Lisa is always interested in sharing her practical view about spirituality, cyber community, and witchcraft and has presented a variety of workshops on these topics over the years. She can be reached through the Contact page on this website. If recordings of her appearances are available to the public, they are linked below.
Appearances and Workshops
WitchesFest USA 2023, July 7th through 9th. I’m presenting on two topics, livestreamed. Time TBD, but early bird tickets are available (and it’s a FANTASTIC lineup of presenters!)
WORKSHOP: Have Charm, Will Travel: Travel Magic as the World Opens Up
Travel is exciting and daunting, all the more so as the world opens up. Travel connects us and opens us to the larger world, allowing for the sacred to wander in and change our lives. We, as sacred beings, can use our innate power to make creative connections using the tools and techniques we have long had available to us in our environment. Join Lisa McSherry, author of Travel Magic (publishing soon!), as she discusses how to make our travel magical. From divination to talking to Deities, portable altars to offerings, this interactive workshop will cover all the things we can do to make our travel experiences amazing.
WORKSHOP: Am I Doing this Right? Creating a Spiritual Practice that Works for You!
Many newcomers to alternative spirituality are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information about “How” to be spiritual beings. We’re offered psychological constructs, theological frameworks, lists of “must-dos,” and tons of memes that simplify everything to the point of irrelevance. All of that “noise” distracts from the fact that creating one’s own spiritual practice is a journey that may take a lifetime to explore but provides a rich spiritual bounty for its engagement. This is an interactive workshop looking at four core practices for any newcomer that will get them started on the journey. While Lisa’s background and magical framework are that of witchcraft, the practices she discusses transcend that framework.
Edinburgh University Occult Society, May 6, 2023, time TBD. I’ll be speaking with a mixed group of students about predators in our communities — recognizing their tactics and strategies for managing them. We’ll also be looking at ways to build community so as to keep the predators away.
Scottish Goddess Conference, September 13th through 17th, time TBD. This year’s theme is “Oracles of the Divine” and there is an impressive group of speakers. (Early bird tickets available.)
Opening to the Oracular: Divination for the Newcomer with Lisa McSherry
When oracular information comes, it may be difficult to understand what you are being told when you are just starting on a spiritual path. In this discussion-based workshop, we’ll look at different forms of divination and how they can be incorporated into daily life. Achieving the necessary trance state takes practice, and we’ll discuss various ways to find the quiet and sacred space to make it happen more easily. We’ll also look at how (and when) you might want to invite various Powers – Elementals and Deities – to your divination work. This workshop aims for practical rather than theoretical or historical, so come prepared to do divination!
Changing Times, Changing World Conference, November 12 and 13, 2022, “Magical Group Dynamics: Working Together” and “Panel: Who Are We?” with Oberon G’Zell, Sara Mastros, and Tchipakkan. Access available on YouTube for a small fee.
LlewellynCon – June 23rd, 2022, The Imposter Witch: How to Correctly Build Your Practice” (link opens to Yutube channel of the talk)
Interviews
ev0ke Magazine, August 2022.
Podcasts
(Upcoming)
Desperate Housewitches (live!) with Raina Starr, November 16, 2023
(Previously Broadcast)
Ed Talks with Lisa McSherry on PaganWorld TV. March 16, 2023
Circle Talk (live!) with Rev. Debra Rose, broadcast January 17, 2023
The Liberated Healer with Gina Cavalier January 10, 2023
WitchLit with Victoria Raschke, broadcast December 28, 2022
Witch Wavelength with Sheena Cundy, broadcast November 16, 2022
Boundless Authenticity, with Jehan Sattur, recorded November 14, 2022
Stirring the Cauldron (live!) with Marla Brooks, broadcast November 3, 2022
Millennial Pagans with Autumn, broadcast October 28, 2022
Desperate Housewitches (live!) with Raina Starr, broadcast October 27, 2022
Truth Be Told with Bonnie Burkert, October 26, 2022
The Wheel with Hazel Sargent, broadcast October 24, 2022
Mysteries & Monsters with Paul Bestall, broadcast October 3, 2022
The Witching Hour with Patti Negri, broadcast September 19, 2022
Endless Thread podcast, broadcast May 13, 2022, “Cyberwitches: From Zoom rituals to casting spells with emojis”
Typical Workshop Presentations
Conflict, Change, and Creating Community — Community is built from groups and the certain knowledge that conflict is not only certain, but survivable. A healthy group is never stable. It is always changing, growing, re-forming. It cycles from birth, through growth, transformation, stability, then re-formation. It may be in several stages all at once, growing and transforming, stabilizing and growing both. This workshop looks at how to confront conflict and change to bring about community within one’s group.
Cyber Magic and Online Ritual — with other members of my coven I have been doing ritual and magic online since 2000. In this workshop we will look at the difference between physical and virtual ritual including the typical issues and problems with each. Includes a discussion of how to create great cyber ritual.
Discernment and Intent in Crafting a Spiritual Practice — Witchcraft and paganism explicitly offer a place to create a unique spiritual practice with an abundance of potential teachers in a variety of mediums from one on one teaching in a traditional manner to learn as you go with social media videos and books. Each has its positive and negative aspects but all rely on the learner to do the work. For a newcomer, deciding what makes a practice useful relies on their ability to discern its value when obscured by the gadfly of overwhelming variety. This workshop looks at strategies for researching, validating, and using practices that suit an individual spiritual journey.
Three Building Blocks for Creating a Spiritual Practice — Newcomers to alternative spirituality are often overwhelmed by the amount of information available. Discerning the valuable from the dross can be daunting. This workshop offers three foundational practices from which to build a spiritual practice that supports and nurtures your individual needs.
Magical Group Dynamics: Structures and Options — While most magical groups operate within one structure, there are other options. Choosing a group’s structure at the outset can have profound effects on the overall dynamics and long-term stability of the groups. This discussion will touch on the most common structures, their pros and cons, and how your group might shift to a new structure safely.
Magical Group Dynamics: Working Together — A magical group is no stranger to all the energies that arise when people from different backgrounds, holding different points of view, try to get together. Always easy to see when there are problems, the dynamics are happening all the time in a somewhat cyclical fashion. Every group has a natural cycle of evolution, from the time of its formation, dipping in and out, backwards and forwards into various stages, until it arrives (inevitably) at its end. This workshop is a brief look at each stage of the cycle with ways to recognize where your group is at, as well as strategies for coping with the issues typically encountered at each level.
Online Magical Community: A Look Back at 25 Years — At the turn of the century pagans found a new place to share, grow, and work magic. Twenty-five years later many things have changed, some for the better. The last years of lock-down introduced many former skeptics to virtual magic and ritual, bringing a new awareness about the power of the internet. A discussion of cyberspace, virtual community, and the power of online magic.
Pagan Predators — While Pagans are not the only spiritual group with predators, we do face some unique challenges in identifying and punishing perpetrators. This is a workshop where we talk about the problems we encounter as a community and how we might address the issues to create a healthy, safe community.
Don’t feel constrained by these topics! Lisa is always happy to work with you to craft the discussion that would best serve your group.
Videos
(new content coming in 2023)
Downloadable Material
— Pictures (coming)