This is a book of witchcraft. Not the ‘mainstream, self-help, light a white candle and burn some sage’ type of mass-marketed witchcraft, but an authentic, powerful type of witchcraft that reintroduces the Divine mysteries back into our practices. It’s easy to get lost in the aesthetics of witchcraft, especially when most of what is shown on social media is a doctored up version of our lives. I’m guilty of that too—after I perform a spell or ritual and I feel compelled to take a picture, I always clean it up. I tidy up the altar, scrape off the crumbs from my offerings, reposition the candles, throw on some more incense, and rearrange things to make it look more aesthetically pleasing for my instagram post. And I simply must find the best filter. I’m annoyed with myself for admitting that I do this. 

Devotional Witchcraft by Kenneth Freeman was my reminder that Witchcraft is far more than pretty instagram pictures. The Gods are alive and well, and when we find a way to give back to them, we keep them alive. They hear us, answer us, and aid us, and in turn, we devote ourselves to them. 

I so very much appreciated Kenneth’s assertion that in order to practice Devotional Witchcraft, we need to view the gods as real. We can’t dismiss them as archetypes for this type of work to be effective. It’s interesting how many people I’ve met who are quick to view the gods as a part of our psyche or as symbols/metaphors, right before talking about how much their practice revolves around working with the many inhabitants of the spirit world. I can’t make that make sense. Why do the gods get reduced to only symbols for some people, but not other types of spirits? If you’re a practitioner who hasn’t seen the gods as real, individual, sentient beings, then you will certainly be challenged [in a good way] to adjust, at least temporarily, your beliefs on this while you work through this book. 

I found Kenneth’s discussion on devotional spellwork interesting, too. The idea of incorporating the Divine into spells is not new, as he very well points out. Ancient Mesopotamia, for example, often included the names of their gods in spells and prayers for several reasons. Same with the spells given in the Greek Magical Papyrii. Really makes you wonder at what point magic got separated from the Divine. I felt inspired after reading this section to perform one of the exercises. I crafted a prayer-spell to the Goddess Diana, a figure who I have personally been aligning with recently. I’ve included it here as an example of the type of work you’ll be called to do in this book:

Diana, Queen of the Starry of Heavens whose beauty shines in the light of the Moon, I call upon you and beseech you as of old. Let your power shine through the darkness. Bless me with your Love and may all wickedness be washed away as I wash myself in these holy waters.

Kenneth goes on to suggest incorporating some sort of a devotional action into the prayer-spell. I used, as the spell suggests, water. I consecrated some water according to my tradition and washed my hands in it as I spoke the charm in the light of the moon. (As luck would have it, the full moon is tomorrow at the time of my writing this, so she was big and beautiful in the night sky.)

The book includes a fantastic discourse on the nature of offerings to the gods as well. He very simply explains that offerings are an ‘exchange of energy’, meaning you can’t just throw an apple on an altar and expect results. He affirms that offerings should be done with reverence, which I wholeheartedly agree with. It’s far more impactful to take one minute out of the day to connect with your gods, pray to them, make an offering and move on, than to spend hours in empty ritual making empty offerings and empty promises. No one wants that. 

This book should certainly be on your reading list, whether you are new to the Craft or have been immersed in it for years. New Witches will find Kenneth’s approach to deity work practical and engaging and seasoned Witches will benefit from the reminder that the gods haven’t gone anywhere—they’re still waiting for us to love them.

Book Information

• Devotional Witchcraft by Kenneth Freeman II
• Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
• Publication Date: October 2026 (ARC courtesy of Llewellyn)
• Dimensions: 6X9
• Page Count: 288
• Purchase here