Letting Magic In

A Memoir of Becoming

By: Maia Toll

Narrated by: Maria Liatis

Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

From Maia Toll, the best-selling author of the Wild Wisdom series and The Night School, comes the enchanted story of her own magical awakening, a journey from Brooklyn to Ireland that will inspire listeners to uncover their own inner magic.

What is the word for craving a relationship with the earth, plants, rocks, and stars? What do you call someone who finds their spirit sparked by these relationships; whose concept of the sacred is altered by the scent of jasmine in bloom or the deep indigo of a sky awaiting nightfall? We’re taught that doctors know our bodies and priests know our souls. But what if you’re a person seeking to understand both for yourself without an intermediary? What is the word for these feelings and the person we become when we honor them?

For writer Maia Toll, that word is magic. Magic points to something intrinsic to, and necessary for, the wholeness of the human spirit. It’s a marker for the gnawing craving for a connection which includes, but also stretches beyond, the human realm. The exploration of this word was part of her search for both personal empowerment and a sense of cosmic connectedness, the yin and yang of our lives.

In Letting Magic In Maia shares the story of her own magical becoming—from the untimely death of a friend that leads her to abandon Brooklyn in favor of the small town of Beacon, NY, to taking a yearlong sabbatical of exploration, and finally to Ireland, where she studied under an herbalist and learned the true magic of listening to the earth itself.

This book is the story of one woman's becoming—the story of pushing past the boundaries of what once seemed possible to discover the extraordinary all around us. In it Maia shares how she learned to let magic in so she could live the life she longed for—one filled with curiosity, connection, and the deepest kind of inner knowing. In this soulfully written recollection—peppered throughout with magical learnings and rituals gathered along the way—Maia uncovers the things that change you in unexpected ways and guide you to become the person you never knew you wanted to be, but perhaps, always were.

This she could call magic.

And through Letting Magic In you will gain the courage and the wisdom to find your own.

©2023 Maia Toll (P)2023 Running Press Adult

Critic reviews

"Maia Toll has opened her heart to us all and we find inside magic, wonder, honesty and love. So much love. She’s both teacher and student, and through her we learn that a magical life isn’t about the destination. It’s about the journey. Letting Magic In is about the nurturing and life-changing lessons we can learn when we have the courage to change our narrative from 'What is possible?' to 'Everything is possible.' A must-read for the soul searcher, the magic seeker and anyone who just loves a story well told.”—Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author

"Every sentence, every page, every chapter of this book shines as a singular star. This alone is a boon for the reader. The real gift though, of Letting Magic In, is the way Toll brings them all together in the end—a constellation of light from seemingly separate stars, a path forward for any and all of us who are willing to step out of our ordinary (and often disconnected lives) and into the web that is magical living."—Steph Jagger, author of Unbound and Everything Left to Remember

"At last! A memoir for those of us who sense that there is far more to our existence than what’s immediately before us . . . a wide-open place of wonder and mystery, of synchronicity and interconnection. Maia Toll chronicles her first steps into this world, which we can follow like a roadmap until we, too, emerge as mystics in our own right."—Barbara Becker, author of Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind

Like I was listening to my own story

Beautifully written. So much of the author’s experience I resonate deeply with. The narrator did very well but didn’t pronounce some of the yogic terms correctly.

Fascinating and Approachable

This was a joy to listen to. It feels as though a friend is telling me themselves.

For those seeking an inspired journey

I love all of Maia Toll’s writing, and was delighted to listen to her poetic prose, that transforms regular life into a masterful reflective journey.

Kept waiting for the payoff

A mediocre memoir of a woman becoming more aware of energy and her intuition. Just OK. Uneven story, with whole swaths of too much detail, then not enough. She needed a better editor on this.

True to life disjointed storyline

It took a lot of patience to finish this. The ending, maybe the last hour or so was the most captivating.