Poetry as Spellcasting

Poems, Essays, and Prompts for Manifesting Liberation and Reclaiming Power

By: Tamiko Beyer, Destiny Hemphill, Lisbeth White

Narrated by: Henriette Zoutomou

Poems, essays, and prompts to sing a new world into being—Queer & BIPOC perspectives on poetry as an insurgent ritual for manifesting liberation and reclaiming power.

For poets, spellcasters, and social justice witches, Poetry as Spellcasting positions poetry as a vehicle for healing-justice transformation.

It asks: If ritualized violence upholds white supremacy, what ritualized acts of liberation can be activated to subvert and reclaim power?

Through essays from a diverse group of contributing poets, organizers, and ritual artists, Poetry as Spellcasting helps listeners explore, play, and deepen their creativity and intuition as integral tools for self- and communal healing and social change. Each section opens and closes with a poem, ending with exercises and invitations to the listener.

• Part I explores the ways in which language can both reflect and manifest reality—and shows that poetry and spellcasting allow us to enter into and harness language in active, heightened ways.
• Part II focuses on summoning the Earth’s power, highlighting the magic of eco-poetry in the anthropocene and inviting listeners into the embodied knowledge of the Earth.
• Part III explores writing as ritual, ritual as practice, and practice as doing, drawing connections between the creative practices of poetry and spellwork.
• Part IV centers on teachings from ancestors, practices for possible futures, and the legacy of poetry as political practice.

Both poetry and occult studies have both been historically dominated by white, cishet writers; here, Poetry as Spellcasting reclaims the centrality of queer and BIPOC voices in poetry, magic, and liberatory spellwork.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Tamiko Beyer, Destiny Hemphill, and Lisbeth White (P)2023 North Atlantic Books

Critic reviews

“Reading Poetry As Spellcasting, I kept lighting my altar, kept nourishing my body with fragrant oranges as I dreamt, wandered, and envisioned. This is a book for us, for opening up the creative portals toward liberation, one tender prompt at a time. I felt held by these rituals and poems, felt myself move deeply into spaces of collective care. Alongside contributions from luminaries such as Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Joan Naviyuk Kane, and Ching-In Chen, the editors invoke magic through heart-igniting reflections and vibrational prompts, beautifully reminding us of our woven power: ‘In this new mythology, you are always whole.’” —Jane Wong, author of How to Not Be Afraid of Everything

“Spellbinding, nourishing, and needed! Poetry as Spellcasting is unbounding and delivers a world of magic, incantations, and poetry for your spirit, skins, and memories to taste, discover, unfold, shed, and tend to the alchemy of our lives. Like rock candy or bubbles to the tongue, swallow and repeat to feel all your senses come alive, initiating a psychic surrender, embodiment, and deepening of why and how poets of color are casting spells for radically transformative, imaginative healing for our prayerful liberatory futures. Listen.” —Cara Page, cofounder of Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective, founder of Changing Frequencies, and coauthor of Healing Justice Lineages

“Poetry as Spellcasting is both alluring and substantive, gentle yet revolutionary. A provoking collection of poems and essays, this powerful book is sure to evoke inspiration, action, and reflection for readers.” —Maria Minnis, author of Anti-Racism with the Tarot