A Love of Witches

by Elisa Hordon

Hocus Pocus, Abracadabra, Expelliarmus...from Shakespeare to Harry Potter and beyond a mystical world of witches, fantasy and wonder.

My life has always been me with my head in a book, and yes, most of the time those books involve fantasy, supernatural and mysterious wonder, make believe worlds full of witches, dragons and more.

Now books with witches are what I'm focusing on here even though I love everything supernatural, fantasy, and sci- fi, trying to write about all of that in one blog post would take forever. I have read a lot of books about witches, so if I miss some it's generally not because I have not read them but because I have read so many I sometimes forget a few, so please list more witchy books in the comments just in case there are some I have not read yet. I am always interested in more books.

It all started with the Wizard of Oz; those books were a jump start into my own world of fantasy. Next came Narnia - that magical wonderful world where you step through a wardrobe and become a king or queen of a beautiful mystical world. It was followed by Roald Dahl's The Witches, Shakespeare's Macbeth, Homer's Odyssey where Circe the Greek Goddess of magic lures Odysseus away from his quest. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmerman Bradly about Arthurian times with Merlin and Morgan LeFay, the Beauchamp witches from The Witches of East End by Melissa De La Cruz, Bonnie Bennett from The Vampire Diaries, Millie and Pamela from Shannon Mayer's Rylee Adamson series, and The Blood Borne series by Denise Grover Swank and Shannon Mayer: all of these magical books paved my love of everything witchy and some of them have also been made into awesome movies and TV shows to bring the magic even more to life.

Cozy Mystery Witches

More recently I have found a love of cozy mystery books that center around witches, some of these include funny witch families and even whole magical towns, some where magic is known and practiced openly and some where it is used in secret. My all time favorite is Amanda M Lee's Wicked Witches of the Midwest, This series centers around a fictional town of Hemlock Cove and the hilarious Winchester Witches, namely the youngest generation Bay, Thistle and Clover Winchester and the antics they get up to around town helping solve murder and mysteries with their special gifts and sarcastic humor and, of course, their Aunty Tillie. No mention of this series is complete without Aunty Tillie.

Mindy Klasky writes the Jane Maddison series. Jane is new to the craft, and her stories are wonderfully funny to read as Jane learns her way around her new magical world.

The Magic and Mixology series by Gina LaManna is a delightful read featuring a witch, a blood intolerant vampire and a shifter who has trouble shifting and there is the rest of Lily Locke's family. This series is set on a magical island and you are transported to this magical island as you read.

Jollie Wilkins series by H.P Mallory is a great magical adventure, The Easy Bake Coven series by Liz Schulte is highly entertaining. Bailey Cates's Magical Bakery series is a good fun read.

Rose Pressey writes a lot of different series: some are supernatural, some are just great mysteries. Her Halloween Laveau series is my favorite and not just because it centers around witches and is set in my favorite place, New Orleans, but it is a really funny series with great characters.

An all-time favorite author of mine is Deanna Chase. I am a huge fan of everything she writes, but my first love will always be her Jade Calhoun series. Jade is just awesome; she kicks butt on a regular basis. Jade has style and her own flare, and she has awesome friends as well.

Camilla Chafer wrote the Stella Mayweather series. There are 5 awesome books in this magical series and each one is more awesome than the next.

Leighann Dobbs's Blackmore Sisters series about 4 sisters who work together as a family to solve magical mysteries is a great cozy favorite of mine. Dakota Kassidy's Witchless in Seattle series is just plain hilarious: Stevie is awesome.

Janet Evanovich is known for her hilarious Stephanie Plum series, but my favorite series of hers is Lizzy and Deisel. This series is pure magical fun from start to finish; each book is just awesome.

Larsen Quick and her Mayhem Sisters series is highly enjoyable in a supernatural magical way. J,A Whiting writes the Sweet Cove Mysteries which I love not just for the magical mystery side but the recipes included in this series are just wonderful. Adele Abbott's Witch P.I series is laugh out loud funny and a great blend of supernatural and normal worlds.

Supernatural Mysteries

Moving away from the cozy mysteries and into more full-on supernatural mysteries...

Misty Evans writes amazing romantic suspense thrillers but she also writes the amazing Witches Anonymous series. Amy Atwood is trying to not use magic. The problem is she has a penchant for getting into magical trouble, and it probably is not a good thing that Lucifer himself is her boyfriend or maybe ex-boyfriend. This series is full of magical hijinks.

I can't talk about witches without mentioning Harry Potter. I mean, seriously, if we are talking awesome magical books this series has to be right up there for fantastical, magical adventure. I cannot tell how many times I have read these books, listened to the audio books and watched the movies. Harry Potter really is the ultimate in witchy books about magical, mysterious people and places.

Witches in Movies

Witches on the big screen generally come from the books I've read. The Wizard of Oz is always a classic movie. Practical Magic, what can I say, this is one time when I prefered the movie to the book. Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Diane Weist and Stockard Channing are all just amazing. Hocus Pocus is a funny witchy comedy with the always brilliant Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathi Najimny. Oh and The Witches of Eastwick with Cher, Michelle Pfifer, Susan Sarandon and Jack Nicolson, Harry Potter is an awesome set of movies, and even though the books were way better, I still enjoyed the movies. The Craft is an interesting 90's take on witchcraft.

Witches on TV

Now we move into TV and my favourite all time TV show: Charmed. Three sisters who learn they are witches with magical powers and how they deal with deamons on a daily basis, this series also has books availiable but they came after the TV show. There is also a graphic novel collection that took off where the show ended after 8 successful seasons. Bewitched, now there was a classic TV show about witches, so funny and awesome at the same time. Sabrina the Teenage Witch based on the character from the Archie comics.

These are just some of my favourites featuring witches on the screen as well as in books.


A few of my favourite quotes:

"A Heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others." ~ The Wizard of Oz

"Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia." ~ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

"Stars hide your fires, let not light see your deep dark desires." ~ Macbeth

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." ~ Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban


Song of the witches from Macbeth:

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

Elisa Hordon, reviewer. Elisa lives in the Southern Highlands of NSW, Australia where she spends her days reading, journaling, painting, cooking and homeschooling her daughter. She has always been an avid reader, Elisa loves reading many genres of books except horror; her favourite genres would be mystery, romance, and paranormal. Elisa also loves pursuing many creative outlets if she is not relaxing with a book she can be found writing, sketching, painting or cooking. Elisa loves to share her obsession with books especially with her family and friends. Reading and reviewing books is a favourite pastime of Elisa’s.

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