Book Review: So Potent Art: The Magic of Shakespeare by Emily Carding

Review: So Potent Art: The Magic of Shakespeare by Emily Carding

By Lisa May Enodia

There are a lot of books about Shakespeare, and there are a lot of books about magic, but Emily Carding’s So Potent Art: The Magic of Shakespeare does something rather special: it brings the two together in a way that feels both intelligent and alive.

This is not just a book about witches in Macbeth or fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Those familiar examples are here, of course, but Carding goes much further. The book explores the magical, occult and esoteric currents that run through Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets, including astrology, alchemy, Hermeticism, prophecy, herbalism, ghosts, witchcraft, divine intervention and the symbolic power of theatre itself.

What makes the book stand out is that Carding writes as someone who understands both Shakespeare and magic from the inside. They are not simply spotting occult references from a distance. They are an actor, theatre-maker, Shakespeare specialist and esoteric writer, and that combination matters. Shakespeare is approached not as a dead literary monument, but as living language - spoken, embodied, performed and charged with power.

For me, the great strength of the book is its range. Carding shows that Shakespeare’s world was not neatly divided into “literature” on one side and “magic” on the other. The early modern imagination was full of spirits, stars, omens, correspondences, planetary powers, sacred language, ghosts, fairies, divine order and dangerous transformation. So Potent Art helps the reader understand Shakespeare within that enchanted worldview.

This matters because modern readers often separate Shakespeare from the magical and religious atmosphere that shaped his work. We study the plays as literature, theatre or cultural history, but we can miss how deeply they are saturated with older ideas about the cosmos, nature, fate, spirit and language. Carding restores some of that atmosphere. The result is that the plays begin to glow differently.

One of the most valuable parts of the book is the way it treats Shakespeare’s magical material seriously without making exaggerated claims. The book does not reduce Shakespeare to a secret occultist, nor does it pretend that every line hides a coded ritual. Instead, it shows how magical and esoteric ideas were part of the intellectual, theatrical and imaginative world from which the plays emerged.

The sections on Hermeticism, astrology and alchemy are especially strong. Carding shows how these systems can help illuminate characters, plots and patterns within the plays. The result is not dry symbolism hunting, but a richer way of reading. Alchemical transformation, planetary influence and the balance of elements become ways of understanding Shakespeare’s people and worlds: kings, lovers, fools, spirits, tyrants, magicians and the lost.

Readers often find this aspect of the book fascinating because it makes Shakespeare feel newly alive. Plays that may have seemed familiar suddenly open into magical structures. The Tempest becomes not simply a play about Prospero and his island, but a meditation on art, command, spirit, reconciliation and power. Macbeth becomes more than a tragedy of ambition: it becomes a world of prophecy, moral infection, supernatural pressure and broken order. A Midsummer Night’s Dream becomes more than a comedy of lovers and fairies: it becomes a theatre of enchantment, desire, nature and transformation.

The book is also very good on the magical force of words. This is crucial. Shakespeare’s power has always lived in language, and Carding understands that words on a stage do things. They summon emotion, alter perception, shift identity and create worlds. In magical practice, words are also active. They bless, curse, invoke, bind, reveal and transform. So Potent Art sits right at that meeting point between theatre and spellcraft.

The discussion of sacred theatre space is another highlight. Carding explores the theatre not merely as a building where stories are shown, but as a charged space in which symbolic worlds are created. That is one of the most compelling ideas in the book. Theatre itself becomes liminal: a place where ordinary reality is suspended, where the dead speak, spirits appear, kings fall, lovers transform and language reshapes the world.

This is where the book feels particularly original. It does not treat Shakespeare’s magic as a decorative subject. It shows that performance itself has magical qualities. The actor steps into another identity. The audience agrees to enter another world. Words become flesh. Time bends. The invisible becomes visible. That is not just theatre theory - it is very close to ritual.

Another strength is that the book is practical as well as analytical. Carding includes exercises that invite readers to work with Shakespeare’s words and archetypal characters in magical and reflective ways. These are not there as gimmicks. They arise naturally from the argument of the book: if Shakespeare’s language is powerful, symbolic and transformative, then it can be engaged with intentionally.

That said, this is not a lightweight book. Some readers may find it dense in places, especially if they are not already familiar with Shakespeare or with occult philosophy. There are a lot of ideas moving through it: Renaissance magic, theatre history, Hermetic thought, elemental symbolism, astrology, alchemy, spirits, ghosts and poetic language. But that density is part of its value. It is a book with substance.

I also appreciate that it does not talk down to the reader. You do not need to be an academic to follow it, but you are expected to pay attention. The book respects Shakespeare, respects magic and respects the reader. That is rarer than it should be.

For lovers of Shakespeare, So Potent Art offers a new way of seeing the plays. For witches, occultists and magical practitioners, it offers a way into Shakespeare that is not merely literary, but experiential. For actors and theatre-makers, it gives language for something many performers already know instinctively: that theatre can be a threshold, and that words spoken with intention can change the room.

That, to me, is exactly what a book on Shakespeare and magic should do.

Shakespeare is not made smaller by being read through magic. He becomes larger. The plays do not lose their literary brilliance when viewed through astrology, alchemy, spirits and enchantment. They gain depth. They return to the charged world from which they came.

A practical point is also worth mentioning: compared with many specialist books on Shakespeare, theatre, occultism and esoteric history, So Potent Art is a very accessible and worthwhile purchase. It offers a substantial amount of material, careful thought and practical inspiration without feeling like an inaccessible academic volume. For readers building a library around magic, literature or sacred theatre, it earns its place.

In the end, So Potent Art is important because it reminds us that Shakespeare’s work was never merely words on a page. These plays were written to be spoken, embodied and witnessed. They belong to breath, gesture, voice, space and transformation. Carding understands that, and brings the magical dimensions of Shakespeare back into view with clarity and passion.

For anyone interested in Shakespeare - whether as a reader, actor, witch, occultist, teacher, student or lover of mythic language - this is a book that genuinely deserves attention. It does not claim that Shakespeare was only magical, but it shows convincingly that magic is woven through his world in ways we should not ignore.

Highly recommended if you want Shakespeare with enchantment, intelligence, theatre, depth and real magical substance.

Available from the usual online bookstores, your local bookshop, and as an eBook for convenience.