Practically Pagan – An Alternative Guide to Magical Living by Maria DeBlassie – Review by Shea Gilkerson

Practically Pagan – An Alternative Guide to Magical Living by Maria DeBlassie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am notoriously guilty of finding something I’m interested in and then immediately overwhelming myself with so much information that I don’t know where to start. The practice of magic is something that has interested and entertained me for as much of my life as I can remember. Like most other things, any knowledge I gathered seemed overwhelming and I didn’t know where to start and not screw something up.

Maria DeBlassie does a phenomenal job of making the practice of magic be much more achievable in this book, and reading it has made me finally understand how I can do every day things with intent, and use my intentions as a way to bring a little magic into my life and the lives of those I love. There are no magical requirements listed in this book other than learning to accept and love parts of yourself you have been trained to let wither, and use them to strengthen your connection to your sense of self as well as understand your strengths and the kind of magic that is available to you when you do that. She does a wonderful job of sharing her own practices and what led her to them – as well as what parts of her life led her away from them before she started down the path she leads.

I’d label this book as self help more than a “witchy” book, but it is honestly the first book on paganism and a magic lifestyle that I have truly felt I connected to, and helps me provide a wonderful base to now start adding on to. The things I’ve read in the past were much more practice based, involving divinations, in depth knowledge already required, and this book made me feel seen – like someone knew where I needed to start. This book feels like Marie is talking directly to me, leading me to the beginning of the path to start daily practices for better self care, living with intent, and understanding what my goals are. I don’t think I was ever able to really visualize my witchy goals before this book, as it was more of a daydream of what I could do “when I had time”.

I loved this book and am very thankful I found it. I look forward to reading the other Practically Pagan books, as well as more by Marie DeBlassie.

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