Summer Sorcery

Aube Elléouët "Intrusion" 2008

Hello hello. My goodness the last month-plus has been quite a ride. My book Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power came out in the US and UK (with more regions coming soon!). I did loads of events in support of the release, and am now enjoying a sliver of recharge time before things become busy again in that regard beginning next month. Until then, I'm working on all kinds of fun and fascinating things in the background, while also admittedly working on catching my breath. 

To that end, there are some lovely bits of (oc)culture I'm hoping to ingest in some form over the coming weeks:

• Apologies for the very late notice on this, but the Female Gaze: Women Surrealists in the Americas and Europe show is up at Heather James Fine Art for just a few more days. It's got some Carrington, Fini, Tanning, Abercrombie, and lots of other dream queens, so if you can see it before it closes on July 31, do.
  
  
• Speaking of Dorothea Tanning, I've been green with envy about the retrospective that happened recently in London, but I'm comforted to see that the terrific Menil Collection in Houston is currently showcasing some of her graphic works through Oct 13th.
  
  
• And again, kudos must go to the Tate for acquiring the archive of surrealist art magicienne, Ithell Colquhoun. Surely this should mean an exhibition of her work will be up there in the future, but until then we have Amy Hale's forthcoming biography and Fulgur's Taro as Colour book to tide us over.
  
  
• I've gushed many times about the witch photographs of William Mortensen before, so I'm thrilled that Stephan Romano Gallery will be bringing many of them to Cleveland's Buckland Museum of Witchcraft and Magick from Aug 3 - Nov 3.
  
  
• Music! I'm overjoyed I finally got to see Bill Callahan live, and his pastoral new album, Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest, has been on heavy rotation. I've also been loving Dizzy Fae's newest, NO GMO Mixtape, as well as the latest from Ex Hex, Shannon and the Clams, and this addictively diaphanous collaboration between Mary Lattimore and Meg Baird.
  
  
• Trying to limit the real estate that my own news takes up on here, but you might be interested to see some recent press I've gotten in support of Waking the Witch including some podcasts and interviews, as well as pieces I wrote for the New York Times, Powell's, and more.
  
  
• But you will want to note that tickets for the 4th Occult Humanities Conference at NYU are available now! I'm co-organizing it again with my brother-in-bewitchment, Jesse Bransford, and I could not be more excited about the speakers, artists, and vendors we have lined up. It will be on Oct 4-6, and it always sells out, so be sure to grab your tickets ASAP.
  
  
• What else? I've been adoring the newest episodes of one of my favorite animated series of all time, the sweet and magical Summer Camp Island (and was honored to get to interview its creator, Julia Pott, for the season finale of The Witch Wave).
  
  
• And I've been having a deep romance with rosewater. Seriously, I can't get enough. I've been bathing in it, eating it, and I just may have to bake this Persian Love Cake, summer heat be damned!