For serious readers and dabblers alike, the acclaimed author of the Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells offers the essential book for working with supernatural beings

Spirits permeate our culture. We flatter a woman by calling her a goddess, a man by calling him an “Adonis.” Describe being stuck in an elevator as “hell,” and you’ve just evoked Hel, the Norse guardian of the realm of death. “Nemesis” is named for the Greek goddess of justice and vengeance. An aphrodisiac evokes the power of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and sex. And “frickin’” is not a substitute for a stronger obscenity, it’s the name of another Norse goddess spelled Frika.