For the last few years, I’ve spotlighted new books and magical tools by creators in our community in the form of podcast interviews. But it’s 2026—a 1 year—so I knew I wanted to switch it up!
I also wanted to make it more interactive, and to share these tools beyond promotional content, so the gorgeous folks in The Commons Discord server (which you can join at the $10/month membership tier) and I decided to make a little Moonday Message magic together and test these babies out!
Our first go-around was a smash success!
Thanks to Weiser Books, we got to play with Ancient Spells and Incantations: Echoes of Magic Through the Ages and Across Cultures by Enid Baxter Ryce — A collection of ancient spells and incantations, translated and interpreted for today's reader, brings long-ago meanings closer for those engaged in magical practices of manifestation, prophecy, love, protection, healing, curses, and even vengeance.
We found this little book to be so rich, but so straightforward, and it brought us some profound magic!
Here are some bits of our bibliomancy session, where each person receiving a "reading" based on an emoji or a page number. :
One person received the "Loving Kindness Incantation" and shared they are currently in a book club for a book on the metta sutra! They committed to reading it out loud every day that week.
Another received "For Rain" and interpreted "rain" as "crying." Someone else pulled the phrase “there will be no disasters” as powerful for sigil work.
One person shared it was her late mother's birthday and asked for page 88, which ended up being a full page rendering of Angels in the Book of Saint Cyprian! What a visitation!
Overall, there were connections being made, research lists forming, and a great deal of personal information was shared based on the spells and incantations received! The energy was bright and bubbling, and it was delightful to see the magic unfold, even with some serious subject matter being discussed.
A review after our session - "I enjoyed its multicultural nature! I am glad there’s a methodology chapter and would love to read it someday! I would definitely consider purchasing this book."
Keep reading for Enid’s Tuesday Ten: Five questions about Ancient Spells and Incantations and her version of our Friday Five.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Enid Baxter Ryce is a writer, artist, and filmmaker who has exhibited at museums internationally, including the National Gallery of Art, the Getty, and the Arnolfini. A descendant of three Salem witches, she comes from a long family history of natural magic practice. Enid has an MFA in visual arts and studied at Cooper Union, Yale University, and Claremont Graduate University. She won the Elizabeth Kray Prize from the Society for American Poets when she graduated from Cooper Union. Enid is currently working on the Getty Foundation Art x Science Initiative project "From the Ground Up: Nurturing Diversity in Hostile Environments," a forward-looking ethnobotanical study undertaken as the basis of a forthcoming exhibition and an accompanying publication at Armory Center for the Arts. She is the community engagement director and a curator for the Philip Glass Center for Art, Science, and the Environment. Her latest film, War and the Weather, featuring the music of Philip Glass, premiered at the National Gallery of Art Theater in Washington, DC. Enid's work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Artforum, ArtReview, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.
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THE TUESDAY TEN WITH ENID BAXTER RYCE
What do you suggest we do with the ancient spells and incantations?
My hope is that surfacing and transforming these ancient calls to the Otherworld so that modern audiences can access them is to reveal and remind us of how human beings share the same vulnerabilities and hopes across time and cultures. We all want to be loved, to be healthy, to be protected... we all experience love, lust, fury, and consider vengeance. These ancient voices remind us that even when we feel our loneliest, we are not alone. Our shared humanity is poetic and magical.
How did you balance creating an archive with creating something practical for modern practitioners?
I honestly approached this project like an enthusiastic wierdo who wants to share all the cool things she found in an archive. Imagine you get to open these ancient books and find the most achingly beautiful, poetic, or furious expressions from all over time and cultures...and you know you shouldn't go on and on about it at a normal social occasion, but you know there are others out there who will want to see them, so you fill a book with all everything you want to show all the friends you haven't met yet.
What where the materials you discovered during the process of putting this book together that surprised or delighted you the most?
This was alot of fun. I work at a university, so I get to work with the most fantastic librarians who can connect with their colleagues all over the world. When they'd located a text, I'd get a code to take to a locker. In the locker would be the book I'd requested. It always smelled awesome! I'd wrap it up in my coat against the fog that's always here, and get it home. Afraid to break the binding, I got a special book stand and a bean bag to gently hold the pages open. It was all very dark academia... I was so often amazed that I can't pick a favorite! I have no favorite child, and I have no favorite spell.
Is there anything on the cutting room floor you wish would've made it into the book?
The cutting-room floor often becomes the next book. I found some genuinely beautiful, healing, and spooky histories during this research that were more stories than spells. Through them, I learned so much about my ancestors and, I'm sure, yours. I'm now just pulling at threads on my blog, and cooking up new ideas for the amazing team at my publisher.
What does "mundane magic" look like for you?
It looks like something I'm writing about alot now... an under-reported missing dimension of the Stoics. These ancient deeply-feeling philosophers knew that we can choose to interpret what life gives us in ways that are empowering. I get to choose how I show up in a challenging moment. I can apply attention to my intention to react in a healthier way to the nonsense that used to worry me.
Enid’s “Friday Five”
I noticed, when I was younger, that I was wishing time away. "If I can just get through this week... If I can just make it through this deadline... I just have to get over this obligation..." I hail from a community that was hit hard by the opioid epidemic and lost alot of friends. I realized how precious the time I still have, living and breathing in this beautiful world, is.
So five things that remind me how lucky I am, and help to stay present:
My kids
My husband
Nature
Good stories
Dumb humor
please help common denominators grow by sending to a friend (or five)!
ICYMI
I AM DOING READINGS IN JUNE
HALFWAY HELPFUL - A Numerology Reading for the Rest of 2026
First, we'll look in the rear-view to make meaning of the first half of 2026.
Then, we'll look ahead, pinpointing your plans and priorities, as well as identifying habits, patterns, beliefs, or mindsets keeping you from getting where you want to go.
Finally, we'll plan a course forward using your personal yearly and monthly cycle numbers, as well as the collective energies available to us in 2026.
xx, bee
