Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft

She’d tell her daughters someday: ‘If you don’t feel safe enough to yell back, you’re not safe enough. My babies, that is not love.

Every woman is never enough; she's always too much. We angered someone, somewhere, for our too muchness. If to be too much is to be a witch, then I am a witch, and we are all witches. I told this to the other girls, and I heard them all whisper back yes, because to be a witch means our too muchness serves a purpose: it gives us power.

There are too many people in this world who would rather see a woman burn than wield power.

If witchcraft is the voice of women rising free and powerful (to change the world, make it ours, on our feet instead of on our knees) then I wish to be a witch more than anything.

I understand now that magic is not for wickedness, not for the devil, not for those with cruel hearts. It's for hope. For survival. It thrives in the darkness not because it is dark in nature but because the fire shines brightest then.

The most terrifying thing in the world is a girl with power. That’s why they watch us burn.

The moon is full, and even the stars are scared of me.

Here's how to fulfill a prophecy: you are a woman, you speak the truth, and the world makes you into a liar.

You're only different until the day you're not.

Nothing is yours! The world wasn't made for you. The world was made.

Here’s how to fulfill a prophecy: you are a woman, you speak the truth, and the world makes you into a liar.

He can't fill the empty spaces in her because there are none.

It [the magic]’s there in the secret lives of girls, most of all. The way we smile and straighten our hair. We do magic every single day. We have to. Paint your nails silver and your heart sort of turns silver, too. Your claws and bones and teeth are steel.

This collection reveals a universal truth: there’s nothing more powerful than a teenage girl who believes in herself.

We'll all be wild together, you and me and the other girls. Just like this. We won't fear anything anymore, will we? We'll burn our path through the trees, wolves and witches and goddesses, and we'll make the world ours.

Every woman is never enough; she’s always too much. We angered someone, somewhere, for our too muchness. If to be too much is to be a witch, then I am a witch, and we are all witches.

There is no emptiness in a devoted heart.