#magicresistance

[babylon-crashing]

Q: How do I sell my soul, and how do I learn magick?

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.” ~ Walt Whitman

I use to say, “it’s impossible to sell your soul, regardless of how badly you want wealth and fame,” but the responses I’d get would be, “but it *has* to be! unless Christianity has been lying to me all this time.”[1]; then I use to say, “souls are a dime a dozen, everyone has one, why would anyone want yours?” and the response was generally, “but it’s all I have.”[2]

So, here’s my new approach, in exchange for learning magic I want you to devote your time and energy in taking down Trump, MAGA, the Pro-Life movement and the Republican Party. Magic to fight tyranny involves a practice known as #MagicResistance, which uses rituals, spells and prayers to impede oppressive political movements and authoritarian figures. These workings are viewed by many as a form of spiritual self-defense or a way to administer social justice when mundane legal systems fail.

Here’s your first lesson and it involve something near and dear to my heart, Reproductive Rights Protection:

The Reproductive Rights Protection ritual, titled "Hands Off, Laws Off: Hekate Invocation for Reproductive Rights," is a specialized magical working designed to protect bodily autonomy and safeguard women's health clinics and providers. )(*)( Purpose and Intent This spell is used to defend the right to choose and to target specific politicians, judges, or preachers who lead initiatives to restrict reproductive freedoms. The ritual uses sympathetic magic to overpower these figures with the practitioner's own personal and power. )(*)( Timing and Environment Time of Day: The ritual must be performed at night, never during the day. Specific Windows: Ideal times include during the full moon, in direct response to anti-choice legislation, or specifically during the practitioner’s menstrual cycle (if you have one). )(*)( Required Components Red Candle: Inscribed with "Hands off" on one side and "Laws off" on the reverse using a pin or nail. Anointing Substance: A tiny amount of menstrual blood is preferred for its extreme potency, symbolizing the source of life and power; if unavailable, consecrated olive oil is an acceptable substitute. Target Representation: A photograph, name paper, or printed corporate logo of the opposing politician or organization. Incense: Charcoal with bay leaves and myrrh. Tools: A cauldron or ashtray for burning paper and a piece of red cloth. )(*)( Ritual Procedure Preparation and Anointing: At your altar, dress the inscribed red candle with the blood or oil. While doing so, visualize your personal power transferring into the wax and whisper: "My blood, my life, my power". Targeting: Dab a small amount of the fluid onto the photo or name paper of the target. This act is intended to feel like your energy is overpowering the target. Opening: Place the candle on the altar with the target paper in front of it. Light the charcoal and the candle, then perform a centering ritual to focus your intent. Invocations to Hekate: Petition Hekate of the Crossroads, the "Queen of the starry cosmos" and "Guardian of the realms of the dead". Offer the bay leaves and myrrh to the charcoal as an offering for her protection. The Declaration: Hold the target paper in your left hand at eye level and recite a passionate declaration of sovereignty. Phrases include: "Keep your hands off my body / Keep your laws off my body... My body is my own". The Burning: Light the target paper from the candle’s flame, stating, "Not your choice," and shout with full focus, "MINE!" as you drop the paper into the cauldron to burn. Words of Power: While the paper burns, recite the "barbarous" words of power: AKROKODÊRE MOUISRÔ CHARCHAR ADÔNAI ZEUS DÊ DAMNAMENEUS KYNOBIOU EZAGRA. Closing and Grounding: Once the paper is ash, offer more incense to Hekate and give thanks. Extinguish the candle, clap three times to end the ritual, and ground yourself. )(*)( Aftercare and Storage The candle should be wrapped tightly in the red cloth and stored in a safe, secret place. It then serves as a permanent ward to protect your choice, remaining ready to be used again if reproductive rights are further threatened. Practitioners are also encouraged to "right the balance" after such workings by donating time or money to organizations that protect reproductive health.

~footnotes~

[1] Sound of me rolling my eyes.

[2] Which is both untrue and highly pathetic, but if that’s the life lesson someone needs to learn, so be it.

[sceptic-witch]

Protection for Protestors spell for #witchesforBLM

Tonight there will be a mass spellworking for various aspects of the BLM movement, whether that be bindings or protection spells, so I thought I would share my plans for the full moon tonight!

This is based off a protection spell by The Witch of Wonderlust on YouTube, with some additions and omissions

Ingredients:

Black candle

Olive oil, or a ritual oil of your choice

Salt (pink salt is preferable, as the iron content that makes it pink represents the blood of those no longer with us)

Rosemary

Cloves

Justice tarot card (optional)

Offering (optional)

Method:

Inscribe candle with protection sigils, petition, names etc whatever you'd like. You can use a Sharpie to draw on glass holders.

Dress the candle with the oil and fix to a candle holder or plate.

Sprinkle salt around the candle. If using pink salt you may wish to invoke black victims and activists to assist you in the working, as the pink salt represents their blood as well as protection

Sprinkle around the rosemary and cloves, for protection for the protesters

Add the Justice card - you could place it under the candle or lean it on your altar, whatever works or is comfortable for you. Invoke the card/spirits/deities etc to bring the swift justice the protesters fight for

Place the offerings for the spirits/deities/whomever you work with

Light the candle and allow to burn out. Should you need to pause the spell and continue later, make sure to snuff the candle instead of blowing it out

I hope this is useful to you!

[estfortis]

Book Review: Magic for the Resistance by Michael M. Hughes

 I was given an advance copy of this book in return for an honest review

I went into this book ready to love it. I was so excited to see the flip side of the conservative Christian monopoly on spirituality in politics. But I’ll be honest, I have really mixed feelings about this book. 

I’ll start with the good, since I do think that overall it’s a worthy and valuable addition to the published literature on contemporary magic. Hughes includes a great overview of magic as a tool of the oppressed throughout the book. The very beginning of the book consists of a survey of political movements, social uprisings, and protests that have been key aspects of witchcraft across cultures and throughout history. This is very much an overview, and doesn’t go into great depth or detail on any of them, but is an excellent jumping off point for readers to do their own research on any of the movements that are personally resonant. He also does a great job emphasizing the use of magic as something that can both bolster feelings of personal power -- especially in times where we may feel powerless -- and also to bring people together to enact change on both magical and mundane levels. In this way, the book is fantastic. Hughes uses his own example of the Spell to Bind Donald Trump which you may remember from the time right around or after the inauguration. I didn’t recognize Hughes’ name when I got this book, but I certainly remembered the spell that included a stubby orange candle and the Tower card! This spell was developed for Hughes and his personal circle to feel that they could participate in a form of resistance, but it quickly went viral and witches across the country participated, combining it with demonstrations in front of Trump Tower and leaving piles of baby carrots and orange candles in their wake. The hashtag #magicresistance took off on social media, and even those who did the ritual because they thought it was funny and not because they believed in its power were reinvigorated and encouraged anew to become or remain politically active. Incidentally, Hughes also reminds us of the power of humor, both to keep perspective and to make our movements feel accessible and relate-able. 

To be honest, though, I really think the major contribution that Hughes makes with this book is his advice on how to plan demonstrations, protests, and other political actions. His advice on humor, as stated above, is intermixed with logistic suggestions for meeting up with other activist witches and planning actions as well as ideas for guerrilla magic - such as leaving talismans of protection at women’s clinics, leaving Justice tarot cards with the names of unjustly convicted activists or victims of police violence on the courthouse steps, etc. He does include a section of pre-written spells and ritual ideas, but after the rest of the book they felt kind of superfluous to me. However, perhaps other readers will appreciate the templates he offers, and will be inspired to enact them or similar spells on their own. Even if his specific spells don’t resonate with me, though, I have not seen a Black Lives Matter spell before, or a Hex the NRA response to the ‘thoughts and prayers’ offered by politicians. They were powerful simply by virtue of existing in print, and for that I am grateful. 

Additionally, I particularly appreciated Hughes’ discussion of using magical means to intervene in individual actions via curses, hexes, or binding spells. His take is that if you are willing to take mundane action to reach the same result, then using magic is not unethical. That is, if you are willing to write a letter trying to get a politician to change their stance on an issue, why would you be averse to using magical means to do the same? If you are willing to get a restraining order to keep someone from stalking another person, why would you not also enact a binding spell - essentially a magical restraining order - to add some oomph to the process? He does not advocate cursing willy-nilly or binding someone when a conversation could do the trick, but he is pragmatic and views magic as just one more tool for us to keep in our tool box. 

If you’ve read my other book reviews, you can probably guess what my first critique is going to be. Cultural appropriation is a huge problem in magical and pagan communities across the country (and probably the world, but I’m most familiar with the U.S.), and this book is no different. I don’t know what kind of mentoring, training, or initiation Hughes may have undergone, and I certainly don’t want to position myself as any sort of gatekeeper, but I do know that this is a white man offering ideas on how to make mojo bags in the vein of Hoodoo and Conjure traditions (conjure, rootwork, etc, come up frequently in the book); he regularly references Qabbalistic magic (maybe he’s Jewish, but he definitely writes about it in a way that feels like he’s dabbling), and his rituals often use components of or reference traditions with little to no background on why you might use these methods, in what contexts they are or are not appropriate, etc. I was able to pull the useful pieces out of the book and gloss over the pieces that felt inappropriate, but for the most part I am not part of the groups that he is sampling from. If I were, I may have a harder time ignoring it or feeling like the rest of the book was worth it. Mostly, it felt somewhat hypocritical to uncritically sample from closed or initiatory traditions-- or even traditions that may not be closed but are associated with specific, historically oppressed populations-- in a book on social justice. 

My other critique is maybe a little picky, but while individual sections were well written, the flow of the book seemed odd at points. We switched back and forth from a history lesson to a discussion of magic that felt at least at the 201 level back to a 101 lesson on altar set up and how to cast a circle then a discussion of street activism. I appreciate that the book is geared toward a variety of experience levels and abilities, but it felt like perhaps it could have been organized better. Guidelines on altar set up, how to do basic magical actions like casting a circle, etc, could have been included in an appendix along with the individual spells. That may have contributed to a better flow overall, and left more space for a sustained discussion of the political implications of what magical tradition you choose to work with and why, or even just how to match your ritual to your action to your intended political outcome. 

In any case, I do think this book is worth reading, especially for those new to activism of any kind, magical or mundane. With that said, I am unlikely to buy it or keep it as a reference, since my favorite parts are the broad ideas rather than the specific spells that I might need to review before performing. Overall I give it 3/5 stars. 

[ghosty-schnibibit]

i participated in the first anti-trump mass binding spell about an hour ago (link here for anyone who wants to check it out), thought i’d share a pic! i’d already disposed of the ashes and carrot at this point, pity i didn’t think to take one before i did but eh, heat of the moment. also gotta love that improvised tarot card, hopefully i’ll be able to get my hands on a real deck for the next casting!

[gradientradiance-blog]

What kind of gay witch would I be if I didn't help bind Trump and all who abet him???? 😉😉😉 can't wait til next month :) Spell directions and supply list: https://extranewsfeed.com/a-spell-to-bind-donald-trump-and-all-those-who-abet-him-february-24th-mass-ritual-51f3d94f62f4#.qogbrxwz1

[sceptic-witch]

Protection for Protestors spell

This UK witch stands with you!

Black lives matter.

[verajart]

The most recent addition to my personal library, Magic for the Resistance by Michael M. Hughes, the author of The Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him. Yes, that's a bookmark from Powell's Books. I miss Portland. I miss Obama, too. I miss rational politicians who, even when their viewpoints were disagreeable, weren't outwardly racist, sexist, xenophobic nationalists who inspired fascists to speak louder. I miss not seeing elected officials stand behind and stand up for rapists and child molesters. I only hope I can somehow help us move forward, not just as a nation, but as a people. "Art is why I get up in the morning, but my definition ends there and it doesn't seem fair, that I'm living for something I can't even define"... Progress, people. Progress. Art. Magic. And cats. . . . #magicresistance #activism #artivism #magic #magician #initiate #witch #pagan #skeptic #political #politicalart #obama #justice #socialjusticewitch #believewomen #anidifranco #art #progressive #catsarelife https://www.instagram.com/p/BoN7k4qgFSq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1huodva40komu

[snarkandbitchery]

He's so scared!

My spooky folks, keep up the good work. Keep on hexin'. We've made good progress, but there's still a ways to go.