Right now, in agricultural societies, land tenders are working late into the night to keep up with autumn's bounty. They use the moon as their lantern and helpmate, a seasonal torch intimately known to the reapers. In years past, the reaper's job was not purely physical, they were also agricultural mystics. In much of the Northern Hemisphere, farmers will harvest corn beneath September’s moon to feed their families, animals, and ancestors—the ghosts of seasons past.

To celebrate our third week of August’s Book Club, we’re casting spells. In a recent conversation, “What is a Spell?”, we mentioned that the witch's spell comes from the Germanic spel, defined by “talk, storytelling, gossip, and sermons. Spel is also a derivative of gospel, which translates to 'good tale.'” But a spell can also be a story, says Pointy Hat Press co-founder Kristin Lisenby, a story that takes on new viewpoints, new voices, and new meanings as we journey across the pages of our craft.

For the past several weeks, we’ve shared prompts and musings about desire, interchangeable identities, and the gardens of our hunger. We’ve been practicing bibliomancy, crafting visual spells from our favorite pieces of dialogue and prose, and now, it’s time to gather!