Circle Talk · Circle Podcasts

A Traveler’s Guide to Making Magic

September 17, 2025·55 min·4 clips

Lisa McSherry sold everything and moved to Portugal, then wrote a guide to making magic while traveling.

1. Circle Talk host Deborah Rose speaks with author Lisa McSherry about her book 'A Traveler's Guide to Making Magic,' a practical guide to earth-centered spirituality for travelers. 2. McSherry is a witch since the 1980s, author of five books including 'Guide to Creating a Magical Practice,' founder of Facing North (a free alternative spirituality review site launched in 2006), and leader of the coven Jaguar Moon. 3. The episode's central thesis is that travel magic need not require specialized tools — improvised materials and mental intent are sufficient for any practitioner, including those who don't identify as pagan. 4. McSherry explains that she and her husband moved to Portugal in late 2020/2021 after pandemic conversations about 'tomorrow is promised to no one' and the realization they were primarily working to keep health insurance. 5. They chose Portugal over England, Ireland, France, and Italy because of its comparatively straightforward visa process and lower asset requirements for residency. 6. They rented a Lisbon-area apartment sight-unseen via a friend-of-a-friend realtor referral, framing the risk as 'the worst that could happen is we go on an adventure and come back.' 7. McSherry structures the book with an opening chapter, 'Basic Magic,' that reduces all magical practice to four steps: intent, creation, raising, and sending — framed as a universal human capacity requiring no tools. 8. She designed the book for readers who might 'occasionally read a tarot card or visit a psychic' rather than exclusively for practicing pagans, with the goal of placing copies in airport kiosks. 9. The portable travel altar — a small pouch resembling a jewelry bag to customs agents — is a central practical tool, containing items like a penny for earth, a thimble for a chalice, and a lighter or matches. 10. For air travel protection, McSherry describes enchanting matching small quartz crystals and placing one in each bag, while carrying one personally; she credits this with never having lost luggage. 11. Rosemary leaves from her home garden are taken before trips 'for remembrance' — a piece of folk magic she traces back thousands of years to when travel was among the most dangerous human activities. 12. McSherry recounts a severe turbulence event over Texas where flight attendants shouted for passengers to hold each other in their seats, which gave her lasting fear of flying despite decades of cross-country flights since age seven. 13. In response, she developed a Mercury invocation — a personal song sung at takeoff and landing — which she has since replaced with a hand gesture (touching forehead, lips, and heart) that feels more natural. 14. Deborah Rose highlights a chapter on deity relationships, noting that McSherry distinguishes between Poseidon (deep ocean, Atlantic, Pacific) and Neptune (rivers and smaller bodies of water) for cruise travelers. 15. McSherry introduces the concept of virtual travel as a legitimate magical and cultural exploration, citing online museum tours of the Louvre and the pyramids of Egypt as post-pandemic resources for housebound practitioners. 16. The episode includes a discussion of the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts, celebrated on September 6 in Taoist and Buddhist Southeast Asian cultures, where families recite their lineage and offerings are made to spirits who return when heaven and hell gates open. 17. McSherry connects the Feast of the Hungry Ghosts to Samhain and Mexico's Day of the Dead, arguing these parallel autumn ancestor-honoring traditions across unconnected cultures reflect a shared human response to harvest-season and the dying year. 18. The conversation is warm and conversational, with Rose frequently affirming McSherry's points from her own teaching experience and noting moments she plans to incorporate into her classes. 19. Listeners who would most benefit include practicing pagans seeking practical daily-life integration of their faith and travelers curious about accessible ritual without specialized tools. 20. Those likely to skip include listeners seeking deep theological or scholarly content, as the episode's tone is personal and experiential rather than academic.

As heard by us

Portable folk magic, presented with warmth and practical detail.

Travel magic is treated here as something practical rather than theatrical: protection for the road, small rituals that fit in a pocket, and an old habit of asking for safety while moving through the world.

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Want travel magic you can tuck in your bag?

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