I bought this book last year in distress when federal forces began their invasion of my city. Since then, I’ve found myself reaching for it much more frequently than I expected.
This book has helped me through tragedy, uncertainty, sickness, and discomfort. While, there are a few spells included, this book is best for using magic as a tool to help witches forge their own light to guide themselves out of darkness and reclaim their power despite it all.
This is a book I frequently recommend and loan to my friends 🖤
Book review
"Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change"
by Michael M. Hughes
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Excellent book if you want to combine political activism (of all kinds) with a bit of magic and don't know where to start. The author gives a lot of practical advice for both topics. In the beginning, he also dives into the history of magical activism, in the chapter "Witches and Occultists versus Kings and Nazis" and then talks about his experiences with binding Trump, a long-term spell work which grew into a larger community.
Another topic is Offensive and Defensive Magic and also "Magic Beyond the Altar". And how about covens and communities? There is a chapter about this, too and also some rituals especially designed for groups. A topic which often gets forgotten when talking about activism, is self-care and resilience and Michael M. Hughes writes about how important these are for activists.
In the last two chapters, preparations for rituals are described and spells for several matters, for instance "Black Lives Matter: Spell for Justice for a Victim of a Police Action", "Healing the Earth", "Hands Off, Laws Off: Hekate Invocation for Reproductive Rights", "Dance of Pan - LGBTQ* Protection", "Calling Bullshit" and more. The author points out that these spells can be adapted for several magical traditions and also for groups (like I mentioned, some examples for groups spells and rituals are included). There are some further reading suggestions and magical correspondences included.
This book has definitely been an inspiration for me, for magical activism, to go along with mundane action.
The website of the author: https://www.michaelmhughes.com/
We see tragedy play in out in forms on an increasing level every day. Here in the US, gun violence is terrorizing the streets at an alarming rate. An increasing amount of deaths due to inaction on political levels that could ease some of this are utterly ignored. In places like Venezuela and Catalan, we see people tiring of their leader’s injustice that plagues the poor. Here is where we search for reason during times of treason.
November marks the time where the northern hemisphere enters its stasis, where roots grow deep, and plants turn to hibernation, retreating inward from a physical death, in order to be reborn later. Like the plant and animal world, we take the same type of path, and enter a spiritual death as we look to the reigning All Father, who sits upon the cosmic throne with the great wise crone. We look to understand what was, as we reflect on our life, and the world that we reside.
Pain and grief tears at us, as we reflect on the souls we lost. Hope finds us amidst this crisis as the light within the darkness finds us once more, as we look back to the good times, in remembrance and awe. But to more, it is grief in the form of the unjust that rules the streets. The gods call to us, from the flames of the hearth, and the crows flying the earth.
Tyr’s Day is the Day of Justice
Tuesday is a day of justice. The Norse god Tyr rules the day. It is a time where we can seek justice for those that have been harmed. The scales can be tipped toward those that evade their debt.
Reflecting upon the previous cycle, from Samhain to Samhain, we see injustice growing to depths unseen in most of our current paths. Regression, in forms of civil liberties is taking root, growing stronger as blind followers remain aloof.
It is the witch’s duty to cast for those who cannot cast for themselves
The #MagicResistance is important in the political climate of the world. Those of us that cannot tip the scales on a national platform are called to do so in the realm of spirit and magick.
As we reflect, bare in mind, for the just and pure must snuff the evil flames that burn us to our core
Burn the power
Of those that make us cower,
Curse them from their thrones,
By the spirit and their bones,
So those that follow blindly
Will see the truth divinely.
Banish the evil to whence it came,
And bind it to its domain,
To never rule the lands again.
)O( Krowyn )O(
* Share or reblog as you will. These words/spells/sigils are my own unless otherwise credited, and if you wish to post or print on any other forum, please reach out to me. *
So as I've been playing, I have noticed that it is almost impossible to not hit a creature in D&D 5e, no matter what class or level you are. I understand that this is the point of the system's Bounded Accuracy where even lower level characters and wizards can hit a higher-level monster, and uses Hit Points as a scaling tool instead. I have always loved this idea because it makes it feel like you can beat anything if you are clever or careful enough.
However, in the case of much more powerful creatures, I think it might be useful to give them some sort of resistance against low-level characters. This would make it easier for a DM to keep a creature alive for plot reasons and allows players to feel advancement as they level up. So here is a little tweak I made which you can use as you wish.
Magic Item Requirement
Certain monsters already require magic or magic items to fight it and they just have resistance to non-magic weapons. For a high-damage barbarian, fighter, monk, ranger, or rogue, this is essentially an annoyance rather than a deterrent. Such a creature is meant to be difficult or tricky to fight without magic weapons, but instead only sets the player(s) back a few rounds.
Instead, give monsters immunity to weapons below a certain rarity. Save this for monsters that you might want players to run away from, or else creatures you might feel have some innate magical resistance, like incorporeal undead or powerful monstrosities. I might even suggest giving ones with rarer item requirements resistance to magic items and immunity to nonmagic ones. Something like this:
Monsters CR 10-12:
Immunities: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
Resistances: damage from magic items or magic weapons of Common and Uncommon quality.
Monsters CR 13-16:
Immunities: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
Resistances: damage from magic items or magic weapons of Common, Uncommon, and Rare quality.
Monsters CR 17-20:
Immunities: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
Resistances: damage from magic items or magic weapons of Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare quality.
Incorporeal Monsters:
Immunities: bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical attacks.
The idea is reminiscent of 3.5e's Damage Reduction, where only certain weapons could harm a creature unless the attacker hit very, very hard (often needing to deal over 10 or over 15 just to deal more than 1 damage!)
This is just a rough idea and I definitely wouldn't use this for every single creature unless your campaign is just riddled with magic items.
Witches of The Resistance preparing for tonight's mass spell against Trump. At midnight, witches around the world will be casting a binding spell against Trump. Spell casting will continue every waning crescent moon until Trump is removed from office.
More photos: Trump Resistance, Witchcraft, The Occult
