Kelly-Ann Maddox - Rebel Witch: Carve the Craft Thats Yours Alone

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kelly-Ann Maddox was made in Merseyside, England, in the 1980s under a Sagittarius sun with a shock of black hair and a face like the full moon. As a kid, she checked inside wardrobes to see if Narnia was back there somewhere. Before realizing that she was a real witch, she would often pretend to be one, quoting from the witches of Disney films, mixing potions with the bath-water bubbles and donning her nanas costume jewellery to create the perfect look of an empowered enchantress.

As she started her serious reading in her teens, she understood that she was stepping into witchhood for real. In fact, being a witch was often the singular point of strength and inspiration that got her through the toughest times during the ongoing mental health issues she endured for years. Knowing how much her practice of the craft nurtured and supported her through those difficult times, she began creating online resources in her 20s, to help other people explore the path in an individualized way.

Kelly-Ann now lives alone in Kent, UK. She is an award-winning professional Tarot reader, Tarot teacher and certified Spiritual Counsellor, helping clients all over the world with her readings, sessions and mentoring. She has created hundreds of YouTube videos to inspire her viewers to take charge of their lives and be freewheeling spiritual beings.

Kelly-Ann is also a collage artist and poet. She is a committed vegan.

You can contact Kelly-Ann here:

Kelly-Ann Maddox

PO Box

83 Ducie Street

Manchester

M1 2JQ

This edition first published in the UK and USA in 2021 by

Watkins, an imprint of Watkins Media Limited

Unit 11, Shepperton House

8993 Shepperton Road

London N1 3DF

Design and typography copyright Watkins Media Limited 2021

Text copyright Kelly-Ann Maddox 2021

Artwork copyright Jenny Lloyd 2021

Kelly-Ann Maddox has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from the Publishers.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Designed by Francesca Corsini

Typeset by JCS Publishing Services Ltd

Printed and bound in the UK

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-78678-427-8 (Hardback)

ISBN: 978-1-78678-468-1 (eBook)

www.watkinspublishing.com

For Dani, without whom none of me would be possible.

Were just two badgers in search of acorns.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you so much to Fiona Robertson at Watkins for understanding exactly what I wanted to write and bringing some order to the chaos. You were the long-suffering midwife that I needed to help me birth this book. I had no idea that I would go through so much in my personal life whilst writing Rebel Witch and you were kind and encouraging when I found the process tough for that reason. I also appreciate everyone at Watkins who helped bring this book to life. I hope youre happy with the result.

Thank you to Ethony Dawn for making the introduction. When you put Fiona in touch with me, you performed a magickal act and I deeply appreciate it.

Thank you to Jenny Lloyd for your visionary illustrations and for your friendship. Your work has done so much for the book, just as you have done so much for me as a human being.

Thanks to so many of my loved ones who believed in me, checked in on me during the writing process and offered distraction and conversation when I needed it. If you talked with me, walked with me, asked me how things were going or kept connected to me during the two lockdowns I experienced whilst working on the book, I appreciate you. A special thank you to those who were there when I was really low. You know who you are.

Thank you to every member of my online community who has subscribed to my channel, commented on my videos, followed me on social media and been invested in my message over the course of time. To the witchcraft and cardslinger communities on YouTube, thank you for the creativity and dialogue over the years.

To every single one of my clients and Patreon members, a massive thank you. Your financial and emotional investment in my work is one of the greatest gifts in my life.

Thank you to my mum a practitioner of sacred rebellion. Your cycle-breaking led me here.

CONTENTS

WHY THIS BOOK EXISTS AND HOW TO USE IT

Hey there, cherry pie! Im thrilled to be strapping myself into this weird witchy ride with you and I want to start by letting you know why this book was born and how Im hoping that it can serve you.

First, let me level with you. Theres no shortage of books out there to give you the bare bones of a decent solitary witchcraft practice. In fact, theres a shit-ton of them. Those books help you to understand the common concepts, activities and tools utilized by witchy types to improve life and get desired results. Rebel Witch contains a lot of that same information too, but thats not why it was written.

Instead, its intended as a tool for sparking inspiration. Its an invitation to build a practice that looks, sounds and feels like your very own psyche a practice that reflects your authentic experiences, memories and personality traits so much that its undeniably your unique living tradition.

The building blocks of the craft are offered within the pages of this book. Well certainly cover things like creating sacred space, choosing and using tools, working with deities and casting spells. But, together, well also discover ways to mould these elements of the craft into your particular shape. This book will invite you to decide how things might need some tweaking and tailoring to suit your individual needs. It will empower you to decide what really makes your heart do the witchy fandango! It will encourage you to swerve the stuff that doesnt feel genuinely relevant to you, leave behind what doesnt resonate and boldly invent your own tradition. If advice on how to be a witch doesnt quite hit the spot or feels a bit dusty or boring, why follow it?! Rebel Witch is intended to champion sovereignty and identity, so youre never stuck for ideas about how to make your path more authentic. Ive made lists of ideas for you to try out, but theyre not intended to be used as rigid instructions. Instead, I hope they help you to extend your sense of whats possible.

The other thing Ive strived to achieve with Rebel Witch is as much of a sense of inclusion as possible. Witches are so varied in their experiences, lifestyles, preferences and capabilities, and Ive tried to be mindful of that. Ive avoided giving advice like, Physical movement is the best way to raise energy for magick, which is kind of like telling those who cant move around much due to pain, injury or other circumstances that theyre missing out on the top-shelf energy-raising stuff. It simply isnt fair or true to state that you need movement to get to the height of energetic potency. Its possible to raise energy for magick without moving a muscle! So Ive always tried to give a wide range of suggestions so therell be something to suit the kind of witchcraft youll be doing. Ive tried to be expansive, not narrow imaginative rather than strict! Some witchy resources insist that handwriting is the only way to record your experiences in witchcraft or that you need to write spells and intentions pen to paper, presuming that this is somehow more legitimate than typing into a phone, computer or tablet. But why should handwritten records be more legit or meaningful? Why should we decide that those who dont like to write by hand are essentially doing a lesser and weaker version of magickal recordkeeping? Who came up with the notion that witches cant type records, voice-dictate them or just do away with keeping them at all if they dont seem helpful? I want