Overview

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes meets Women Who Run With The Wolves in this haunting, mystical memoir about finding meaning, beauty, and power through a life in witchcraft.An initiation signals a beginning: a door opens and you step through. Traditional Wiccan initiates are usually brought into the craft through a ceremony with a High Priestess. But even though Amanda Yates Garcia's mother, a practicing witch herself, initiated her into the earth-centered practice of witchcraft when she was 13 years old, Amanda's real life as a witch only began when she underwent a series of spontaneous initiations of her own.Descending into the underworlds of poverty, sex work, and misogyny, Initiated describes Amanda's journey to return to her body, harness her power, and create the magical world she longed for through witchcraft. Hailed by crows, seduced by magicians, and haunted by ancestors broken beneath the wheels of patriarchy, Amanda's quest for self-discovery and empowerment is a deep exploration of a modern witch's trials - healing ancient wounds, chafing against cultural expectations, creating intimacy - all while on a mission to re-enchant the world. Peppered with mythology, tales of the goddesses and magical women throughout history, Initiated stands squarely at the intersection of witchcraft and feminism. With generosity and heart, this book speaks to the question: is it possible to live a life of beauty and integrity in a world that feels like it's dying?Declaring oneself a witch and practicing magic has everything to do with claiming authority and power for oneself, of taking back our planet in the name of Love. Initiated is both memoir and manifesto calling the magical people of the world to take up their wands: stand up, be brave, describe the world they want, then create it like a witch.

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9781549154591

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Reviews

Initiated is a stunning act of generosity from a fearless and wise spirit guide. Amanda Yates Garcia has cracked open her life -- the brutal lessons, the romantic entanglements, the yearning to be a force of love -- to empower all of us to write our own magic myth into the sky.-- Margaret Wappler, author of Neon Green More than a story of coming into one's own, Initiated is a page turning word orgasm of flowering language. It's a reexamination of patriarchal hierarchy, a relinquishing of the idea that because something is, is because it's supposed to be. It embraces fierce feminine energy that crackles with the transformative excitement of giving birth to one's self, standing in our own power and releasing old narratives that have held us back, individually and culturally. Initiated is a fierce and radical call to action.-- Nikki Darling, author of Fade Into You Mythic journeys to the underworld, goddesses, ecstasies, fairy tales, ghosts, love, sex, female empowerment, challenging the patriarchy: Initiated is full of my favorite things, told with savage grace by my favorite oracle, the powerful and devastatingly enchanting Amanda Yates Garcia. This book will change your life.-- Francesca Lisa Block To read Initiated is to undergo your own. Amanda's wisdom and insight into the heart of the witch is complimented by her ability to weave together a story that is also a spell. Somewhere between a memoir and a grimoire, this book invites the reader to reflect on their own cycles of life and death as well as their own relationship to the witch. All in a way that's uplifting, engaging, feminist as fuck and so unapologetically fierce. No one else could have written this story, and whether you identify as a witch or not, you'll leave obsessed.-- Gabriela Herstik, author of Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft A journey through wild beauty and deep wounds, Initiated is the book we need right now-it is an embrace, an awakening, a forging by flame and an enchanted rallying cry.-- Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World

Initiated is a stunning act of generosity from a fearless and wise spirit guide. Amanda Yates Garcia has cracked open her life -- the brutal lessons, the romantic entanglements, the yearning to be a force of love -- to empower all of us to write our own magic myth into the sky.-- Margaret Wappler, author of Neon Green More than a story of coming into one's own, Initiated is a page turning word orgasm of flowering language. It's a reexamination of patriarchal hierarchy, a relinquishing of the idea that because something is, is because it's supposed to be. It embraces fierce feminine energy that crackles with the transformative excitement of giving birth to one's self, standing in our own power and releasing old narratives that have held us back, individually and culturally. Initiated is a fierce and radical call to action.-- Nikki Darling, author of Fade Into You To read Initiated is to undergo your own. Amanda's wisdom and insight into the heart of the witch is complimented by her ability to weave together a story that is also a spell. Somewhere between a memoir and a grimoire, this book invites the reader to reflect on their own cycles of life and death as well as their own relationship to the witch. All in a way that's uplifting, engaging, feminist as fuck and so unapologetically fierce. No one else could have written this story, and whether you identify as a witch or not, you'll leave obsessed.-- Gabriela Herstik, author of Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft A journey through wild beauty and deep wounds, Initiated is the book we need right now-it is an embrace, an awakening, a forging by flame and an enchanted rallying cry.-- Jade Chang, author of The Wangs vs. the World Mythic journeys to the underworld, goddesses, ecstasies, fairy tales, ghosts, love, sex, female empowerment, challenging the patriarchy: Initiated is full of my favorite things, told with savage grace by my favorite oracle, the powerful and devastatingly enchanting Amanda Yates Garcia. This book will change your life.-- Francesca Lisa Block

Author Information

Amanda Yates Garcia is a writer, artist, professional witch, and the Oracle of Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in The Millions, The LA Times, Time Out, LA Weekly, GOOP, Glamour, The London Times, CNN, Salon, as well as a viral appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight. She has led classes and workshops on magic and witchcraft at UCLA, UC Irvine, MOCA Los Angeles, The Hammer Museum, LACMA, The Getty and many other venues. Co-host of the popular Strange Magic podcast, Initiated is her first book.

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