Authors' 2025 Plans: Dawn Leith Dougherty

I’m interviewing authors on what books they have coming out this year, and their other plans. Here I talk to ordained priest, incense maker, and author Dawn Leith Dougherty about her writing and work.

Q: What book have you got coming out in 2025? 

A: My first book, Sage Advice, A Practical Guide To Energetic Smoke Cleansing and House Blessing, will be out end of summer, early fall 2025. 

Q: What’s it about? 

Sage Advice was written to answer a myriad questions I have received over the years from customers, and expounded upon with more details about specific herbs and resins properties and uses, the cultures and traditions from which these may have originated, and helpful information about smoke cleansing processes and rituals, as well as recipes with charms, and encouragement to blend your own. I have written this book from a practical and non-culturally appropriative perspective, to appeal to a broad range of people and their spiritual practices, while including information from and honoring other cultures’ traditions. From the book description:  

“Sage Advice is a fun and practical approach to energetic smoke cleansing for your home and sacred space! Many plants and tree resins have properties that you can use and blend with others to create a beautiful smoke bath, potpourri, or for use in your spiritual observances. Learn how you can incorporate loose herbs and resins into your daily life to create beautiful and healing incense to enhance your energetic hygiene for your body, mind, and home. Sage Advice offers simple, everyday practices which people of all ages, cultures, and spiritual paths can adopt. Learn the reasons for energetic smudging, and have a greater understanding of how this practice can affect your home and personal space, and how to make it an easy, but important part of your journey on this beautiful planet we call home.”

Q: What event or events are you planning around the launch? 

Plans for the book launch haven’t been fleshed out quite yet. I do hope to have some book signings and possibly incense workshops lined up for this time, at some of the local metaphysical bookshops, and possibly at a fall festival event we will be doing. I will be working on this as the year progresses and hope to have some fun things lined up. 

Q: What are you currently working on? 

Currently, I am working on developing more incense blends to sell in our (my husband and I) shop, Tree Of Life Designs. My husband makes Native American style flutes, wooden pendulums, and incense burning bowls, and I create my incense blends and feather fans we sell. 

I am also a vocalist in a local Black Sabbath cover band, and in a musical/theater troupe who perform occasionally locally. We are currently developing projects for our troupe, as we are only a couple years old. I am also a belly dancer in a Shimmy Mob troupe (which raises $$ for and awareness of domestic abuse), and will be dancing on World Bellydance Day in a “flash mob” type dance. I am a Reiki master teacher, and ordained priest in the Order Of Melchizedek, and wish to explore more how I can help others in the years to come, and do more in this area.

Sage Advice is published by Moon Books, you can pre-order it here: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/our-books/pagan-portals-sage-advice

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