{"id":1950,"date":"2010-03-10T19:20:52","date_gmt":"2010-03-10T23:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2010-03-10T19:20:52","modified_gmt":"2010-03-10T23:20:52","slug":"10-questions-with-judika-illes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=1950","title":{"rendered":"10 Questions with Judika Illes"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. I’m sending you these questions right after you got back from the Sacred Space Conference in Maryland. How was the event?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was wonderful. I hope to return for next year\u2019s event. For those who are unfamiliar, Sacred Space presents an annual four day conference featuring diverse spiritual and metaphysical presenters, workshops, and rituals. Personally, I really enjoy lengthier, more relaxed events where people have time to socialize and exchange thoughts and experiences. Sacred Space has great vendors, great teachers, interesting people. And it was in a hotel! Four days in a hotel crowded with metaphysical people- it doesn\u2019t get much better!<\/p>\n

2. The other featured presenters were Christopher Penczak, Raven Grimassi, and Stephanie Taylor. I’ve interacted with Christopher a few times for The Magical Buffet and have always found him to be unreasonably nice. How was it to meet Raven Grimassi and Stephanie Taylor?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We had actually met before. I love their work and I love them. Raven, Stephanie, and I did an event together in Salem last October and will be reuniting this coming October for the Salem Witches\u2019 Halloween Ball, which I\u2019m really looking forward to. http:\/\/www.festivalofthedead.com\/witchesball\/<\/a><\/p>\n

But Sacred Space was the first time I had the opportunity to attend one of their workshops. Raven and Stephanie are great, insightful, and very interesting teachers\u2014very clear, very articulate and dynamic, and very generous with their wisdom.<\/p>\n

3. Okay, I’m dieing to talk about the encyclopedias! I own “The Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells” that you authored and it is behemoth! What made you decide that you could compile so much magical information into one gigantic tome?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Insanity? Neither the publisher nor I realized how large that book would turn out to be until we were already deeply committed to the project and it was essentially too late to turn back. Just prior to writing \u201cThe Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells\u201d, I had written a very lean book of spells, \u201cMagic When You Need It\u201d, which has one-hundred fifty spells. My publisher knew that I collected spells- I had boxes and boxes of notes- and asked whether I could write a massive compendium next, something like \u201cThe Joy of Cooking\u201d but for spell-casting rather than recipes. The publisher was playing around with numbers- could I write a book with one-thousand spells, three-thousand, five-thousand? At one point, we were up to ten thousand.<\/p>\n

In the beginning it was all very theoretical for me. I was asked, \u201cCould you write a book with five thousand spells?\u201d and I replied that theoretically we could do any number. Spells are infinite\u2014they\u2019re like grains of sand on the beach, stars in the sky. There\u2019s always another spell or another variation. Even though five thousand is definitely a lot of spells, it\u2019s still just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

Writing that book in some ways was a luxury for me. As an author, I\u2019m always conscious of the information that has to be left out because there isn\u2019t space to include everything. With 5000 Spells, I was able to include variations of spells, demonstrate the incredible variety of spells, trace the way some spells have evolved over time and through cultures, which, with a smaller book wouldn\u2019t have been possible.<\/p>\n

4. You also wrote “The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft” and “The Encyclopedia of Spirits”. Can you give us a rough idea of the process you use to compile so much information from varying sources into one cohesive reference book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Well, simply put, I work around the clock. I\u2019m very focused on whatever I\u2019m working on. It\u2019s complete immersion. When I was writing \u201cThe Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft\u201d, I didn\u2019t watch or read anything in my spare time that didn\u2019t involve a witch. Likewise with \u201cThe Encyclopedia of Spirits\u201d.<\/p>\n

In terms of selecting content, there are three components. Once a book is designated an \u201cencyclopedia\u201d it has to be comprehensive. It can\u2019t include only my favorite aspects of a topic. Certain things must be included. For example, you can\u2019t write an \u201cencyclopedia of witchcraft\u201d without including Gerald Gardner, Aleister Crowley, Harry Potter, and the witch hunts.<\/p>\n

Then I consider who or what should be better known: who are the unsung heroes of witchcraft, for instance, or what spirits aren\u2019t getting the press they deserve. For example, there\u2019s currently a very vital goddess tradition in Vietnam that not many Westerners are aware of\u2014I made sure to include those goddesses in \u201cThe Encyclopedia of Spirits\u201d. And then the third component evolves into a voyage of discovery for me. As you begin researching, one thing leads to another and you arrive at some very unexpected places. I learn something new with every book I write and I hope that my own enthusiasm and excitement translates into the pages.<\/p>\n

Each of my other encyclopedias, to some extent, derives from the experience of writing 5000 Spells. Although each book is a stand-alone, they also complement each other and serve as companion volumes. Spell-casting is more successful and more pleasurable if you understand all its components. Books by their nature offer only limited space. There are only so many pages. There\u2019s always more information that didn\u2019t fit or was discovered after the book went to print. So although my books are huge and packed with information, I\u2019m very conscious of what\u2019s not in the book, what information isn\u2019t discussed as fully as I would like. Those are things we can discuss more fully during my workshops but sometimes other books also create opportunities.<\/p>\n

I began writing \u201cThe Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft\u201d immediately after completing 5000 Spells. One of the things I really wished to expand upon was the magical nature of many plants incorporated into spell-casting. In 5000 Spells there wasn\u2019t always room to discuss in great detail why certain plants are used in certain spells, the significance of individual botanicals. One of the first sections of \u201cThe Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft\u201d that I wrote was a large section devoted to witchcraft-associated plants.<\/p>\n

Likewise with the Encyclopedia of Spirits: in 5000 Spells, spirits are constantly referenced. Those spells are easier to understand and accomplish if you really understand the nature of these spirits, if they\u2019re more than just names and superficial legends.<\/p>\n