Llewellyn’s 2026 witches’ Companion
community • connection • belonging
Featuring
Alaric Albertsson, Rahjeena Drabarni, Monica Crosson, Gwion Raven, Barbara Ardinger, Cerridwen Iris Shea, Patti Wigington, Melissa Tipton, Kerri Connor, A.C. Fisher Aldag, Ari & Jason Mankey, Lupa, Elizabeth Barrette, Michelle Skye, Phoenix LeFae, Jen Sankey, Susan Pesznecker, Brandon Weston, Pamela Chen, Melanie Marquis, James Kambos, Nathan M. Hall, Deborah Castellano, Najah Lightfoot, Sapphire Moonbeam, Autumn Damiana
Llewellyn Publications | Woodbury, Minnesota
Llewellyn’s 2026 Witches’ Companion Copyright © 2025 by Llewellyn Publications. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Worldwide, Ltd., except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner for the purpose of training artificial intelligence technologies or systems.
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Art direction and design: Shira Atakpu
Cover art © Sveta Dorosheva, © Brittany Keller, © Angela Rizza, © Selcha Uni, © Arthur Wang
Interior illustrations:
Sveta Dorosheva: 67, 68, 78, 90, 101, 110, 121, 131
Brittany Keller and Arthur Wang: 1, 2, 11, 26, 35, 47, 58
Angela Rizza: 137, 138, 148, 156, 169, 178, 187, 198, 253
Selcha Uni: 209, 210, 217, 224, 233, 238, 243
ISBN 978-0-7387-7530-2
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Contents
Magical Ideas
The Ethics of Divination by Alaric Albertsson 2
Magick Demystified: Spilling the Tea for Spellcasting Success by Rahjeena Drabarni 11
Witchcraft & Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly by Monica Crosson 26
The Heresy of Being a Do-Nothing Witch by Gwion Raven 35
Let’s Use Tarot-Numerology to Help Us Make Better Decisions by Barbara Ardinger, PhD 47
A New Type of Solitary: Ideas for Building a Personal Practice by Cerridwen Iris Shea 58
Magical Action
Crafting Community & Connection: Planning a Public Pagan Event by Patti Wigington 68
Manifest with the Four Hallows: Enhance Self-Awareness and Empower Your Magic by Melissa Tipton 78
Building a Pagan Community by Kerri Connor 90
Jumping the Stile: How to Work with the Liminal by A.C. Fisher Aldag 101
Forming a Witchcraft Coven, Circle, or Group by Ari & Jason Mankey 110
Non-extractive Nature Spirituality: Tips for Sustainable Foraging by Lupa 121
Weather Magic: Creative Techniques for Our Changing Climate by Elizabeth Barrette 131
Practical Magic
Everyday Rituals: Embrace Your Magical Power in Each Moment by Michelle Skye 138
Abundance Magick: How to Manifest Your Dreams by Phoenix LeFae 148
Gemstone Gateway: Using Crystals to Supercharge Your Spellwork by Jen Sankey 156
The Everyday Witch: Celebrate the Sacred in Each Moment by Susan Pesznecker 169
Finding and Using the Power Places of Nature by Brandon Weston 178
Wealthy Witch Magick: Seven Days to Greater Prosperity and Good Fortune by Pamela Chen 187
Pictograph Magick: Create Images to Manifest Your Wishes by Melanie Marquis 198
Healing Magic
Magic in Your Darkest Hour by James Kambos 210
Hearth Magick for Healing, Abundance & Protection by Nathan M. Hall 217
Shadow Work for Glamour Magic by Deborah Castellano 224
Connect to Your Imagination, Intuition, and Inner Knowing by Najah Lightfoot 233
Earth Magick for Grounding and Inner Peace by Sapphire Moonbeam 238
Magical Shadow Work by Autumn Damiana 243
Calendars & Moons
Monthly Calendars for 2026 254
2026 New and Full Moons 278
MAGICAL Ideas
The Ethics of Divination
ALARIC ALBERTSSON
The ideas in this article were initially presented as a chapter in my book Fortune in Your Hands: A Witch’s Guide to Playing Card Divination and Magic. The chapter was almost an afterthought. My book is intended to help the reader master what has largely become a lost art: the use of playing cards to foretell future patterns and potential events. As I began working on the book, however, I felt a growing need to include a chapter on ethics.
When we think of ethics, we tend to think of “right” and “wrong.” And from there, we are led to the obvious but false conclusion that good people make the right decisions and malevolent people make wrong
decisions. I have no interest in discussing ethics with people who would intentionally use divination as a tool to cause harm or manipulate others. Fortunately, people like that are relatively rare. The majority of readers— whether using cards or runes or the Olympian oracle—try to use their talent in a positive, helpful way.
But wrong decisions are not the exclusive province of malevolent people. Very good people can easily make wrong decisions if they are not mindful of their words and actions.
When interpreting cards, or runes, or any other set of symbols for someone else, the reader looks beyond the ordinary, exterior mask that the other person presents to the world. There is an intimate aspect to divination. For this reason, it is important to set boundaries for your own protection and that of the person you are reading for. Readers who ignore the ethics of divination are very likely to make enemies and develop a bad reputation.
You should never read for someone else without that person’s consent. Bear in mind that reading for someone is not the same as reading about someone. You will be looking at other people even if you never give a reading for anyone but yourself. If the Five of Hearts and the Seven of Spades suggest a new romantic relationship in your future, somebody else is obviously going to be involved! Whatever divinatory tool you use—whether you use Tarot or playing cards for sortilege, whether you scry into a flame or a crystal orb—some of your visions will include other people in your life.
To hone their skills, witches will often draw cards or runes for other people who are not present. This is an excellent way to master any form of sortilege (drawing lots), as the symbols can have vastly different interpretations depending on the other person’s sex, age, marital status, and so on. But you will not necessarily have a crowd of people wanting a reading from you, and even if you did, you probably will not feel comfortable reading for others when first learning a
new method. Since practice is your goal, there is no need to have these other people present. But readers who do this are ethically bound not to share anything seen in the cards with others. The reading is solely for your own practice, and must remain so. In the same way, if you are reading for yourself and the cards indicate that your boyfriend is thinking about breaking up, you cannot tell him what you have seen. You can keep an eye on him and perhaps even have an indirect talk about where your relationship is going, but you cannot indicate that your suspicions came from a card reading.
Now when I say “you cannot,” I obviously mean you should not. You can tell your boyfriend whatever you want, but it is not going to go well if your accusations are based on a card reading. People who know anything about divination will understand that you might pick up something about them, but nobody wants to think that you are spying on them. Furthermore, even if there is nothing unpleasant about what you see in the cards, not everyone wants to know what the future holds. Some people find it very uncomfortable, while other object for religious reasons.
Consider What You Say
Some years ago, I had the honor of facilitating a wedding for a young couple. It was a lovely summer wedding. Not long after the wedding, a distraught Tarot reader contacted the bride and told her that her marriage was not going to last. It would end disastrously. As you might expect, the young woman was more than a little upset by this pronouncement. Of course, it was wrong for the Tarot reader to say this to her without first having her consent to give a reading, but that was just the tip of the ethics iceberg. I am sad to say that the marriage did not work out. It ended in betrayal and abuse by both parties. And to this day I have to wonder, how much did that prediction contribute to the outcome?
Even if you do have consent to do a reading, it is terribly important to consider everything you say. When you are reading for someone else, you are looking at where they are at that precise moment in time. Anything happening in that moment can influence your querent’s future. There is a world of difference between saying “your marriage is doomed” and saying “you may be facing some marital challenges in the near future.” The first example implies an unalterable future. The second example simply suggests possible future influences.
How do you think the new bride felt toward the Tarot reader who told her that her marriage was going to come to a disastrous end? Before this occurred, the two women had been friends. Afterward, the young woman never felt the same way about the Tarot reader. The reader damaged her own reputation and ruined their friendship.
Words Have Power
Words have power. It is your responsibility, when giving a reading, to avoid manipulating the querent in any way. Every one of us has a personal agenda; there are things and events that please us and other things that we do not care for. Here, the ancient Delphic teaching to “know thyself” is crucial for every reader. Ethical readers are mindful of their own agendas, and take care not to let these influence their readings. Your goal as a reader is to help your querents; it is not your place to manipulate them.
I once listened as a reader interpreted cards for someone whom he was obviously physically attracted to. According to this reader, the two of them had been lovers in a former life. It was easy to see what was happening. The reader was interested in kindling a romance and was insinuating that a romantic relationship had already existed. I do believe in reincarnation, but a story like this should immediately raise a red flag. And that is exactly how the querent reacted. The reader
accomplished nothing except to tarnish his own reputation. Even if the ploy had worked, it would have been an extreme breach of ethics.
Regardless of your intentions, you should avoid shaping the querent’s future to the best of your ability. This is obviously not an issue when reading cards for yourself, but good, conscientious readers are always mindful that their words can influence a querent’s decisions and actions.
The Margin of Error
Because of the inevitable margin of error inherent in divination, it is important not to make absolute assertions when giving a reading. I do not care how talented you are, sometimes your predictions will be completely wrong. Maybe you interpreted the cards or runes incorrectly. For one reason or another, sometimes the things you see just do not happen the way you predicted. The primary reason why you should never make absolute statements suggesting an unalterable destiny is because that is not how the universe works. Maybe the querent will change behaviors and actions after the reading, leading to a different outcome. The future is constantly unfolding from the present, shaped by our actions and decisions. You can never know for certain what will happen in the future. In all forms of divination, you are seeing probabilities, not definite, absolute results.
The margin of error is actually a very good thing. If you do see something like challenges to your querent’s marriage, the querent can take steps to successfully overcome those challenges. A failed relationship is not a foregone conclusion. If we had no influence over our own destiny, there would be no point in practicing divination at all. It would be pure voyeurism.
Speaking in absolutes during a reading, as if destiny cannot be changed, can actually sabotage your querent no matter what you see in the reading. We have already seen how the young bride’s marriage may
have been sabotaged in part by the Tarot reader. Her marriage might have failed anyway, but being told that it was going to fail certainly did not help. But what if a similar thing had taken place with a more fortunate prediction? Imagine that the reader had told this same woman that she would be receiving a big career promotion. The woman might have taken for granted that this would happen and not put in the effort required to actually take her career in the direction she desired. There is a big difference between saying “you are going to get a promotion” and saying “I see some very positive influences concerning your career.”
An ethical reader always ensures that querents understand they have control over their own destiny.
Of course, if you read for other people, there will be times when you see what looks like a crisis. I do not know what the Tarot reader saw that foretold of a failed marriage, but let us imagine an equally disastrous reading using playing cards for divination. For our example, let us imagine that the querent is a married woman. The layout I am using has specific meanings for each position that a card falls in. The Four of Clubs comes up, telling me that the querent is oblivious to what is happening around her. The Six of Spades falls in the position signifying the querent’s partnerships. This suggests a depletion of energy in that arena,
An ethical reader always ensures that querents understand they have control over their own destiny.
probably in reference to her marriage. Next to this card falls the Queen of Diamonds, a woman with an agenda. The position of this card suggests that this woman has a significant place in the life of the querent’s husband.
Superficially, it looks like the husband is seeing another woman who fulfills whatever it is that he is missing in his marriage. I am not going to say that to the querent, though, at least not in those words. First, there is the inevitable margin of error. Maybe I have interpreted the cards wrong. Second, expressing a prediction this way could become a self-fulfilling prophecy, leading the querent to take actions that ultimately destroy a salvageable marriage. And third, however dire the reading might seem, my querent has the right to shape her own destiny, or at least to make the attempt. The future is never set in stone until it flows into the past.
Instead, I would suggest to the querent that she be mindful of her marriage and perhaps talk with her husband about how to spice things up a little. I would probably go so far as to say that I see “a woman” in her husband’s life, and that this woman should be herself. Do you see how this empowers my querent in a way that an absolute prediction does not? Expressing what is seen in a reading as influences rather than as destiny allows that person to have some control over the situation.
It is equally important that you not lie to the querent and pretend that all is well when the reading clearly reveals something else. If you are reading for others, those people have put their trust in you. It is unethical to betray that trust, even if you are doing it to spare the querent’s feelings. By following the above guidelines, your querents will still be empowered to take charge of their future, even when your readings are not all rainbows and butterflies.
I said that your querents will put their trust in you, but this is not always the case. Occasionally you will be approached by a skeptic who either views divination as a joke or intends to disprove your ability.
You are under no obligation to read for people like this. If you choose to do so, however, you should follow the same ethical guidelines that you would when reading for a legitimate querent.
There are other reasons, too, why you might not want to read for someone. The other person may simply give you an uncomfortable feeling, even if it is nothing that you can identify. Again, you are never obligated to give a reading to anybody. I have told people that the cards or runes, depending on what I was using, were not revealing anything to me. And more often than not, when I did this, it really was true— the reading just seemed to be a confused mess. But even when it was not true, and I was in a position where I did not want to share what I was seeing for some other reason, I was not giving the potential querent false or manipulative information about the future. I was simply not sharing information at all.
Of course, you cannot take money from someone for a reading and then not give them one, even if the money is for a charity benefit rather than for personal gain.
You are never obligated to give a reading to anybody. I have told people that the cards or runes, depending on what I was using, were not revealing anything to me. And more often than not, when I did this, it really was true—the reading just seemed to be a confused mess.
In a situation like this, you must return any gratuity when you decline to give a reading.
Finally, it should go without saying that you should never ever offer to help the querent change the future in any way. As a reader, you are an observer. In our personal lives, witches do not just observe our future; we create it. But this is something I advise doing only for yourself or for someone you are very close to, like a family member. I would not recommend offering this kind of help to your querent. Anti-divination ordinances were originally enacted because of criminals posing as readers who then “helped” their clients avoid some unfortunate fate. The help almost inevitably had the collateral effect of relieving the client of a substantial sum of cash. By offering to cast spells for anyone other than close friends and family, you could be perceived as someone connected with that kind of activity, even if that was not at all your intention.
As a final word, I urge you to apply these same ethical considerations whenever reading for yourself. Treat yourself with kindness, and be mindful that divination does not dictate what the future will be. Divination reveals what the future can be, but you have the power to reweave your destiny.
Alaric Albertsson (Iowa) is the author of several books on magic and spirituality, including A Handbook of Saxon Sorcery and Magic and To Walk a Pagan Path. He has served as vice president and was on the board of directors of the Heartland Spiritual Alliance, and has served as the Anglo-Saxon Vice Chieftain for Ár nDraíocht Féin’s Germanic kin, Eldr ok Iss.
Albertsson first embraced polytheism in the summer of 1971. At that time, he was introduced to the folk tradition of spellcasting and divination with playing cards. Over the past five decades, Albertsson’s personal spiritual practice has developed as a synthesis of Anglo-Saxon tradition, folk magic, herbal studies, and rune lore.
Illustrators: Brittany Keller and Arthur Wang
Yule Winter Solstice/ Sun enters Capricorn
New Moon Full Moon
Christmas Eve
Hanukkah begins at sundown
New Year’s Eve
Christmas Day
Hanukkah ends
Kwanzaa begins (ends Jan. 1)
2026 New and Full Moons
# Full Moon, 13 d 02, January 3, 5:03 a.m. EST
) New Moon, 28 j 44, January 18, 2:52 p.m. EST
# Full Moon, 13 e 04, February 1, 5:09 p.m. EST
) New Moon/Solar Eclipse, 28 k 50, February 17, 7:01 a.m. EST
# Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse, 12 f 54, March 3, 6:38 a.m. EST
) New Moon, 28 l 27, March 18, 9:23 p.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 12 g 21, April 1, 10:12 p.m. EDT
) New Moon, 27 a 29, April 17, 7:52 a.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 11 h 21, May 1, 1:23 p.m. EDT
) New Moon, 25 b 58, May 16, 4:01 p.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 9 i 56, May 31, 4:45 a.m. EDT
) New Moon, 24 c 03, June 14, 10:54 p.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 8 j 15, June 29, 7:57 p.m. EDT
) New Moon, 21 d 59, July 14, 5:44 a.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 6 k 30, July 29, 10:36 a.m. EDT
) New Moon/Solar Eclipse, 20 e 02, August 12, 1:37 p.m. EDT
# Full Moon/Lunar Eclipse, 4 l 54, August 28, 12:18 a.m. EDT
) New Moon, 18 f 26, September 10, 11:27 p.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 3 a 37, September 26, 12:49 p.m. EDT
) New Moon, 17 g 22, October 10, 11:50 a.m. EDT
# Full Moon, 2 b 46, October 26, 12:12 a.m. EDT
) New Moon, 16 h 53, November 9, 2:02 a.m. EST
# Full Moon, 2 c 20, November 24, 9:53 a.m. EST
) New Moon, 16 i 57, December 8, 7:52 p.m. EST
# Full Moon, 2 d 14, December 23, 8:28 p.m. EST
Supercharge Your Craft
Boost your practice with this inspirational collection of magical perspectives written by leading-edge voices in the Witchcraft and Pagan communities.
Twenty-seven prominent Craft practitioners share thought-provoking insight and hands-on practices that foster community, spiritual development, and abundance. From Alaric Albertsson and James Kambos to Phoenix LeFae and Ari and Jason Mankey, these contributors explore a variety of topics:
Divination Ethics Planning a Public Pagan Event Pictograph Magick
Magical Shadow Work Witchcraft and Social Media
Supercharge Spellwork with Crystals Wealthy Witch Magick
How to Work with the Liminal Nature’s Power Places
Tarot-Numerology for Better Decision-Making
This year’s edition includes spells, rituals, projects, and advice from popular Witch and Pagan writers:
A.C. Fisher Aldag Barbara Ardinger, PhD Elizabeth Barrette
Deborah Castellano Pamela Chen Kerri Connor Monica Crosson
Autumn Damiana Rahjeena Drabarni Nathan M. Hall Najah Lightfoot
Lupa Melanie Marquis Sapphire Moonbeam Susan Pesznecker
Gwion Raven Jen Sankey Cerridwen Iris Shea Michelle Skye
Melissa Tipton Brandon Weston Patti Wigington
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