Runa Troy – Writing Witch – Blog – Runa Troy

What The Witch Is Reading – October 2026

Posted on October 31, 2026October 30, 2026 by runa

A background image of overflowing bookshelves, including a book by Runa Troy, with the words: What The Witch Is Reading - giving back to all books gave to me - it's a marker photo to alert readers this is a regular series — This section of my blog is dedicated to spreading the love of reading and books and the people who make them happen. I would not be the Witch I am today without books. I owe an obscene amount of gratitude to all the makers of books out there. This is my way of giving back. I hope that something I pick up and review will guide you to acquire the next tome on your To Be Read stack.

One Impactful Book

Happy Halloween, everyone! I’ve been writing more than reading in the last weeks. Between teaching, readings, and Patreon, as well as witching, I’m a busy crone. Not surprising, it’s the season of the witch. Regardless, I finished one impactful book and it has a place of honor now on my rune study shelf now.

Queering The Runes: Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom in Rune Magic & Mythology by Siri Vincent Plouff

An image of the book Queering the Runes with post-it tabs lined up on it's right edge — As you can see, I’ve marked passages I want to return and reflect on within *Queering The Runes*. For diviners like me this book is so reassuring and validating. Pretty cool & interesting that the author of the first rune book I found an alternative approach to the Elder Futhark, Lara Vesta, wrote the foreword.

Friends, I feel so validated in my own relationship with the runes after reading this book. It’s certainly a book I’ll recommend to my runic divination students. The author starts the book with this true seer’s perspective, too:

“The runes collapse time. It’s actually helpful that they are letters from a dead language – because sometimes, to get over the clashing static of our own modern psyches, we need to look to something older. We need to slow down and interpret something that isn’t directly of our own world.”

Of course the book has all the basics like a rune cheat sheet, but finding a book that feels like how I connect with the runes may have given me a moment of ugly crying when I was done reading.

I’ve often told my clients and students about the promise to Those That Came Before we are and when the gift rune shows up in a reading, we need to pay attention. Plouff confirms it while discussing that particular rune: “Gyfu is not just a gift, but an oath: that you will use what has been given for the greater good.”

Those that work with the runes quickly find out that understanding the mythology of the people who used this ancient tool is important as well. I appreciated Plouff’s take on this mythology – again resonating with me about figures like Freyja, Óðinn, and, warming my black heart, Hel.

They wrote: “Hel is a great equalizer. For queer folks, she is the understanding that we are all subject to the same laws of physics, the same law of mortality. Hel is also a great connector. Heathenry relies so intensely on ancestral veneration and connection with the wisdom of those that came before us that Hel becomes a connector. When we are working on connecting with our queer ancestors, Hel operates as a link in the chain.”

All Hail Hel.

Plouff’s weaving in the astrology within the book had me clapping with delight. I often replace the Greek and Roman gods of astrology with those of my Nordic and Germanic ancestors, and then by how I move through the seasons of my witchcraft practice.

“Jera is not just about the year; it is also related to earth itself. This is a rune of appreciation of the gifts of nature, as well as of cultivation. The shape of the rune – two v’s turned on their side and intertwining – speaks to me of cycles. This has always spoken to me of the cycles and seasons that recur year after year, the patterns within a set of bounded time. The shape is strangely reminiscent of the astrological symbols for Cancer, with a mirror image turning on itself. And just like the sign of Cancer, Jera has a nurturing energy.”

I love to tell stories within my rune readings and witchcraft writings, and Plouoff hits on that energy when they write about Ehwaz. “There’s a reason a lot of the famous high fantasy books are journeying narratives. The act of movement creates a liminal space in which magical workings can occur.”

The book helps readers understand bindrunes, traditional casting methods, and rune spells in a manner that is engaging and approachable. Sometimes these applications of the runes get muddied and complicated for no reason, and Plouff lays it out in a manner the reader can easily embrace and make their own, especially where developing your question(s) to the runes is concerned. Definitely a good resource for any student of the runes – beginning or advanced.

It felt very much like Plouff was speaking to many of us in the witch and pagan circles, too with why the diversity of queering the runes is necessary. Reading it felt like a reassuring hug, which sounds sappy to type out, but to be seen in the pages of a book about a divination tool you love, is something magical. “It is hard work to be a pattern breaker, but it is critical.”

Plouff’s biggest success with this book is that they opened up a tool that is sometimes wielded by an aspect of Heathenry that is not empowering. As appears on the back cover, they “paves the way for understanding how to work with runes disencumbered from patriarchy and white supremacy.”

If you are curious, want to study, or use runes in your practice, Queering the Runes is highly recommended. P.S. Plouff does a podcast with co-host Cassandra Snow that you might want to check out, Chaos & Cunning. The two of them, “explores heathenry and folk magic through a queer, anarchist perspective.”

Next Month

l told you back in September that I was reading Storm Faerywolf’s The Witch’s Name. I’m not done yet, but hope to include it in next month’s edition.

Hope you get some time to get cozy with your TBR pile, until then, Witches!

What The Witch Is Reading – September 2026

Posted on September 29, 2026October 30, 2026 by runa

Poetry is Food; Food is Poetry

There are books that become comfort reads. These are books you return to in order to either be comforted or inspired. I have a comfort read for just about every genre out there. Some of these books I have carried with me for decades, like Starhawk’s Truth or Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority, and Mystery. Or Stephen King’s Misery. Or Jonathan Evison’s West of Here. Or, even, Caitlin R. Kiernan’s The Drowning Girl.

I do appreciate that the titles that are my comfort reads aren’t necessarily the most well known. But they are the most well known for me and how they changed my perspective or held my imagination, or exposed me to different landscapes and realms is more why any of us turn to comfort reads.

I read poetry fairly frequently. But I didn’t have a comfort read for the poetry category. I do now.

Pablo Neruda’s book The Sea and the Bells (translated by William O’Daly) has firmly joined the comfort-reads list. There’s something so intimate about this collection of poems that hit me right in the solar plexus. When you’re reading poetry and you are nodding your head, and mumbling, “yes, yes, yes” the writer has your attention not just when you’re reading, but it floats with you the rest of the day.

This was The Sea and the Bells for me. Also, because I feel like I understand Neruda’s desire to retreat from the noise of society. His love for nature, his wife, dreaming by the seaside is a heartsong for me personally. As the title suggests, the sea figures prominently in this book. As is the job of any poet to place us in the world as they see it – I could hear the crashing waves, the ringing of the various bells that dot the seaside. I could feel the love he had for the Land, his wife, and his country.

The fact that this is one of eight books of poems that Neruda worked on along with his memoir within the last year of his life, makes me feel the words are an urgent message from Neruda. He would die before that happened. His widow, Matilde, which figures prominently in his work had them published. And the world should be grateful for that, I believe. I am grateful for that.

Yet the volume is filled with this undercurrent of sad acceptance. Neruda was already sick when he wrote some of these poems. Ask anyone who has read this collection and they will tell you that the closing poem, ‘Finale,’ is devastating. Need to cry? Read that poem.

However, I am so enamored with ‘Salud!’ It is a salute to being kind in the face of terrible things, but being honest about it. It’s a nod and a chin wag to humanity’s truth that we all walk a path or have a story which the crowd about us has no idea about. It also makes me think about my elders and how they would always greet people along the street as they passed, as is the custom in Chile, where Neruda was born. In today’s world of long work commutes or remote working this kind of custom seems to have long past, but there was a story in this custom Neruda niggled under it and showed us, like any good writer does, the spiral of positive and negative all around a simple greeting.

This book displays each poem with the original Spanish on one side of the page, and the English translation opposite. Reading the Spanish version out loud and then re-reading the poem in English was an exercise in understanding for me, and I highly recommend if you read this volume, you try it that way, too.

I checked this one out from the library and now am on the hunt for my own copy to rest on my ‘comfort reads’ shelf. Neruda’s poetry feels like an old friend I can visit any time, so it deserves a spot there.

Grow Food For Free: The Sustainable, Zero-cost, Low-effort Way to a Bountiful Harvest by Huw Richards

This was an audio book for me, since Richards has a YouTube channel that I’ve long watched. His growing area in Wales is much like it is here in the PNW, and I’m always interested in how other people grow food. Richards has a deep permaculture background, too. The fact that the book is read by the author in his engaging Welsh accent was a bonus for me. It seemed to be a sound bath for some of my ancestors, as well.

The books beginnings came as the author set himself a challenge to grow his own fruit and veg for a year. He succeeded and shares his tips, tricks, and tactics to fill your belly with homegrown food in this book.

He details some ways about sourcing materials, seed saving, composting, pest control, and even how he likes to eat some of the food (he’s a major beetroot fan). Some of the ways he sourced materials may be problematic for some readers/gardeners, mainly being cheered on with your goal to grow food. When I first started to turn what spaces I had into bringing in fresh food, there was confusion. Why would I want to grow basil when I can get it from the store. If you’ve eaten a strawberry straight from the garden or a tomato, or carrots, you understand.

Richards’ book focuses a lot about how friends, family, and neighbors all contributed to his challenge. Get yourself supporters like that and it will be a lot easier. Time is money, as we all know. Being able to delegate some of that sourcing helps these free food-growing a real possibility. If you do it solo, it will likely be harder.

The best thing about this book is that he really spends a lot of time talking about compost, and honestly, as a long time food-grower and permaculturist, this is the basis of any good food-growing efforts. For beginning gardeners you really need to understand this, and this book is great for that audience. Experienced gardeners may find that ‘there’s nothing new here.’

One word of caution to his tip to create inexpensive raised beds with old tires or pallets. As for pallets, this is definitely a low-cost gardening solution. Just make sure the wood is untreated. It should not be stamped with MB, which indicates it was treated with methyl bromide – a toxic chemical pesticide. Don’t use a pallet that has chemical stains on it. Skip painted or colored pallets, too. Look for HT or KD stamps on the pallets which indicate that the wood was safely treated.

Tires and the black plastic leach toxins into the soil and the roots of your plant take them up. You can grow non-edibles in tires, but I would paint them with an acrylic paint before employing them. That’s a whole other ask of your low-cost materials, however, and may be unapproachable for beginning gardeners. Instead, I would say, get on your local buy-nothing or craigslist free section. People give away raised beds and garden containers near daily – certainly seasonally. Don’t use tires to grow your food, friends. Just don’t. Even if you line it as Richards suggested with black visqueen before adding dirt. The tires

Next Month:

Queering The Runes: Reclaiming Ancestral Wisdom in Rune Magic & Mythology by Siri Vincent Plouff

This book has been in my TBR pile since it was released. I’m embarrassed it took me this long to get to it. But we all know the TBR pile is there to keep us reading. If there’s a book on Runes, you know I’m going to read it, as Runes have been my to-go-to divination tool and magic-making partner for decades. I’m always interested in how others approach it.

The Witch’s Name: Crafting Identities of Magical Power by Storm Faerywolf. Again another long-time TBR pile resident. I’m particularly interested in the sections on the history and mythology of spiritual names according to various cultures.

See you next month.

Protected: Brewing Your Backyard: A Guide to Localizing Your Fire Cider

Posted on September 17, 2026September 17, 2026 by runa

What The Witch Is Reading – August 2026

Posted on August 21, 2026September 29, 2026 by runa

Hunt, Gather, Books!

Sister of Darkness: The Chronicles of a Modern Exorcist by R.H. Stavis with Sarah Durand

This book was recommended to me by my Spirit Work mentor, because I described for them in something that I was experiencing when I was practicing mediumship. Because of this, I read it quickly and then, re-read it again.

Stavis is a horror screenwriter and a secular exorcist. She clears a range of dark forces from people of all backgrounds, including hollywood elites, athletes, and anyone who needs her help. In the book I was personally taken with her stories about seeing invisible entities as a child, but learning to ignore them because of disbelief and punishment. However, adulthood comes for us all, and Stavis had to accept and hone her gift, mostly on her own.

Through stories of the exorcisms she performs, emotions seem to be the biggest factor in what creates the possession or attachment of these negative forces. Stavis does refer to them as demons and there isn’t just one kind of demon, which she details throughout the book. Whether its a Clive, Wraith, Trickster, Collector (shudder), Furbies, Realm Walkers, Poofs, or Sandman, Stavis takes you on an underworld tour in a open, witty, and unashamed way, without seeming cocky.

The weird thing is it all makes sense when you close the book. Want to shake up your book club next month? Pick this one up and watch the conversations erupt into the paranormal.

Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World by Paul Stamets

The biggest takeaway from this book is that I NEED to get his book Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms the next time my book piggy bank is full again.

The connection Stamets has with mushrooms is what I would call divine. He doesn’t say it in the book, but the language, stories, and presentation showed me a more animistic worldview If you garden or grow food, reading this book will blow your mind when you learn everything about fungi.

A good core of the book – almost manual like – is about how mushrooms restore ecology out of balance. If you farm, forest, clean up pollution, or just like eating chanterelles, this is a near expansive mushroom-tech encyclopedia on everything fungi. Nothing in the book has not been experienced by the author, too, so the stories behind the information, the practical applications, and recommendations all come from Stamet’s lived experience, with all the scientific footnotes included. More reading, yay!

The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence Before It’s Too Late by Cory Doctorow

The cover of the book THE REVERSE CENTAUR'S GUIDE TO LIFE AFTER AI BY CORY DOCTOROW, AUTHOR OF ENSHITTIFICATION

You don’t have to be a Tech Witch to read this book. There is more to AI than most of us realize, and Doctorow breaks it down into accessible chunks for even those among us that are tech-noobs. There is some tie in back to his book Enshittification, and if you haven’t read that, I would recommend reading that first before this, because you have a better establishing view of the corporate influence all of it.

Doctorow does not provide all doom and gloom regarding AI in this book and presents some very useful ideas that can be applied to how we apply any of our energies, not just Large Model Machine Learning capabilities. If AI is frightening to you, there’s some definite hell-yeah moments that bring hope into a potentially scary future with this tech. The key he presents in the book revolves around open-source, ethically generated, low-energy models, AI might be a good partner for humanity.

However, as this book brings to light, the problem is what it always is, money. Tech companies are now what they call “growth” companies and are worth more than standard corporations. This means that Meta or Google use AI to convince investors to bring more money because they are just expanding, in other words, growing. Because billions of dollars are not enough. Which will bring an AI crash, he wrote, “Remember: the reason the ai bubble exists is that companies want to prove that they have high growth potential, in order to secure high profit to earnings rations, which will let them buy businesses and hire key employees with stock, rather than cash.”

If you, like me, have already digested a bunch of Doctorow’s work, including his podcasts and blog posts, this solidifies all he’s been saying about AI into one quickly read volume. If you’ve read nothing about Artificial Intelligence, this one has a deep focus on the money, the good, the bad, and the ugly, but also some hopeful likelihoods that we can all contribute to (like pulling any stock – e.g. retirement savings – out of anything heavily invested in AI). In the end, they will come back to humans doing things because none of it is sustainable. It is not inevitable.

Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff

THE COVER OF HUNT, GATHER, PARENT BY MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF

Why would a Crone pick up a book like this? Because there’s a grandchild in my life now and I know that how I raised my kids probably isn’t the best way, despite feeling like I did a passable job given each kid and the circumstances of the world and my own life while being a mom.

I loved that the author – a PhD and former NPR reporter investigated how the rest of the world parents their children because there weren’t enough studies that explained why Western parents raise their children so differently to the rest of the world and why we do it. What she discovered was that there is a better way and we’ve been duped into believing we’re helping our kids by doing it this way.

She visits a Mayan village in the Yucatan Peninsula, Inuit families above the Artic Circle, and Hadzabe families in Tanzania. These cultures do not have the same problems with children that we do in the West. She discovers that there is a Universal Parenting Method around the world that does not exist in the USA for certain. This parenting style is built on cooperation, not control. There is no fear, but rather trust, and the kids in these parts of the world are loyal helpers to their entire community, not just their family. There’s no bribing, chore charts (a favorite tactic I employed, ugh), and a deeply ingrained focus on emotional intelligence and being calm while teaching and instructing. There is no anxious kids in these cultures and in many others like their are here in America.

Now, there’s no “you’re doing it wrong” slung at the reader, just evidence of Doucleff’s own struggles and comparing her lived experience and need for knowledge and new tactics so that she didn’t hate being a parent – and if you’re a parent and reading this, you know there are times where it is the hardest thing ever. Regardless you have to show up. Doucleff bolsters her interviews and investigations with these far-flung cultures with information and studies from mental health professionals, psychologists, neuroscientists, anthropologists, and sociologists.

How consumerism has ruined families is pretty evident in this book, too. It scratched an itch I had about how I had been feeling about making time with my Grand Witchling more about them accompanying me in my life and learning from the everyday things I do as opposed to activities being kid-focused. She’s on Team Gigi & Pop-pop. Western parents are in a current crisis of making the child run the ship. This book redirects how being the adult helps a child’s emotional intelligence development. One of the things I was always cognizant of in my own parenting experience is that I wasn’t raising children, I was raising adults, and the autonomy tips in this book lean that way as well. Autonomy is different than independence or individualism and is something the rest of the world understands in its parenting, but western parents could learn lots from just this point in the book. In the end, parents set the schedule and tone and only interfere when safety is an issue or to teach cultural values.

Ask yourself if you’re a U.S. parent – what cultural values are you teaching your kids beyond consumerism? If you are teaching them helpfulness, teamwork, and ways to explore without entitlement, you’re ahead of this book. But if you are constantly giving verbal instructions, your kids and you are stressed out. Learning to ask questions instead of giving commands is a big part of this book – The questions are not to give the kid a choice – that stresses the kid out often, too. But those questions are to make them think about what their actions do in the context of the rest of the world, e.g. consideration of others (including parents).

My only issue with this book is there is some lines of questioning the author suggests that border on shaming a child. Again, I think if you apply being calm and peaceful and never raising your voice, they can come off a bit more introspective for the kid, but I would caution any parent or grandparent about this part.

Yet the good of the book outweighed some of the questionable and I’d hand this book out to any new parent or parent-to-be. And of course, I’d give to grandparents, too.

What The Witch Is Reading – July 2026

Posted on July 21, 2026July 21, 2026 by runa

A TBR pile that is a personal apprenticeship

This section of my blog is dedicated to spreading the love of reading and books and the people who make them happen. I would not be the Witch I am today without books. I owe an obscene amount of gratitude to all the makers of books out there. This is my way of giving back. I hope that something I pick up and review will guide you to acquire the next tome on your To Be Read stack.

Life here #OnTheCovenstead is warm, alive, and productive. I also noticed that the last high growing season my book intake dipped. Yet the quality of what time I do have for reading feels more intentional. Even the way I process a text seems to change in-season. When I’m out tending the Land there is a more natural space for thought, and if a book is in my hands, it tends to remain active in my mind.

This particular volume fits within my ongoing personal apprenticeship in mediumship. I’m interested not only in mediumship as a practice, but in the people who do it, their temperaments, their modes of perception, how they receive or deliver what they describe, and how all of that evolves as personal practice deepens. Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing more titles as part of my series of posts for WTWIR, but this book is not the beginning of that thread. Fear not, there are other subjects and genres in the upcoming TBR pile, to include parenting, tech-world current events, and, of course, fiction.

You may remember that in November 2025 I reviewed two books centered on those who speak with beloved dead and those who navigate “the other side.” At the time, I didn’t fully understand why those narratives kept pulling me in. I’m realizing now that my interest is less random than it looks. Despite having rarely encountered medium-focused work in my everyday life, I can see how my own history – being a “spooky kid,” (the kind who spoke to presences that others couldn’t see) has always left me oriented toward Spirit. It now feels clearer that I wasn’t only curious; I was being led toward information, teachers, and models that could support my own development.

I took more time with this one than usual because I was also answering questions I’d been carrying personally. And while this review is offered from my lived experience of inquiry, it’s still written for the prospective reader. I want you to approach the text knowing why it mattered to me and what kind of questions it may help you explore as well. Again, please know that mediumship won’t be the only territory we’ll travel within What The Witch Is Reading. There will be other topics and reading directions ahead in future.

What the Dead Taught Me About Living Well by Rebecca Rosen

Based on the many years of Rosen’s career as a medium, the book is part spiritual memoir and part practical life guidance (like how the dead help her navigate hired help who were stealing from her). Through a series of reflections attributed to “spirits” and her own experiences, especially around mortality, meditation, and “glimpses at the Other Side,” Rosen argues that living well is less bout achieving perfection and more about returning to compassion, trust, and self-worth.

A central message begins early: spirits view the living with kindness for what life demands, and they urge readers to stop pursuing perfection. Rosen connects this idea to a broader reframing of life goals: before each person is born, she suggests, we set ambitious plans, then we’re simply not meant to complete everything. This them becomes an actionable spiritual practice. Instead of striving endlessly, Rosen encourages surrendering the “do it all” impulse and trusting that your “Team Spirit” support system helps bring balance in “divine timing.” The emphasis is not on passivity, but on replacing frantic overreach with grounded affirmation: “Today I did my best, and I’ve done enough.”

Even the short gratitude statement, “I have a body; I am a soul. I am grateful to be alive,” reinforces her view that well-being starts with relationship – gratitude for life and a steadiness within it.

She blends emotional and spiritual self-understanding with health and behavior. She frames addictive or compulsive patterns, food, shopping, technology, drugs, entertainment, sex, excessive exercise, and overworking as signs of being disconnected form one’s power. In her view, when people repeatedly encounter the same difficulties or feel stuck in relationships or circumstances that leave them “Sacrificing, settling, or accepting less than (they are) worth,” that pattern can reflect an ongoing loss of personal power.

She goes further by linking emotional powerlessness to physical manifestations, suggesting health issues may mirror an inner state of disconnection ala pain, depression, or disease. This is one of the book’s more provocative through-lines. For Rosen, spiritual clarity can be felt not only in thoughts and choices, but in the body.

To support that shift, the author offers introspective questions that operate like a guided audit of the mind, body, and spirit. She asks the reader what a given event is trying to teach them, whether it’s connected to worth or self-value, or if the person is ‘playing small’ or giving power away. If the answer is yes, her remedy is to move from ‘less than’ to ‘worthmore.’ She discusses a fear barrier to power, providing exercises to ask your younger self who taught them they weren’t powerful or deserving and whether anyone taught them their needs should always come second.

The book pairs this with affirmations designed to rewire the felt sense of safety around strength (“I am innate and powerful…). Her writing repeatedly returns to practices that make power feel embodied, such as doing what makes one feel “strong, vibrant,” and physically powerful (e.g. yoga, walks, clean eating). In this way, the book’s spirituality is meant to be lived in everyday habits, not just believed in.

The theme of abundance expands the same philosophy into money and receiving. Rosen frames abundance as something practiced and protected by releasing fear of not having enough, separating past financial narratives from present reality, and letting go of inherited limiting beliefs – including multiple “I release” affirmations to try. She emphasizes that self-worth isn’t defined by a bank account, but also comes with responsibility and generosity, especially where spiritual talents are concerned.

Underlying many chapters in the book, Rosen argues for connection rather than isolation. While she acknowledges that humans come into the world alone and leave it alone, she says Spirit and spirits repeatedly show her that people are connected to something larger than themselves – communities, species, and “an unseen force of bright, limitless love,” which can be named in many ways (Universe, Divine, gods or goddesses, higher consciousness).

For me the book’s spiritual comfort is both relational and immediate: you’re not stranded, but rather supported. Rosen sums this tone up in grounded, daily guidance, “You are your own energy source, so take steps daily to recharge, which brings the book back from cosmic reassurance to practical emotional maintenance.

What ultimately makes What the Dead Taught Me About Living Well compelling is how Rosen ties her metaphysical ideas to simple daily reframes, like stop demanding perfection, return to gratitude, be in the now, and live from worth rather than fear (that last one I may have tattooed on my arm 😉 ).

She uses spiritual language not as decoration, but a living spell for the reader to use to trust the balance of your inner guides (what she refers to as Team Spirit), to return to a life of appreciation and thankfulness as a kind of offering, grounding the spirit in reverence, and to finally reclaim your personal power that fear has been stealing. In her telling, worth isn’t an idea you chase. It’s a doorway you walk through, until you live from “worthmore” instead of the dull pull of scarcity and shame.

Like any good magical book it invites you to practice, to shift energy, and to remember – again and again – that you are held, guided and connected by Spirit and spirits.

What The Witch Is Reading — June 2026

Posted on June 25, 2026 by runa

It’s that time of year when my reading tends to be seed packets and permaculture reference books. It’s high growing season. I’ve also been catching up on my podcasts. Here’s a few that I listen to with consistency if you’re curious:

Throughline (an NPR podcast)

Bonfire Babble Podcast

A Magical World with Sterling (Moon)

Food Matters Live Podcast

The Witch Wave

And the latest and juicy one: Chaos and Cunning

Always looking for recommendations for others, so comment if you have one you think I might like!

The one book I did finish was a small one, Witch Wisdom for Magical Aging: Finding Your Power through the Changing Seasons by Cait Johnson. Honestly, I feel like I am (and have been) living much like the four witch characters that speak to the reader throughout this quick book (just 164 pages). In the end, there wasn’t much in the book for me personally – like there was not any new information on the Craft and living as a Witch. But then, again, clearly I’m not the audience. However a newer Witch who is in mid-life and just now starting to think about what their Crone years might bring could potentially benefit from this book. I almost think that Johnson would have had more luck turning this into some kind of fictional work with the four season witches being in a coven and teaching mishap laden newbies.

My friend also listened to the book on audio and said the narrator (Carolina Lendro) didn’t know proper pronunciation of words like Samhain, and referring to Romani as gypsy, and other problematic things like that. There also was some inching very close to co-option behaviors, they said. I can see where that likely happened in the text version and if I liked the book more, I might give it a listen to see, but I have other books to finish first.

There was an interesting section on sex and the Crone in Witch Wisdom for Magical Aging, and good practical advice on de-cluttering. Again, Felt like there wasn’t any real revelation for a long-time practitioner, but likely would be revelatory for new Practitioners. This one, I’m afraid, is headed to the free library.

Hope you’re enjoying summer. I’m working through three or four other titles right now and hope to have them to you next month. Enjoy the rest of Cancer season, readers and I look forward to your recs for reading or podcasts.

Animals on the Covenstead: White-Crowned Sparrow

Posted on June 12, 2026 by runa

A white-crowned sparrow (aka Fanny) perches on a pitcher-plant flower pot. (Photo by Runa Troy)

I spend a lot of time with animals. As a Witch that identifies as an animist, my relationship with the Land includes animals. It is an important aspect in my life, as it builds so much joy, which fuels hope, and therefore resilience. Resilience breeds strength in my experience. The world needs strong witches right now, so – animal relationships breed strong witches. They also are often vehicles of messages and or lessons from the Universe.

Some folx find it fascinating how creatures just appear when I’m about. My partner comments often about how I see the creatures faster than anyone they know. I’m no Snow White, but Villa Westwyk is home to not just tended creatures but many a wild animal, too. I wanted to share a new-ish relationship that’s sprouted this spring as our gardens begin to mature and the animal kingdom takes notice.

Today’s focus is Fanny, a white-crowned sparrow that moved into my Black Madonna garden – a garden that came about after some powerful dreams and a calling from the Creator Mother. I am calling her Fanny, because that was whispered in my ear as I wondered what to call her when I was communicating with her. But no doubt also Fanny because she often is sassy and shakes her tail feathers at me. Lastly in 2026 is the year of ‘F’ for naming animals here on our Covenstead. It’s an old farmer’s tradition to keep track of how old your animals are – first year of raising, say chickens, = A; 2nd year = b…and so on. I’m currently making a list for ‘G’ names for 2027’s new animals. hehe.

Fanny perches on the pea-garden trellis. We originally put this one in with it’s broken end as a perch for hummingbirds. Fanny had other ideas. (photo by Runa Troy)

Fanny showed up this year about the Spring equinox. She’s made a nest in the northern most dwarf tree in the Black Madonna Garden. Without delay they had a brood (I heard them chirping today), clamoring for ‘Freddie,’ Fanny’s partner, to feed them, since the males do most of the ‘cooking’ in the white-crowned sparrow kingdom. – oh, how I’d love to get a picture of their nest, but the conifer they are nesting in is THICK with branches and needles, and disturbing it is not my mission, but rather their success.

Freddie’s song is so sweet to hear and dominates over Fanny’s softer song, and near incessant-chatter whilst she forages. You can always find where they are singing from because they perch up high so the whole Covenstead and beyond can hear. They are a delight to watch while I sit on my patio and look at Komo Kulshan or plan the next garden. Fanny, particularly is fearless and wants to know why I’m on her patio!

Although white-crowned sparrows are mostly insect-eaters (according to my Sibley book), Fanny and Freddie have been gorging themselves and bringing up their new chicks with the leaves of my jungle of pea beds. They prefer a well-rounded diet, clearly, and must get their greens. As long as they leave the flowers to turn into pea pods, we’ll continue to co-exist. Also, I can always plant more peas.

Another interesting thing about this pair is supposedly they are not supposed to be breeding this time of year in our area. In fact the only time they are in our area according to most of the major ‘birding’ organizations (Cornell, Audubon, Nat Geo), they would be between breeding and migration times. But here they are.

As that animist Witch, I know that nature is constantly teaching me, exchanging energy with me. Also, I recognize the Universe uses its residents to provide signs and messages to the rest of us. I think Fanny and her crew are here to teach me, to co-exist with me and the other humans and animals on the Covenstead. It’s easy knowing what lesson they bring to me. It’s a message about uniqueness, diversity, and finding home in unlikely places. Fanny knows and shows that just because someone else says that you should be here or there, or do this or that, doesn’t mean that’s what works for you. You and your kin can sing loud and proud from the highest greenhouse and beyond. You can raise your babies in a gothic garden and help from unlikely sources may just go ahead and move a bird waterer closer to your nest. 🪺⛲

Hope you’ll spend summer singing from the roof tops, eating your greens, and being happy, healthy, and surrounded by love and kin. More photos below for the curious.

Evidence of Fanny & Freddie’s work on the pea trellis. (Photo by Runa Troy)

Hope you enjoyed this little taste of life of the Covenstead. Creating a place where wildlife feels welcome is certainly a part of our grand master plan here at Villa Westwyk. This may or may not become a regular feature – I certainly could entertain it monthly. Let me know if you like stories like this and how you think nature gives you little glimpses into your higher self or nudges you down your path.

Caught with pea-leaves in her mouth. (Photo by Runa Troy)

The Black Madonna Garden, dedicated to the Great Mother and my Slavic ancestors. The garden hosts black flowers and leaves per a dream I had years ago (It’s still a work in progress). The tree on the right is where the white-crown sparrow’s nest is. It’s a high-pedestrian-traffic area, but they don’t seem to mind. (Photo by Runa Troy)

A rare capture of “Freddie” since he’s mostly a stay-at-home Dad. (Photo by Runa Troy)

Pagan on Duty: Dog Tags, DEI, and Change

Posted on June 11, 2026 by runa

**The author, military journalist, Germany, 1993.**

When I joined the Army in 1992, my first introduction to military life was my drill instructor’s “we all wear green” speech. He was a Black man, a Vietnam veteran—sergeant first class—and the recruits looked up to him immediately. His desire for respectful interaction was surprising to us recruits who were expecting something a bit more comparative. Right from the get-go he was teaching us how to treat one another. Anti‑racism was clear from day one, the opposite of the stereotype Full Metal Jacket portrays.

Inclusivity wasn’t limited to my DI. At the time my training unit was one of the last all‑female battalions; an all‑male battalion trained in the adjacent quad. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was already rumbling and would become official policy months later, but the atmosphere felt, imperfect as it was, like a move toward a more equitable military. My lead DI was quietly authoritative, steadfast, and committed to intersectional inclusion. Near the end of training he told us that without women the military would be “much less than it is.” Current administrative rules about what can go on dog tags make the military less than it should be as well.

He stood up for me later in training when another DI teased me about my name. I learned he was pagan when we got our dog tags and discovered there wasn’t an officially recognized faith code for his beliefs. Dog tags indicate a service member’s faith so that traditions—like last rites—are honored. He listed “Catholic” on his tags because the imagery felt closest to his beliefs. I chose “Other.” One squadmate who was Wiccan chose “No Religious Preference.”

On Sundays, those listed as “Other” or “No Preference” often stayed in the barracks for chores—boot polishing, uniform pressing, barracks cleanup—while others attended religious services. Sometimes I went along just to get out of the barracks. It felt unfair that, because Fort Jackson lacked services for “Others,” we were assigned work while Christians received time off.

At my first duty station, friends in Personnel Services made me a contraband pair of dog tags. I remember feeling emotional when my buddy gave them to me: in all caps under my name, social, and blood type read “PAGAN.” I wore them proudly. Leadership knew, and—like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell—didn’t make an issue of it. During my service, internal rank‑and‑file pressure, command surveys, and soldiers’ time were used to push against outdated policies restricting faith codes and non‑traditional partnership recognition. Minority religions were present across the force in my experience: another pagan practitioner was involved in family readiness programs, heathens performed blóts, and Wiccans held initiation circles.

**The author, assigned with UNPROFOR, the Balkans, June 1995**

In 2001, Veterans Affairs adopted a new procedure and approved the addition of emblems of belief for other faith groups for military headstones, much by the hard work of Circle Sanctuary, a non-profit nature Spirituality Church, also known as their Pentacle Quest. I would end my active enlistment time right about when it became official for Pagan and Earth-centered traditions to be an official religious preference on dog tags and service records (circa 2007). Between more women serving side by side with men, the inclusion of openly serving queer community members, and more faiths being recognized, it seemed like the Department of Defense was maturing and becoming a place of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Oh, right, DEI was part of our annual training, too.

Two decades after that adoption, servicemembers may again be forced to choose “Other” or “No Preference” because the inclusive coding system that guides chaplains and caregivers has been narrowed. That matters: chaplains are often the frontline support for faith practices, including in combat. The current U.S. Secretary of Defense used this policy change to roll back equity and equality, reflecting a broader push toward privileging one religion over others.

Civil‑rights and advocacy groups are challenging the policy. American Atheists filed a FOIA request, and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is speaking out. Lawmakers, including the co‑chairs of the Congressional Freethought Caucus and a coalition of Utah legislators, have applied pressure and demanded answers.

You have a voice: contact your senators to urge them to require the Pentagon to recognize all belief systems (Paganism, Humanism, Atheism, etc.)—for example, by inserting a provision in the next National Defense Authorization Act or attaching a funding rider to defense appropriations to prevent enforcement of the restrictive system.

My rebellious dog tags spent decades as just dog tags—no rebellion needed—until now. Stored in my footlocker at Villa Westwyk, they remain a symbol of resistance and proof that change is possible and worth protecting.

**The author, military journalist, Zaku, Iraq, Spring 1994**

What the Witch Is Reading — May 2026

Posted on May 28, 2026 by runa

This month has been busy with spirit-work seminars, kin-keeping, garden-building, and the affects of Jupiter return energy (more on that later), so book reading time has been at a premium. Regardless, still have three titles to share with you. What have you been reading? Tell me, please in the comments!

Making It: How Love, Kindness and Community Helped Me Repair My Life

By Jay Blades

I once had a friend who told me that the one thing he appreciated about me was that I made his life look good. Yeah, it wasn’t a compliment, but I felt that sentiment while reading Making It. Gratitude. Yet, hope has seemingly always powered Mr. Blades through his life. And it gave me gratitude and hope reading this.

I also have a whole new perspective on the person many of us may have first met through the cozy show The Repair Shop. As a couple, my partner and I love treasure hunting in thrift stores, garage sales, and curb-side garbage picking. So I deeply appreciate Blades and by default also The Repair Shop for saving what was important to the last generation. To me, this feels dutiful and appreciative for the those who came before.

But like the layers of dirt and slapshod paint that Blades has removed from countless pieces of furniture, there’s more to this man than what one tv show portrays. I respect him even more having read this memoir, especially given all the bullshit he’s been through – As an American, to hear that Britain is just as bad as the United States in regards to young black men is bitter. Why did I think the UK was more progressive?

Regardless, the memoir is certainly inspiring and the call for anti-racism, expressing emotion from men, especially in interpersonal relationships, as well as de-stigmatizing mental illness and behavioral health treatment, is threaded throughout his personal story. By the last chapter, I was left with the reassurance that if you just keep trying, keep showing up, the Universe makes sure the opportunities come forward. You just have to keep trying. You can’t give up.

Well worth the read, or a listen if you’re into audio books.

Gathering Moss: A Natural & Cultural History of Mosses

By Robin Wall Kimmerer

Up front, I need to tell you that I love listening to Professor Kimmerer while working the Land. So this book was definitely an audio listen. But, like all her books, I’ll listen, and then I’ll get the book for reference for my shelves. Each essay in Gathering Moss is peppered with wisdom inspired by the author’s indigenous worldview and of different types of mosses. They break down the science into stories and that’s some of my favorite reading. Kimmerer looks at mosses in this book not just scientifically but shows us the spirit within the moss, too. The fact that a PNW university helped publish this book is just a bonus for the collective culture of the Land where I reside as well. I’m shoving this book into my insurance companies face when they say I need to remove moss from my roof. It’s a capitalistic lie. I think I’ll take an Environmental and Forest Biology professor’s word for it and not yours.

The Grief Cure: Looking for the End of Loss

By Cody Delistraty

Checked this one out of the library, because I’ve been doing a personal exploration of loss and grief, especially in the context of the culture of the United States. This book fit the bill, since the writer of this book explored an array of perspectives, actions, and events to deal with their grief, from trying to figure out if they had a disorder over their grief to trying to expand neural pathways with psychedelics. It’s clear this book was born of deep feelings. And reading it you will likely have lots of feelings about the author’s journey. I certainly did.

The author was desperate to find the end of the feelings of loss they endured after their mother’s death. All of us have endured some sort of loss that produced grief, and the author’s situation is clearly relatable. They tried therapy, talked to AI, did mushroom therapy, laughter therapy (which made him have to force laugh in a very public place), visited shamans, did bibliotherapy (which I didn’t know was a thing, but might check into it), etc. They wrote, “There is a difference, too, between closure on the one hand and memorials and rituals on the other. Memorials and rituals, I think, are healthy and helpful. It is the belief, however, that they signal the end to grief and reflection that can prove shortsighted.” As a person who has always side-eyed western funerals, this comparison between closure and grief’s end made so much sense. Portions of the book feel a bit too self-centered on the author, but moments like that kept me reading.

Much that hampered the author’s journey with the grief over the loss of his mother, is our own society. Our own hang-ups, societies dictation, or even how loss and death presented itself in our lives. They write: “What a society chooses to grieve is ultimately its way of “posing the question of who ‘we’ are,” writes the philosopher Juidth Butler. “By asking whose lives are considered valuable, whose lives are mourned, and whose lives are considered ungrievable.” Yet Delistraty concludes quickly through half of the actions, therapies, and coping mechanisms, that: “In death and grief, there may be no singular truth at all, only what we tell ourselves.”

One of the interesting things is that the author themselves recommended text within the prose about other books on death and grief we should read. This includes: Mrs. Death Misses Death by poet Salena Godden; R.K. Narayan’s The Guide, which sound like more fodder for this Scorpio Stellium’s relationship with loss and death. Like the author of this grief exploration, it’s not how grief affects us, but what we do with it. “How easy it is to be engulfed by grief, drowned in it. To retain the positive memories is to be its master. To some extent that is the great experiment of life: to not become your loss, to alchemize it into wisdom.”

Rain, Hail, & Poetry

Posted on May 16, 2026May 15, 2026 by runa

The ides of May brought glorious rain, and not so glorious cooling. But the gardens of Villa Westwyk, and Grandmother Willow* were thrilled to have a full day of rain with a near inch of accumulation. The rain also brought lots of inspiration and had me penning a poem during a small tea break. I feel pretty good about it — it’s been about a year since I’ve written any poetry beyond spells.

I struggled with whether or not to share it; but, it felt synchronistic to my intention of creating a magical life #OnTheCovenstead and to ultimately feed hungry community members with the food that I grow and the energy exchanges I do through my Creative Crone Shop. If nature inspires some creative work, it feels appropriate to share, especially since I’m approaching my Jupiter return. No better time to share my knowledge and perspective.

So enjoy the poem, and maybe go put your bare feet on the Earth while you read it.

Liminal Hail & Farewell

By Runa Troy

Spring messages us by drenching rain

One of the last long soaks

Before the Covenstead hardens

Into the dry language of summer.

It reveals like an opening night.

Spring, soft-voiced, reluctant, yet determined

Gathering her mystical tools to depart, whilst

Summer showcased by spotlight, adorned in sunflowers

Hail striking the roof mid-sentence

Be prepared, Spring cackles;

My pelting sets the stage, instructs the flyman

The curtain rises, the wheel turns

The plants lift themselves like a choir,

Green mouths open in hallelujah.

Delightfully fluttering ducks

Raise cheers in the nearby pond

I sit grateful, cozy indoors,

Soft light, watching, listening,

Understanding its language

Knowing its secrets

*I’ll write more about her in a couple of days