Circle Talk · Circle Podcasts

Shadow Magick Spellbook

April 8, 2026·1 hr 4 min·4 clips

A sacred mushroom journey in 2005 told Raven Digitalis he needed to be a writer, leading to 11 published books on empathy and shadow magic.

1. Circle Talk host Debra Rose interviews Raven Digitalis, award-winning author of 11 books including the 'Empath' series and the new 'Shadow Magic Spellbook,' published by Llewellyn. 2. Raven Digitalis is a Georgian-tradition-trained witch since 1999, a priest since 2003, a Freemason since 2012, a cultural anthropology graduate of the University of Montana, and an empath; he also co-operated a pagan temple for 16 years and did disability work for 15 years. 3. The episode's core purpose is to introduce 'Shadow Magic Spellbook' and Digitalis's framework for working with shadow as a tool of internal, interpersonal, and nature-based healing. 4. Digitalis grew up with agnostic parents in a household with no religious influence, went through a 'red hot' Christian phase at 15-16, then Satanism, then Wicca at 17, where he trained with Zanoni Silverknife in Georgian witchcraft before she passed. 5. His decision to become a writer came from a 2005 ceremonial psilocybin journey in which the mushrooms told him 'you need to be a writer'; he has since written 11 books with three publishers — Llewellyn in Minneapolis, Crossed Crow in Chicago, and Moon Books in London. 6. 'Shadow Magic Spellbook' was originally planned as a Llewellyn mini-book but expanded when 144 spells arrived through spiritual guidance; acquisitions editor Elysia confirmed it needed to be a full book. 7. The number 144 came to Digitalis as a complete spiritual instruction rather than a planned editorial choice; he was at 142 when two more arrived; a friend later explained it as 12 × 12 (zodiacal framework), with the 13th — the traditional witch number — being the reader. 8. Seven of the 144 spells are guest contributions from friends covering: traveling witch bottles, ancestor work, spirit team connection, and trapping narcissistic abuse. 9. The book is structured as a reference tool across four chapters: the internal shadow (trauma, anxiety, depression), the interpersonal shadow (protection techniques, social navigation), the nature shadow (dusk, eclipses, Sabbath shadow work, graveyard dirt, Mars water), and a fourth chapter Digitalis could not recall during recording. 10. Digitalis describes this interview as shadow work for him in real time: he has anxiety, dislikes public speaking in front of actual people, and took half a Xanax before recording; he has been tapering off Cymbalta because antidepressants did not agree with his system, though he says they work for others and recommends whatever combination of therapy, medication, and magical practice works for the individual. 11. He rejects the Wiccan threefold law of return based on Sorita d'Este's 'Wicca: Magical Beginnings,' which he says traces the law's origins and finds no basis for triplication; he believes in karma as equal return (Sanskrit: 'action') rather than threefold blowback. 12. He does not personally cast curses and will not create curse material for spell kit clients regardless of what they tell him; 'Shadow Magic Spellbook' provides ethically sound alternatives for readers who feel pulled toward hexing or cursing. 13. For graveyard dirt, Digitalis does not gather from specific graves but visits a cemetery, pays respects at the entrance with an offering (a dime, a shot of rum), and gathers loose earth near the entrance; he also uses cemetery crossroads for releasing magic, or alternatively throws biodegradable releasing powder from a moving car at a regular street intersection. 14. On magical correspondences and spell modifications, Digitalis and Debra both emphasize that personal associations override traditional ones: Debra uses honeysuckle for all family and healing work because her grandmother's backyard was full of it, and Digitalis built a correspondence appendix into the back of the book to help readers find substitutions. 15. Digitalis discusses technology fasting, citing a section in the book on fasting from technology, food, and speech (Mauna in Sanskrit), and describes going offline for one to seven days as a personal annual practice; he observes Hindu fasting holidays in the Shakta and Shaivite traditions, honoring Durga, Shiva, and Ganesha. 16. He discusses the 'Empath's Oracle' deck, which has exceeded 10,000 copies in sales; his second empathy book, 'The Everyday Empath,' has been translated into Spanish and released as an audiobook. 17. Raven also offers professional tarot readings through his website ravendigitalis.com and custom spell kits (without curse components), doing video, audio, and in-person readings but not email readings, which he finds too imprecise. 18. The episode has a warm, expansive interview format; both Debra and Raven are clearly practitioners with shared reference points, and Raven speaks with evident vulnerability about his anxiety and creative process. 19. Witches and magical practitioners seeking to understand shadow work beyond the buzzword, practitioners interested in the ethics of dark magic, and empaths working with trauma will find the episode substantive and directly applicable. 20. Listeners who want a purely psychological or secular approach to shadow work, or who are uncomfortable with psilocybin references or anti-threefold-law positions, may find aspects of the conversation off-putting.

As heard by us

A serious shadow magic conversation that keeps ethics and healing at the center.

Circle Talk treats Shadow Magic Spellbook as a practical discussion, not a mystery wrapped in theatrics. It keeps coming back to ethics, boundaries, and what to do instead of cursing.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want a frank take on curses, ethics, and shadow work, start here.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Circle Talk