An Excerpt from Chapter Four on Working With Spirits from The Arte of Glamour

The Arte of Glamour is available for purchase through Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats.

The Arte of Glamour has a mission: to help you find sustainable wonder in yourself, your spiritual practice and your life. Written with a dry wit and a keen understanding gained from years of working with magical ritual, the salt of the earth suggestions will encourage you to delve deeper into your ritual practice. Filled with tips, tricks, spells, a ritual format and a small book of spirits, The Arte of Glamour insists on beauty as something important in both spirituality and everyday life. Foreword by Gordon White.

Excerpt from Chapter Four: The Arte of the Ladies

A Primer on Working with the Ladies

Some schools of magical thought suggest you use a circle to work with spirits so you can entrap them and bend them to your will. This is an excellent approach if most of the spirits you work with are dangerous gun-toting drug dealers who you owe $10,000. In my daily life, I tend to invite into my house people who have a decent enough reputation in my circles and/or I have reason to trust. I would prefer to offer guests in my home a glass of wine and a nice nibble rather than tying them to a chair and beating them over the head repeatedly. I feel it’s more hospitable.

I don’t tend to run with people I can’t trust in my daily life. I don’t really feel the need to go down other-worldly dark alleys for the things I need. Does this mean you should have perfect love and perfect trust for the spirits you work with? I take a middle ground there, too. In my daily life, I tend to have what I consider moderate trust for people, based on my relationship with them.

Is the thought always in the back of my mind that each person in my life could turn on me, cut me out of their lives, steal from me, or otherwise act terribly to me for some reason, at some point? Yes. Do I let that thought be any more than something to keep in the back of my head until I have reason to think otherwise? No. I’m cautiously optimistic with other people. I like to think that people I have a relationship with love me and want what’s best for me. But, I’m not so naive or trusting that I think that others don’t have their own thoughts, feelings, and agendas.

I treat my relationships with my spirits the same way. My work with spirits, gods, and otherworldly entities is reflective of this ideal. I use a method of creating a circular sacred space, but it’s so that my spirits can more easily manifest themselves. Its purpose is not to entrap them and force my will upon them.

Like everything else in this book, engage your brain and your common sense. Are the Ladies (the spirits that I work with and will be introducing you to later in this chapter) dangerous? Yes and no. A person, generally speaking, isn’t dangerous unless you give her a reason to be. If you take someone out of her home, throw a black bag over her head, toss her into a van, and threaten her, she’s probably going to be dangerous. If a friend has introduced you to someone and you into your home, make her a cup of tea, and treat her politely, it’s unlikely that she will be dangerous. You’ve shown her you have manners and hospitality. Is that a blood oath that the person your friend introduced to you and that you allowed in your home won’t steal your silver and your cat? Of course not! It’s possible this person will do something terrible, but it’s not terribly likely. . .Read the rest at my PaganSquare Blog

Deborah Castellano

Deborah Castellano's book Glamour Magic: The Witchcraft Revolution to Get What You Want is available for purchase through Amazon, Llewellyn and Barnes and Noble.
Her frequently updated catalogue of published work is available on Author Central.

She writes about Glamour Magic here at Charmed, I'm Sure. Her podcast appearances are available here.

Her craft shop, The Mermaid & The Crow specializes in old-world style workshop from 100% local, sustainable sources featuring tempting small batch ritual oils and hand-spun hand-dyed yarn in luxe fibers and more!

In a previous life, Deborah founded the first Neo-Victorian/Steampunk convention, SalonCon which received rave reviews from con-goers and interviews from the New York Times and MTV.

She resides in New Jersey with her husband, Jow and their cat, Max II. She has a terrible reality television habit she can't shake and likes St. Germain liquor, record players and typewriters.  

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