Toil and Trouble

A Women's History of the Occult

By: Melanie R. Anderson, Lisa Kröger

Narrated by: Tegan Ashton Cohan

This celebration of forgotten magical women, from Salem to WitchTok, is a fascinating and empowering story for anyone interested in occultism or feminist history.

Meet the mystical women and nonbinary people from US history who found strength through the supernatural—and those who are still forging the way today. From the celebrity spirit mediums of the nineteenth century to contemporary activist witches hexing the patriarchy, women have long used magic and mysticism to seize the power they’re so often denied.

Organized around different approaches women have taken to the occult over the decades—using the supernatural for political gain, seeking fame and fortune as spiritual practitioners, embracing their witchy identities, and more—this book shines a light on underappreciated magical pioneers, including:

• Dion Fortune, who tried to marshal a magical army against Hitler;
• Bri Luna, the Hoodwitch, social media star and serious magical practitioner;
• Joan Quigley, personal psychic to Nancy Reagan;
• Marie Laveau, voodoo queen of New Orleans;
• Elvira, queer goth sex symbol who defied the Satanic Panic;
• and many more!

©2022 Lisa Kröger and Melanie R. Anderson (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

Fascinating and well-researched, but might be better in print

I loved this book overall! Some chapters definitely piqued my interest more than others, but on the whole it was very well researched and I learned a lot. I think I would’ve preferred this book in print rather than listening to the audiobook because there was so much information to take in and names that I wanted to research further, which is tricky when listening vs. reading for me.

Really good, just one little issue

Only issue I have is John Hathorne’s name was said as Hawthorne. It was said a few times and was the only thing that bothered me. Good overall though.

Great for Beginners!

I loved the message and I did learn quite a bit, but if this is already a special interest of yours, you might know a lot of the details in this! But hearing it twice is always good for memory.

Well Written and Researched

As a transwoman who worships as a pagan and whose girlfriend and mother are pagan and spiritual and someone who loves history I was happy to find a book that was so well written and gave a really well researched telling of the women who made Occultism and Spiritualism what it is today.