From an award-winning artist, a beautifully mysterious guide to conducting seances and communing with the spirits in our conscious and unconscious lives.

As long as people have lived, they have longed for wisdom and comfort from those who have died. In The Book of Séances, artist, author, and witch Claire Goodchild takes readers on a journey through the historical landscape of spiritualism and guides questers through safe practices for cultivating a connection with the other side.

The Book of Séances details the four types of spiritual encounters, teaches us how to protect ourselves, and breaks down the different tools -- from spirit boards and tarot to dominoes and charms -- that are essential for opening a bridge to the afterlife. Whether conducting solitary or group séances, this book offers a way to safely glimpse beyond the veil.

Through her evocative writing and singular art, Claire provides a comprehensive history of the séance, alongside an immersive guide to accessing and communing with the spirit world. The Book of Séances provides hauntingly lovely signposts into our own personal mythology as revealed through our conscious and unconscious lives.

Claire Goodchild's profile page

Claire Goodchild is an award-winning artist, photographer, designer and writer from Toronto, Canada. She created the wildly popular tarot deck, The Antique Anatomy Tarot, published in 2019 by Quarto UK and Abrams Books, that features antique medical images, and she was the first person to create an Astrology themed tarot deck called the Arcana of Astrology which was published in 2020 by Abrams Books.

"Goodchild's impressive variety of divination techniques that encompass the common and obscure, paired with straightforward instructions for interpretation and execution, makes for a bountiful volume that practitioners will find easy to follow and customize. Readers of the occult will want to check this out."—Publishers Weekly

“Anyone with a curiosity about the various techniques of communicating with and invoking extra-sensory energy will learn the history, protocol and practices through this helpful guide…. one does not need to intend to perform the practices to read Goodchild.”—New York Post