When I shop at my local pagan store, Asheville Raven & Crone, I don’t always know what I’m looking for. Sometimes I wait for something to “call” to me, especially when it comes to books. I trust my intuition and it never lets me down.

Such is the case with Kerri Connor’s Spells For Tough Times. I just knew I had to have it, and it didn’t disappoint. The subtitle of the book is “Crafting Hope When Faced With Life’s Thorniest Challenges” and it sounded like the perfect book to buy during the pandemic.

Connor is a practitioner of The Craft for over 25 years and is the High Priestess of The Gathering Grove. This is not your Instagram “love and light” kind of magic. It’s practical, down to earth, and comes from someone who clearly understands the nature of suffering and our need to reclaim our power in the midst of it.

In the introduction, Connor writes “Through some of the biggest challenges in life, I never thought to include Her or Him in them. I never thought to use my magic in a way that would truly help me. I realized that by only dealing with these problems in the mundane world, I was missing out. I was limiting the spirituality and magic in my life at the times when I needed them the most.” Spot on! It’s a valuable lesson for all of us to learn. Magic has always been about more than love and money. It empowers us and gives us hope when we find ourselves in the darkest of times.

Connor’s book is organized into eleven areas of spells that pretty much cover everything from home and family to legal problems and death. The ingredient list for each spell is simple and practical. Each spell also contains lots of practical introductory advice regarding whatever issue you’re dealing with.

I love the spells she’s written in this book. I know some people love spells that rhyme or have lots of arcane language in them. I’m not one of those people. Connor practices magic in a way that is similar to mine. Her prose is clear, concise and comes from the heart. She also leaves lots of breathing room of the Divine Presence to decide what’s best for us.

In closing, as the leader of a faith community, I recognize someone with an authentic pastoral heart when I see it. Connor is one of those people. It’s clear she has walked with many people through their dark night of the soul and helped them find a way out of it.

Spells For Tough Times is a really wonderful book and will be an invaluable resource no matter what spiritual path you walk. While I encourage you to buy this through your local pagan store, you can also order it from Amazon. Here’s the LINK.

Copyright ©2020 by David Taliesin