“Queer Qabala” is out TODAY!

Happy book birthday to Queer Qabala: Nonbinary, Genderfluid, Omnisexual Mysticism & Magick! As of today, the book is out, and you can find it all sorts of places online and IRL. If you can’t wait to get your hands on it but are short on funds or don’t like buying books, you can request it at your local library.

I started writing this book before I thought it was a book, back in early 2020. I wrote a series of posts on this blog examining each of the spheres on the Tree of Life and how to relate them to queer experiences, and created audio pathworkings to go with them. One of my mentors suggested I had the makings of a book, and when I added it all up, sure enough, I had about 17,000 words written between all the posts and pathworkings, and I was pretty confident I could expand that to over 50,000 words within a few months. And I did! The initial draft took about 6 months to write, and many more months to edit into something I was really proud of. Llewellyn was kind enough to accept my book proposal, and after lots of hard work with their stellar team of editors, designers, and marketers, the book became a reality. I still can’t quite believe it.

Ways to support the book

If you’ve been so kind as to buy or request the book at your local library, and still want to support it, here are some things you can do:

Celebration playlist

Leading up to today’s launch, I’ve been posting playlists for each of the spheres in the Tree of Life. To celebrate the launch, I’m releasing one mega-playlist that combines all the individual sphere playlists and adds a bunch of songs that fit the vibe of the book but didn’t fit in with the individual playlists. You can enjoy this playlist on YouTube and Spotify.

So what’s next? What now?

Well, I’m going to keep telling people about the book, and present workshops at conferences. Coming up, I’ll be a virtual speaker at the Goddess Conference in Glastonbury, England next month. And next year, I’m slated as a speaker at ConVocation in Detroit in February and Sacred Space/Between the Worlds in Baltimore in April.

I’ve also got some new projects in process that I can’t talk about yet. Stay tuned.

Acknowledgments

There are so many people who helped make this book a reality. These acknowledgments appear in the book:

The idea of queer Qabala abruptly and somewhat rudely knocked on my brain just after I’d finished creating and leading a year-long series of Qabala classes and rituals for my coven in 2017. I don’t remember the exact moment, but I remember ringing up one of my teachers, Ivo Dominguez Jr., saying, “I see a ton of queer stuff here—am I off base?” And he said no, I wasn’t. Encouraged by this, I continued to pull on that thread, and the more I did, the deeper I fell down this rabbit hole of “Wow, Qabala is actually super queer.” And now you have a book in your hands: the result of my obsession.

So I have Ivo to thank, not only for guiding me in my early Qabala studies and proctoring my work on Qabala, but also for encouraging me to continue this line of academic inquiry and write this book. Thank you, Ivo.

My friend Irene Glasse helped me stay accountable in working toward the goal of a finished book. For the much-needed structure, well-timed enthusiasm, and symbiotic partnership, thank you, Irene.

My partner, Niall Sheehan, supported me, encouraged me, and never doubted me once throughout this wacky process. Thank you, my love.

Misha Magdalene’s Outside the Charmed Circle was a huge influence on the thought process that brought me to write Queer Qabala, and I’m lucky enough to call Misha a friend as well. Many thanks, Misha: you gave me the courage to believe in myself and my message.

Ivo, Irene, and Misha were also beta readers of this book, along with Jeff Bleam. All of them helped make this book better, and I deeply appre- ciate their time and constructive feedback.

I learned so many things that informed this book from so many people, particularly those in my spiritual tradition, the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel. In addition to those named above, I particularly give thanks to Robin Fennelly, Michael Smith, Jon Beschen, Jim Welch, Mark Pemburn, Leanne Pemburn, Jim Dickinson, Monica Stanton, and Gwendolyn Reece.

To those whose written works helped crystalize my thoughts around queerness and magick, I give thanks: Meg-John Barker, Jules Scheele, Alex Iantaffi, Cassandra Snow, Lee Harrington, Rachel Pollack, and T. Thorn Coyle.

To those who have encouraged my writing along the way, I give thanks: My parents, Jane and Dick Larsen; Stephen Blackmoore; Chuck Wendig; Kevin Hearne; Courtney Weber; Barbara Campbell; Dr. Jessica Hebert; Sunnie Larsen; Alyssa Yeager; Anton Teach Blackthorn; Dr. Phoebe Hamilton; and Marnie Twigg.

Finally, many thanks to Llewellyn and my editor, Heather Greene, for taking a chance on this newbie author, and for helping to make this book the best it could be. Thanks, also, to Christopher Penczak for lending his time and talents to writing the foreword for this, my very first published book. I am honored and humbled.