Political Witchcraft Primer
Y’all, let’s face it. There are a lot of terrible things happening in a lot of terrible places. Sometimes it feels like everything is shitty and there’s nothing we can do about it. But then a few of us remember that we’re witches and feel called to act magically.
Political Witchcraft, for the purposes of this post, is about that call. It’s about magic for a cause. Which causes are up to the individual witch, who may take on as many or as few as they desire or can handle.
Typically political witchcraft manifests itself in the form of curses and hexes on the opposing side, and while that is definitely a practice that has its place, I wanted to make this post to broaden the scope a little. Because while I’m the last person to curse shame anyone, I also think that it’s not always the most effective route for change, and can in fact, make things worse than they were before you got there.
So what else is there to consider? Here are a few ideas to get you started.
SUPPORT THEIR EFFORTS: The first place I would look is to the already established movement behind whatever cause or goal you’re supporting. Take the time to do a little research into whatever issue you’re going to be casting into. Primarily what you’re looking to find are their needs and objectives.
For example: let’s say you want to abolish the death penalty. You could do a ritual or spell with that purpose in mind, and that would be great! But you might find more rewards and results in taking more focused action. A quick google search shows that there are several organizations that dedicate time to ending the death penalty, and one thing they all do is work on a case by case basis.
Some organizations fight for a stay of execution, while others, like the Innocence Project work to exonerate those wrongly convicted, reform the system so that fewer innocent people are wrongly convicted to start with, and they also provide support to those who have been exonerated, all of which might be of interest to your cause.
Remember, oftentimes it’s not just about the end game issue. You might be fighting for a single issue, but in order to achieve that, the people doing the work may need office supplies, the children of the community may need food, the families may need shelter…It’s not just a single issue, it’s a web, and the more spots on the web you find to strengthen with magic, the stronger it will be.
And of course, most movements need volunteers and boots on the ground, which leads to…
SUPPORT YOUR ACTIVISM: Another option is to use magic to support your own work within the cause. If you’re calling your legislators, for instance, you might want to add a bit of magical oomph to your words so that they’ll be heard and followed.
(The same goes if you’re writing letters, although please don’t do something like, obviously dust your paper with a magical powder! We are living in a post-anthrax world, and sending powders to the government is going to likely be seen as an attack. You’re trying to fight for change, not get yourself arrested!)
Volunteering in the movement will give you the ability to have a hands-on approach through “mundane” efforts, but also give you a greater understanding of what actually needs to be done to achieve your goals, and will better prepare you to use magic for them.
I have nothing against throwing down some curses when needed, but I’ve found this tends to be the default action in political witchcraft, even when it’s not the wisest or most effective choice.
For example, let’s say you put a certain police force in a hot and sour jar and shake it up every time there’s a protest or riot, because fuck the police. That might make you feel better, but is it helping? I think that agitating an already tense or violent situation can cause even more issues.
I would look to something like a binding in that case, not because curses are bad and you should feel bad, but because riling up the people with the guns who are hostile toward the crowd they’re facing doesn’t seem like the recipe for a happy ending.
Which isn’t to say that such magic doesn’t have its place, but in political witchcraft you need to make sure your efforts are lining up with your goals. That’s the point.
If you don’t have a lot of time to devote to figuring out where to start, but you still want to help, here are three pretty universal areas each causes needs help with:
MONEY: I can’t think of a single cause I support that doesn’t need more money. Doing magical work to help support an organization’s finances is almost always going to be a helpful thing. You can do prosperity work for them, or even enchant your own donation to draw more in kind for them.
SUPPORT: Activism, quite frankly, is tiring, and sometimes even dangerous. Magical work to help fight against burnout, bringing in more people to share the work and burdens, and generally boosting the efforts of the people who are fighting the good fight is basically an area where you can’t go wrong. And if the volunteers and workers are in danger, protection magic might be called for.
ATTENTION: This is a big one, and a lot of us here on tumblr see how hard it is to get attention from the public or the mainstream media for the issues that matter to us. Well, doing magic to bring the issue to the forefront, to bring attention to the people who are working for your cause and their efforts, and getting people involved and engaged is usually a good place to focus your work.
Positive stories for the organizations and activists (or even negative press for their opponents), getting their proposals seen by influential figures, spreading the word that they even exist…these are all things a lot of issues and the people who fight for them need.
The more you get involved, the more ways you’re likely to find to help, but hopefully this is going to be helpful for people trying to get started or trying to achieve more focused results in their work!
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