Lisa Marie Basile - City Witchery: Accessible Rituals, Practices & Prompts for Conjuring and Creating in a Magical Metropolis

This book came to me during the COVID-19 crisis in New York Citywhich is ongoing as I write thiswhen our city made global headlines for being a hotspot. It was the hardest year for me; Im sure this is true for you. I hope by the time this book is in your hands, your city will be healing.

I have been in mourning, watching my city build makeshift hospitals in anchored ships and in the convention center where I graduated. I spent much of this time reflecting on the changing energies of my city, experiencing the gloom of silence and the awe of public ritual.

For months, each night at 7:00 p.m., my fellow city dwellers pulled out pots and pans and sent their clamoring sounds into the skies and streets below as a way of thanking the essential workers caring for the sick and the dearly departed. I knew cities around the country and world were doing this toothis collective ritual that served as a message, a bonding, and a way of summoning and directing energy to the people who needed it most. It was a ritual of unity. And when I clanked my pots together on rooftops, it was city magic.

Confined in my apartment, it became clear my relationship to my city had changed now that I had less access to itand the few masked solo walks I could take would have to be made extra magical. So I found hidden corners to meditate and peopleless spots at the Seaport to work with water energies. And even though it was always lovely to have space to think and just be, I found the missing energy of the city meant more to me than Id realized.

I have had many powerful magical experiences in New York: Leading a grief-and-death poetic ritual in Brooklyns Green-Wood Cemeterywhere hundreds of people got comfortable with the thinning of the veils. Volunteering at a soup kitchen. Taking to my New York City rooftop to eat ancestral foods and make a summer altar with friends. Spending hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, soaking in the history and being creatively inspired by the energies around me. Riding a subway and drawing symbols of protection into my palm when the car broke down in a dark tunnel underground. Creating self-care rituals after commuting back and forth from New York City to New Jersey everyday for two years (and creating energy protective shields while walking through Port Authority). Realizing my wallet had been stolen and having a stranger give me money and a Metrocard with which to get to work. This was my city magicand this book is inspired by all of it.

What is your city magic, or what kind of city magic do you hope for?