Maren Lilienthal, Cyrus Harper, and a mysterious adversary from The Wheel of the Year Mysteries hold Tarot cards that unveil their destinies and intentions: Maren with the Wheel of Fortune, Cyrus with the Knight of Pentacles, and the shadowy figure with the Magician card, foretelling a tale of magick love, and looming conflict. Fifteen years ago, I had an idea for a mystery novel. The sleuth would be a witch. The problem? I had no idea how a witch would actually solve the cri

T.H. Matteson, Examination of a Witch 1853 Public Domain I set up Google Alerts to do what I’ve always done as a writer: pay attention. (You can set them up, too; click here.) What I'm Seeing The alerts arrive quietly in my inbox—links gathered by an algorithm trained to notice patterns long before we do. I’ve asked it to monitor topics I care about: ancient Egypt, Egyptian archaeology, Isis the goddess, Paganism, Tarot, Wicca, and Witchcraft. They're subjects of history, s

December reading always sounds ambitious. . .in theory. In practice? Between holidays, end-of-year chaos, and the small matter of diving headfirst into drafting the next Wheel of the Year Mysteries book, my reading time shrank faster than daylight before the solstice. While everyone else was wrapped in Yule vibes, I was already sneaking glances ahead to Litha—sun, fire, and long days where secrets don’t stay buried for long. So this month’s reads skewed toward the cozy, the w

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen But do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Oh—wait. Wrong winter myth. Still, the problem holds. When it comes to Yuletide, we tend to remember the characters who’ve been stamped, merchandised, and mall-Santa-fied into cultural immortality: Father Christmas. St. Nick. Santa in his many red-suited incarnations. In recent years, Krampus has clawed his way back into the collective ima

Wicked: For Good has officially landed, and the pop-culture cauldron is bubbling over. Between the fashion deep dives, history threads, and behind-the-scenes lore, there’s a lot to sift through—so I gathered some of the most interesting reads in one place. From Elphaba’s now-infamous “sex cardigan” to Ariana Grande’s vulnerable Glinda couture, plus a few real-witch reactions (mine included), here’s your curated tour through everything Wicked. I’ve also added a few fun facts a

As the veil thins and the year turns toward darkness, we instinctively reach for stories — the strange, the magical, the forgotten. Samhain invites us to look back: at the histories that shaped us, the myths that haunt us, and the mysteries we still chase. Here are some articles that explore witchcraft, folklore, and the supernatural from every angle: academic, historical, and delightfully uncanny. Connecticut’s growing witch community — and the witch crawl bringing them tog