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About
Throughout her life, Elissa Washuta has been surrounded by cheap facsimiles of Native spiritual tools and occult trends, "starter witch kits" of sage, rose quartz, and tarot cards packaged together in paper and plastic. Following a decade of abuse, addiction, PTSD, and heavy-duty drug treatment for a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder, she felt drawn to the real spirits and powers her dispossessed and discarded ancestors knew, while she undertook necessary work to find love and meaning.
In this collection of intertwined essays, she writes about land, heartbreak, and colonization, about life without the escape hatch of intoxication, and about how she became a powerful witch. She interlaces stories from her forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life-Twin Peaks, the Oregon Trail II video game, a Claymation Satan, a YouTube video of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham-to explore questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule.
Beguiling and haunting. . . . Washuta's voice sears itself onto the skin.-The New York Times Book Review
Electric.
-TIME
A powerful look at the legacy and where some of the now-trendy spiritual practices find their origins.-People Magazine
Elissa Washuta's newest collection of essays is coming out in 2021-and they may be exactly what you need right now.-O, The Oprah Magazine
In this potent, illuminating memoir in essays, Elissa Washuta, a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, digs into her relationship with magic and the occult. . . . Touching on love, heritage, identity, and faith, White Magic is resonant and weighty.
-BuzzFeed
Her prose is crisp and precise, and the references hit spot-on. . . . Fans of the personal essay are in for a treat.-Publishers Weekly
A fascinating magic trick of a memoir that illuminates a woman's search for meaning.-Kirkus, Starred Review
Riveting and insightful.-Ms. Magazine
[Sifts] through the broken shards of culture, looking for messages to restore one's spirit.-The Los Angeles Times
A funny, piercingly intelligent memoir. . . . Washuta is thoroughly gifted.-SeattleMet
Remarkable. . . . Each essay is skillful at interweaving the personal and the historical-and on the whole, the collection is, well, magic.-Alma
Spellbinding.... [stirs] historical research and contemporary memoir into a captivating frenzy.-Nylon
Bold, inventive, bewitching.-The Rumpus
The most incredible memoir.-Liberty Hardy, All the Books podcast, BookRiot
Washuta's story and struggles become a metaphor for the toll of colonialism on generations of Indigenous people like herself. Readers of recovery narratives, women's issues, and keenly observed social commentary will be rewarded here.-Library Journal
Incantatory.... impassioned.-Refinery29, 50 Books to Read in 2021
She interlaces stories from her Native forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life.-New York Public Library
Her unique voice as a Cowlitz woman who refuses to be contained by colonialism, sexism, and ableism will light a fire in any reader who is paying attention.-BookRiot
In the end, it is not tarot cards but writing - the tedious but magical process of decoding and rebuilding with new tricks and spells - that proves to be the real magic.-Crosscut, Five PNW memoirs to read for Independent Bookstore Day 2021
An innovative and deeply felt work to sink into.-The Millions
A well of invention and imagination.-The Believer
Powerful. . . . Washuta's essays refuse the mandate of a tidy resolution. Instead she circles around each subject, inspecting it as symbol, myth, metaphor, and reality, all while allowing her readers space to draw their own conclusions, or to reject the need for any conclusion at all. Like a stage magician, she asks readers to look again. White Magic is an insightful, surprising, and eloquent record of stories of magic and the m
In this collection of intertwined essays, she writes about land, heartbreak, and colonization, about life without the escape hatch of intoxication, and about how she became a powerful witch. She interlaces stories from her forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life-Twin Peaks, the Oregon Trail II video game, a Claymation Satan, a YouTube video of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham-to explore questions of cultural inheritance and the particular danger, as a Native woman, of relaxing into romantic love under colonial rule.
Beguiling and haunting. . . . Washuta's voice sears itself onto the skin.-The New York Times Book Review
Electric.
-TIME
A powerful look at the legacy and where some of the now-trendy spiritual practices find their origins.-People Magazine
Elissa Washuta's newest collection of essays is coming out in 2021-and they may be exactly what you need right now.-O, The Oprah Magazine
In this potent, illuminating memoir in essays, Elissa Washuta, a member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, digs into her relationship with magic and the occult. . . . Touching on love, heritage, identity, and faith, White Magic is resonant and weighty.
-BuzzFeed
Her prose is crisp and precise, and the references hit spot-on. . . . Fans of the personal essay are in for a treat.-Publishers Weekly
A fascinating magic trick of a memoir that illuminates a woman's search for meaning.-Kirkus, Starred Review
Riveting and insightful.-Ms. Magazine
[Sifts] through the broken shards of culture, looking for messages to restore one's spirit.-The Los Angeles Times
A funny, piercingly intelligent memoir. . . . Washuta is thoroughly gifted.-SeattleMet
Remarkable. . . . Each essay is skillful at interweaving the personal and the historical-and on the whole, the collection is, well, magic.-Alma
Spellbinding.... [stirs] historical research and contemporary memoir into a captivating frenzy.-Nylon
Bold, inventive, bewitching.-The Rumpus
The most incredible memoir.-Liberty Hardy, All the Books podcast, BookRiot
Washuta's story and struggles become a metaphor for the toll of colonialism on generations of Indigenous people like herself. Readers of recovery narratives, women's issues, and keenly observed social commentary will be rewarded here.-Library Journal
Incantatory.... impassioned.-Refinery29, 50 Books to Read in 2021
She interlaces stories from her Native forebears with cultural artifacts from her own life.-New York Public Library
Her unique voice as a Cowlitz woman who refuses to be contained by colonialism, sexism, and ableism will light a fire in any reader who is paying attention.-BookRiot
In the end, it is not tarot cards but writing - the tedious but magical process of decoding and rebuilding with new tricks and spells - that proves to be the real magic.-Crosscut, Five PNW memoirs to read for Independent Bookstore Day 2021
An innovative and deeply felt work to sink into.-The Millions
A well of invention and imagination.-The Believer
Powerful. . . . Washuta's essays refuse the mandate of a tidy resolution. Instead she circles around each subject, inspecting it as symbol, myth, metaphor, and reality, all while allowing her readers space to draw their own conclusions, or to reject the need for any conclusion at all. Like a stage magician, she asks readers to look again. White Magic is an insightful, surprising, and eloquent record of stories of magic and the m