New edition of The Night Journey

I am delighted to announce that The Centre For Pagan Studies and the Doreen Valiente Foundation are publishing the revised and expanded edition of The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation by me, Yvonne Aburrow.

Buy now from the Doreen Valiente Foundation Shop
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The Night Journey is a follow-up to my previous book, Dark Mirror: The Inner Work of Witchcraft.
The Night Journey: witchcraft as transformation
This book explores different ways of doing ritual, and how that relates to the witch’s journey through life, and the stages and pitfalls of the inner work. It describes how to develop as a priestess or priest, and how to work with your group to connect with the land, with queer archetypes, and to challenge oppression.

This book is aimed at witches who want to deepen their engagement with their Craft. It explores modes and types of ritual; how rituals work; the uses of sound and silence in ritual; the witch’s journey through life; the stages and pitfalls of the inner work. It shows how Queer Witchcraft is an inherent aspect of the archetype of the witch; how witchcraft relates to the land; witchcraft as resistance to oppression; working with ancestors; the witch’s pact with spiritual powers; the relationship between madness, shamanism, and witchcraft; and the concept of the night journey, another very old image from the history of witchcraft; how to use insights gained from the practice of witchcraft in everyday life; group dynamics; being a coven leader; teaching and learning in a coven; egregore, lineage, upline, and downline; power and authority; the process of challenging oppression; how to evaluate your Craft; the meaning and purpose of ‘spirituality’, religion, and magic; the archetype of the witch and what it means.

Reviews of The Night Journey

The Night Journey utilizes the historical legend of the witch’s flight to the sabbat to expand Aburrow’s notion of a modern witchcraft which is “queer, transgressive, and resistant to authoritarian versions of reality.” In the spiritual world of The Night Journey, witchcraft isn’t seen as some sort of rarefied practice isolated from the messy mundane world, but as a beautiful, viable, and practical way of living in the world as a person of power and integrity. Taken together with Dark Mirror, these two texts comprise something quite special: a revolutionary vision of traditional Wicca which looks to the Craft’s future while simultaneously honoring its traditions.
Misha Magdalene, author of Outside the Charmed Circle: Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice

There’s a real shortage of good books on advanced witchcraft. The Night Journey - Witchcraft as Transformation is therefore a much-needed new publication aimed at Wiccans and witches who have reached second degree or who are running their own covens. … The work at second degree involves looking at the darker sides of our own psyches, confronting our fears and challenging our perhaps long-held beliefs. The goal of this is transformation, and this book is a guide to ways of enabling that to happen.
Lucya Starza, www.badwitch.co.uk

The Night Journey takes us on a wild ride through Witchcraft of the past, present and future. While so many other books focus on the ‘how’ of Witchcraft, Aburrow gives us a much-needed dive into the ‘why’, and champions the diversity that is so necessary for the continuation of the Craft.
Thista Minai, founder of Spectrum Gate Mysteries, author of Casting a Queer Circle: Non-binary Witchcraft and Suffering for Spirit: Empowerment Through Ordeal

This book is a cornerstone for every modern Pagan’s library, or for anyone at all interested in a valid inner reality and how to develop and cope with and enjoy it. …This isn’t a book for the mystically minded, more a kicking, scratching fight on the road to a modern Wiccan spirituality. Paganism is Green, and this is Pagan politics, ecologically and spiritually, the microcosm and the macrocosm. We were right all along, and now is the time to chant our many chants to be heard around the world. However you identify, this book provides well-stated explorations of all aspects of Pagan life. Read it and become an active part of the debate.
Geraldine Beskin,
The Atlantis Bookshop, London, UK.

Yvonne Aburrow has done it again! In The Night Journey: Witchcraft as Transformation, Aburrow takes their readers on a journey into the inner working of Wicca, ritual, and magic. They are always careful to consider the ways in which folks of different backgrounds understand, internalize, or experience the Craft, Aburrow is wonderfully honest when it comes to their relationship to the gods while also being refreshingly informative about group and coven dynamics. With a keen eye for issues surrounding mental illness, Aburrow shows their readers, with careful precision, how to spot groups that are supportive, inclusive, and spiritually motivating. This book will be of special interest to coven leaders or to those who wish to understand the role a healthy coven may play in the lives of a new or seasoned witch.
Tim Landry,
anthropologist and occultist.

An insightful and accessible guide to the theory and practice of contemporary Pagan witchcraft. The author writes from their extensive personal experience and presents their views in a thoughtful and enthusiastic style that are suitable for experienced practitioners and those taking their first exploratory steps. Each chapter concludes with some excellent discussion topics, suggestions for self-reflection, and practical exercises. Like all good books, it presents some challenging views, which offer much food for thought.
Julia Phillips, Postgraduate Researcher, University of Bristol, author of Witches of Oz and Madeline Montalban, Magus of St Giles.
A deep dive into the roots and meanings of contemporary Wiccan and Pagan practices, and how they can be updated for the 21st century. Essential reading for covens and groves.
Sabina Magliocco,
Professor of Anthropology and Chair, Program in the Study of Religion, University of British Columbia, and author of Witching Culture: Folklore and Neopaganism in America.



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