Healing & Magic Influences
Collection of psychology, biology, and spirituality nonfiction books that have influenced or helped shape my novels. Evergreen Post (Updated as New Favorites are Discovered)
Collection of psychology, biology, and spirituality nonfiction books that have influenced or helped shape my novels. In no particular order.
Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power
by Pam Grossman
Why You Should Read: The writing is beautiful and lyrical. The imagery she uses tickles my brain. This book could have appeared in my economic/political recommendations because she weaves witchcraft descriptions, pop culture, and societal commentary to provide new and nuanced understandings of our world. It reminds me of an easier-to-read version of Women Who Run with Wolves.
Healing Ancient Wounds: The Renegade’s Wisdom
by John Barnes
Why You Should Read: I did yoga teacher training in 2019-2020 with Brett Larkin. Her training and her yoga videos teach a lot about myofascial release (she was also a massage therapist at one point). Myofascial release involves holding a yoga position for five to ten minutes (sort of like yin yoga). From there it’s about relaxing completely until the thick fascial webbing, which runs through your body, releases and unwinds. John Barnes is sorta the father of myofascial release. The book is a little hard to read because it doesn’t have an organization to it, but it’s one of those things that you let wash over you. Concepts will integrate in your brain without you having to try.
Energy Medicine: The Science and Mystery of Healing
by Jill Blakeway
Why You Should Read: Another yoga teacher training recommendation that has stuck with me for over five years. The author is an acupuncturist, and she describes the way she uses energy to heal people and how acupuncture works on the fascial body.
The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition
by Starhawk
Why You Should Read: It makes magic come alive. Feminist. Empowerment.
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
by Bessel van der Kolk MD
Why You Should Read: The information in this book informed how I portrayed Sebastian in Seize the Power. I did a lot of EMDR youtube videos and used the descriptions in this book to help build the healing rituals that Sebastian undergoes in Seize. My Fire My Heart, also, has a healing ritual scene. Our bodies keep a record of the things we go through (and our thoughts!). Our story lives in the fascia.
Heart Breath Mind: Conquer Stress, Build Resilience, and Perform at Your Peak
by Leah Lagos
Why You Should Read: I’ve read this book twice. The first time I didn’t like it, but then, five years later I read it again. And still didn’t love it…but the concepts are like sticky gum in my head. I can’t seem to keep a twice-a-day, twenty-minute meditation practice. But the resonant breathing concepts hover in the back of my mind. Why should you read it? I don’t know. I guess if you want a ghost to hover in your mind with what your potential could be.
What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma
by Stephanie Foo
Why You Should Read: This book was hard to read—very emotional and a lot of descriptions of trauma. I almost quit halfway through because I wasn’t in the best head space, but I’m glad I pushed through. The audiobook has actual audio of her therapist meetings. Self-regulation is about survival. Reconnection to other people is the next step. Why are you saying that to me? What is happening for you right now?
“It’s okay to have some things that you’ll never get over.”
The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine
by Dr. Daniel Keown
Why You Should Read: Acupuncture & fascia are fascinating. Brett Larkin’s yoga teacher training made me OBSESSED. This book’s descriptions of biological mechanics inspire the magic in my books. It’s important to me that my magical concepts have real-world grounding. The electrical currents in our body travel through the fascia. In my books, this is how magic travels through the body. The different ways fascia can get dense, twisted, and obstructed, are the ways that my bio-magical problems for my characters can occur.