yourself) as a manual for what feels esoteric but is discussed in concrete terms. The problem was that despite being a fairly slender volume – clocking in at ~97 pages – it’s a big idea to get a hold of. The power of narrative for any practitioner is a subtle one but it insinuates itself into almost everything we do. I’m not even qualified to talk specifically about its relationship with bardic traditions, where I imagine the book is eve more useful. For any and all, however, reading and digesting Halo Quin’s work is almost certainly going to enrich your spiritual life.
~ review by Wanderer
Author: Halo Quin
Moon Books, 2025
120 pg., $10.95
