Revolutionary Magik

we are the people : magic is within us : the people hold the magic 🏴🏴🏴🏴🏴

[appropriation-free-witchery]

So we talk about sage a lot, but people don’t talk about sweetgrass a lot and I want to remind everyone that it’s also part of closed Indigenous practices

[mango-habanero-autism-deactivat]

What if I told you that “divine feminine energy” is in fact, not the opposite of hetero patriarchy, but is in fact an aspect of it?

[onna-musha]

“The women’s brigade of the Kagoshima Rebels in brave battle”, 1877, Chikanobu (1838-1912)

In 1877 Saigô Takamori led the Satsuma rebellion against the Meiji government. Some members of the samurai class were sympathetic to his cause because they feared the disappearance of their class and privileges at the hand of a regime trying to “modernize” Japan.

Women fought in this rebellion, such as Katamori’s daughter: Chikako. Here, the women of Kagoshima are fighting the imperial troops.

[hearthfire-heartfire]

Jomon revival: Interest in Japan’s indigenous hunter-gatherers grows

Modern reinterpretations of the wildly imaginative forms and designs seen in the era’s earthenware, tools and jewelry

YES YES YES YES YES

Japan is a colonized country. First by the Weijin, who set up an imperial system that still subsumes the Ainu and the Ryukuan people, then by the United States (do not @ me on this, they dismantled the government and set up a new one in the image of the US, currently retain land bases taken in WWII, squashed movements for self-determination like the nascent communist uprisings, and plundered our cultural treasures.)

But the Jomon people give us roots back to the earth and a way of life that is not “pre-civilized” but indigenous. I can feel that creative fire in my veins. This is for us, Nihonjin and Nikkei, unlike modern Japanese consumable culture.

[owlkeyme]

“Witches who don’t read carefully, critically or comprehensively are the worst kind of dangerous. Witches who DO read carefully, critically, and comprehensively are the best kind of dangerous.

Laura Tempest Zakroff (via owlkeyme)

[princessnijireiki]

“I remembered once, in Japan, having been to see the Gold Pavilion Temple in Kyoto and being mildly surprised at quite how well it had weathered the passage of time since it was first built in the fourteenth century. I was told it hadn’t weathered well at all, and had in fact been burnt to the ground twice in this century. “So it isn’t the original building?” I had asked my Japanese guide. “But yes, of course it is,” he insisted, rather surprised at my question. “But it’s been burnt down?” “Yes.” “Twice?” “Many times.” “And rebuilt.” “Of course. It is an important and historic building.” “With completely new materials.” “But of course. It was burnt down.” “So how can it be the same building?” “It is always the same building.” I had to admit to myself that this was in fact a perfectly rational point of view, it merely started from an unexpected premise. The idea of the building, the intention of it, its design, are all immutable and are the essence of the building. The intention of the original builders is what survived. The wood of which the design is constructed decays and is replaced when necessary. To be overly concerned with the original materials, which are merely sentimental souvenirs of the past, is to fail to see the living building itself.”

— Douglas Adams (via valarhalla)

[bisexualwario]

“theseus is a bitch” - douglas adams

[hearthfire-heartfire]

America is not the name of the land

America is the name of the colonizing force that took over this land. The land had so many names before America and it will have many names after.

When people say “death to America,” it carries with it the premise that America itself was birthed by white supremacist invaders and shaped in their interests. “Death to America” means the rebirth of Turtle Island.

[tea-and-antlers]

“Disappointingly dull”

 lol sorry NPR I didn’t realize Witches weren’t supposed to be in supermarkets.

[alexsantanana]

Trevor Paglen

They Watch the Moon

2010 

“Everything in the world–whether it’s a secret airplane or secret satellite–has to intersect the visible world at some point,” says Paglen. “With photographing the invisible, it’s about identifying where those boundaries and intersections may be.” Taking photographs of covert government institutions like the NSA and military bases may be Paglen’s way of highlighting that democracy is abstract, while invisible privacy invasion and mysterious organizations are concrete. Through exhausting research and patience (taking a photograph from many miles away is no easy task), Paglen finds those boundaries and intersections and makes them… beautiful. Or, at least, he makes extremely abstract concepts more digestible. His long-distance, blurry photos of secret military bases have been compared to impressionistic paintings.   - From the creators project (2013)

[afloweroutofstone]

“This photograph depicts a classified “listening station”deep in the forests of West Virginia. The station is located at the center of the “National Radio Quiet Zone,” a region of approximately 34,000 square kilometres in West Virginia and parts of Maryland. Within the Quiet Zone, radio transmissions are severely restricted: omnidirectional and high-powered transmissions (such as wireless internet devices and FM radio stations) are not permitted.

The listening station, which forms part of the global ECHELON system, was designed in part to take advantage of a phenomenon called “moonbounce.” Moonbounce involves capturing communications and telemetry signals from around the world as they escape into space, hit the moon, and are reflected back towards Earth.

The photograph is a long exposure under the full moon light.”

-Trevor Paglen’s website

[upthewitchypunx]

Out of curiosity... if not energy and intent, how do you think magic works?

I don’t know and I don’t really care to know. I just collect items and symbols and adjust as needed like I’m cooking to nudge things to a desired outcome. Sometimes spells tell me how to change them mid-spell. I’m agnostic, but a soft animist. I think we all live in carefully constructed realities that we may not even understand how we construct them. Our upbringing, our beliefs, or relationships with others all offer us different variables. Some of these are more vulnerable than others to change or be nudged. Then there are overarching structures to keep in mind like capitalism and racism and abelism and misogyny that we have little control over in large scale but can create spaces and little pockets where the pressure is less, where we can be just a bit more free, a bit more us. For some people, that’s enough to keep them safe or sane and I honor those space.

[upthewitchypunx]

I made a new thing! I just added it to the Etsy shop and will add it to the @portlandbuttonworks shop later tonight

https://www.etsy.com/listing/754762259/antifascist-witch-pinback-button

[upthewitchypunx]

Okay! I got it up on the regular Portland Button Works site too.

But the Etsy shop has them available for 1 or sets of 5, 10, or 20.

[upthewitchypunx]

FLASH SALE! This week I’m offering the stripped down version of my zine on exploring secular witchcraft for $5 postage paid in the US and $9 outside the US!

There’s no fancy binding or colorful inserts and it will not come with order tracking, but all the info is there. Maybe you have been wanting one for yourself or a friend?

Venmo: @portlandbuttonworks

cash app: $portlandbuttonworks

paypal: https://www.paypal.me/portlandbuttonworks

Please make sure to include the shipping address!

This zine is a not a how-to-witch zine. This zine is an issue of Brainscan that just happens to be about witchcraft told through my personal narrative.

In this zine I explore what witchcraft is, how I became interested in it, how I built my own practice as an agnostic secular witch and how that differs from a lot of contemporary witchcraft. I share a glimpse of what my personal practice as a non-pagan and non-Wiccan witch looks like.

I also examine my personal issues with modern pagan and witchcraft culture addressing things like  racism, cultural appropriation, colonialism, capitalism, the excessive gendering of all things. My politics are intersectional and so is my witchcraft.

[knuckle]

@white allies: because i see constant self-deprecation based on your whitness, here’s a detailed explanation of why it’s not helping us (or you).

if you continously go on about how horrible white people are, you may rot your own brain into thinking that these shortcomings are a natural state of being rather than a manufactured supremacist system which is simultaneously widespread, evil, and capable of being dismantled. 

recognizing that you have the same human compassion capabilities as everyone else, regardless of how alienated from them you have become, is the first step toward becoming a better person capabable of helping other people (of color).

don’t mirror the way that PoC talk about you as an oppressor class. the context is different, and the mindset that you develop from it is different.

don’t fall into a mindset where you (act as if you) are a morally compromised being for being white. the ultimate end of antiracism is to denaturalize racial hegemony, including virtuous moralization of the “oppressed”

evaluating your engagement in racism & the benefits you receive from white supremacy is only one piece of this process. the other piece is interacting with other people (of color) as if they are indeed the same species as you.

so instead of demoralizing yourself, look at your actions to determine if they are compassionate. academic stuff aside, this is often a good litmus test for racism; even the unintentional you will soon realize was often a failure to conceptualize how your actions would affect others- not a failure by some innate aspect of your race but by the normalized lack of consideration whiteness may afford you

[will-o-the-witch]

Fighting Consumerism in Magic

aka, little things to distance your craft from capitalism

Let’s all just admit that buying stuff is fun. That said, there’s a big issue of consumerism within the witchy/pagan scene. As magic work and the pagan “aesthetic” becomes more of a commodity in the mainstream, there’s a mounting attitude of needing All The Items in the highest quality (even if we’re not certain we’ll use them,) and big corporations mass-producing cheap stuff to make a buck off of a growing trend. Here’s some things you can do to help detach your practice from that and support other people in the craft:

Go outside. Check your backyard or local park for local plant life, waters, roots, etc. If your work involves things from nature at all, you can probably find a lot of your supplies… in nature. It takes a little more time, but it’s free and then you’ve gathered stuff yourself! 

Make stuff. This one is pretty straightforward. There may be key items to your practice that you can make yourself instead of buying it! That said, I know sometimes spending money is inevitable so I won’t dwell too much on this… let’s talk more about shopping:

Shop mindfully. The price of a lot of items will skyrocket once it has a pentacle or other symbol engraved on it. For example, little mortars and pestles can be very pricey in witchy shops, but you could probably get a bigger one that’s actually food safe for less at a nice grocery store. Antique stores and international markets are now your new best friends.

Support small businesses! Things are cheaper on Amazon, but the extra money goes to support real people, likely other practitioners. If you can, supporting small, local, independent shopkeepers and crafters does a ton of good. It also helps build and sustain a local community. 

Shop based on need. Don’t get something “just in case” (unless it’s banishing or hex breaking stuff; those are decent to have on hand.) It’s tempting to impulse-buy a ton of niche items and ingredients, but unless you have a reasonable idea what you’re going to use them for in the near future, it’ll probably just create clutter for you to deal with later.

Prioritize effectiveness over aesthetic. Ultimately your practice has to work for you, not just look good. I think making your work aesthetically pleasing to yourself can be an important part of really connecting with what you’re doing, but don’t make that desire burn a hole in your wallet and distract you from what brought you to this path in the first place. Altar envy is a real thing. 

Recycle/Upcycle. Use old clothing fabric for an altar cloth. That old trinket dish makes a great offering dish. Enchant jewelry you already own. That jar of strawberry jelly you just finished off will work just fine for that spell. Things can be re-purposed and made into new things.

Analyze your offerings. Special occasion wine isn’t a special occasion if you do it every time. Not every offering needs to be a grand gesture, regular maintenance is more important generally.

Organize trades. Have any pals that also practice? See if you can help each other! You could trade different goods (that old mini cauldron you bought and never used for that abandoned tarot deck, maybe?) but also services. A protection spell for a luck charm. A reading for a reading. You help them with the laundry and they cook you a meal one day. 

As always, the goal is to foster a local community of individuals doing honest work, and shedding the consumerist mindset society taught us to make us spend more money. Take up the idea that you can do magic completely on your own with what you already around you, and if you do want to spend money, see if you can do it in a way that helps the world a tiny bit.  :) 

[orriculum]

One thing that took me longer than it should have to understand was that the books you build your path on dont have to be solely from the occult section. Read history books. Read mythology books. Mycology. Mental health. Local botany. There are a lot of things that apply and are extensively written on – just not in occult books. Too often occult books just give a brief overview of these subjects, and you’re lucky if they include references.

[barefootonfirstsnow]

Chaotic bookstores are the most beautiful ✨

[ultraviolet-techno-ecology]

I’ve been talking a lot less about climate stuff on this blog lately because I’ve still been processing the destruction of my grandmothers house due to the terrible flooding that happened last summer.  I feel like I need to transfer my approach from a preventative emphasis toward an active disaster preparation and relief emphasis. However I’m not really sure how to approach that as a disabled individual due to the overwhelming idea among able bodied people that in disasters it’s “Natural” to expect people like me to simply perish, and that no preparation or considerations could ever change that… which is obviously bullshit for a variety of reasons. Yet we are fully getting into a swing of eugenics as a means to solve climate change, and many people still fully want people like myself to simply die so they are not asked to reconsider how their lifestyle may be contributing to climate change. 

[hearthfire-heartfire]

Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, Food Not Bombs, and street medics. You can get trained up. Please pm me if you need info. I might need a little lead time to investigate what’s available in your area, but if you contact me, I will do my best to either direct you to resources or direct resources to you.

[revolutionarymagik]

mutual aid disaster relief has a FB page, they are awesome folks who helped out an local org when we dealt with flooding this spring. if you're around texas or the gulf, BASH (bayou action street medics) are AMAZING ppl, they've facilitated our local street medic trainings the last couple of years and have a ton of info for SM groups around the country.