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Michael M. Hughes is an author, speaker, magical thinker, and activist. He is the creator of the internationally viral “Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him,” the largest magical working in history. He speaks on politics, magic, pop culture, psychedelics, the paranormal, and tarot. Michael lives in Baltimore with his wife, two daughters, and a rabbit named Toby Turnipseed. You can sign up for his newsletter at http://michaelmhughes.com.
Also by Michael M. Hughes
Blackwater Lights
Witch Lights
Demon Lights
Magic for the Resistance © 2025 by Michael M. Hughes. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from Crossed Crow Books, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
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Serious love to the members of the original Bind Trump Facebook group, and especially the moderators who made it such a vibrant, welcoming community: Cherry Wanders, Kerri Korr, Cleo Tibbitts-Williams, Marti Syed, and Hillary Peatfield. And to the recent mods, Kurt Walker and Irene Rose Connelly.
Props to my beta spell-testers for the original edition: John Stone, Jonatha Nathan, Amy Miranda, Peg Aloi, Karina Higgs-Boson, Lily Lumiere, Lorie Johnson, and Jake Bowman.
And a deep bow to everyone else who made this possible, especially:
Carolyn Gerin (“Cuz”)
Nick Dickinson
Sally Wilde
Amanda Yates Garcia
Rob Brezsny
Jessica Anderson
Matt Bialer, literary agent extraordinaire
Elysia Gallo
Ray Grasse
Josephine McCarthy
The folks at the Cauldron Black
My lovely, supportive family, who endured my absence and long nights in my basement office while I wrote the first edition of this book. And, this time in particular, my late-night partner in crime, Hermes
Disclaimer: The publisher and the author assume no liability for any injuries caused to the reader that may result from the reader’s use of content contained in this publication and recommend common sense when contemplating the practices described in the work. Discussion of herbs and psychoactive substances in this book is for informational purposes only, and neither the publisher nor the author take any responsibility for any possible consequences to any person as a result of their use.
I didn’t think I would need to write an updated version of this book.
Donald Trump, by the will of the voters, had been driven from office, as we called for in our mass public ritual that had been taking place on every waning crescent moon since 2017.
Despite the naysayers and critics of our “magic resistance”—and they were many—we had succeeded. He was bound and banished, and those of us who worked tirelessly to remove him breathed a collective sigh of relief as voting results showed Joe Biden to be the new president-elect.
After January 6, 2021, when the unequivocal loser whipped seditionists into a violent mob that broke into the Capitol to stop Joe Biden from being certified as the victor, I was certain America had learned its lesson. We had seen the faces of Trump’s most rabid, hate-filled foot soldiers as they wrought violence and destruction in their desperate attempt to kill democracy and install their orange God Emperor.
I thought the beating of police with flag poles, the smearing of feces on the Capitol walls, the Q-Anon “Shaman” and guy with a handful of zip ties in the Senate Chamber, the “Hang Mike Pence” chants and guillotine on the Capitol lawn—all in an attempt to subvert the free and fair transfer of power—had finally convinced all but the most deranged, diehard MAGA cultists that Donald Trump was a dangerous, authoritarian sociopath who should never again hold public office.
And then, in 2024, more people voted for him than voted for Kamala Harris.
So here we are again. Only this time, it’s far, far worse.
The goal of all of it seems to be pure nihilistic destruction. People in the U.S. are being disappeared—arrested by masked, anonymous ICE goons, deprived of due process, herded onto planes, and flown to dangerous gulags in El Salvador for indefinite, and maybe lifetime, detention. Days before I wrote this, a young child with cancer—an American citizen—was arrested and disappeared by ICE agents.
The nightmares keep coming: an immigrant concentration camp in the Florida Everglades touted as “Alligator Alcatraz,” ruthless cuts to scientific research and public health initiatives that prevent diseases and pandemics, and the destruction of charitable programs that feed hungry children and keep babies from dying of AIDS. And I realize that by the time this book is published, the litany of horrors will likely be much longer—and potentially far more horrific.
We are also facing myriad assaults on our physical, mental, and spiritual integrity, whether that’s microplastics in our brains, the mental pollution of AI slop, or the self-entrapment of the gullible in the virtual incantation bowls of chatbots. We’re caught like angry wasps in algorithmic echo chambers of hate and misinformation churned by social media profiteers, while a confederacy of Silicon Valley broligarchs tweak their software for maximum dopamine addiction to keep us doomscrolling. The tech billionaires are breaking our institutions and planning ludicrous escapes to Mars as our Mother Earth’s ecology careens toward irreversible collapse.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that these daunting crises we are facing as a species—transnational fascism, white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia, theocracy, plutocracy, xenophobia, massive wealth disparity, environmental despoliation, and climate change, among myriad other assaults—are crises of the spirit. We will need to evolve spiritually to continue the hard work of resistance to the powers and ideologies leading us into despair and ruin.
This, dear friends, is the fight of our lives and the lives of those to come.
As spiritual beings, rituals are critical tools for keeping us recharged, inspired, and committed to fighting for remedies to the diseases that are destroying our institutions, our relationships with other beings, and our planet. We are standing on the brink of an abyss, tottering on the cliff’s edge with a strong wind blowing from behind. Of necessity, we look to myths, to magic, to rituals—to stories that keep the bright flame of hope alive when we are surrounded on all sides by darkness.
I keep coming back to the oft-quoted piece of wisdom from perhaps the most well-known and beloved wizard in modern mythology, J. R. R. Tolkien’s Gandalf, in conversation with the hobbit Frodo when Frodo is struggling to maintain hope against overwhelming odds.
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.”1
With this book, I hope to inspire you to use the time given to you to fight back against the darkness, even when it may seem futile. It is in times of overwhelming evil and desolation that your magic is needed the most.
Bring joy to every act of resistance. That is the most potent magic of all.
You are one candle burning in the darkness, but put all of our candles together and our light is unstoppable.
1 J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings Illustrated (HarperCollins, 2021).
Before we dive into the subject of resistance magic, let’s get a few things out of the way.
The use of magic versus magick may be confusing to some. I prefer magic without the K for a number of reasons.
Although magick as an archaic form of the word existed in the medieval era, the K was added by Aleister Crowley to make the word fit his complex Kabbalistic spiritual system and disassociate it from stage and parlor magic (i.e., tricks). I don’t find that necessary. I’m not a Kabbalist, and my conception of magic is quite broad, embracing not just spells and rituals but visual art, writing, drama, and, yes, even tricks. Many shamanic traditions employ what we would call “trickery” to startle the participants into a heightened state where the real magic and healing can then take place. When I performed as a mentalist (psychic magician) for several years, I utilized techniques from the fuzzy gray area between psychology, sleight of hand, and real magic. The “tricks” I performed had powerful and long-lasting effects on my audiences, and, I hope, opened many people to the possibility that magic is real.
The word magic has worked fine for hundreds of years, and it is the preferred spelling in academic writing. And, to be frank, as a writer, I just don’t like the look of the word with the K (nor does my writing app). And don’t get me started on verbal grotesqueries like magickian.
Magic is magic, and I’m sticking to it.
Appropriation is an important but divisive topic in the magical community. While we should be respectful of other traditions, especially those of indigenous, oppressed, or marginalized groups, practitioners of magic have always been syncretists, experimenting interculturally and sticking with what worked. The Greek Magical Papyri make that quite clear—magicians of antiquity liberally borrowed gods, words of power, and symbols from the many cultures surrounding them. Not much has changed in the ensuing centuries.
I have explored a wide variety of practices from a number of schools and traditions over three decades, but I am not an initiate, nor would I claim to be an expert, in any of them. I am simply a human being lucky enough to live in an age when thousands of years of magical knowledge are available in academic libraries and a few clicks away on my laptop. I identify as a magician first and foremost, not a Pagan, a shaman, a witch, ceremonialist, a chaote, a root worker, or any other label. I am a generalist, not a specialist.
My ethical rule is simple: if I learn something from a tradition, I do my best to acknowledge and honor it without claiming to be of it. I encourage you to do the same. Magic is our birthright, so go read and experiment, and when you learn something, give thanks and respect to your teachers.
We are living in a time of great turmoil at the edge of history. Liberal, democratic values and ideas that have withstood wars and despots are under attack by rising tides of authoritarianism, nationalism, xenophobia, and racial supremacy, and our very existence as a species is imperiled by a rapidly warming planet, overpopulation, and our unquenchable desire for material goods.
And while patriarchal, top-down religions in the West are steadily losing their followers to the ranks of the religiously “unaffiliated,” more people than ever are seeking personal connections to a greater spiritual reality by embracing the worldviews of indigenous cultures and practical magical traditions.
We are at a crossroads, and the choices before us require either a (r)evolutionary change in our values and behaviors or simply giving up and accepting an unavoidable plunge into the abyss.
As Amanda Yates Garcia (the Oracle of Los Angeles) said, “So great is the threat to our world now that we must all become initiates. We must all become healers. We must all become shaman[s]. We must all become leaders and activists … Only if we all rise up, awaken, and hold ourselves and each other to high standards of leadership do we have the possibility of saving our world.”2
2 Amanda Yates Garcia (@oracleofla), “So great is the threat to our world now that we must all become initiates,” Instagram, 19 February 2018, www. instagram.com/p/BfYvkb8HhSP/.
If you’re reading this, my guess is you would prefer to take the road to a better future.
This book is for you. May the ideas and rituals within it help you on the road ahead.
Being a part of the magic resistance (represented by the hashtag #MagicResistance on social media) means working in service: to the earth, the dispossessed, the sick and broken, the downtrodden, the marginalized, and those with no voices—animals, trees, soil, streams, rivers, and seas. It means becoming aligned with spirits of place, the ancestors, and even the gods themselves. The magic you will find in this book is very different from most, because unlike magic done by an individual for practical means—love or money spells, for example—this magic is done for the higher good of all of us.
Which also means the rewards are different. With practical magic, the rewards are clear: you find a partner, get a raise, or your abusive neighbor moves to a different state. There is nothing wrong with such magic. In fact, for many beginners, successful practical spells are needed to convince them that magic is real.
The rewards of service magic are usually not so immediate or measurable, because its targets—deeply embedded social structures like racism, homophobia, misogyny, militarism, violence, greed, and materialism—are not going to be easily banished from human society. These social illnesses can, however, be pushed back.
There are exceptions, of course. Very specific circumstances, such as protecting an endangered river, can have direct, measurable outcomes, as when legislation is passed to stop a new development threatening to dump pollution into it. There are clear and quantifiable victories in this game, too. But often we must work our magic to shift the balance into the proper direction, not to score easy wins. Resistance magic is about bending reality in (r)evolutionary directions, either by pushing against reactionary and regressive trends or encouraging positive change.
Unlike many magical traditions, to become part of the #MagicResistance you don’t need any fancy initiations. There are no levels or
grades or degrees, and you don’t need to spend a fortune on workshops or classes. All you need to do is pledge yourself to the service of other sentient beings, to improving our collective societal structures, and to the sacred earth on which we walk. That doesn’t mean you have to become a selfless monk or nun, a humorless full-time radical, or give up having a rewarding, fun, and productive life outside of activism. Resistance magic derives its power from passion, creativity, humor, and love. The joy of doing service magic is that when you help others, you win, too.
Because we exist within political structures, we need to work within political and social systems to address the many crises facing us. And all those crises—environmental, financial, social, and political—are crises of the spirit. For far too long the spiritual aspects of political engagement and activism have been absent from progressivism, while the reactionary right has become synonymous with a toxic form of fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. It’s time those of us who embrace liberal values and spirituality to push back against the stereotype of the godless left and bring our gods—all of them—into the fight for our future.
Magic resistance is a term for the use of magic—spells, rituals, prayer, divination, sigils, focused meditation, and other techniques—to resist or impede dangerous or oppressive political and social movements, politicians, and actions, including authoritarianism, white supremacy, racism, homophobia and transphobia, misogyny, xenophobia, environmental destruction, attacks on marginalized populations, and other toxic and regressive ideologies. It can be viewed as a magical form of self-defense or defense of others. But it is not just about resistance. This movement also uses magical practices to promote progressive, inclusive, liberating, and empowering political, environmental, economic, and social causes.
How do you define magic?
Magic, in its most basic sense, is the use of directed consciousness to affect change in one’s self and the world. If that seems rather broad, it’s supposed to be. A ritual can create a magical effect, but so can a work of art, a prayer, a focused visualization, street theater, or a group of people marching and chanting in unison. Magic works best when it combines a mix of methodologies—that’s why a work of art, when combined with ritual and further energized by a group action or meditation, is especially effective.
Do I have to believe in magic?
Nope. You can do the spells and rituals in this book as a form of personal theater or self-empowerment. They will still be likely to work, at least sometimes, if you do them sincerely with your full commitment and energy. Practical magic is largely the enhancement of probability. If you practice the magic in this book and it seems to push your results into the positive column, it is considered effective. This is not theoretical. Controlled studies increasingly show that rituals have help soothe anxiety, increase athletic achievement and test scores, and help us feel connected to our shared history.3 And doing magic is most definitely useful. One doesn’t need to understand how magic works to practice it. In fact, as one very famous magician, Peter J. Carroll, put it: “Magic works in practice but not in theory.”4
Does doing this sort of magic have personal benefits?
One of the key benefits of resistance magic—aside from having tangible results in the real world (i.e., results)—is to renew, refresh, and reawaken your commitment to the principles of truth, justice, peace, and equality, and to strengthen your connection to the natural world and the diverse community of individuals that surrounds you. A growing body of research has shown that rituals help us perform better,
3 Dimitris Xygalatas, Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living (Little, Brown Spark, 2022).
4 Peter J. Carroll, personal correspondence with the author, 2 April 2018.
cope more effectively with anxiety and loss, increase our optimism, and reduce stress as effectively as the best anti-anxiety medications.5 Rituals, in other words, are some of our best tools for navigating the challenging time in which we live, and they allow us to slow down in a world increasingly full of distractions and time-sucks.
Do I have to be a witch or a Pagan to use these spells?
The system of magic in this book is designed to plug into a number of established traditions and can be easily tweaked for your own practice. Because the rituals and spells herein are built upon the core principles that underlie all magical practices, they are just as effective if you practice Wicca, Traditional Witchcraft, chaos magic, ceremonial magic, folk Christianity, or if you follow no specific tradition at all. This resistance magic employs universal techniques: directional attunement, incorporation of the four classic Elements, ancestor communication, calls to spirits or deities, links to astrological cycles (particularly the moon phases), voice, symbols, sensory stimulation and inhibition, ritualized movement, and consciousness alteration.
If you don’t belong to any particular tradition, you are encouraged to experiment. A prayer to Hekate may connect more powerfully for you than one to a generic Great Goddess, or you may find that incorporating biblical psalms or working with Catholic saints is more effective than working with Norse gods. The best witches and magicians experiment and use what works, so don’t be afraid to try new approaches. If you don’t believe in angels or ancestral spirits, try working with them anyway— you might be surprised. After all, does it matter if the deity or spirit you contact is objectively real or just a part of your consciousness as long as the magic works?
Isn’t mucking around with spells dangerous?
Of course it’s dangerous! But spells are not anywhere near as dangerous as driving a car or riding a bicycle. Magic is a tool and can be used for
5 Dimitris Xygalatas, Ritual (Little, Brown Spark, 2022).
beneficial or nefarious purposes. If you misuse it, it can have negative consequences. But since you’re reading this book, you are already aligned with sustainability, equality, peace, and social justice. And since the universe bends in the direction of those values (or at least that’s what I’ve come to believe), your magic will be aligned with those evolutionary spiritual energies and the deities who embody them. That’s a powerful safety net.
In other words, because you are working for positive causes and results and not harmful aims or ideologies, your magic will work more effectively and will have far less potential for unintended harm or psychic blowback.
But isn’t binding someone, or casting a spell that thwarts the will of voters, ethically problematic?
Much of the magic in this book is rooted in resistance to extreme conditions and existential threats. It is not touchy-feely, fluffy-bunny magic because it is meant to be employed against very clear dangers. Vodou, Hoodoo, and Conjure, for example, developed as enslaved Africans adapted their magic to their oppressive, inhumane environment, and were, of necessity, protective and self-defensive. While bindings and other defensive magic can be seen as constraining the free will of the spell’s recipients, it is clearly ethical to use such spells when the target is harming or attempting to harm others. A good rule of thumb to use is this: Would you endorse legal action to stop the target’s harmful actions or policies (say, against a minority group, a forest, or a person unjustly accused of a crime)? If so, then a magical action is absolutely ethical.
Also, ask yourself why people question the ethics of magic for effecting change when they’re okay with marches, demonstrations, email campaigns, or direct action. What makes magic resistance somehow morally questionable when mundane means are acceptable? The answer is that people are uneasy about magic because they don’t understand how it works. But as activists, we are concerned with results, and if magic works, there’s no reason we shouldn’t use it.
But don’t you have to be experienced to do magic effectively?
We live in a magical universe, and we are instinctively magical creatures. If you play lucky lottery numbers, pray for someone’s health, leave flowers at a loved one’s grave, or take notice of signs and omens, you’re practicing magic. Humans have worked magic since we could paint on the walls of caves or draw a circle in the mud with a pointed stick. Magic is, and has always been, a practice of the people, despite thousands of years of priests and religious leaders attempting to take it away. Those who say you need to be trained in specific techniques by their order or coven before you can work magic are just pushing their brand of dogma and probably trying to sell you courses.
The only way to learn about magic is to do it. The only way to get better at it is to keep doing it.
Is it okay to mix politics and spirituality?
Some of the greatest social movements have been driven by spiritual energy: the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements were in large part led by Christians and Jews, for example, and Mohandas Gandhi, a devoted Hindu, helped drive Colonial Britain from India through nonviolent resistance. Witches and Pagans have long been at the forefront of environmental activism, religious freedom, and feminism. And, as you’ll discover in the following chapters, magic has been worked against political opponents throughout history, including kings, slaveholders, invading armies, and the Nazis in World War II.
But isn’t this just slacktivism? Shouldn’t we focus our energy on practical activities, like demonstrating, calling Congress, and sending money to organizations fighting for good causes?
You should be working on all levels for causes you care about. This book addresses the magical path, but spiritual activism is useless without engagement in the everyday world of elections, organizing, canvassing, protests, and other forms of on-the-ground action. Many have found that incorporating rituals, spells, and group magic workings into their social and political activism adds extra energy and motivation and brings better results. Hence: this book.
Why this book, and why now?
A number of trends have ignited resistance movements around the world: the global rise of authoritarian and nativist political movements; religious and ideological terrorism; regressive policies harming women, ethnic and racial minorities, immigrants, and the LGBTQIA+ community; ongoing wealth concentration in the hands of the 1%; cuts to basic health care and social services; and the accelerating impact of devastating climate change. We have reached a perilous moment in our history—and the decisions we make now may decide the very fate of our species.
With the exploding interest in witchcraft and alternative religious practices has come a realization that the political realm is not divorced from spirituality but requires it. The growing magic resistance movement has shown the powerful desire to reunify spiritual beliefs with down-toearth social and political activism.
So, let’s get started!
The history of magic being used against oppressive authorities and regimes could fill a series of books, so we will only be able to skim the surface and look at some of the more notable examples. It may be useful to first ask why marginalized and dispossessed people turn to magical means to resist their oppressors.
Magic has always been inherently transgressive—socially, sexually, spiritually, and ideologically—making witches, Druids, magicians, and cunning folk the bane of, and an easy target for, political and religious authoritarians. Magic in the hands of peasants subverts the rule of church and state; witches and shamans living on the outskirts of villages occupy the borderlands between the comforts of “civilization” and raw nature. Magic is anarchic, wild, and antistructural. It is no wonder it has always terrified those in power, and easy to see why it has so often been employed by the powerless against the dominator culture.
But whether it’s the sixteenth-century Scottish witch Isobel Gowdie cursing her landlord, enslaved Africans using Vodou and Hoodoo to fuel their uprisings in Haiti and the United States, Gerald Gardner and his coven raising a cone of power to keep the Nazis from invading England, the acid-fueled Yippies exorcising and levitating the Pentagon in the late 1960s, or feminist witches staging an occupation against a California nuclear power plant, magic has always been a tool of resistance.
Let us now gaze into our scrying mirror and relive some of the more intriguing instances of resistance magic through the ages.
According to George Sinclair, a group of witches were caught reciting malefic spells while roasting a wax effigy of Scottish King Duffus on a wooden spit and basting it with poisonous liquid.6 The king had fallen ill and had been unable to sleep. When the effigy was destroyed the king recovered, and the witches, as might be expected, were burned at the stake.
Queen Elizabeth I, according to Francis Young in his superb Magic as a Political Crime in Medieval and Early Modern England, was “perhaps the most magically attacked monarch … in English history.”7 The crafting of effigies and poppets (dolls) and predicting her downfall by horoscopes were the most common accusations. Catholics were often suspect because it was widely believed that masses could be held for magical purposes.
In 1568, a worker found three wax effigies in a pile of horse dung near a stable outside of London. They were covered in magical symbols and stuck with pig bristles, and one of the figurines had “Elizabeth” written on its forehead and a pin stuck in its breast. The queen summoned a council, including renowned magician John Dee, to study the effigies. Dee did a form of counter-magic to nullify the effigy magic.
6 George Sinclair, Satan’s Invisible World Discovered (Thomas George Stevenson, 1871) 100–102; Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe, A Historical Account of the Belief in Witchcraft in Scotland (Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1884) 21.
7 Francis Young, Magic as a Political Crime in Medieval and Early Modern England: A History of Sorcery and Treason (I. B. Tauris, 2017) 87.
After several people were tried, convicted, and executed for magical treason, it was discovered the effigies weren’t aimed at the queen at all, but had been created by a cunning man as part of a love spell. One very lucky magician and alchemist, John Prestall, had been awaiting execution, but his death sentence was overturned. Accusations of treasonous magic continued throughout the queen’s reign.
Sir Francis Drake, long rumored to have had dealings with the devil, was alleged to have met with a coven of witches at Devil’s Point at Plymouth Sound. Together, Drake and the witches conjured up diabolical storms that drove away the invading Spanish Armada. Even today, when the fog rolls in, some people say you can still hear the chants of the sea witches. Although its historicity is in doubt, the story inspired another well-known tale of witches and resistance—as you will read shortly.
Francis Stewart, the fifth Earl of Bothwell and a man said to have a deep interest in the occult, allegedly met with a coven of sixty witches led by highborn women in a churchyard on the coast of the North Sea.8 Their goal was to sink the ship carrying King James VI and his new bride, Anne of Denmark, to Scotland by conjuring a storm, using black toad venom, an oyster shell, and a piece of the king’s clothing. Three storms drove her back before she finally succeeded in meeting her husband. Stewart was interrogated and tried for treason and conspiracy to kill the king but was acquitted, allegedly because the townspeople were afraid of him. The king eventually led an interrogation that led to the torture and murder of a number of women for witchcraft, but Stewart fled to France and then Naples, where he was said to have continued to dabble in the occult.
King James later wrote a book about witchcraft, Daemonologie, which is believed to have served as source material for Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The book also fueled later witch hunters, such as the infamous mass murderer Matthew Hopkins, who tried and executed an estimated three hundred women for witchcraft. You probably known King James better for his other book, though— that famous translation of the Bible.
8 Linda Root, “The Devil’s Halloween in the Kirkyard of North Berwick and Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell,” English Historical Fiction Authors (blog), October 30, 2013, englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2013/10/ the-devils-halloween-in-kirkyard-of.html.
Circa 1662, Scotland
Isobel Gowdie freely confessed to becoming a witch and mistress of the devil after meeting him in the guise of a tall, hairy, cold-skinned man. As well as admitting to other malefic magic, including destroying crops and shooting people with deadly elf arrows, she is thought to have taken revenge on her landlord, the Laird Hay of Lochloy and Park, and the local witch-fearing minister, Harry Forbes.
With the aid of her coven, Gowdie made a poppet out of clay and baked it an oven to curse the laird’s children and leave his estate heirless.9
It is considered likely, but not recorded, that she was murdered for her confessions of witchcraft.
The horrors of the slave era, in which millions of Africans were captured by Europeans and shipped to labor on plantations in the Americas, gave rise to some of the most gripping stories of magic resistance in the modern world. African magical and religious practices powered revolutions and uprisings, even as those traditions merged with European Christianity into the hybrid traditions of Vodou in Haiti and Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork in the Continental United States.
The life of an enslaved African in Haiti (then known as Hispaniola) was short, with most slaves dying within a few years of their arrival. According to Mambo Chita Tann in Haitian Vodou, by 1789 there were eight to ten Africans for every free man in the French-controlled western third of the island, known as Saint-Domingue.10 Some slaves managed to escape, hiding in the mountains and leading regular attacks on the white and mixed-race landowners.
Near the end of the eighteenth century, groups of slaves began meeting to coordinate an uprising. In Bwa Kayiman (Alligator Woods), a mambo (Vodou priestess) named Mayanèt and Boukman, a
9 Emma W ilby, The Visions of Isobel Gowdie: Magic, Witchcraft and Dark Shamanism in Seventeenth-Century Scotland (Sussex Academic Press, 2010).
10 Mambo Chita Tann, Haitian Vodou: An Introduction to Haiti’s Indigenous Spiritual Tradition (Llewellyn Publications, 2012) 21.
Jamaican former slave and houngan (Vodou priest), held a ceremony for the spirits in which they sacrificed a pig and drank its blood. Vodou, a syncretic magical tradition that mixed indigenous Taino beliefs, African religion, traces of Muslim practices, the Catholicism of the Europeans, and even elements of Freemasonry, had become the glue holding together the enslaved revolutionaries. That powerful new spiritual awakening fired their desire for freedom.
Within days, violent revolts erupted and began to spread, with slaves killing thousands of their enslavers and burning hundreds of plantations. As the uprising spread, the French, Spanish, and British— each who owned a chunk of the country—began to panic. For the next decade, squabbles and battles between the European countries resulted in the deaths of over fifty thousand French soldiers and over a hundred thousand African slaves. In 1804, after Napoleon was forced to give up his claim to the island nation, the enslaved Africans finally won. Haiti—united by Vodou, its homegrown spiritual practice—became the first independent nation in the Caribbean. Throughout its tumultuous and often bloody history, Haitian leaders, the Vatican, and protestants have all tried to criminalize and eradicate Vodou. All have failed. Vodou is part of life for the majority of Haitians and has spread around the world in our globalized age, as have other syncretic African American magical traditions, such as Santería, Lukumí, Ifá, Palo Mayombe, Quimbanda, and Candomblé.
In North America, too, enslaved Africans who survived the horror of the Middle Passage found themselves in an alien country, cut off from their religious customs, magical practices, and healing plants, animals, and stones. They were also indoctrinated by their captors into adopting (at least outwardly) Christianity and its rituals. Like their Haitian counterparts, they found similarities in the traditions of Christianity and incorporated them into the spiritual and magical practices they brought from Africa. The syncretic system of folk magic that emerged, variously called Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork, was a mix of African polytheism, Christianity and (to a lesser extent) Judaism, European folklore, Native American folkways and plant medicine, and later even Western occultism.
Enslaved Africans found a number of ways to continue magical practices, even under the brutal restrictions imposed upon them. The spiritual centers of their communities were known as praise houses, simple structures built away from prying eyes deep in plantation woods or swamps. Many slaveholders allowed the construction of praise houses to keep slaves from different plantations from mingling for worship (and slaves were rarely allowed in churches). This unknowingly gave their captives a place to not just practice their spiritual traditions but also to organize resistance. As Jason R. Young notes in Rituals of Resistance, “Every act of conjure from one slave to another represented a critical form of resistance, and … a blow against the system.” 11
In the praise houses, the enslaved Africans found a place to dance the ring shout (an ecstatic, counterclockwise circular dance), sing, clap, drum, venerate their ancestors, and invite possession by African spirits. Those who died were often buried in cemeteries near the praise houses, enabling discreet ancestor communication and veneration. In these ritual spaces, the connections to their homeland, its spirits, and its magic were deepened and honored.
Those recognized with special healing or magical knowledge and abilities, often known as Conjure doctors or root doctors, were accorded great power. W. E. B. Du Bois, in The Souls of Black Folk, noted that Conjure doctors were “the healer of the sick, the interpreter of the Unknown, the comforter of the sorrowing, the supernatural avenger of wrong, and the one who rudely but picturesquely expressed the longing, disappointment, and resentment of a stolen and oppressed people.”12
These powerful magical people, of course, were seen a threat to the slaveholder class. Hoodoo was a constant reminder of the enslaved people’s links to Africa; hence, the practice itself was considered dangerous. Because slaveholders didn’t understand it, they feared its magic (and rightfully so, as it was frequently used against them).
11 Jason R. Young, Rituals of Resistance: African Atlantic Religion in Kongo and the Lowcountry South in the Era of Slavery (Louisiana State University Press, 2007) 130.
12 W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches (A.C. McClurg & Company, 1903) 196.
And it was, in fact, dangerous. Hoodoo and Conjure doctors were forces behind a number of slave rebellions and uprisings.
The story of Denmark Vesey, a freed slave and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and enslaved rebel Gullah Jack illustrates the deep power and influence of Conjure magic as a driver of resistance. Vesey was planning a massive uprising known as “the rising” and hired a renowned root doctor, Gullah Jack, to help him organize. Gullah Jack had managed to bring his Conjure tools with him on the Middle Passage from Africa to South Carolina and was especially feared and respected. His amulets were highly prized and were said to make their wearers invulnerable, so they were distributed to the plotters.
Vesey planned to take over the city of Charleston, raid the armory, kill the white slaveholders, liberate thousands of slaves, and escape with his rebellious comrades to Haiti. While working undercover as a preacher, he organized secret meetings and managed to get the support of thousands of slaves and freed Blacks. With such numbers, and Gullah Jack’s magic, they would be unstoppable.
Before he could begin the uprising, two men snitched, and the plot was foiled. A local militia swept through the city and surrounding plantations, and Vesey, Gullah Jack, and many of the other plotters were arrested.
At the trial, which was held in secret, Gullah Jack first played the fool. But as the trial progressed, his demeanor grew darker. He began to make magical motions and gestures with his hands, which terrified many in the courtroom.
The presiding judge, when pronouncing the sentence of death, said, “Your boasted Charms have not preserved yourself, and of course could not protect others. Your Altars and your Gods have sunk together in the dust.”13
Gullah Jack was hanged, along with Vesey and thirty-four other men, in 1822 but is now considered an inspiring resistance hero and martyr among the people of the Gullah/Geechee nation.
13 Joseph Cephas Carroll, Slave Insurrections in the United States, 18001865 (Chapman & Grimes, 1938; Dover, 2004) 92. Citation refers to the Dover edition.
Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork continued to be tools for healing, justice, empowerment, and resistance among enslaved Africans and their descendants through the Jim Crow era and into the present. The practices were even taken up by many white people who recognized the power and utility of the distinctly African American tradition. Many contemporary African American activists have adopted these folk magic ways to honor the struggles of their enslaved ancestors and to reject the continuing patriarchal, sexist, and racist elements commonly found in mainstream Christian churches.
If you find yourself drawn to Hoodoo, Conjure, Rootwork, and other African American folk magics, see the resources list in the appendix.
The explosion of Spiritualism and mediumship in the mid-nineteenth century coincided with the rise of the movement for women’s rights. In that era, women were discouraged from speaking publicly, as it was considered impolite and dishonorable to their husbands. The majority of Spiritualist mediums were women, however, which gave many women a voice in society for the first time. Spirits of great historical figures were being channeled through otherwise silent Victorian women, so men listened.
One of the more compelling figures in Spiritualism was Victoria Woodhull, an exemplar of early feminism and resistance to patriarchy. As a child, she believed she could communicate with her two dead siblings and her former caretaker, as well as heal people magnetically (Mesmerism was all the rage in those days). Her spiritual guide was the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes, who advised her throughout her life and told her at an early age that she would be a powerful leader of her people (and the old Greek turned out to be right on the money). Her séances and mediumistic skills were so renowned she became president of the American Association of Spiritualists in 1871.
Woodhull so impressed the millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt with her stock tips from the other world that he made her head of a Wall Street brokerage (the first run by women). They were also rumored to be lovers—he called her “Sparrow” and she called him “Old Goat.”
When asked about how he became fantastically rich, he is reported to have said, “Do as I do. Consult the spirits.”14
Vanderbilt helped Woodhull publish a weekly newspaper—one of the first run by women—in which she advocated for women’s suffrage, socialism, free love, vegetarianism, abolition of the death penalty, free education for every child, welfare for the poor, an eighthour workday, labor unions, legalized prostitution, and birth control, among other radical ideas. “Free love” included the then-unheard-of notion that a woman should choose who to marry and get divorced if she desired (and this in an era when women were supposed to be pure and sexless, and male doctors were performing clitoridectomies to rid women of the “dangers” of sexual arousal). The paper also did investigative journalism into corporate crime and published the first English translation of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto.
Woodhull ran for president in 1870 as a candidate for the politically progressive (and radical even for our era) Equal Rights party, which she helped organize. The party nominated abolitionist Frederick Douglass as her vice-presidential candidate (Douglass, alas, was wary of Spiritualism and not on board with the candidacy). One only has to look at the blatant racism in response to Barack Obama’s election and the misogynistic attacks on Hillary Clinton to understand how mind-bogglingly radical the idea of a female president and a Black, freed-slave vice presidential candidate was in the late nineteenth century.
Woodhull was the second woman to address Congress, where she spoke for the suffragist cause to a nearly empty House Judiciary Committee (many of the committee members showed up late or not at all). One particularly appalled representative spoke up to say, “Madam, you are not a citizen.” Nonetheless, many newspaper reports noted the historical importance of her appearance and covered her arguments respectfully.15
14 Barbara Goldsmith, Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull (Alfred A. Knopf, 1998; HarperPerennial, 1999) 162. Citations refer to the HarperPerennial edition.
15 Goldsmith, Other Powers, 162; Kate Havelin, Victoria Woodhull: Fearless Feminist (Twenty-First Century Books, 2007) 43.
Her advocacy of free love put her at odds with other suffragette leaders, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The press ripped her apart, with cartoonists depicting her as a literal devil and earning her the nickname “Mrs. Satan.” She was referred to—not surprisingly—as a witch. Woodhull insisted on wearing pants and was told if she appeared in public wearing them, she would be summarily arrested. The ensuing notoriety threw her life into turmoil to the point where she had difficulty finding a place to rent in New York City.
Her exposé of the adulterous affairs of the respected preacher Henry Ward Beecher (shades of recent televangelist and GOP sex scandals) generated an intense backlash that got her arrested on trumped-up obscenity charges, bankrupted her, and ruined her reputation. The patriarchy had won.
She moved to England, where she spent the rest of her life as an expat, returning to the United States to again run for president in 1892. She died in 1927, but her powerful advocacy of liberalism, freedom, and social welfare was far ahead of her time—and still rings true for spiritual resisters today. As she said in her speech “The Naked Truth”:
Free love means nothing more and nothing less, in kind, than free worship, freedom of the press, freedom of conscience, free trade, free thought, freedom of locomotion (without a passport system), free schools, free government, and the hundred other precious, special systems of social freedom, which the great heroes of thought have fought for, and partially secured for the world, during this last period of the world’s growth and expansion. It is all one and the same thing, it is just freedom and nothing else.16
In the summer of 1940, with France defeated, Britain’s war with the Nazis was ramping up into what became known as the Battle of Britain. The United Kingdom was on high alert against a German invasion,
16 Mar y L. Shearer, “Who Is Victoria Woodhull?” Victoria Woodhull & Company, 2016, www.victoria-woodhull.com/whoisvw.htm.
with sentries posted along the coasts scanning the seas and skies for the expected onslaught of aircraft and ships. The country, having just watched the Miracle at Dunkirk, was prepared for the worst. Also preparing for the invasion was a group of witches known as the New Forest Coven, according to the story told by one of their recent initiates, Gerald Gardner. Gardner, who is now credited as the founder of modern Wicca, told the story of a magical working that became famously known as Operation Cone of Power.
As told in his 1954 book, Witchcraft Today, the witches of the New Forest Coven gathered on midnight on Lammas Eve 1940 to perform the ritual to cloud the minds of Hitler and the Nazi High Command and prevent them from crossing the English Channel and invading England. They danced naked (skyclad) in a forest clearing in Highcliff-by-the-Sea, raising a cone of magical energy that, when it reached its peak, was directed into the mind of Hitler along with the thoughts “You cannot cross the sea” and “Not able to come.”17
“I am not saying they stopped Hitler,” Gardner writes. “All I can say is that I saw a very interesting ceremony performed with the intention of putting a certain idea into his mind, and this was repeated several times afterwards; and though all the invasion barges were ready, the fact was that Hitler never even tried to come.”18 He claimed the witches were replicating the spell their ancestors had used to repel Napoleon and Sir Francis Drake.
According to Gardner, the rite was so powerful that several of the older and more frail participants died of exhaustion in the ensuing days.19 Some have suggested that those who died knew the ritual would kill them, but they sacrificed themselves for the good of their country.
The veracity of the story has been questioned by some scholars, but many feel that it is at least partially true. A year earlier, however, another act of magical resistance targeted the Nazis. Although less famous than Gardner’s story, it was extensively documented. That working came to be called the Magical Battle of Britain and was led by the occultist Violet Firth, better known by her magical name, Dion Fortune.
In the aftermath of Britain’s declaration of war against Germany, Dion Fortune, the leader of the occult Fraternity of the Inner Light (an order that sprang from the legendary Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn), found that many of her members could no longer
17 Gerald B. Gardner, Witchcraft Today, with additional material by Judy Harrow, Ronald Hutton, Wren Walker, and Tara Nelson (Citadel Press, 2004) 104.
18 Gardner, Witchcraft Today, 104.
19 Jack L. Bracelin, Gerald Gardner: Witch (Pentacle Enterprises, 1999) 52.
travel to take part in the group’s training and rituals. She began mailing out regular dispatches to her order with instructions on how to protect the country from Hitler’s invasion and support the Allied forces. According to The Magical Battle of Britain, Fortune renounced secrecy and opened the fraternity to anyone who wanted to join, teaching formerly hidden techniques to create a “nucleus of trained minds” resisting Nazi Germany.20
Letters were sent out every Wednesday with instructions for a meditation to be performed at 12:15 p.m. each Sunday, and every weekday thereafter. Subjects of these meditations included:
• Realization of the function of the Tide of Destruction in clearing the ground.
• Asserting the rule of law, absolute and inescapable.
• The drawing down of spiritual power into the war effort.
• The attack on the cloud of astral evil over Germany.
Fortune’s method of resistance was to channel the will of the British people through powerful rituals, mantras, and meditations, as well as calling upon inner guides, angelic forces, and the spirits of Merlin, King Arthur, St. George, and St. Michael. As she wrote in one of her dispatches: “Let us meditate upon angelic Presences, red-robed and armed, patrolling the length and breadth of our land. Visualise a map of Great Britain, and picture these great Presences moving as a vast shadowy form along the coasts, and backwards and forwards from north to south and east to west, keeping watch and ward so that nothing alien can move unobserved.”21
Fortune’s group—separated in time and space, as many are today, and connected through their own postal social network—persisted in their magical resistance even as bombs rained down on London. She continued to teach and initiate members into her fraternity and died a few months after Churchill declared victory in Europe.
20 Dion Fortune, The Magical Battle of Britain, ed. Gareth Knight (Golden Gates Press, 1993; Skylight Press, 2012 ) 15. 21 Fortune, The Magical Battle of Britain, 34.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg has chronicled some of the most fascinating examples of Jewish magic in the fight against Hitler and Nazism in the online newsletter “Life is a Sacred Text.” The following story was originally shared by Yuval Harari, a professor at Ben Gurion University, in his paper “Three Charms for Hitler.”
A note to an expert on Kabbalah describes a series of magical actions to “kill the fool dog who wishes to exterminate the Jewish people and to observe [the commandment of self-defense] if someone comes to kill you rise early and kill them first.”22
The actions included naming a white rooster after Adolf Hitler, raising it for twenty-one days (referring to it as Hitler, to build the magical association and connection), then slaughtering it while repeating seven times: “As I slaughter this rooster, so will Adolf Hitler the ruler of the Germans be slaughtered by Samuel, amen may it be God’s will.” Another involved burning pieces of limestone with holy names of angels associated with fire and burying them in an old grave, and the third involved another rooster—again, naming it after the führer, but this time burying it in dust while reciting a curse to bury Hitler and blotting out his name.23
As a vegetarian, this is definitely not my type of magic. But sacrifices have been part of religions for centuries, and some African Traditional Religions (ATRs) still sacrifice animals. And despite my avoidance of harming animals for any reason, if I was alive during Nazism and thought sacrificing a single white rooster could bring down the Nazis, I’d have probably made an exception.
22 Harari, Y. (2019). “Three Charms for Hitler: Harmful magic and practical Kabbalah in World War II, on the 74th anniversary of the death of the ‘ruler of the Germans’.” Tablet Magazine. www.tabletmag.com/sections/ arts-letters/articles/kabbalah-jewish-magic-hitler
23 Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg. “Kabbalah Against Fascism: The Day the Jewish Mystics tried to take down Hitler: Literally.” Posted April 24, 2025. www.lifeisasacredtext.com/kabbalahfascism/
In 1941, Richard W. Tupper, a young American worker at a naval factory, sent a letter to author and occultist William Seabrook, author of Witchcraft: Its Power in the World Today, inquiring about how to hex Hitler. “Some mumbo jumbo and doll magic might help pass the longer winter evenings,” Tupper wrote. “And the movement might grow to tremendous proportions and end up successfully, if Hitler learns that thousands of people are hexing him.”24
The delighted Seabrook sent complete instructions on how to christen a doll as Hitler, sing “vicious, repetitive, singsong doggerel” incantations, and stick it with needles, nails, and pins.25 He also suggested copious consumption of alcohol (Seabrook was a notorious alcoholic).
Seabrook explained that it didn’t matter if people took it seriously. The key was to have as many people as possible perform the ritual and to make Hitler aware that they were doing it.
Tupper began holding weekly hexing sessions, gathering with twenty of his friends after dinner and cursing Hitler until midnight. The girls, he said, made the best witches. The group, which included Birdseye frozen food heiress Florence Birdseye and a number of government employees, sent an invitation for Seabrook to join them at a Maryland cabin. Seabrook was never one to turn down a good party, so on a wet January evening, he joined the group at a cabin in the woods to perform a curse. A LIFE magazine reporter and photographer came along to document the evening and make sure Hitler found out about it.
Inside the cabin, the scene was surreal. A dressmaker’s dummy was clothed in a Nazi uniform, its face painted with a Hitler mustache. Nearby were log seats (a nod to Haitian customs), boxes of nails, axes, rattles, and many bottles of Jamaican rum. Tom-tom drums had been borrowed from the Department of the Interior. Several of the
24 Charles Cooke and Russell Maloney, “Hexing Hitler,” Talk of the Town, The New Yorker, 18 January 1941, 17. 25 “Hexing Hitler,” 17.
participants dressed up in robes as the rum was passed around for an hour before the ritual began.
Finally, the dressing dummy was baptized. “You are Hitler; Hitler is you!” the group chanted. Then “Chief Hexer” Ted Caldwell, dressed in an animal skin, intoned the ritual Seabrook had written. “The woes that come to you, let them come to him. The death that comes to you, let it come to him!”26
The other participants then took turns hammering spikes into Hitler’s heart. The Chief Hexer then led the group in a call-andresponse chant. “Hitler, you are the enemy of man and the world .… We curse you by every tear and drop of blood you have caused to flow. We curse you with the curses of all who have cursed you.”
The crowd responded: “We curse you!”27
At the ritual’s climax, the Great Death Ouanga (Haitian Creole word for a “charm”), the participants invoked the dark god Istan, asking him to send cats to claw out Hitler’s heart and dogs to eat it. With each repetition of the curse, they drove more nails and needles into him.
Finally, Hitler was decapitated by Tupper (his honor as the party organizer) and buried by the drunk, exhausted hexers in the woods. LIFE captured the entire party and published photos and a cheeky account on February 10, 1941. Seabrook had asked the reporter to publish the detailed ritual description and photos so that readers could hold their own Hitler hexing parties at home. They didn’t need a lifesized dummy, he explained. Any small, inexpensive doll would work. The United States joined the war less than a year later, and Hitler wasn’t dead until 1945. The Hex Hitler party was largely forgotten. I didn’t even know about it when I created the Trump binding spell in 2017, and I was shocked at the parallels when I discovered it in my research.
William Seabrook committed suicide in 1945 (as did Hitler), but I have to think somewhere he is enjoying the rise of resistance magic over seventy-five years after his unforgettable party in the Maryland woods.
26 “LIFE Goes to a Hex Party: Amateur Sorcerers in Washington Try Black Magic against Hitler,” LIFE, 10 February, 1941, 86.
27 “LIFE Goes to a Hex Party,” 87.
As has been extensively chronicled, the 1960s was a decade fueled by the struggle for civil rights, the rise of second-wave feminism, revolutionary politics, radical social movements, environmentalism, youthful rebellion, and rejection of the middle-class American Dream. It was a heady time of expanded consciousness, with a counterculture dropping acid, demonstrating in the streets against the Vietnam War, blissing out to eastern yogis, promoting free love, and embracing everything esoteric, magical, and occult. As the popular song from the musical Hair declared, it was the dawning of the Age of Aquarius, and with it came a renewed interest in the mystical and spiritual dimensions of political action.
On October 21, 1968, as the legendary Summer of Love was fading into fall, one hundred thousand protesters—the largest peace demonstration of its time—descended upon Washington, DC, for a march against the Vietnam War. There was the usual rally with speakers and musicians at the Lincoln Memorial, but Jerry Rubin, one of the protest’s organizers, had pushed for more direct action: shutting down the Pentagon.
Rubin and other soon-to-be Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman had wanted to do something different, something that would shake up what was becoming the normal routine of marching and protesting. So, after the rally ended, they, along with poet Allen Ginsberg, pediatrician Dr. Spock, the rock group The Fugs, and thirty-five thousand of the more radical protesters marched across Arlington Memorial Bridge for a planned rendezvous at ground zero of the military-industrial complex, the Pentagon.
Their goal? To ritually exorcise the Pentagon by levitating it three hundred feet in the air.
Hoffman had visited the Pentagon a month earlier with artist Martin Carey to determine how many people it would take to surround the massive building (1,200, by their estimate). They were carrying pamphlets, which got them arrested for littering. When they were brought before a general services administrator, Hoffman requested a permit to levitate the Pentagon three hundred feet. He explained
how they planned to chant the exorcism in Aramaic, after which the building would rise, turn orange, and vibrate until all evil energies were dissipated. The war would end.
After some discussion, the permit was granted—but only allowed the building to be raised 10 feet. Hoffman relented, and the charges against the two were dropped.
After the protesters crossed the bridge, they were met in the Pentagon parking lot by 2,500 federal troops, many with guns at the ready, while riflemen stood along the roof and helicopters buzzed overhead. A few hippies placed flowers into the guards’ rifle barrels. Others attempted multiple times to breach the armed barrier and were beaten with rifle butts, arrested, and dispersed with tear gas. Rubin, Hoffman, and crew had brought along the hippie version of tear gas, a hallucinogenic purple liquid they called lysergic acid crypto ethylene (LACE), allegedly brewed by legendary acid chemist Augustus Owsley Stanley III. Whoever it contacted, Hoffman claimed, would take off their clothes, begin kissing those around them, and make love. (It was actually harmless disappearing ink from Taiwan.)
If the levitation failed, Hoffman said, “We will dye the Potomac red, burn the cherry trees, panhandle embassies, attack with water pistols, marbles, bubble gum wrappers, bazookas, girls will run naked and piss on the Pentagon walls, sorcerers, swamis, witches, voodoo, warlocks, medicine men and speed freaks will hurl their magic at the faded brown walls…. We will dance and sing and chant the mighty OM. We will fuck on the grass and beat ourselves against the doors. Everyone will scream ‘VOTE FOR ME.’ We shall raise the flag of nothingness over the Pentagon and a mighty cheer of liberation will echo through the land.”28
As they gathered at the Pentagon, Ginsberg, Abbie Hoffman, and The Fugs, along with several hundred participants, began to chant and sing. Fugs member Ed Sanders had written the “exorgasm” ritual: “In the name of Zeus, in the name of Anubis … in the name of the
28 Abbie Hoffman, Revolution for the Hell of It: The Book That Earned Abbie Hoffman a Five-Year Prison Term at the Chicago Conspiracy Trial (Dial Press, 1968; Thunder’s Mouth, 2005) 39.
lives of the dead soldiers in Vietnam … in the name of Sea-borne Aphrodite … in the name of Dionysus, Zagreus, Jesus, Iao Sabaoth, Yahweh the Unnamable … we call upon the Spirits to Raise the Pentagon from its Destiny and Preserve it. In the naaaaame—in all the names! Out, Demons, out!” 29
Unfortunately, no one—at least no one who wasn’t tripping on 250 micrograms of LSD—saw the Pentagon rise. But the crazed surreality of the ritual was a direct response the surreal horrors of the disastrous war in Vietnam. It became legendary and led to the formation of the prankish, guerrilla theater activist group known as the Youth International Party, or Yippies. Their later stunt—throwing handfuls of fake one-dollar bills onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange—also earned them a place in the history of creative protest.
As Jerry Rubin wrote in the Berkeley Barb: “The worst thing you can say about a demonstration is that it is boring, and one of the reasons that the peace movement has not grown into a mass movement is that the peace movement—its literature and its events—is a bore. Good theatre is needed to communicate revolutionary content.”30
Keep his words in mind, magical activists, because they are as true now as they were then.
A group of radical feminists took inspiration from the creative, shocking political theater of the Yippies. When New York Radical Women split over tactical disagreements, several of the members formed WITCH, or Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell. Their inaugural action took place on Halloween 1968, when the members, dressed in stereotypical witch garb, marched to Wall Street to hex the financial district. The Dow Jones average dropped
29 Ed Sanders, Fug You: An Informal History of the Peace Eye Bookstore, the Fuck You Press, the Fugs, and Counterculture in the Lower East Side (De Capo Press, 2011) 281.
30 David Armstrong, A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America (South End Press, 1981) 120–21.
sharply the next day—for which the witches were more than happy to take credit.
One of their leaflets stated:
If you are a woman and dare to look within yourself, you are a Witch. You make your own rules. You are free and beautiful. You can be invisible or evident in how you choose to make your witch-self known. You can form your own Coven of sister Witches (thirteen is a cozy number for a group) and do your own actions. … You are a Witch by saying aloud, ‘I am a Witch’ three times, and thinking about that. You are a Witch by being female, untamed, angry, joyous, and immortal.31
Another memorable action (or zap, as they were called) took place in February 1969 at a bridal fair at Madison Square Garden (with a sister action in San Francisco). The witches of WITCH, this time wearing black bridal veils, infiltrated the event, chanting, “Here come the slaves, off to their graves.” They then let loose white mice in an attempt to cause chaos.
The changed their name to match each action: Women Interested in Toppling Consumer Holidays (Mother’s Day), Women Incensed at Telephone Company Harassment (at Bell Telephone Company), Women’s Independent Taxpayers, Consumers, and Homemakers, and several others. Covens sprang up in cities across the United States but largely disappeared after 1970.
In 2015, WITCH covens began to crop up again, and with the election of Donald Trump in 2016, WITCH activists, in their black cloaks and pointy hats, became an increasingly common sight at protests. A new anonymous WITCH PDX, established in 2016 in Portland, Oregon, is more broadly inclusive, embracing antiracism, anti-fascism, anti-patriarchy, indigenous rights, gender self-determination, women’s liberation, trans liberation, anti–rape culture, reproductive rights, sex
31 Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, GoddessWorshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today, rev. ed. (Penguin Books, 2006) 208.
worker support, LGBTQIA+ rights, environmental protection, religious freedom, immigrant rights, anti-war, anti-capitalism, disability justice, privacy rights, and worker’s rights.
Despite criticism of their tactics from some feminists, and the fact that the members used witch tropes humorously, the group is considered to be a progenitor of feminist witchcraft—which we will examine in the next chapter.
But before we do, one other anecdote:
On Lammas Day 1971, thirty-one years after Gerald Gardner and the New Forest coven cast their spell against the Nazis, several Californian covens gathered to raise a cone of power to end the Vietnam War. Which just goes to show: witches keep doing what witches gotta do.
The feminist collective WITCH (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) in its initial form in the late 1960s was not explicitly religious or spiritual, but it played on pop culture tropes of the wicked witch, complete with pointy black hat. It did, however, create a culturally resonant and influential connection between feminism and the rapidly growing practice of Pagan witchcraft. As British Wicca began spreading in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s, it dovetailed with the countercultural revolution and gave birth to a uniquely American form of witchcraft: the cult of the Great Goddess.
The idea that witchcraft was inherently a feminist tradition, and the survival of a matriarchal folk religion extending into antiquity, was increasingly part of the zeitgeist.
A number of books contributed to this: Margaret Murray’s The Witch-Cult in Western Europe (1921) found a new, receptive readership, as did Robert Graves’s The White Goddess, which was rereleased in an expanded version in 1961. Feminists Mary Daly, Andrea Dworkin, Barbara Ehrenreich, and Deirdre English all began to use the figure of the historical witch as an emblem of resistance to patriarchy. Merlin Stone’s 1976 book, When God Was a Woman, used archaeological data to explore the existence of prehistoric goddess worship and ancient nature-worshiping matriarchal cultures that she believed existed before the patriarchal Abrahamic faiths destroyed them.
Feminists began embracing the (inaccurate) idea that nine million women had been murdered in the European witch hunts (the number is now believed by most scholars to be around forty thousand). According to many, the “Burning Times” was a holocaust that wiped out the remaining traces of the once-dominant matriarchal witch cult.
It was only natural that many feminists would begin to advocate for a return to the lost religion of the Great Goddess and her priestess cult of herbalists, healers, and midwives. And the burgeoning Pagan community in the United States was there to accept them.
Zsuzsanna (Z.) Budapest, a Hungarian refugee and daughter of a hereditary witch, started a women’s-only coven dubbed the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1 in California in 1971. Budapest came to call her
brand of Wicca “Dianic,” and it was solely focused on goddesses and feminine concepts of deity—all male gods and male concepts from British Wicca were stripped. She initiated hundreds of women in the following decade, and the chant she wrote, “We All Come from the Goddess,” has become a classic in Pagan circles.
Unfortunately, Budapest later became a prominent transphobe, or TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), a deeply unfortunate choice that alienated her from the larger progressive Pagan community and caused her publisher, Llewellyn Worldwide, to drop her from its roster. I likewise recommend avoiding her and her works.
In 1979, Margot Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today was published. Adler was a popular reporter on National Public Radio and a Wiccan. Her book examined the rising numbers of Neopagans and Pagan religious and spiritual practices in the United States, and received praise and glowing reviews from mainstream critics and academics alike. Its impact on the spread of Paganism was enormous.
Also in 1979, a largely unknown feminist writer, Miriam Simos (who took on the pen name Starhawk), published a best-selling book, The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Religion of the Great Goddess, and a new form of feminist witchcraft exploded into the public consciousness. The book, and its several successors, linked Goddess spirituality not just with feminism but also with direct political action and a strong emphasis on social, political, antimilitarist, and environmental activism. Starhawk was a regular presence at direct actions, including the blockade of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, and says she stopped counting her arrests after two dozen.
To celebrate the book’s publication, Starhawk organized a Halloween ritual known as the Spiral Dance in San Francisco. Musicians, artists, and dancers collaborated to create poetry and music for the ritual liturgy, and each year it grew larger and more popular. In 1999, the twentieth anniversary of the ritual and the book’s publication, 1,500 hundred people took part. The enormous success of the book, fueled by its practical and extraordinarily poetic rituals, also led to the establishment of hundreds of covens in the United States and Europe.
From this ritual emerged the Reclaiming Collective, which now boasts several dozen regional communities in the United States, Europe, and Australia. According to the organization’s website,
Reclaiming is a community of people working to unify spirit and politics. Our vision is rooted in the religion and magic of the Goddess, the Immanent Life Force. We see our work as teaching and making magic: the art of empowering ourselves and each other. In our classes, workshops, and public rituals, we train our voices, bodies, energy, intuition, and minds. We use the skills we learn to deepen our strength, both as individuals and as community, to voice our concerns about the world in which we live, and bring to birth a vision of a new culture.
32
In 1982, Starhawk published Dreaming in the Dark, which was more explicitly political. She described magic as “the art of evoking powerfrom-within and using it to transform ourselves, our community, our culture, using it to resist the destruction that those who wield power-over are bringing upon the world.”33
As the political winds shifted to the right in the 1980s with the election of Ronald Reagan and the rise of the religious right, Starhawk further expanded her activism to include other marginalized groups: African Americans, indigenous peoples, and the LGBTQIA+ community. Her deepening commitment to environmentalism led to her embracing and promoting permaculture, a system of sustainable environmental and cultural design.
Another prominent Wiccan author and activist is Selena Fox, a trained counselor and psychotherapist. She helped organize the first Earth Day in 1970 and began leading public Pagan rituals in 1971 before becoming an educator, lecturer, and activist. She founded Circle Sanctuary in Wisconsin in 1983 on a two-hundred-acre nature pre-
32 Reclaiming.org home page, last modified 13 March 2015, www.reclaiming.org
33 Starhawk, Dreaming in the Dark: Magic, Sex & Politics (Beacon Press, 1982) xi.
serve. As executive director of the Lady Liberty League, a global Pagan civil rights network, she has been a leader in advocacy for Pagan religious freedom, and was instrumental in getting approval of the pentagram as a religious symbol on US military grave markers and memorials in 2007.
Before Z. Budapest, Starhawk, Selena Fox, and other feminists embraced and remade it, witchcraft was largely a private, insular religion. Its magic was confined to small groups, and the politics of its practitioners skewed right as often as left. Now, thanks to these pioneering women and those who followed them, witchcraft and Paganism have been transformed into a progressive social force—even more progressive than they were, in some cases, and embracing a more intersectional feminism than the one they knew. Indeed, few other religions or spiritual traditions (with the possible exception of Quakers or Unitarians) can claim to be as broadly inclusive, egalitarian, pluralistic, and politically engaged as modern feminist witchcraft.
At midnight on February 24, 2017, about forty of my friends and I gathered around a bonfire in a backyard in Baltimore City to cast a binding spell on Donald Trump and all those who abet him. It was the culmination of an extraordinarily surreal week of intense international press coverage and nonstop phone and email interviews, all accompanied by my growing sense that I had not merely written a spell that had gone viral but unknowingly assisted in the birth of something unimaginably bigger.
It was, in fact, the largest mass magical ritual in history.
When I first posted the text of the spell on the website Medium, I assumed it might generate minor interest in the progressive Pagan and magical communities, and maybe some appreciative chuckles from my network of artists and activist friends. Instead, with a viral rapidity that could not have existed before social networks, it exploded exponentially and became a novel, rapidly growing social movement under the umbrella hashtag #MagicResistance, a term I had cheekily appropriated from my adolescent years playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Something had emerged from our shattered collective psyche as we comprehended the enormity of the unspooling Trumpian dystopia— a deep and widespread desire to employ our spiritual energy as an act of resistance.
It all began an evening shortly after the 2016 election as a friend and I sat drinking beer and ruminating about the dismaying results. He had been surprised at Hillary Clinton’s loss, while I had felt a creeping unease that Donald Trump’s use of nationalism, xenophobia, racism, and misogyny during his campaign would lead him to victory. We exchanged ideas about what, exactly, we could do as a response to the increasingly bizarre and distressing events that were unfolding in the wake of Trump’s ascendancy.
We considered hosting a resistance party, for which I would DJ, and donating the proceeds to the ACLU. We bandied about ideas for direct actions and targeted protests like those we saw taking place across the United States.
“It has to be something unusual,” I said. “Something to match the surreality of what’s happening.” After a few minutes of silence, I asked, “What about a spell?”
My friend seemed perplexed. “What?”
“A spell,” I said. “A hex on Trump. A group ritual anyone could join.”
My friend laughed. “That’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever come up with.”
But I couldn’t shake the idea. I had been practicing magic most of my adult life, although I wasn’t very open about it. So the following day, I started writing a binding spell, using bits and pieces from a number of diverse traditions. When I had a draft finished, I emailed to some of my witch and occultist friends. Most of them liked it, a few didn’t, and I received some useful suggestions. I spent some time polishing the language and decided it was good enough to publish.
I posted the spell on the website Medium the afternoon of February 16, 2017, and shared it on Facebook and Twitter. I expected maybe a few dozen people would read and appreciate it.
After an hour, I checked the stats. Several hundred people had viewed it. I started getting feedback on Facebook—people were sharing it widely. And not just my Pagan and magician friends, but people of all ages and demographics.
And then it really blew up.
Two days later, the original Medium post had passed a hundred thousand views and showed no sign of slowing. My email started
filling up with requests for interviews from major print, radio, and TV reporters. Friends were asking to join in the ritual. Where was it going to happen? Could they bring their friends along?
Witches, in particular, were getting onboard. I was contacted by dozens of witches and Pagans who wanted to know more or host their own binding rituals on the night I had chosen, February 24, at midnight under the waning crescent moon. Artists were creating images to promote the event. Even more fascinating were the nonwitches and people who had never considered doing a magical ritual. “Why not?” was a common refrain. “It can’t hurt.”
As the days passed, the press interest only increased. Producers from a local Fox TV station caught wind that I was based in Baltimore and began hounding me for permission to show up and film the upcoming ritual. Hate-filled emails began arriving in droves, too, along with an occasional death threat. I did so many interviews I lost track, but the requests kept coming in. I told Fox News to fuck off and that I would never work with lapdog state media, but they kept persisting.
On February 23, I received a barrage of requests from antsy TV producers who wanted to capture the ritual. Where could they find witches to film in their area? Was it happening on the West Coast? In Boston? Washington, DC? In London? Several of the covens I knew of didn’t want to be filmed, but the requests kept coming in.
I felt bad that I couldn’t give them direct answers. So, I did something very uncharacteristic—I lied. “I hear a group of witches is going to do the ritual outside of Trump Tower,” I started telling them. “At midnight. It’s gonna be lit.”
In the meantime, a friend offered his wooded backyard for our ritual. He had a fire pit and it was close enough to the city for it to be easily accessible. More people were contacting me asking to attend. Another friend offered to film it for posterity.
On the day of the ritual, I left work early to prepare. I needed to finish shopping. I bought all the orange candles in my local witchcraft store and then had to hit a New Age bookstore several miles away to get more (I bought all of theirs, too). And because I hang out with a lot of artists and bohemian types, I stopped by a liquor store to get some beer and wine. When the young woman at the register asked
me if I wanted my receipt, I said, “Oh, definitely. I’m going to write this off. I’m cursing Donald Trump tonight.”
She smiled. “Oh. Do you have the unflattering photo of him?” I stood, stunned.
She laughed. “I’m getting together with my friends to do it tonight.”
At midnight on February 24, we performed the first ritual to bind Donald Trump and all those abetting him. It was livestreamed on Facebook, and tens of thousands tuned in to watch.
When it was over, we all broke out in spontaneous cheers. What had begun as a bit of a lark had become a global happening.
A friend showed me the news on his phone. In New York City and Chicago, witches gathered together on the sidewalk next to the Trump Towers with their stubby orange candles and Tower tarot cards and burned unflattering photos of Donald Trump while camera crews eagerly captured it. The producers got their footage after all.
And that was just the beginning.
Every waning crescent moon since that February evening, people around the world, alone or in groups, have gathered at a minute before midnight (Eastern Time) to focus their consciousness in a ritualistic effort to bind Donald Trump and his cohorts from doing harm. Afterward, many of these witches, magicians, artists, and activists gathered on Facebook and other social media platforms to share photos of their altars (many of which are beautiful works of art in their own right) as well as their emotions, visions, and experiences. For the majority, the spell is liberating and energizing, a reclaiming of personal power and an affirmation of their deeply held values in the face of what they see as a dangerous, antidemocratic administration.
Far from being ineffectual “slacktivism,” as some of its critics have branded it, the ritual (and others developed by participants) helps many of us stay focused, committed, and invigorated for our everyday activism and resistance. It has become a spiritual balm and a monthly reminder of our commitment to fighting injustice and the ongoing dismantling of our liberal democracy.
If you’re reading this, and if (gods forbid) Donald Trump is still president, you can join the rest of us by following the spell below every waning crescent moon at midnight. If he’s no longer president (thank the gods), you can adapt it to bind other horrible individuals in power and read it as a document of the #MagicResistance and a testament to those who drove him from office.
You can bet your pointy hat we’ll take credit.
Perform at midnight on every waning crescent moon until he is removed from office. The first ritual took place Friday, February 24, 2016, at the stroke of midnight. This binding spell is open source and may be modified to fit your preferred spiritual practice or magical system—the critical elements are the simultaneity of the working (midnight EST for DC, Mar-a-Lago, and NYC Trump Tower time) and the mass energy of participants.
Components
• Unflattering photo of Trump (small)
• Tower tarot card (from any deck)
• Tiny stub of an orange candle
• Pin or small nail (to inscribe candle)
• White candle (any size), representing Elemental fire
• Small bowl of water, representing Elemental water
• Small bowl of salt, representing Elemental earth
• Feather (any), representing Elemental air
• Matches or lighter
• Ashtray or dish of sand
Optional Components
• Black thread (for traditional binding variant)
• Baby carrot (as substitute for orange candle stub)
• Piece of pyrite (fool’s gold) placed on altar
Arrange other items in a pleasing circle in front of you. Lean the Tower card against something so that it’s standing up (vertically).
Say a prayer for protection and invoke a blessing from your preferred spirit or deity. Reading Psalm 23 aloud is common in Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork traditions. Experienced magicians may perform an appropriate banishing ritual.
To begin, light white candle. Then say,
“Hear me, oh spirits
Of water, earth, fire, and air
Heavenly hosts
Demons of the infernal realms
And spirits of the ancestors (Light inscribed orange candle stub.)
I call upon you
To bind Donald J. Trump
So that his malignant works may fail utterly
That he may do no harm
To any human soul
Nor any tree
Animal Rock Stream Or sea
Bind him so that he shall not break our polity
Usurp our liberty
Or fill our minds with hate, confusion, fear, or despair
And bind, too,
All those who enable his wickedness
And those whose mouths speak his poisonous lies I beseech thee, spirits, bind all of them
As with chains of iron
Bind their malicious tongues
Strike down their towers of vanity
(Invert Tower tarot card.)
I beseech thee in my name, (say your full name),
In the name of all who walk
Crawl, swim, or fly
Of all the trees, the forests
Streams, deserts
Rivers, and seas
In the name of Justice And Liberty And Love
Bind them in chains
Bind their tongues
Bind their works
Bind their wickedness.”
Light the small photo of Trump from the flame of the orange candle stub and hold it carefully above the ashtray.
Speak the following loudly and with increasing passion as the photo burns to ashes:
“You’re fired! You’re fired! You’re fired!”
Blow out orange candle, visualizing Trump blowing apart into dust or ash. Pinch or snuff out the white candle.
If this is a group working, the leader says:
“Our ritual has ended, brothers and sisters. May we go in peace, harming none, and continue our magical resistance under each waning crescent moon until Donald J. Trump is driven from office.”
The participants reply (with emotion):
“So mote it be!”
Everyone bursts into laughter to end the ritual.
After having a good, hearty laugh, jump up and down, clap your hands, stomp your feet, and have a bite to eat. Grounding is very important—don’t neglect it. And, remember, malignant narcissists hate people laughing at them.
Finally, bury the orange candle stub or discard it in a garbage receptacle at a crossroads or in running water.
In place of burning the photo, tie the photo to the orange candle (or baby carrot) with black thread. As you are wrapping the thread around the photo and candle, say “I bind you” three times. You may also tie knots in the thread. Then the whole package is buried, or, as one contributor suggested, “Leave it outside a Trump hotel.”
If you’re going to do magic, you’ll need to gather some tools. Luckily, resistance magic has grown from folk traditions that use simple, easyto-find items. A basic toolkit is all that is required to accomplish very powerful magic. Any items you don’t have already can be acquired cheaply and with minimal effort (especially now that things like resin incense, colored candles, and specialty herbs are easily ordered online).
Ever since our ancestors gathered around communal fires to tell stories and stay warm and safe from predators lurking in the darkness, the dance of flames has held us entranced. Fire creates, destroys, changes food, and turns liquids and solids into vapor and smoke. Of all the classic Elements, it seems most alive as it eats, grows, and spreads warmth.
The manufacture of candles of various shapes and colors in the early twentieth century allowed us to bring the magical aspects of fire into our lives in a controlled, safe manner. There are entire systems of magic built solely around burning candles of various colors (the classic The Master Book of Candle Burning: How to Burn Candles for Every Purpose by Henri Gamache is still in print seven decades after it was originally published).
Candles come in an enormous variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. If you can’t find the type or color you’re looking for in a store, you can easily order them online. I generally use freestanding candles (cylinders or tapers; many tapers, however, require holders) and glass-encased candles (also known as prayer or novena candles). Glass-encased prayer candles are my favorites because you can affix photos or images to them, turning a plain white or colored candle into a symbolic, radiant powerhouse. They’re also safer than freestanding candles because the flame is enclosed (although the glass bottom can get hot when the candle burns down).
My preference is for unscented candles. Many scented candles are made with artificial ingredients and, frankly, smell horrible and disgustingly fake when compared to natural oils and fragrances. Your main scents will likely come from incenses and oils deliberately employed for their qualities anyway.
Most of the spells in this book utilize candles. If you absolutely cannot have open flames in your living space, battery-powered candles and tea lights that mimic a flickering flame are now available. You can paint them the color required for the spell.
A cauldron or other fireproof container or ashtray of some sort is a necessity in resistance magic, as a number of spells in this book require you to burn paper and other items. If you get one with a handle, you can carry burning incense around in it for suffumigating (smudging) an area. But any fireproof container filled with sand, such as a large seashell or dish, will be fine.
Let me start by saying I have nothing against smudging with sage. It is an all-around excellent purifier and does a superb job dispelling negative energies. But please allow me to introduce you to the dynamic duo of magical incenses: frankincense and copal.
If you grew up Catholic, as I did, you’ve likely smelled frankincense. This resin, extracted from trees of the Boswellia genus, has an unmistakable scent and has been used in spiritual practices for over five
thousand years (and was one of the gifts given to the newborn Christ by the magi). Recent studies have shown evidence for frankincense’s utility as an antidepressant.34
Copal is another tree resin, but unlike frankincense, which is mostly harvested in Africa, it comes from Central America and Mexico. I first encountered its unforgettable scent in a Maya village church in San Juan Chamula, Mexico, as Maya shamans performed healing ceremonies (yes, they did their healing rituals inside the church— the Maya, like many indigenous peoples, are not averse to a little religious syncretism). The smell, which is paradoxically bright and deeply layered, instantly transformed my consciousness in such a powerful way that I’ve been using it ever since. The Maya and other peoples in Central and South America use it for purification, cleansing, healing, and to call upon spirits. It is my go-to magical incense.
Although it’s easy to find stick incense (also known as joss sticks), I suggest burning resins, woods, and other plant materials on charcoal. You can add your incense a bit at a time, when needed throughout the ritual (as opposed to sticks and cones, which burn continuously). You can also craft your own mixes or burn materials that aren’t conventionally incorporated into commercial incense, like herbs and spices.
Charcoal gets very hot (especially the easy-light variety), so you need to keep it in a fireproof container on a layer of clean sand. A variety of commercial censers can be found in stores or online, but any nonflammable container filled with sand will suffice.
You can get charcoal disks made for incense in many New Age and occult retailers, health food stores, and botanicas. The self-lighting charcoal disks are made with additives like saltpeter, which has a scent of its own that some people find unappealing and others consider harmful. They are easy to light, and I used them for many years. When you hold a flame to them, they begin to crackle, and you can watch the flame spread across quickly.
34 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, “Burning Incense Is Psychoactive: New Class of Antidepressants Might Be Right under Our Noses,” ScienceDaily, 20 May 2008, www.sciencedaily.com/ releases/2008/05/080520110415.htm.
Nowadays, I use Japanese charcoal bricks made from coconut or bamboo, which are preferred by serious incense aficionados. It has a barely discernible but appealing scent of its own and has no additives, so you get nothing but the pure incense smoke. I recommend looking for it online, especially if you don’t like the saltpeter smell of the quick-lighting disks. It takes longer to light, but it’s worth it. A fireplace or grill lighter with the flame held against the charcoal for thirty to forty seconds is usually is enough to get a corner lit, after which you can place it in its container and let it do its thing.
Whichever charcoal you use, the process for burning loose incense is the same. Light the charcoal. The easiest and safest way is to use tongs or chopsticks while holding it over a candle or lighter flame until the edge begins to glow red. Place it on the sand or screen of your censer or container and wait until it gets covered in a thin layer of gray ash. Then put a tiny bit of your resin, wood, or herb on top. When I say tiny, I mean a pinch. And be careful—a little goes a long way! If you’re worried about the smoke setting off an alarm (and trust me, nothing ruins a ritual like a high-pitched electronic shriek), consider temporarily removing the battery. Just don’t forget to replace it when you’re done!
For some rituals, I suggest “washing” or “smoking” yourself with the smoke. Here’s how I do it.
Using your hands, pull the rising smoke toward your head and down over your body. Do this a few times. You should feel an unambiguous shift in energy as the smoke cleanses you. For me, it is immensely pleasurable and feels like full-body chills. You can also use feathers to wave it toward you.
If you’re allergic or hypersensitive to smoke or if circumstances prohibit you from using incense or having an open flame, consider an electric incense burner or heater, which will release the scent of your woods or resins without smoke. You can also use an essential oil heater or diffuser, or mix essential oils with water in a spray bottle and spritz yourself or your environment.
There is something special about incense smoke, as I think you’ll agree if you use it ritually. It has been part of magical practice since antiquity, and when you’re in a heightened state of consciousness, the
smoke can sometimes shape itself into an image. In some traditions, evoked spirits make themselves visible via the twisting tendrils of smoke.
Holding an object in rising incense smoke is an excellent way to purify it and is part of the basic Consecration Ritual you will find in Chapter Nine, “Preparation for Ritual.”
Oils
Magical oils are used throughout this book, and most you can easily craft yourself—and you should, because creating them is a magical act in itself. No store-bought oil will have the energy of something you empower with your intention. If you buy commercial oils, try to get the purest, most natural possible.
My go-to multipurpose spiritual oil is made from hyssop and a vegetable oil base—you’ll find the recipe in the section on getting clean in Chapter Nine.
Herbs and Plants
Fresh and dried plant products are a vital part of most magical traditions, and scores of encyclopedic books have been written about plant magic. There are plants used almost exclusively for magical purposes, such as High John the Conqueror root and mandrake, and those you already are likely to have in your kitchen, such as cinnamon, basil, and black pepper. Although I focus on substances useful for resistance magic in this book, I encourage you to delve deeper into the incredible world of plant magic in the books mentioned in the Appendix. You’ll find that the plants themselves are powerful teachers if you simply learn to listen.
A good rule for using plants is to get as close to the natural state as you can—that is, unprocessed or minimally processed and free from pesticides and other chemicals. Wildcrafted or harvested plants are optimal, but use what you can find. If you harvest a plant yourself, it is customary to leave an offering or, at minimum, a prayer of thanks.
I also cover the controversial use of psychoactive plants in the section on the ritual mind (page 129).
A mortar and pestle is good to have around for grinding herbal material, roots, incense resins, and other spell ingredients.
Though it makes me a bit of an outlier in the magical community, I place more value on special stones I’ve found in nature or had gifted to me than on store-bought crystals and gemstones. Over the years, I have found rocks that resemble faces, one that looked like an eye, another a snake, and several that don’t look unusual but continue to carry the memory and energies of magic locales I’ve visited.
There are also ethical reasons why I don’t spend a lot of time buying and using crystals, including environmentally destructive mining and exploitative labor practices in the industry. So, if you do purchase crystals, do your best to assure they have been mined in sustainable ways by ethical companies.
There is a reason gems and crystals have been a common element in magic and witchcraft since the dawn of time, however—because they work. Crystals, in particular, are powerhouses for magical work because they readily store and transmit energy.
I have suggested certain gems, crystals, and rocks for a number of the spells herein, but use your intuition and consult the correspondences in the Appendix for creative options.
Although I spent the early years of my magical practice making complex (and often costly) talismans and amulets, it was my explorations in Hoodoo and Conjure that led me to work with the much cheaper and simpler—but just as effective—mojo bags.
Traditional mojo bags (also known as hands, gris gris, and tobies) are made of flannel because that was a common fabric among the poor, enslaved Africans who worked with them. But any material will work: felt, leather, silk, cotton, you name it. You can even use a handkerchief.
Amulets and talismans, including mojo bags, are some of the most practical and useful magical tools. Many people carry something
special for good luck, but magically empowered objects can provide protection, draw positive energies, repel negativity, and boost your confidence and charisma. If you’re an activist, you’ll likely run into tense, uncomfortable, or dangerous situations. Having a protective mojo bag may give you just the edge you need to avoid unpleasant confrontations. You can also make these bags for others, personalizing them for an individual’s needs or for the particular activist goal or campaign.
Tarot cards, statues of gods or saints, photographs, drawings, or other powerful, iconic images are frequently employed in rituals. The Justice tarot card is an obvious choice for spells related to social justice workings and anything involving the legal system. The Tower card was used in the Trump binding spell, as it could be associated with his garishly branded towers. A printed photo of a politician target of a binding spell (perhaps with a sigil drawn on it), a drawing of the Statue of Liberty, a polluting company’s printed logo, or other photos, drawings, or printouts may take their place on the altar as needed.
Paper on which you’ve written the name or names of your targets are known as name papers. If you write out a prayer or spell, it is called a prayer or petition paper. You can use any sort of paper and pencils, pens, or markers. Some people emulate ancient Egyptian spellcasters and use brushes and ink on papyrus (available online), while others use scraps of paper shopping bags, as is common in Hoodoo and Conjure. Use recycled paper whenever possible, and make sure there is enough contrast between ink and paper that you can read or write on it under candlelight.
If you can get a signature of your target, that is also an excellent link to them. Even if the signature is a facsimile, it will be effective. You can often contact your government representatives (via letter or email) and get a signed document in response.
Pyramid as Energy Tool
This is a tool you won’t find in many other books of magic, but I’ve used it since I was in my early teens.
One of my first concrete experiences of magical energy happened after I read a book on pyramid power in the ‘70s. (Yes, instead of comics, I was reading books about witchcraft, UFOs, and pyramids. I was a bit of an odd kid.) I decided to build my own pyramid to test some of the book’s assertions. I cut sheets of cardboard and taped them into a small replica of the Great Pyramid in Egypt, cut panels into the sides (so it was open), and proceeded to do some experiments.
I was floored by the results.
First, I placed a section of an orange beneath the pyramid and one right outside it. The fruit beneath the pyramid dried up completely, while the piece a few inches away became covered in green mold. Then I tried the same experiment with a piece of raw bacon. Again, the bacon inside the pyramid dried up, while the piece outside quickly rotted.
The most impressive experiment used small cups of milk. I covered each cup with plastic wrap. After a couple of days, I uncovered the cup beneath the pyramid. It had a very neutral smell, reminiscent of yogurt, and had formed a curd. When I removed the plastic wrap on the milk outside the pyramid, I made the mistake of lifting it to my nose and smelling it. I gagged and could barely keep from vomiting. It was thoroughly spoiled, and to this day I have an aversion to milk. I also did experiments with bean sprouts, and the seedlings under the pyramid grew dramatically faster and taller.
Duly impressed (as were my bewildered but supportive parents), I typed up my experiments on a manual typewriter, took some Polaroid snapshots, pasted it all on poster board, and submitted it to my school science fair with the title “Do Pyramids Affect Decomposition?” I won first place, which qualified me for the Maryland state science fair.
My first lesson in how mainstream science treats things outside of its orthodoxy took place as I watched the state science fair organizers debating where to place my project. Was it biology? Chemistry?
Physics? They spent a half hour puzzling over the question before finding me a spot in between categories (a liminal zone I’ve learned to appreciate in the years since).
Today, I use a frame pyramid made of brass to charge items I place beneath it. When I make a batch of incense, oil, or a mojo bag, I keep it beneath the pyramid’s center for a few days after I consecrate it to further energize the item.
If you want to try it, you can find metal frame pyramids online. I recommend them over solid models because you can see what’s under them and easily access the items inside. Or you can make your own, of course, and instructions are available in books or online.
There is something as yet unexplained about how this particular shape creates a field of energy empowering growth while paradoxically arresting decay. After the fad passed in the ‘70s, research declined in the United States, although it has continued in Russia. Though I don’t know how it works, pyramid energy has proven to be undeniably real and useful in my practice.
I always have the following near my altar for easy access:
• Spare candles in a variety of sizes and colors
• Charcoal blocks or disks (for burning woods, herbs, and resins)
• My collection of incenses, oils, and plant products
• Glass jars, vials, and droppers
• Matches or a lighter (I keep a fireplace or grill lighter to reach inside tall glass prayer candles and light charcoal)
So, where’s the magic wand? How can any witch or magician expect to be taken seriously without a wand?
I have a number of wands, some of them very beautiful. I spent a dozen hours carving, sanding, and painting one of them with intricate sigils and symbols (because that’s what Kabbalistic magicians do). And though it may seem counter to everything you know about magic—
and heretical to Harry Potter fans—I seldom use any of them. Why? Because I’ve found my hands are exponentially better at directing and manipulating energy.
If you feel compelled to use a wand, or if your tradition includes it, go for it. As you’ll soon get tired of me repeating, magic is an art, and a personal one at that. What works best for me might not for you. Consider, though, the intimacy of our hands and fingers and how we transfer our energy via touch. If your pet cat or dog is in pain and suffering, would you rub them with a stick? I doubt it. You’d caress them gently, and your love and healing energy would be transferred through the powerful magic instruments known as your hands. Think of the way even the lightest touch from someone you are madly in love with makes you feel—is there anything more invigorating? Entire healing systems are based on what is called in religions the “laying on of hands,” including one practice, therapeutic touch, that has been widely embraced by medical professionals.
In this book, you will be encouraged to use your hands or fingers to generate, hold, transfer, or direct energy. I suggest trying it that way unless you’re already using an energized wand in your practice and are happy with the results. When you begin working extensively with energy, you’ll be surprised at the change in sensitivity in your hands.
I sometimes utilize an iron knife when very strong defensive magic is required, and the energetic effects of a ritual blade can be extremely potent, even when wielded by beginners. Much of that is due to our ambivalent associations with blades and acts of cutting and violence. In general, I don’t recommend working with ritual knives unless it’s a component in your tradition.
Tarot cards, especially the Major Arcana, make excellent charms and talismans. They’re portable, potent power images you can tuck in a backpack, purse, or coat pocket.
Consider choosing a card to carry when you head out to an action or other activity. You can also adopt a card to use as a symbol or focus
of a campaign or project (as the Tower card became associated with the Trump binding spell).
• Fool: Beginning a new action or campaign, helping the homeless (the Fool iconography in the earliest tarots derives largely from medieval and Renaissance depictions of wandering, homeless, rejected people)
• Magician: Anytime you’re working resistance magic (or other magic)
• High Priestess/Papesse: Study, academics, secrecy, reconnaissance, reproductive rights, feminism
• Empress: Working for a female politician or leader, women’s empowerment, fair pay, equal rights, maternal health
• Emperor: Confronting politicians, fighting empire, antiwar, capitalism
• Hierophant/Pope: Education and academia, spiritual instruction, combating sex abuse among clergy
• Lovers: Physical and spiritual love, reproductive rights, sex worker protection, breaking a physical or sexual bond (inverted)
• Chariot: Public transportation advocacy, pedestrian or bicycle advocacy, public speaking
• Strength: Any project requiring or promoting strength (particularly women’s strength), animal welfare, nonviolence
• Hermit: Spiritual or moral guidance, enlightenment, leadership, elder advocacy
• Wheel of Fortune: Revolution, social progress, fighting the gambling industry
• Justice: All matters involving social and legal justice, legal issues, court cases, and trials, the broad goal of justice via the “righting of the scales” or karma
• Hanged Man: Death penalty, torture, prison reform
• Death: Death penalty, war, violent crime, gun law reform
• Temperance: Peace, community healing, social welfare, addiction, water rights
• Devil: Rebellion, slavery, religious fundamentalism, addiction and recovery, predatory capitalism, fascism, human trafficking
• Tower: Trump binding, antiauthoritarian, crony capitalism, wealth inequity, corporate excesses, opposition to construction projects
• Star: Peace, water rights, human rights, environmentalism, astrological influences
• Moon: Feminism, animal welfare, pet adoption, water issues, nighttime actions, psychic abilities, art advocacy
• Sun: Transparency, solar and renewable energy, farming and sustainable agriculture, transparency in law
• Judgment: Legal matters, revolution, uprisings
• World: World peace, all environmental issues, trans rights, vegetarianism, animal welfare
A few words about disposal of spell remnants: Many traditions suggest disposing of spell remains (candle scraps, wax, ash, liquids, paper, pins, etc.) at a crossroads, in running water, in a graveyard, and so on. Do not just leave your spell refuse in the middle of a crossroads! Spiritual practice does not excuse littering. One option is to find a convenience store or gas station located as a crossroads and place the material in its trash receptacle or dumpster. Voilà.
If a material is to be buried, you can bury it in your yard (if its aim is healing, defensive, or beneficial) or in a circumspect location away from your home (if it is for binding, hexing, or repelling). Never bury anything toxic, nonbiodegradable, or dangerous to animals or people. Err on the side of caution and don’t break any laws. Leftover glass (such as empty prayer candles) should be recycled.
If a spell directs you to dispose of objects in a public place (say, a courthouse or a vigil location), follow this rule: for every object you leave for magical and symbolic purpose, pick up three times the equivalent in litter and dispose of it. Keep the scales in balance, and tip them in your favor by always doing a little extra remediation.
If you’re going to take magic seriously, you’ll need to set up a proper workspace. As with any endeavor, having a space separate from your day-to-day activities and the proper tools at hand will
allow you maximum effectiveness in your magical workings. In most traditions, this space is called an altar, and I like to think of it as my ritual dashboard or spiritual cockpit, the control center from which I launch into and navigate magical space.
It’s helpful, but not necessary, if your altar occupies a permanent space in your home. Obviously, a permanent altar is not always possible, whether due to a need for secrecy from roommates or spouses, to keep away from pets, or simply because of space constraints. In that case, temporary altars may be set up when necessary and taken down and packed away into a suitable container.
The altar serves as a focal point for your energy and sets aside a sanctified space for magical workings. It houses your working tools and, over time, will acquire a palpable energy. Merely standing or sitting in front of it will allow you to quickly slip into a heightened state of consciousness.
You will need to ensure privacy while working at your altar. Nothing kills the magical vibe more quickly than a roommate or child wandering into the middle of a ritual. Do whatever is necessary to ensure your absolute privacy—make it known to others that they are not to interrupt except for absolute emergencies. If you have a companion or roommate who is antagonistic to your practice, tell them you are meditating or working. If you have young children, you may need to wait until they are asleep. Of course, privacy means shutting off your phone and other electronic devices, too. Time at the altar is sacred and should be treated as such.
If you’re fortunate enough to have a secluded yard, beach, or nearby field or wooded area, you can set up an outdoor altar, though you may want to carry your working tools with you versus leaving them exposed to the elements or to curious people and critters.
Options for permanent or semi-permanent altar spaces may include the following:
• A section of your desk
• The top of a dresser, cabinet, or table
• A dedicated section of a bookshelf
• A hearth or mantle
• A specially constructed altar of wood or other materials
• A slab of stone or wood
• A large rock, tree stump, or other flat area outdoors
If a permanent altar is undesirable or impossible, find a suitable spot where you can set up a temporary workspace. Some people use a covered box, crate, or other unobtrusive container (such as a plastic tub) to store their working tools, perhaps covering it with a cloth during rituals to make it less drab and utilitarian. When finished, the tools go back in the container until the next working.
You may sometimes find the need to construct a temporary altar outside of your home. For a protection ritual for an endangered wooded area, for example, you may want to build a temporary altar for your spell on a rock, stump, in the crook of a tree, or just on the ground. You might even set up a temporary altar in front of you on a sidewalk during a protest ritual, as many witches did outside of Trump Towers in New York and Chicago during the very first binding spell in 2017. Just be sure to take all of your components with you when you’re done—the “leave no trace” ethic should be part of magic, too (with certain exceptions, as detailed later in the book). Basic Altar Arrangement
Sometimes you may want to construct a secret or hidden altar, perhaps to protect an area from development or bind the energies of a corporation on its property. Archaeologists and historians have found evidence of hidden altars and other magical tools made by enslaved African Americans in a number of historic residences. You may want to do rituals at the site of an injustice in a surreptitious way by creating an altar that blends in with its surroundings, but at which you can perform regular workings to keep it empowered.
You may also put together a portable altar, especially if you are traveling as an activist or want to do regular rituals at different locations. Any easily carried container works, or you can simply keep the required altar materials safely wrapped in your backpack.
The key to creating your altar is to make it truly yours, reflective of your personality, your aesthetics, and your magical affinities and goals. Strive to make it a singular work of art. After each monthly Trump binding spell, members of the official Facebook group post photos of their altars. Their beauty and diversity are breathtaking. Some have specific themes, whether Egyptian, Wiccan, or Greek. Others are composed of shells, plants, rocks, crystals, wood, and other natural materials. Many are very simple, with just the spell’s components artfully arranged, while others use a collection of colored candles, deity statues, personal symbolic items, and handmade art.
Work to make your altar beautiful so that even if someone didn’t realize its magical nature, they would see it a work of art (and if a nervous fundamentalist Christian neighbor visits for coffee, you could tell them that’s exactly what it is).
Your altar may include any or all of the following:
• Candles
• Representations of the four classic Elements (earth, water, fire, and air), as detailed below
• Incense burner and incense
• Deity, animal, saint, or other statues (any of which may be animated or “enlivened”—see Chapter Nine)
• Flowers
• Gemstones and crystals
• Shells, feathers, or bones
• Herbs, roots, leaves, or seeds
• Small bell
• Personal items and mementos
• Photographs or illustrations of target people, groups, or institutions
• Drawings, sigils, or other power images
• Cloth covering or special altar cloth
• Broom
• Magical tools from your tradition
Many of the spells in this book require specific items that may temporarily take a prominent place on your altar, and they are noted in the instructions.
Many of the world’s magical traditions honor the four classic Elements: earth, water, fire, and air. I recommend giving them each a place on your altar. If your tradition has an association for each Element and direction (such as air in the east, water in the west, fire in the south, and earth in the north, as found in many Western esoteric and witchcraft traditions), then you should arrange them as such. Otherwise, simply having the four Elements present and arranged in a pleasing manner is sufficient. Some suggestions include:
• Earth: Container of soil or salt, rock, crystal, geode, petrified wood, plant, pentacle
• Water: Chalice or other container of water, cauldron, glass bowl of blue gemstones or crystals, seashells
• Fire: Candle (red, yellow, or white), container of ash or burnt wood, volcanic rock
• Air: Feather, incense or aromatherapy burner, fragrant herbs or flowers, wind chimes
You may want to align your altar to the four cardinal directions if you are part of a tradition (like Wicca) that is directionally based. Otherwise, you can decide to follow the broad esoteric tradition that aligns altars facing the east (where the sun rises and the metaphorical source of spiritual light). But directional alignment is not necessary because your altar becomes the symbolic center of your spiritual practice wherever you place it. The key is to locate it somewhere you can have privacy when doing your ritual work.
A white “spirit” candle (seven-day glass prayer candle) goes in the center, toward the back, of my altar and also serves as the symbol for Elemental fire. For special workings, I will sometimes swap it out for a similar white candle with a sigil affixed it (sigil creation and use is detailed in later in this chapter).
Arranged artfully in front of the white candle are:
• A feather, representing Elemental air. My old neighborhood hosted an enormous number of crows, so I have a collection of beautiful crow feathers on hand for rituals.
• A chalice, representing Elemental water. My chalice is a relic from the days when I practiced the Golden Dawn system of magic and is hand-painted with sigils and Hebrew lettering.
• A small dish with consecrated coarse sea salt, representing Elemental earth.
I also have a classic three-legged copper cauldron, which I serendipitously found in an antique shop when I started practicing Wicca as a young adult. It serves as an incense burner (I place disks of charcoal in it, on which I burn loose incense) and a place to dispose of burnt materials.
Looking on over the Elements is a statue of the ancient Greek god Hermes (also known by his Roman name, Mercury), the patron of magic. It’s a reproduction of an ancient statue that I ordered from Greece, and as with many of my magical “action figures,” it has been
enlivened—a process you can read about in Chapter Nine. I have a number of enlivened statues and devotional candles that I swap in and out depending upon the job that needs to be done. When they’re not “at work,” they rest on a special shelf of their own. And even when they’re not actively working, I make sure to give them regular attention as I would any guest in my home.
Next to Hermes sits a very special monkey I cheekily named Voodoo Monkey when I received him as a gift in my early twenties. He didn’t need any enlivening—the person who sculpted him was clearly a magician and knew how to imbue spirit into wood (or call the spirit out of wood—either way, an artistic genius). Ever since the day Voodoo Monkey came into my life, he has been with me, following me through multiple moves, relationships, traumas, and joys. He’s as dear to me as any of my human or animal friends, and once, while I was under the influence of a magic form of fungi, he opened up and shared some of his secrets. Maybe you have a similar object in your life, and maybe it already occupies a space on your altar. You know it if you do.
Depending upon the season, I may have fresh or dried flowers, leaves, or herbs. Since I often employ tarot cards in rituals, I frequently have a tarot card in place. A couple of very special shells and rocks round out the tableau.
That is my basic altar. What will yours contain?
Many cultures keep altars to their ancestors. It is probably one of the oldest extant spiritual practices, and you can see it in our era in African spiritual traditions, in Mexico’s Day of the Dead celebrations, among Spiritualist churches, and in some nontraditional Christian homes.
For a number of reasons, some simply intuitive and aesthetic and some traditional, I do not believe in mixing working altars and ancestral altars. First, your ancestors may not care for your type of magical practice—Great-Grandma Judith, who went to Mass every Sunday, may not be too keen about hanging around while you’re doing your skyclad Wiccan rituals.
There is also a strong prohibition in some traditions against mixing photos or mementos of living people with the dead. I agree. It makes me uncomfortable, and I suggest keeping the living and the dead separate. The spirits of the dead who went before you are some of your most important and useful magical allies. But if you want to work with them, give them their own sacred space. Keep it simple: photos or items from their lives, special food or treats (like cigars for my dad), a cool drink of water, and a plain white candle.
An altar is a living being. Like all living things, it will grow and evolve as you grow and evolve. Just as your body sheds hair, perspiration, and skin, your altar will shed candle wax, ash, husks of flowers, crumbled herbs, and evaporated water. While some elements may remain for years, others will change, mutate, or go away completely as you grow in experience and your needs shift. If you’re engaged on a long-term campaign for racial justice, for example, a statue or tarot image of Lady Justice or the Egyptian goddess Ma’at may take up long-term residence. When that campaign ends and a looming confrontation with a developer over a local forest demands your attention, a blown-glass image of the earth or a Neolithic goddess statue may take her place. The world changes, you change, and your altar will change in response. Let your intuition and your artistic, aesthetic, and metaphorical impulses guide you in creating your ever-evolving magical dashboard. Before long, it will be a glowing power center, always on and always ready for you to go to work.
Written and carved images and symbols have been part of magic since prehistory, probably since early humans could draw a triangle in the dirt with a stick. The symbols found on cave walls and carved into rocks by Neanderthals in Europe and at Tassili n’Ajjer in Africa were likely part of magical or shamanic practices. Some of the oldest
magical writing dates back to ancient Egypt, where hieroglyphics and protective spells were carved into amulets and excerpts from the Book of the Dead were written on papyrus before being inserted into cylindrical gold cases to be worn as pendants.
Spells may be written out or words may be broken into parts or arranged in shapes, like this well-known bit of text from the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) that was worn for protection:
Abracadabra
Abracadabr
Abracadab
Abracada
Abracad
Abraca
Abrac
Abra
Abr
Ab A
Magical symbols, names of spiritual beings and deities, and seemingly nonsensical words (known as voces magicae) like abracadabra have been used in magic since the dawn of writing.
Textual magic was used throughout the ancient world by pagans, Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The texts were often rolled or folded and worn on the body. In Jewish magic, sections of the Torah are worn as talismans or placed around the home (like the mezuzahs placed on doorposts). In the grimoires of the Middle Ages and Renaissance writing, symbols and images were combined into glyphs or sigils and employed in natural magic, spirit summoning, and protective circles.
In the modern era, we can see continuity in magical writing traditions going back to antiquity. In Hoodoo, Rootwork, and Conjure, sections of the Psalms or torn pages from the Bible are carried as apotropaic (protective) magic. Written names have sympathetic power, and personal signatures even more so. Names, petitions, Biblical verses,
and curses are written out and manipulated to magical effect. Nearly identical traditions are found in witchcraft. Graffiti and tagging are also forms of sigilization, with their own rules and culture.
Words and symbols are extraordinarily powerful magical tools. Manipulating written words and symbols is an important technique in magic, and you’ll find it employed through the spells in this book.
Let’s look at one of the most practical and potent forms of symbolic magic: sigils.
Sigils are magical symbols designed to influence and cause changes in the inner and outer worlds. The magician, witch, or shaman may utilize existing sigils or create their own.
Sigils are not the sole province of magic, either. If I asked you to visualize the logos of popular soft drinks, computer companies, and fast food chains, you could very likely call them to mind and even draw them. Corporations spend an enormous amount of money to design and test logos, and whether they call it magic or not, they are using the same techniques as magicians. A successful logo can spread across the world and be understood in any language.
Imagine what you can do with a magical logo.
In resistance magic, a sigil can be created for a single spell or to encapsulate an entire movement. Historical examples are the peace symbol, the black power fist, and the symbols for ecology (created by artist Ron Cobb in 1969) and women’s rights (notice that the feminist sigil is based upon the astrological symbol for Venus).
I spent a few days developing a sigil for the Trump binding spell, and within hours of my introducing it on Facebook it had spread like wildfire through social media. Many of the spell’s participants adopted the sigil as their avatar on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and added it to their altars during their monthly binding rituals. People asked to have it printed on T-shirts and hoodies, and I soon set up an online shop to sell 3D-printed plastic and metal sigil pendants and altarpieces.
So, let’s look at the process of sigil creation and then how to empower or “charge” them.
There are a number of techniques for designing magical sigils. I’ve used most of them, and the following combines attributes from a variety of authors (and you can find their books in the resources section). The most influential is without question artist and magician Austin Osman Spare (1886–1956). Spare’s technique was adopted and popularized by chaos magicians in the late twentieth century, and his practical techniques remain the basis for most modern sigil magic.
First, you must condense your spell’s intention or goal into a short, concise phrase. For the Trump binding spell, it was easy: bind Trump.
Then, write it out without spaces between the words and remove duplicate letters:
Many people remove the vowels, leaving: Bndtrmp
To use or not use vowels? Spare didn’t use vowels because Hebrew, a language considered magical in many Western esoteric traditions, doesn’t have vowels. I sometimes incorporate them, sometimes not. The key is to create a sigil that feels and looks right—and that takes time and tinkering. Try vowels or simply leave them out.
If you use vowels, the letter O can always be drawn as a bounding circle around your sigil. Magical symbols from the medieval era were often drawn inside of circles and crafted into talismanic disks.
You may also want to incorporate other symbols. If you want to work with the energies of Venus or Mars, for example, you could incorporate their astrological symbols. Ditto with alchemical or Elemental symbols. If you’re doing a spell to expose a corrupt corporation, you could incorporate the drawing of an all-seeing eye. For a spell for peace, you might include the well-known peace sign. If your goal is to commemorate an important date, say July 4, you could use 7 and 4. The possibilities are endless and only limited by your imagination and creativity.
Now comes the fun part.
Take the letters (and other symbols if you are using them) and begin combining them creatively. Don’t worry if you’re not a great artist— you don’t need to be. Combine the letters. Overlap them. Merge them. Turn them upside down or sideways. Distort, mangle, flip, break apart, and otherwise work your letters until you have an image that looks… well, magical. It should be simple enough to draw easily, but should feel like it is more than just some lines and squiggles on paper.
When you think you’ve nailed it, work with it and try to finesse it even more. You will often know exactly when it is finished. I often describe my best sigils as looking like an alien alphabet or a hieroglyphic from a lost civilization. You might not know what it means, but you can tell immediately that it has meaning.
Voilà! You have created your sigil.
For most spells, it’s easiest and most effective to draw your sigil on a piece of paper before employing it. You can use any kind of paper, but I regularly use metallic ink pens on black card stock. In candlelight the sigils really come to life, seeming to glow, glimmer, and pulse.
I also sometimes use papyrus (available online or at specialty paper stores) because of its ancient magical provenance, especially for sigils I want to keep on my altar (papyrus holds up very well).
Experiment with different pens, paints, markers, papers, and other media. But don’t confine yourself to ink or paint on paper. I’ve fashioned my sigils into pendants made with clay, especially polymer clay, which comes in an enormous variety of colors and styles, including metallics, fluorescents, and even opaque and transparent. You can create exquisite faux gemstones that are nearly indistinguishable from the real thing.
Any surface can be covered in a sigil—crystals, wands, cauldrons, ceramic, leaves, clothing, envelopes, even your skin (a very ancient, and obviously still common, practice). You can even paint surreptitious and invisible sigils onto surfaces with water or oil or trace them onto objects or in the air with your finger.
One of my favorite techniques is to add the symbol to a glassenclosed prayer candle. You can draw it directly on the glass with a permanent marker or draw or print the sigil on a piece of white paper and use a glue stick to apply it to the candle. Especially if you are doing a long-running working, you can use the sigil candle on your altar for days, weeks, or even months depending on how long you leave it burning. The effect is quite extraordinary for such a simple and easy-to-make object.
Now it’s time to empower or charge your sigil.
I view the process as bringing the sigil to life—taking a purposely crafted symbol and imbuing it with magical energy. After the charge, it transcends simple lines on paper and becomes an image of power, carrying your intention into the spiritual realm.
Methods of charging sigils are just as varied and diverse as those for creating them. I’ve tried many, and all have been effective, more or less. I suggest trying the following, which has worked exceptionally well for me.
First, we’ll consecrate the sigil. Have the four Elements represented on your altar, along with your incense censer. Use copal or frankincense (loose incense is best, but sticks and cones are fine).
Arrange three small white candles (tea lights are fine for this) in the center of your altar in an upward-pointing triangle. Light the candles to begin the ritual.
Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual (see page 134).
Light your incense. Hold your sigil in front of you and say,
“Bless this sigil, powers of earth (touch the object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold the object over your fire symbol), and air (hold it in rising incense smoke or touch it to the feather), spirits of the heavens (lift it toward sky) and of the underworld (lower it toward the altar or ground).”
Still holding the sigil in front of you, say,
“Consecrate this sigil so that it may (state purpose/intent). May it serve the highest good. So mote it be.”
You can expand upon your purpose or intention—you don’t need to stick to your simplified statement. For the Trump binding sigil, for example, I would say, “so that it may bind Donald Trump and all those who abet his wickedness.”
Lift the sigil to your mouth and blow into it. Feel your personal energy empowering the sigil’s intention, the breath of life moving into it and awakening it. Say,
“Awaken to your power.”
Then hold the sigil in front of you. Relax your eyes and gaze at it. Don’t strain your vision. The sigil will likely blur, shift, wiggle, or even double as your eyes soften. Just breathe slowly and let it remain the sole subject of your attention. Enjoy the process as it mutates. This is when it is gestating. As you are gazing at it, visualize the end result—the goal—of your intention. Allow yourself to experience the satisfaction you will feel when the sigil’s purpose is accomplished. Really feel it as if it has happened.
At some point it will simply seem to go dead. What was a living, breathing thing now looks like a dull collection of lines.
Place the sigil within the triangle of candles. Let it settle or bake for as long as you would like. When the process feels complete, blow out the candles and place the sigil upright (lean it against something) on your altar.
At this point, your sigil is charged. Duplicates of it will carry that charge in the same way a yeast starter culture can propagate infinite loaves of sourdough bread.
The key to effectiveness is putting the sigil in front of as many eyeballs as possible. It doesn’t matter if those eyeballs (and the brains behind them) understand its intent. I don’t know why it works that way, but it does. The image gains power and effectiveness the wider it circulates, even if those who see it have no idea what it means.
Some traditions suggest burning or otherwise destroying the sigil under the belief that it is then utilized by the subconscious to work its magic. My experience in advertising and marketing, as well as decades of practical magical experimentation, have convinced me otherwise. Contrary to A. O. Spare’s opinion, keeping the sigil alive and spreading makes it far more effective.
So, create a sigil for your cause and incorporate it into your spells. Then set it loose in the world. Here are some possibilities to get you started:
• Paint it on banners or signs for a march.
• Get it printed on T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, and other forms of clothing. There are numerous web-based shops that will print and produce them.
• Turn it into jewelry or an object for your altar (using natural clay, polymer clay, plastic, wire, wood, etc.). If you create it in clay, consider making a mold so you can mass-produce them for your fellow activists. You can also incorporate appropriate roots, leaves, herbs, resins, and other materials into the clay before drying it (see correspondences on page 208).
• Turn it into a model via 3D printing. It’s very easy to take a 2D symbol and convert it to a 3D file via website conversion tools. Then it’s just a matter of printing it at a local “maker lab” or a 3D printing company. You can also create a storefront to enable others to purchase and wear your design.
• Print small versions of the sigil (perhaps fifty or more on a single sheet of recycled paper), cut them out, and distribute them discretely, leaving them in unusual and unexpected places. Years ago, I came up with the term “meme microdots” for my tiny (one-half-by-one-inch) propaganda flyers. I loved the process
of leaving them in heads of lettuce in grocery stores, in stacks of newspapers or magazines on a display rack, in the coin slots of vending machines, and tucked into rolls of toilet paper. The more unusual and surprising, the better.
• Have your design printed on stickers. But please, be judicious and thoughtful about where you place them. Don’t put stickers on business property (unless, of course, you’re targeting the business), private homes, public art, trees or plants, or anywhere else they infringe on others or detract from a pleasing environmental aesthetic. The best locations are on utility structures (electrical boxes, the backs of street signs, parking garages), spots already tagged or covered in flyers or graffiti, or other dull, unsightly surfaces. There is an art to stickering—do your best to do it artistically and responsibly.
• Draw or paint it on crystals or rocks, and then consecrate (see the Consecration Spell on page 140 and deploy them in strategic locations.
• Trace it with your finger on the surface of campaign materials.
• Print postcards and mail them to a person or targeted organization (for support or to bind). You can print the sigil on the postcards or trace it energetically or with oil or water.
What if your target or opponent has a widely distributed sigil—that is, a logo?
Corporations and politicians hire high-priced magicians (logo artists) to create sigils to manifest their intentions (which largely involve making money). It’s almost as if marketers have studied books about magic like this one!
So, if you’re going to resist their magic, you’ll need to counter their empowered sigils. Luckily for you, with a printer and a few keystrokes you can have a printed copy of their logo on your altar in minutes.
Print out or draw the logo of a corporate target. You can then write a message across it, put a giant X through it, or otherwise deface the image. In my Hex the NRA spell (page 188), an excerpt from Psalm 37 is written across a printout of the organization’s logo. In written magic, writing across a word or image imposes power upon it. Burning is an age-old form of sympathetic magic, with good reason. It was employed to great effect in the Trump binding spell, during which an “unflattering” (is there any other?) image of the forty-fifth president was burned while the participants chanted “You’re fired!”
Another option is to alter the image. I once saw an alteration of a famous soft drink logo in which the logo’s half circles were transformed into a cartoon human’s distended belly. Now I can’t look at the logo without seeing a gut bloated by excessive sugary soft drink intake. That, friends, is antilogo magic at its finest.
Sigil magic, like all magic, has defensive applications. Use it or lose it.
Resistance magic is not always nice.
While many popular books on witchcraft claim that magic should only be used for healing and “positive” ends, I strongly disagree. Magic has always been used for self-defense and in defense of others. The idea that it should not be used defensively or to inhibit the actions of others is a twentieth-century invention, and the entirety of the historical record, from ancient times through the present, makes that abundantly clear.
When I published the Trump binding spell, I expected to encounter resistance from fundamentalist Christians and orthodox religious types. After all, in their view, all magic is evil and the work of the devil, including magic done for healing and positive outcomes (benefica). I even baited them a bit by throwing in the phrase “demons of the infernal realms,” knowing it would tie their underpants into knots and send them into paroxysms of prayer for their beloved “Christian” president.
But it takes a lot of work to conjure demons, as any competent ceremonial magician knows, and they’re not just going to do what you ask them—like any employee, they won’t work unless they’re paid. And as I’ve stated elsewhere, I prefer to work respectfully with cooperative and helpful spirits, not the lowlife dregs of the astral realms.
However, as I replied to some of my fundamentalist critics, I would be absolutely delighted to have the cooperation of any and all infernal
spirits willing take a whack at the horrid demons infesting Donald Trump—the demons that make a man believe grabbing women by the pussy is kosher, for example, or the demons that make him enjoy mocking someone with disabilities. The demons that make him believe dumping coal waste in mountain streams is morally acceptable seem especially malign.
Not only did I expect harsh criticism from the religious right, I egged them on. Their overblown reactions even helped further empower the binding spell (because that’s how magic works). What I did not expect was a wave of blowback from the witch and Pagan communities.
Many of my Pagan critics pointed to the threefold law of Wicca as their reason for condemning the spell. This law says that any negative magic (malefica) you do comes bouncing back at you with three times the consequences. If you curse someone and they break their leg, the bad mojo is gonna come careening right back at you and break your legs and your arms and burn down your house. It’s a variant of karma, just with a moralistic edge against what is presumed “bad” magic.
I respectfully pointed out that the threefold law was very likely the creation of Gerald Gardner, one of the originators of modern witchcraft, and didn’t appear until he inserted it into one of his novels in the middle of the twentieth century. And many witches, particularly non-Wiccans, don’t consider it part of their tradition anyway. While I do acknowledge the reality of karma, my experience is that it is a much more complex phenomenon than the simple equation “do bad → get hurt.” First, who defines what is good and positive or bad and negative? Like most ethical issues involving complex human beings and their societies, it is far from simple to label most actions simply good or bad.
Just think of something as simple as owning a pet cat that you’ve rescued from a shelter. A good act, right? Absolutely—both you and the cat would agree. But that cat requires food, which means meat (and please don’t try to turn your cat vegan). So, the fact that you saved the cat means many animals, most of which are raised in horrid factories, are suffering and dying to feed them. If you let the cat outside—which you may feel is a positive experience for your pet—they might kill endangered songbirds.
Some of my witch critics said binding spells were inherently negative because they aim to thwart the target’s desires and intentions, that any magic inhibiting someone’s will is, by definition, harmful. It’s a good point, so let’s examine it with a couple of thought experiments.
• Your child is being stalked by an adult with a history of abusing children. You have done everything you can to get police to detain or restrain him, with little success because you don’t have actionable evidence. You know the abuser is still actively seeking your child because you saw him sitting in his car across from the school playground where your child was playing.
• A state senator is on the verge of passing legislation to pave a local wetland to put up a strip mall. The wetland has been declared critical for protecting the local watershed from nearby farm runoff. In fact, your well draws water from an aquifer that is threatened by the development.
• You just moved to a small rural town. You and your same-sex partner are married and have adopted two mixed-race children. A local fundamentalist minister is whipping his congregation into hating you because “marriage is between a man and a woman,” and “children need a father and a mother, not two mothers.” Your children are increasingly bullied to the point where they dread going to school. The teachers have tried to help, but the minister’s hold on the parents is too strong. Today, you opened your mailbox and found a letter threatening to kill you and your children if you “disgusting perverts” don’t move out of town.
• The drug your mother needs to stay alive has gone from five dollars per pill to two hundred dollars, all thanks to a pharmaceutical company CEO. You have no idea how you’re going to pay for the life-saving medicine.
So…would binding spells or hexes be okay in those situations? Yes, those are extreme examples. But every day, corporations, politicians, corporate executives, lobbyists, cops, judges, ministers,
lawyers, and other authorities make decisions that cause serious harm to innocent people, animals, and ecosystems.
Witchcraft and magic are tools. When you, someone you love, or a place of great beauty and spiritual power is threatened, why would you not use all the tools at your disposal?
I have a very simple equation when it comes to whether or not I will use binding or hexing magic: Would I use all other available nonmagical means to stop the harmful person or activity? For example, would I use a lawsuit to stop a development threatening my drinking water? Would I call the police to get a restraining order against someone stalking my child, and would I physically attack the sicko if I saw him trying to approach her at a playground? Would I do everything in my power to protect my life, the lives of my children, and my home from a group of rage-filled bigots?
If the answer is yes, then I feel ethically justified doing binding or hexing.
It is also critical to examine how far you would go in a hex. If you wouldn’t do something by nonmagical means, don’t do it with magic. I advocate nonviolence as the most useful and practical mode of resistance, so I would never do magic that would physically harm or kill someone, like cursing someone to get cancer or to get hit by a bus, just as I wouldn’t slip a carcinogenic poison into their drink or shove them in front of a bus. I would most definitely do magic to nonviolently impede their actions from harming me or others I care about.
If, however, someone physically attacked me or the people I love, I would do whatever it takes to stop them. Full stop. Self-defense is always justified.
Magic has always been the tool of the oppressed, the downtrodden, and the persecuted. African American Hoodoo, Rootwork, and Conjure are prime examples. They grew from enslaved people who had little agency in their daily lives and no recourse to justice. Their magic required curses, jinxing, and tying (binding) to fight injustice in their communities and resist the oppressive slaver class. It arose from necessity.
White-light magic is fine. Some people are naturally resistant to doing anything that could be seen as harmful or negative, and they should heed their instincts. Binding and hexing make up only a very small part of my magical practice. But refusing to use magic in selfdefense or the defense of the voiceless, marginalized, and oppressed because of a law of dubious historicity seems extremely foolish to me. Magic is a tool for healing—and for defense against injustice.
Binding is the magical equivalent of a cease-and-desist order, a straightjacket, or putting a toddler into time-out. Its goal is to restrain someone from particular actions to others or to themselves. In the Hellenistic world, binding was one of the most common uses of magic, as evidenced by the abundant curse tablets (defixiones) uncovered by archaeologists. The binding spell would be written on a piece of lead, folded, then pierced with a nail or other sharp object before being buried (often in a graveyard) or thrown into a well or pool (please do not do this, because lead poisoning is a thing). Human figures made of clay were frequently used as well, sometimes pierced with pins or nails.
If you do a binding spell, it is important to bind only the negative or harmful behaviors of your target, otherwise you are verging on more harmful magic with greater potential to generate psychic or karmic blowback. Many witches and magicians believe that malevolent magic is “sticky,” meaning it can leave unpleasant residue on the caster. Therefore, your binding should be very specific about the behaviors it targets. Let’s look at some of the language in the Trump binding spell, for example:
“So that his malignant works may fail utterly That he may do no harm
To any human soul
Nor any tree
Animal Rock Stream Or sea…”
Note the careful language: not that his works may fail utterly, but his malignant works. If his policies turned out to be beneficial to citizens, the environment, liberty, the political system, and truth, the spell would have no effect. Aim for the same specificity in your bindings. Just as importantly, always incorporate the ideals you are working for. Again, from the Trump binding spell:
“In the name
Calling upon the highest ideals that drive your spell adds further focus and energy and serves as a safety valve to guard against any “sticky” negative residue. You are, after all, doing your magic in service to important ideals and for the greater good. Be sure to always integrate that into any binding or hexing.
Another safeguard is to add a prayer to your preferred deity or deities before and after the working. Pray that your actions manifest the highest good for all those concerned, and trust that divinity will bring the required balance and justice. Adding a cleansing salt bath, both before and after your working, is another useful tactic. We cannot possibly know the ultimate outcomes of our actions or their potential unintended consequences. But inaction has its consequences, too. Those who fail to vote allow crooked politicians to rise to power and enact dangerous legislation. Those who failed to act as the Nazis rose to power enabled the unprecedented horrors of the Holocaust.
So, we must act. The future hangs in the balance. Pray, weigh all the possibilities, and get to work.
Because hexes can be so destructive and unpredictable, I advise using them as a last resort and only in extreme situations. I also do not hex
individuals but save hexing for the most destructive, dangerous groups and organizations—and only when all nonmagical means have been exhausted.
My Hex the NRA spell (page 188) came about because of the reprehensible response of the National Rifle Association (NRA) to the murder of seventeen students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day 2018. It was a tipping point in the national dialogue on gun safety laws for a huge number of American citizens, including many of the kids who survived. Instead of accepting what had happened as another inevitable tragedy, the young adults began speaking out, condemning the NRA’s antagonism toward any and all gun safety legislation, its intensive lobbying and funding of local and national government representatives, and its embrace of extreme right-wing politics.
The NRA turned against the kids, denying their sincerity, questioning their maturity, calling them naive and misguided, and suggesting they were pawns of radical socialists and fanatics who wanted to repeal the Second Amendment and disarm all citizens. Encouraged by decades of the NRA’s fear- and conspiracy-mongering and aided by the sewer-dwellers of 4chan and other online propaganda mills, the young activists were tarred as “crisis actors” and the deaths of seventeen young people deemed a hoax.
I had reached my breaking point. After years of advocating for gun control and contributing to groups fighting the NRA, I swore I would do what was necessary to prevent one more drop of innocent blood from being shed in the name of gun manufacturers’ lust for profits. I wasn’t alone. Many people sensed that this was more than just another school shooting that would be mollified with the usual conservative “thoughts and prayers” before fading from public consciousness. Those like me who had finally had enough were drawing a line.
But the NRA seemed impossible to defeat, entrenched as it was in the halls of power in Washington, DC, and in statehouses across the country. For years, organizations had lobbied for improved background checks, banning of assault-styled semiautomatic rifles, and raising the age to purchase guns—only to be soundly defeated, again and again, by the NRA and the lawmakers it buys with blood money.
While thoughts and prayers do not bring back the dead or stop future massacres, hexes, I believe—especially when cast by large numbers of committed people—can drive a stake through the heart of a wicked organization. At the very least, I felt we had to try.
As previously stated, I’m averse to cursing and hexing, as I believe magic is best employed as a tool for healing and creating positive change. But I’m also averse to watching the needless slaughter of innocent children because the NRA has bought our government with its piles of industry money and spends millions to silence all opposition. Hexes and curses are a magician or witch’s last resort, when you’ve tried everything else and bad shit keeps happening.
I’m not willing to watch the NRA take one more life.
So, don’t hex until you’ve exhausted all other options. But when all other options fail and the cost of failure is measured in innocent lives, don’t be afraid to do what you need to do.
Resistance has never been safe or easy. Regressive and reactionary forces do not like challenges to their authority. Entrenched power resists all attempts to undermine or dethrone it. And those who wield power often control the military, the police, the criminal justice system, and the media. The more authoritarian the government, the more brutality it unleashes on its critics.
Yet resistance movements, whose primary weapons are nonviolence, truth, justice, and morality, have beaten back and overthrown tyrannical regimes time and time again.
Nonetheless, it is prudent to take precautions to ensure your personal safety as well as the safety of your fellow activists and your community. We all know basic safety common sense—securing our homes, using caution in unfamiliar places, and avoiding direct provocation of violent people. But magical protection is largely unknown outside of covens, shamanic traditions, and occultism.
It’s time we changed that.
Protection magic includes a number of practices, tools, and techniques, such as prayer and blessings, magically shielded space, wards
and guardians, amulets and talismans, and banishings and bindings. Let’s look at each of them.
Calling upon the assistance of deity is a time-honored means of protection, and the old saying about the lack of atheists in foxholes has an element of truth. Even if you’re an atheist or agnostic, however, the act of prayer can have positive effects—so just aim your prayer at the universe at large.
If you do believe in God or gods, your choice of which of them to work with is enormous. Look for gods that are aligned with the subject of your activism. If you feel like your task is daunting, request the assistance of a road-opener like Ganesha or Papa Legba. You may want to petition Aphrodite, Dionysus, Sappho, Erzulie Dantor, or Pan if you’re doing LGBTQIA+ activism.
Research gods and other spiritual entities (such as angels, saints, and Elementals) to find an appropriate deity, or go with those your tradition suggests. But I always advise prayer, especially when doing spells involving binding or hexing, as a bit of a safeguard against potential unintended consequences or negative “stickiness.”
You can also petition your ancestors or the spirits of activists who have gone before us. Many African American spiritual activists call upon Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and other slain civil rights leaders to lend a hand in their works for racial equality and justice.
I also like to anoint myself with protective oil while invoking the blessing of deity. Use hyssop oil or my favorite Power Oil (see page 127).
Resistance magic is often difficult and potentially hazardous. Call upon all forms of assistance and go deep into the roster.
Magical energy can be used to shield a space from harmful entities or activity, and many Western traditions cast circles and spheres before all spell casting or rituals. Although I find circle casting and banishing largely unnecessary in most magical work (an admittedly heterodox
belief), there are times when it is prudent or necessary to erect an energetic barrier against malign influences and intrusions.
The Hermetic Seal (page 145) was created for those occasions. Practice it so you have the ritual memorized if you ever need it on short notice. It is useful in these cases:
• Magical attack
• When you feel physically unsafe
• When doing strong binding or hexing
• If you want to shield someone sensitive (like children) from the energies of your workings
• When you are experiencing unusual or troubling psychic phenomena
• When you need a magical “retreat” and want to unplug and ground
So, use the Hermetic Seal when you need privacy, physical or emotional safety, secrecy, to contain your energy from affecting the surrounding environment, or as a means to disengage and unplug so you can rest and recuperate.
Now a few words about magical attacks.
Although I have been a practicing magician for over thirty years and have a large number of friends in a wide variety of traditions, ranging from indigenous shamanic practices to ceremonial magic, I have only rarely encountered anyone who was the subject of a targeted magical attack. In the vast majority of cases, the individuals who believed they were cursed, hexed, jinxed, or subject to negative magic have been mistaken. Unfortunately, simple belief that one is under attack will begin to generate troubling symptoms, and despite being a self-fulfilling delusion, the consequences can be dramatic.
However, if we are to believe that our magic is effective, the corollary is that magic can be used by others against us. And despite their numbers being marginal in the larger community, right-wing and white supremacist magicians, witches, and organized occult groups do exist, and their growing numbers mirror the rise of such reactionary currents in nonmagical society. As the number of resistance magicians
and witches grows, they will work aggressively, with all of their energy and focus, to stop us.
So, why do I suggest not worrying?
First, we are aligned with evolutionary social currents and progressive values, healing, and justice. Although I’ve met plenty of magical people who would disagree, I’m quite certain the universe (and the majority of goddesses and gods) wishes to see us mature and evolve. And despite our ongoing failings as a species and regressive currents that continue to set us back, we are moving in the right direction. Women in most of the world have more rights and equality than ever before, legal slavery has been largely abolished, LGBTQIA+ acceptance is spreading across the globe, and wars are declining in number and casualties while violence in general is also in decline. More people than ever are aware of our role as stewards of our Mother Earth and are working to lessen our impact upon her and heal the damage we have done.
Now before I am accused of being a Pollyanna, I do realize we are witnessing unprecedented biological extinction; a global rise in nationalism, racism, political division, religious fundamentalism, and xenophobia; a mind-boggling hijacking of wealth and resources by a tiny fraction of the world’s population; and the potential collapse of civilization due to catastrophic climate change. The survival of our species is now in our hands, and the clock is ticking. No pressure, right?
Here’s the good news: the goddesses and gods, angels, Elementals, and ancestors are on our side. After all, they are part of our spiritual ecosystem and their fates are tightly interwoven with ours. To paraphrase the oft-quoted aphorism, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice…and it’s rooting for us to fight for our survival. Our magic is stronger. Don’t waste your time worrying about theirs.
Wards and guardians (the names can be used interchangeably) are the magical equivalent of your home’s alarm system and a ferocious barking dog. You can empower objects and place them around your
home or other area (a school, protected land, someone’s room) or enlist objects or living beings already present (rocks, trees) into service. You should probably begin by creating wards for your own home. The best objects to use are sculptures of animals and mythical creatures, as they are most receptive to empowerment. There is a reason people place statues of lions and other fierce creatures at their front doors and fashion them into door knockers, even if those doing so are unaware of their magical significance.
When you’ve found (or made) appropriate “container” figurines, statues, or carvings for your spiritual wards, consecrate and animate them with this spell:
Have the four Elements represented on your altar along with your incense censer. Use copal or frankincense (loose incense is best, but sticks and cones are fine).
Arrange three small white candles (tea lights are fine for this) in the center of your altar in an upward-pointing triangle. Light the candles to begin the ritual.
Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual (see page 134).
Light your incense.
Hold your object guardian object and say,
“Bless this guardian, powers of earth (touch object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold over your fire symbol), and air (hold in rising incense smoke or touch to feather), spirits of the heavens (lift toward sky) and of the underworld (lower toward altar or ground).”
Then hold the object in both hands in front of you.
Consecrate this ward so that it may protect the intended location or target (e.g., “my home” or “the wildlife preserve”) and all inhabitants within from unwanted intrusions, dangers, and harm.
Lift the object and blow into it. Feel your personal energy, the breath of life, moving into it and awakening it. Say,
“Awaken, guardian, and let us work together in service.”
Place the guardian object in the center of the triangle of candles. Place your palms over it. As you inhale slowly, feel and visualize energy pouring down from the cosmos and into the top of your head, then down to your heart (the center of your chest). At the same time, feel and visualize energy coming up from the earth, entering your feet, and meeting in your heart, where it mixes with the cosmic energy and glows brightly.
As you breathe in, feel the energy pouring from above and below into your center, and as you exhale, feel those energies from the heavens and the earth mingling and glowing ever brighter.
Then, when it feels like the energy has reached a peak, inhale deeply.
As you exhale, see that powerful energy running down your arms, through your hands, and into the guardian object.
Let the energy flowing from your palms subside with your exhalation. Slowly bring your hands together in a prayer position over your heart. Feel and visualize the heart energy contracting, and then clap your hands three times. The third clap ends the ritual.
Shake your hands as if flinging off water. Stomp your feet and shake your body to ground yourself.
Leave the object inside the triangle of candles for a few minutes or longer, exiting the room if possible (and if safe to do so with candles burning) to let its energy settle into its new form. When it is ready, carry your ward to its permanent location. Show it its new home and explain its job. Talk to it as a living being because it is a living being. Thank it again for being of service, and (especially if it is your home) ask it to alert you if it detects any harmful intrusions. If it is meant to serve for a limited time (perhaps until a bill passes to protect a piece of land), tell it when it may end its service.
If you set wards around your home or a location you frequently visit, be sure to regularly offer them a libation (pour out some water), a flower, a crystal, or, at minimum, a few words or a silent prayer of thanks. Just as with human guards in your employ, the better you treat your guardians, the harder and more conscientiously they will work with you.
If you don’t mind talking to plants (and you shouldn’t), another way to increase your security is to enlist the beings already in place. Chances are your home or apartment is already surrounded by beings that you may want to recruit to keeping an eye on your home—a biological alarm system of sorts.
Take some time to develop relationships with the trees, shrubs, flowers, and rocks around your living space. Talk to them and ask them if they’ll stay alert to unusual or harmful activity (they already do, most likely) and to let you know when things are out of sorts. As with any entity you ask for a favor, do something nice for them. A libation, a crystal, some fertilizer, or picking off their dead leaves are all good options, but be sure to ask what they would like as well.
This also goes for other locations—schools, your business location, office, a favorite park, etc.
And keep up the relationship if you want them to keep being of service. No one likes to be ignored, especially when asked for a favor.
Amulets and talismans are some of the oldest known tools of magic. Although technically talismans draw energies while amulets repel them, I use the terms interchangeably because one can (and should) create practical power objects that do both.
You can create protective amulets from scratch or charge items you already own (like a ring). I recommend creating your own, as the energy you put into assembling the materials deepens its connection to you and strengthens its potency.
In the early days of my practice, I spent a good bit of money and scores of hours creating elaborate talismans based on instructions from grimoires and texts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. When I left heavy Kabbalistic magic behind and started studying indigenous and folk traditions, I began to wish I could get some of those hours and dollars back.
Pro-tip: the simplest magic is the frequently the most effective. I learned that the hard way, so I hope I can save you from repeating my mistakes by dropping a little secret that will piss off many writers,
retailers, and workshop promoters: your energy and intention are the real keys to effective spell casting, not the hard-to-find herbs, pricy metals, crystals, oils, fancy robes, wands, and other gewgaws. That’s not to say certain herbs, crystals, oils, and tools won’t enhance your rituals. But any book or teacher who claims you need to engrave astrological and alchemical symbols onto precious metal disks for your spell to be effective is, to put it bluntly, full of shit. And they are probably going to sell you those precious metal disks at a substantial markup.
People across the planet use whatever they have on hand to work their magic. Enslaved Africans brought to the Americas lost access to their favorite plants, animal allies, minerals, and medicines, but they didn’t give up their ways—they adapted to their new environment. They used the law of similarity and their intuition to discover New World plants, minerals, and animals with similar energies and learned the lore of friendly Native Americans. Similarly, if an ancient text says you need a rare, expensive herb (found only on a few barren hills in Ethiopia) to appease Hekate, chances are you can find a workable substitute. I use the analogy of giving a gift of a handmade scarf to a friend—she might not find it to her taste, but she’ll still appreciate your sincere generosity.
End of rant. Let’s get to business. You can find all sorts of books and websites about talisman and amulet creation (see the resources section of the Appendix), but we’ll concentrate on one of the easiest and most universal.
You might know of mojo or medicine bags (also called hands, conjure bags, nation sacks, gris-gris, wanga, and tobies) from Native American traditions and as popularized by New Orleans-style Voodoo, but the idea of carrying protective items extends deep into antiquity. Even the Abrahamic faiths embraced the carrying of sacred apotropaic (protective) items, usually sections of the Torah, the Christian Bible, and Qur’an. The ancient Egyptians, Jews, Coptic Christians, and Muslims all wore sacred texts rolled or folded into containers around their necks, and this practice spread with them through Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas.
The African Kongolese wore nkisi pouches made of animal fabric and hung from cord around their necks, so enslaved Africans carried the tradition to the Americas. They undoubtedly noted the similarity of Native American medicine bags. It seems reasonable to assume that the similarity in this practice, arising independently around the world, is due to its practical effectiveness.
So, what might you include in your mojo bag? Essentially, items that are protective, enhance your natural power, and connect you to deities, your ancestors, family members, spiritual traditions, the earth, and its flora and fauna.
• Rocks, gems, and crystals
• Feathers, bones, hair, claws, teeth, and shells
• Herbs, leaves, roots, and resins
• Sacred writing, symbols, sigils, and photos
• Symbolic objects, such as keys, jewelry, coins, and nails
You get the idea. Your bag should be as individual as you, so take your time, do some research, and use your intuition as a guide. Quite often, objects will find you when you begin this project, so stay extra aware of your surroundings.
Any sort of bag or pouch will work, whether it’s leather, flannel, felt, crocheted, one you purchased, or one you make yourself out of scrap material. You will most likely want to wear it under your clothing, so it should not be too large or bulky. Although you can carry it in a pocket or bag, most traditions suggest wearing it against your skin if possible. It should also be kept secret. It’s not for showing off, nor should you share its contents or let others handle it.
Instead of creating bags for a variety of purposes (personal power, protection, love, prosperity), I suggest creating one bag that serves your highest goals (in other words, general good luck and probability enhancement) while also protecting you from harm and negativity. You can consult the correspondences and resources sections in the Appendix for ideas drawn from a number of traditions, but here are some components I have found to be effective, along with their associations and uses (many overlap).
• Angelica
• Asafoetida
• Basil
• Cinnamon
• Copal
• Dragon’s blood
• Frankincense
• Garlic
• High John the Conqueror
• Hyssop
• Mugwort
• Rosemary
• Rue
• Sage
• Saint John’s wort
• Solomon’s Seal
Herbs and Resins for Power and General Luck
• Abre camino
• Angelica (root)
• Bay leaf
• Copal
• Frankincense
• High John the Conqueror (root)
• Mint (all varieties)
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Tobacco
• Verbena
Stones and Crystals
• Rocks and stones from power places you have visited or those that have special meaning for you: Power and protection
• Amethyst: Protection
• Black tourmaline: Protection
• Clear, smoky, or rose quartz: Power and protection
• Fire agate: Protection
• Lodestone: Drawing positivity
• Obsidian: Protection
• Salt: Protection Here are some theoretical mojo bags to spark your imagination.
• Angelica root, High John the Conqueror root, a small rock from Machu Picchu, first child’s baby tooth, 1942 Mercury dime, mala bead
• Sage, tobacco, cross from a rosary, lodestone, pinch of graveyard dirt from father’s grave, piece of paper torn from a Bible
• Personal sigil on papyrus, four-leaf clover, snakeskin, smoky quartz, piece of antelope horn
• Six-sided die, rosemary, candy heart, folded two-dollar bill, miniature Hierophant tarot card, cat whisker
Look at the examples above. Don’t they all begin to tell a story about their owners? You can tell a lot about the person from what they carry, so strive to make your mojo bag truly yours.
Once you have your ingredients together, it’s time to wake the bag up.
This ritual utilizes the Consecration Spell (page 140) with a few additions. You will also need something to “dress” or “feed” your bag. Alcoholic beverages are traditional, especially whiskey, as are perfumes (in Hoodoo and Conjure, Florida Water and Hoyt’s cologne are common). You can also use your saliva or consecrated hyssop or Power Oil (page 127). It is best done under a waxing or full moon.
Have the four Elements represented on your altar (see the altars section in Chapter Four), along with your incense censer. Use copal or frankincense (loose incense is best, but sticks and cones are fine).
Arrange three small white candles (tea lights are fine for this) in the center of your altar in an upward-pointing triangle. Light the candles to begin the ritual.
Have the empty bag, string to tie it, and each ingredient on your altar. Have your feeding liquid or oil handy.
Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual.
Light your incense.
Hold each object (that you will be placing in the bag), then say,
“Bless this (name of object), powers of earth (touch object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold over your fire symbol), and air (hold in rising incense smoke or touch to feather), spirits of the heavens (lift toward sky) and of the underworld (lower toward altar or ground).”
Then hold it in both hands in front of you and say,
“Consecrate this (name of object) so that it may serve its purpose well for the highest good. So mote it be.”
Lift the object and blow into it. Feel your personal energy, the breath of life, moving into it and awakening it. Say,
“Awaken.”
When all the ingredients have been consecrated, put them in the bag. Consecrate the full bag, and when you breathe life into it, say,
“Awaken. Happy birthday.”
You may feel a distinct change when it is enlivened. From this moment on, treat it as a sentient being who will protect and aid you. Mark its birthday on your calendar.
Now tie it shut. You want to tie it tightly so there’s no chance it will accidentally open.
Now that it’s awake, it’s time to feed it. Apply some of the liquid to your fingertips and rub it into the bag, concentrating on the opening (or mouth). Apply more, a little bit at a time, until it feels satiated. Do not drench the bag (especially if you’re using whiskey). You can also trace sigils on it, if appropriate.
Place the bag inside the triangle of candles and let it rest for a while to bake or cook. When it’s ready, put it on (if using as a necklace) or place it in your clothing as close to your skin as possible. When you remove it at night, store it somewhere safe and private. If you have a pyramid, storing it underneath works to keep it charged longer.
Again, treat it as a private personal accessory. Don’t show it to anyone (except a special partner or spouse—and even then, don’t let them handle it), don’t wear it outside of your clothing, and don’t open it. Treat it with respect and honor. Wear it daily, as often as possible.
You may want to occasionally feed it, especially if it feels like it’s losing its mojo (bad joke—sorry). As your magical sensitivity increases,
you will notice when a consecrated object begins to fade. Take it to your altar, go through the Consecration Spell again (skipping the step where you blow into it, since it’s already awake). Feed it as before, and you’ll notice a marked change in its power.
And always feed it on its birthday. You wouldn’t want to miss that, right? Talk about hurt feelings!
Although I don’t believe in the need for the regular banishing rituals employed in many Western traditions, there may be times when it is necessary to dispel negative, lingering energies in a particular location. Perhaps you’ve been visited by someone in law enforcement (it happens to activists occasionally), and you can’t seem to dispel their aggressive energy from your home. A special city park you frequently visited may have been trashed by vandals and you want to clean it up energetically as well as remove their litter.
You can also banish publicly, as a form of direct ritual action (as pioneered by the Yippie exorcism of the Pentagon in 1968). A particularly vile politician’s campaign headquarters, a hateful church, or a polluting corporation’s office building are all possible targets.
Always purify yourself using the techniques in the section on getting clean (page 125) before undertaking a banishing, and it is advisable to take a purifying bath afterward as well, particularly if the area you’re working in is associated with violence or extreme energies.
The key component for banishing is incense (sage, frankincense, or copal) and consecrated salt water (use the Consecration Spell on page 140).
Here is the simple but effective technique:
Walking clockwise, smudge the entire area with incense. A censer or cauldron with a handle is ideal, but you can use a shell or other flameproof container. Smudge each room if you are in a house.
Walking around the perimeter of the area (if in a home, do each room), dip your fingers in the consecrated salt water and flick it every few steps, saying as you do so,
“I banish all evil influences and entities
All demons, parasites, hungry ghosts, Curses, bindings, and malign influences
In the name of the goddesses and gods (or insert your preferred deity or deities here)
The angels and the saints And spirits of the ancestors, begone and do not return!”
When you have completed the above, scatter pinches of salt around the area. If in a home, leave a bowl of salt out for at least twenty-four hours.
If you find you are targeted or threatened because of your activism (by an individual, a group, an organization, or a corporation), binding is a useful method to restrain your opponent and protect yourself. When combined with other nonmagical methods of protection, a binding spell can be a lifesaver.
Since binding spells are specific to target the individual, group, or entity, we’ll take a generic approach to spell creation. You will have to plug in the specifics and adjust to your needs. But a few components and techniques can serve as a template on which to build your own spell.
• Target Image: Include personal effects (fingernails, hair, a piece of clothing or jewelry, cigarette butt, toothpick), a photo, or a signature. Use a doll or poppet if the opponent is an individual or a printed logo, promotional material, list of members, or group photo if a group.
• Binding Materials: Black thread or string can be used to literally bind the target image. You can also imprison it in a container (glass jars and bottles are common).
• Ritual: The ritual can utilize your personal energy, the aid of spirits, or both. It should be very specific about the behaviors or activities to be bound.
• Cleansing: When doing any form of malefica, it is always prudent to pray to deity before the ritual and purify and cleanse yourself afterward to avoid any “sticky” negative residue.
For examples of binding spells you can use to construct your own, see Binding Trump (page 46), #MeToo (page 185), and Fuck Fascists (page 196).
There’s more to magic than just what you do in the privacy of your home at your altar. Resistance magic means doing magic in the streets, forests, courtrooms, corporate offices, retail stores, and other public locations. As noted earlier, the Yippies organized hundreds of protesters to levitate the Pentagon in 1967, and the anonymous members of WITCH, in their pointy hats and black cloaks, are regulars at protest marches in the Trump era. Dozens of witches sat on the sidewalks outside of Trump Towers in New York City and Chicago with their feather, Tower tarot cards, and stubby orange candles taking part in the first binding spell on the forty-fifth president in 2017. Resistance magic comes alive in the streets.
Guerrilla magic—a style of magical activism that is public and frequently spontaneous or impromptu—is a fun and effective way to work when you are out in the world. It includes leaving charged magical objects in the places where they can be most effective—a corporate office, a courthouse, the site of a police shooting, or a forest threatened by development. You can stick adhesive sigils onto street signs, or leave tarot cards in conspicuous and meaningful locations. In short, you should always be prepared to do resistance magic on the fly.
But it doesn’t have to be obvious. Consecrating normal-looking rocks and placing them on your target’s property is a way to hide magic from even the most sophisticated observers and security cameras. Magical oils, liquids, and powders have long been used on unaware targets, particularly in Hoodoo and Conjure, in which “foot track” powders and liquids are applied to the path on which its target walks. But please don’t send or carry unidentified powders or anything that could be construed as a chemical or biological weapon anywhere near an elected official or corporate executive…unless you are hankering to spend a lot of time in a federal prison!
One of the most important uses for guerrilla magic is in defense of the earth. Seeds are cheap, compact, and portable magic with the capacity to dramatically transform a blighted strip of land. Crystals and stones imbued with healing energy can be buried in, or strategically deployed at, depleted or polluted sites.
Here are some ideas for putting guerrilla resistance magic to work in your community:
• Spread native wildflower seeds in vacant lots and run-down areas to bring beauty to blighted neighborhoods.
• Write chalk messages or sigils on roads and parking lots.
• Leave Justice tarot cards with the names of unjustly convicted activists or police victims written on them on courthouse property or at police stations. You can also mail them to officials— they make quite an impression.
• Cover your town or city with stickers and flyers with magical sigils, phrases, or images.
• Create costumed protest rituals (à la WITCH).
• Leave talismans of protection at schools, women’s health clinics, and offices of progressive organizations and candidates, or give them out to activists participating in direct action.
• Perform exorcisms of a corporate headquarters, a church that preaches hate, or a corrupt politician’s campaign headquarters.
• Organize flash-mob-style rituals in public places.
• Hold a mock funeral for the earth outside the office of a major polluter.
The qualities that make guerrilla resistance magic actions most effective are:
• Spectacle: The more unusual, unexpected, or shocking, the better. Perhaps an army of people in rabbit costumes interrupts a Big Pharma trade show to protest the unnecessary use of lab animals. And spectacle doesn’t have to be loud and flashy—a silent protest can be incredibly unsettling and powerful.
• Humor: Try to avoid being too serious. Humor works to engage spectators and draw allies, but it is also a weapon against the powerful and the arrogant. Use it wisely against them. An audience breaking into nonstop laughter during a speech by a white supremacist is much a more effective than scattered individual heckling. The Trump binding spell made fun of his small hands by incorporating a stubby orange candle or baby carrot as a component and ended with rousing laughter. Powerful egotists hate people laughing at them—so don’t miss any chance to do so.
• Creativity: One reason many protest or consciousness-raising actions fail to get media attention is because they’re unoriginal— everyone has seen and done it before. Don’t be boring. We’ve all seen sit-ins and die-ins. Stretch your boundaries beyond the normal activist playbook. A protest opposing construction of a strip mall on ecologically sensitive land is one thing, but the same protest accompanied by robed Druids casting protection magic on the trees is something people will never forget. Of course, you can, and should, do much resistance magic on your own. But use adequate caution. Even if you’re not doing anything illegal or dangerous, you could get hassled or even arrested.
Activism is never safe. Fighting for justice and equality and to protect the oppressed and the voiceless will never be free of risk. But that didn’t stop the African Americans who sat down at whites-only lunch counters, the Pagans who occupied land to oppose the construction of nuclear power plants, or the antiracist activists who linked arms to confront angry white supremacists in Charlottesville. It shouldn’t stop you.
Magical resistance is not limited to doing spells and rituals. Magical techniques can be applied to conventional activism in a number of ways. The following guidelines should spark your creativity.
For helping boost a candidate’s campaign, see the Candidate Boosting Spell on page 194.
Sigil magic is especially useful. If you create a sigil for a campaign, cause, or candidate, you can do the following:
• Make sigil stickers, posters, or flyers and strategically post or distribute them
• Print them on postcards and mail them en masse to targeted opponents
• Make T-shirts and wear them to protests, marches, rallies
• Turn them into signs and banners for marches
• Make bumper stickers
• Trace the sigil in magical oils on letters, flyers, return envelopes, and other material to circulate
• Have them 3D printed as necklaces
• Use it as your avatar online
• Post it on social media
Keep in mind that the beauty of sigil magic is that those who view them don’t need to know what they represent or mean for them to be effective. The more eyeballs, the better they work. The more mystery you create, the better the results. The Trump binding sigil, for example, spread virally through social media. Even people who didn’t know what it meant were captivated by it and intrigued by how it kept popping up in their feeds.
Other possibilities include the following:
• Consecrating handouts or campaign literature before canvassing
• Invoking goddesses and gods before meetings or events
• Creating magically empowered chants or songs
• Guerrilla rituals and mock exorcisms
• Anointing fellow activists before direct actions
• Smudging outside of polls or as a means of cleansing negative energy areas (like a political opponent’s headquarters)
• Setting up shrines to victims of police shootings or to memorialize victims of street violence
• Hexing offices of polluting corporations, the alt-right and other hate groups, predatory loan companies, and corrupt news outlets (cough, Fox, cough)
• Distributing amulets and talismans to protesters
• Inscribing and dressing (anointing) candles before vigils
The more you do magic, the more possibilities you see for its use. Always look for ways to blend your magical workings with your practical activism.
Many people prefer to do resistance (and all other) magic solo, while others work alone because they don’t know anyone else who shares their interests. There is nothing wrong with being a solo magician. I spent most of my life as a solo practitioner, only occasionally doing rituals with others, but the Trump binding spell required me to work with a large number of diverse groups. I led the ritual with groups as few as three members to upward of fifty. And I loved it.
But how do you “find the others” (a phrase used by Timothy Leary to describe finding others of similar mind and passions)?
A number of resistance magic groups have formed on social media, particularly Facebook. The Bind Trump (Official) group is the largest, with members from all over the world. It is exceptionally well-moderated and welcoming to people of all levels. Although it arose from the massive popular interest in the Trump binding spell, it has expanded to include a wide variety of resistance magic, with members contributing their own spells and rituals, organizing local meet-ups, and sharing photos of their altars.
Many towns and cities have witch- and Pagan-related groups on social media as well. Join and lurk to make sure the group’s political sensibilities match yours. Although rare, right-wing witches and Pagans exist, and they are pretty easy to spot. The same goes for ceremonial magic, Druid, and chaos magic groups.
Instagram has become a popular platform for witches, too, though it functions less as a community-building platform and more of a way to develop a following, share photos of altars and ritual tools, and sell products.
Serendipitous encounters provide some of the most magical meetings with like-minded others, and the more magic you do, the more magical people you will encounter. Many people get a tattoo or wear a piece of witchy or Pagan-themed jewelry or a T-shirt to signal their interests. Metaphysical and occult bookstores are great places to find friends and allies, as are holistic health and natural food stores and co-ops. Look for meetup groups conducive to the overlap of activism and spirituality, Pagan Pride Day events, workshops, lectures at libraries, concerts, and anywhere open-minded progressives gather.
If you’re already part of an online group, consider having what my friends used to call a “fleshmeet” get-together in real life.
If you do meet people interested in resistance magic, you may want to start a study circle, magical working circle, or coven. The practicalities of doing so are beyond the scope of this book, but I will offer a few tips. First, decide on the scope of your magical goals. Will you do only resistance magic, or will you do practical workings as well? Consider drawing up a live online document or charter describing your group. If it’s more ad hoc and you’d prefer to remain flexible, that’s fine, too.
What are your skill levels? Do you come from similar or differing traditions? Have a discussion about your preferences, skills, and what you can bring to the group. This can help you decide on your group’s structure, the individual roles, selection of reading materials, and focus of your magic.
What issues do you want to address? It is important to share your political and social beliefs to see where they overlap and where they differ. Do you want to work within the political system or outside of it? Locally, nationally, internationally, or all the above? Are there any issues you do not want to address? Strive to find your commonalities and focus your energies on local issues whenever possible. It’s much easier to effect change on a local level, working with spirits of your region, than to target enormous global issues (not that you shouldn’t try).
Do you want the group to be public or secret? There are advantages to both. If you’re public, you can actively seek new members (and make it easy for them to find you). It also makes it easier to connect with other groups doing similar work. But being public also opens you to attacks. If you live in a very conservative town or region, being activists open about practicing magic can bring harassment and even violence from reactionary or alt-right individuals and groups. And keep a record of your workings. A shared online document makes it easy for everyone to add notes. Be sure to note the results, if any, so you can tweak your future rituals for optimal effectiveness.
You may find an already established group of activist Pagans, witches, or magicians (such as one of the many Reclaiming groups around the world). Most activist Pagan groups are well-run, welcoming, and inclusive. Always trust your instincts, however. Pagan organizations and covens can have the same unpleasant and dysfunctional dynamics as any other group. Be wary of groups with an excessive focus on one charismatic leader or those that are excessively authoritarian, seek to oppose limits on your behaviors outside of group activities, and anything else that seems remotely cultish.
While many of the rituals in this book can be done alone, resistance magic can often be amplified exponentially when done as a group. Whether your group is two people or two hundred, here are some guidelines and suggestions to help make your rituals powerful, inclusive, and effective.
When you’re hosting or planning a group magical working, the more effort you put into creating a mood and atmosphere of enchantment, the bigger the payoff. Be creative with décor, music, and spell components. If you’re working outdoors, a fire is always a powerful magic enhancer and mood setter. You can create a circle with candles or rocks. Be conscientious of your guests with special needs and plan accordingly.
Work thematically with your deities, the Elements, and your intention. If you’re doing a ritual and asking for the assistance of an Egyptian goddess, play recreations of ancient Egyptian music as your guests arrive. After the ritual, have beer to share (Egyptians loved their beer) instead of wine or mead, and some fava beans and falafel. Do your best to memorize the ritual. It is so much more effective than stumbling over words in a typewritten script (especially if the font is small and it’s dark) or—much worse—reading it on your phone. Make sure everyone has silenced or (better) shut down electronic devices and tucked them away before you get to work. Nothing ruins the ritual mood like the buzzing of someone’s cellphone in their pants pocket.
Although you don’t need a circle to hold and contain group energy, for many workings you may want to build the energy and then ecstatically release it. Perhaps you’ve noticed a similar dynamic during a protest march, when the group you’re marching with is chanting in unison and a particularly powerful phrase—Throw them out! Shut it down! Peace NOW!—spikes the energy. Now imagine performing a ritual that gradually builds in intensity toward a focused release of energy. You can feel the rise of energy and channel it via chanting, singing, increasing rhythm, ecstatic dancing, and other techniques. The idea is to raise that magical energy to its peak, then mutually channel it toward a goal or desire.
Many of the spells in this book are crafted toward a natural peak in energy. If you are working as a group, the leader should raise their voice in volume and intensity as the ritual reaches its climax. Go over the ritual beforehand with the group so they know when to push the
energy together. Those who have experienced this channeled release in group rituals know it can be extraordinarily cathartic.
Don’t feel you must do it with every spell, however. Some spells, like group consecrations, are quieter but no less powerful.
A terrific way to ground after a group ritual is to share a meal. It can be as simple as passing around snacks, setting up a potluck, or as complex as preparing an elaborate, themed meal. Many groups like to celebrate with wine, beer, mead, or other alcoholic beverages as well. A post-ritual meal is a great time for sharing thoughts about the ritual, planning future actions, and just having fun. If you have a celebration after a ritual, more people are likely to join the next time.
Less formal group circles can also be used for directed healing energy (aimed at individuals, a threatened group, a city, or even the earth), to support those doing direct actions, to influence a vote on a bill or a candidate in an election, for more abstract goals (environmental healing, social justice, peaceful communities), or simply to pray or meditate together. The prayers and intentions may be guided with visualizations or introduced with the intention stated at the beginning and then continued in silence. Multiple groups in different locations focusing prayers and intentions simultaneously can further increase the likelihood of success.
It is helpful if everyone joins hands. Ten minutes is probably the maximum time to spend focusing, especially if you are working with people new to magic. Start with five minutes and work up to ten as your group gains experience.
For healing, the target individual may be present (seated in the center of the circle) or at a remote location, but your group should always ask for permission before attempting to heal someone. If you are interested in deepening this practice and examining the scientific studies supporting it, I highly recommend reading Lynne McTaggart’s The Power of Eight: Harnessing the Miraculous Energies of a Small Group to Heal Others, Your Life, and the World.
One group project you might want to try is creating a spell jar. Set the goal (perhaps decreasing gun violence in your city) and find a large jar with a tight-fitting lid. Each person is tasked with finding or creating an object to represent the goal of the spell. This can be a written petition, a sigil, a power image, an herb, a crystal, or anything symbolically representative of the spell’s aim.
When your group gathers, each person will place their object into the jar. Then do the group version of the Consecration Spell, dedicating the jar to your goal. When finished, place a candle on the jar (you can affix it in place with its own melted wax) and leave the candle lit for the duration of your gathering. Every time you meet, take time to light the candle and say a prayer (silent or guided) for its goal. When the candle burns down, replace it with another.
If you meet in a regular location, you may eventually acquire a number of spell jars for different purposes, and they can serve as a lovely visual representation of your group’s philosophy and goals.
Group mojo bags are a wonderful way to unite a team of people, especially those working for a particular cause. Have everyone bring one item for themselves and one for each of the others in the group. Each item should be the same: if your anti-logging magic resistance group is made up of four people, one person would bring four small crystals, another might bring four High John the Conqueror roots, and so on.
Do a group Consecration Ritual (page 140), combining all of the consecrated items into individual bags. Each member should wear the bag as often as possible until the campaign or action is completed.
Another convenient way to work rituals as a group is to coordinate with others remotely. Everyone doing a specific ritual should do her or his best to do the working at the same time. That’s not always possible, but there is something energetically palpable when many people are taking part in a ritual simultaneously, and you can often feel a strong connection to the other participants. During the many Trump binding rituals, I and many others regularly sensed the energies of our siblings around the world doing the ritual at the same time. It was quite remarkable.
Let’s admit it—activism is not easy. As an activist, you’ve chosen to dedicate substantial time to making the world a better place instead of sitting on your couch eating popcorn and watching cat videos. Working a phone bank, marching in the cold and rain, and getting dragged out of your congressperson’s office are not remotely “fun.”
And you had better get used to losing. If you are called to do warrior magic in defense of the earth, its animals and plants, and its oppressed, marginalized, and persecuted humans, you are choosing (or have been chosen for) a lot of failure, discomfort, disappointment, and loss.
Why would you subject yourself to that?
The answer is simple: because you know you are ultimately on the winning team. Team Evolution. Team Justice. And when you do win—and you will win, sometimes big victories, sometimes small—it makes all the effort worth it.
What is the alternative? Watching the world burn?
Nonetheless, you do need to take care of yourself. I’ve seen activists burn out, fall into depression, and give up. There are a number of pitfalls for those who dedicate themselves to resistance, and most are the result of imbalances. Not getting enough sleep. Not eating well. Drinking too much. Spending too much time marching, leafletting, organizing, and demonstrating and not enough time doing joyful things with people you love.
As in every other aspect of life, balance is the key to staying sane, healthy, and focused.
You can define yourself as an activist, but do not become an activist at the expense of being a friend, lover, child, parent, student, teacher, and someone who can have conversations about non-political subjects. No one likes a zealot, no matter how much we are aligned with the zealot’s cause. Strive to have at least an equal balance of non-activism in your life. That includes learning to compartmentalize your thinking—and especially your conversations. Do not be the person who can only talk about civil liberties, feminism, racial justice, or environmentalism. Cultivate a diversity of interests, hobbies, and pleasures and make time for them. If you need to spend weeks working day and night on a political campaign, take time off when it’s over to relax, recuperate, and do things that give you pleasure and stimulate you intellectually. Avoid dogma and orthodoxy in the political and spiritual spheres, too. Always be open to the viewpoints of others, and aim for respectful dialogue and kindness in discussions, even in contentious matters. Balance will keep you healthy, ready, and fueled for when you are called upon to resist.
A number of specific techniques can help, too. Here are the most useful.
Learn to meditate. Nothing will benefit your magic more than this one behavior. Even better, no single change you can make will have such overall positive effects on your life.
When I started in my twenties, learning to meditate meant reading a book (and hoping you were doing it right) or taking classes, which weren’t always easy to find, cheap, or practical. Nowadays, you can download an app on your phone and get started in minutes. There is no excuse for not beginning a meditation practice, even if it’s only for a few minutes at a time. Commit. Do it.
If you have the time and can afford it, take a class. Nothing beats personal instruction, and a class will force you to practice (especially
if you’ve paid for it). But if you can’t take a class, try an app or grab any of the thousands of books for beginning meditators.
It’s a cliché, but any longtime meditator will tell you it’s true: the time you spend meditating paradoxically creates more time for you to do other things. Don’t ask how. Just do it and you’ll realize it’s true.
One form of meditation is particularly useful for stressed-out, beatendown activists: breathwork, or pranayama as it is known in yoga.
Learning to control one’s breath can be a literal lifesaver, too. Controlled breathing has dramatic effects on our physiology and consciousness. I’ve found two techniques to be especially useful: the yogic breath of fire and the 4-7-8 breath popularized by alternative health pioneer Andrew Weil.
Breath of fire is a yogic technique that looks a lot like hyperventilation, but results in a fast, powerful alteration of consciousness that is paradoxically calming and energizing. I use it when I am tired and foggy-headed and need a burst of energy. But if you feel dizzy or lightheaded, stop immediately. It’s never a bad idea to check with your doctor if you have any concerns about the safety of a breathwork exercise.
To do the breath of fire, sit with your back straight. Keep your mouth closed. Exhale rhythmically with quick, forceful, rapid breaths through your nose, aiming for two exhalations per second. Focus only on the loud, forceful exhalations, as you will inhale automatically between them. Tighten your stomach muscles with each expulsion of breath. Do this for a minute at first, building up gradually to two to three minutes as you get more experienced.
To end, inhale slowly and deeply through your nose. Pull in your stomach muscles, pull up on your perineum, and clench your anal sphincter. Hold for a moment, then exhale. You will feel a powerful surge of energy. Take several deep breaths to end the practice. You may find your body tingling and buzzing, which is completely normal.
Andrew Weil’s 4-7-8 technique combines cyclical deep breathing and retention of the breath, resulting in a very deep state of calm
relaxation. I’ve taught it to people for years with uniformly amazing results. It is my go-to breathing technique when I am stressed, panicky, or anxious. If you have trouble falling asleep, please try it and thank me later.
Do seek out Dr. Weil’s description and videos of the breath online because he adds a number of nuances, but in brief: Sit with your back straight. Exhale loudly through your mouth. Then, with your mouth closed, rest the tip of your tongue against the roof of your mouth inside your front teeth. Inhale deeply to the count of four. Then, hold your breath while counting to seven. With your lips pursed, exhale (you should hear your exhalation as a whoosh) to the count of eight. Repeat three more times for one cycle.
You can spend a lifetime studying breathwork and pranayama, but please consider learning these two simple techniques. You can easily find instructions and videos in books and online.
Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku in Japanese, is the practice of immersing yourself in the natural world. It is cornerstone of alternative health and wellness in Japan, where it was developed in the 1980s and where its many practical health benefits have been studied and measured. And it’s utterly simple: find a wooded natural area. Go spend time there, wandering, with your senses and consciousness relaxed, open, and aware.
You don’t need to travel to a state or national park, either. A local city park, arboretum, or even a quiet garden will work.
Forest bathing doesn’t just benefit you physically. It is a remarkable boon to your magic. Starhawk compares spending time in nature to eating your green vegetables, and she’s absolutely right. You can’t be completely healthy and whole if you’re cut off from the energies of the natural world, so you need to set aside the time and stick to it. Even if it’s only ten minutes, do it.
I have always been a technophile. As a kid, I loved the original Star Trek TV series, but I never believed I’d someday be carrying a communicator and a tricorder in my pocket. It was too science-fiction-y. We may not have made it to other planets, but we sure got the toys.
Of course, there is a terrible downside. We see it every day: humans walking along the street or standing in line or riding a bus utterly lost in the little rectangles of plastic and glass.
Don’t be one of those people. Learn to unplug. Set a time—two hours before bed or even a whole day once a week. Pick up a book when you wake up instead of your phone. Invite friends to play a board game. Turn your phone off (not just to vibrate) and do your daily shinrin-yoku.
Better yet, learn to be aware of how often you pick up your phone for no good reason other than boredom or out of habit. Then, force yourself to not pick it up. Extend those periods of awareness. Look
around instead of giving in to your need for those little hits of dopamine. Pay attention to the people, the conversations and noises, the birds, the clouds, the colors and shapes and shadows. What are you missing when you mindlessly scroll through Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok? Life is scrolling by, too, often with its own important updates.
Since the first edition of this book, artificial intelligence (AI) has become inescapable. Though AI has its legitimate and beneficial uses (mainly in science and medicine), tech companies are attempting to force consumers into using large language models (LLMs), primarily via glorified chatbots, but also shoving aspects of the technology into every possible software and device.
I have a number of reservations about AI, including the theft of intellectual and creative property (my novels, for example, were used to train these systems) and their potential to curtail or dumb down our biological human intelligence by making us rely on chatbots to write emails, school papers, or other tasks that we would normally accomplish with our own intellect and brainpower.
AI-generated images—known as “AI slop”—is saturating social media, filling an already junk-strewn social media landscape with misleading, ugly, and aesthetically generic blandnesss. As the technology improves, deepfakes will become indistinguishable from real photos and videos—a boon for conspiracy peddlers and propagandists. And as a creative person, I appreciate and respect visual artists, and would rather support them by paying for their work. I encourage you to do the same.
On top of those very real dangers, AI uses enormous amounts of energy and water. Is having a chatbot rewrite an email to make it more “friendly” really worth the cost in fossil fuels and precious water?
And finally, AI “hallucinates” or, more accurately, it makes up shit and lies constantly—because it is not conscious, not actually “intelligent,” and will always make errors.
If you do decide to use AI, please keep in mind the cost in natural resources, the real harm to creative writers and artists, and to your abilities to think and create with your biological brain—which generates its own electricity and requires only quarts of water each day to run effectively.
Become mindful of your use of all technology. Take back control and become its master, or it will master you.
Diet and exercise (groan!). You knew it was coming. My advice is pretty simple. Eat more plants, including green leaves, and fewer animal products. Learn to cook—there is magic in food and cooking, as any kitchen witch will tell you. Eating processed food is okay once in a while, but it should not be the basis of your diet.
Eat widely, varying the colors, textures, and tastes of your foods. I noticed an enormous increase in my magical energy, intuition, and psychic senses when I gave up eating mammals and fowl while only occasionally eating fish and seafood. I had always been drawn to the concept of vegetarianism, and it was very easy for me to stop eating meat. I eat an increasingly plant-based (vegan) diet, and it’s easier now than ever, with affordable and delicious alternatives to meat, milk, butter, and cheese (although I’m still waiting for the perfect faux-cheese). When I have a serious magical working on the agenda, I avoid all animal products for at least the day before (if I’m not fasting).
I’m convinced that a shift toward eating more plants and fewer animals is a boon to magical practice, not to mention physical health. If you do eat meat and other animal products, try to get humanely raised, organic, hormone-free varieties and sustainable, wild-caught fish. The brutal horrors of factory farming and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) leave dark, toxic psychic residue on the flesh of the animals—you don’t want to be ingesting that stuff, trust me. Explore herbal medicine as an adjunct to allopathic medicine. As you become more magically adept, you will become more attuned to plant energies, making herbal medicine much more effective. But please do not reject modern medicine or vaccines because they’re not “natural”—modern medicine is based on science and evidence, so please see your doctor regularly, get your vaccines, and follow guidelines from public health experts.
And, yes, you need to exercise. That doesn’t mean you need to join a gym or become a runner if that’s not your thing. The best way to get
regular exercise is to become a person who walks. Unless you have a disability, walking is an exercise option available to everyone, and it doesn’t require membership fees or equipment other than a decent pair of shoes. It is also a way to connect with your local environment and its local flora and fauna, and it will generate the new experiences, serendipities, and synchronicities that are the joy of every magician. It is especially a good way for the introverts and screen addicts among us to leave our comfortable cocoons and interact with our world. Walks in nature are uniquely energizing and calming, but even walks in cities will open you up to the spirits and energies of various buildings, parks, and roadways.
Tai chi, yoga, and qigong are superb physio-spiritual means of keeping your mind and body supple, strong, and healthy, too, with plenty of added spiritual and magical benefits, and you can find classes just about anywhere. In fact, I recommend incorporating some qigong exercises into your day, even if it’s only for a few minutes. YouTube has an enormous number of easy qigong practices available—seek out and try them, and make them part of your day. I do several minutes of qigong daily, and they are an integral part of my routine. Qigong is also one of the best ways to cultivate and focus your personal energy and can be quite magical in its advanced applications.
The old saying is true: your body is your temple. Reward it with a visit to a spa. I used to visit a Korean spa once every few months (sadly, it went out of business). It was especially great for attuning with the Elements because it had saunas lined with wood, salt, amethyst crystals, herbs, and even a cold room rimmed in ice, as well as cold and hot pools. The more you can get your body in sync with Elemental energies, the better your magic will harness them.
Massages are worth saving your pennies for, as is time in a flotation tank. If you’re dirt poor, swap massages with a friend or partner. If nothing else, try to sit for a few minutes a day in sunlight. It will help replenish your vitamin D, which many of us are deficient in. Many of us have become terrified of skin cancer to the point where we
slather every inch of our skin and avoid the sun. Be prudent and wear sunscreen, certainly, but the sun is a spiritual entity as well as a giant ball of plasma and has been rightly revered since ancient times as the source of all life. Take some time to honor it and absorb its blessings.
And don’t forget sensuality and sex. Physical love can generate enormous amounts of magical energy (and it feels good!).
Balance your hard work with celebrations. If you’re a social person, throw a party. That can mean inviting a handful of friends to hang out or renting a hall and hiring a DJ. If you’ve been engaged in a grueling social or political campaign, reward yourself and your fellow activists with some music and dancing. Dancing—especially ecstatic dancing—is enormously regenerative.
If you’re an introvert, throw a party for yourself. Invite your dog or cat, pop a bottle of champagne, and order a pizza. Watch your favorite movie. Put on music and dance. But even introverts need time with other people, so do your best to spend even a few hours with people you love doing something that gives you pleasure.
The path of resistance is hard. It can be physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually exhausting. It is critical that you take the time to experience delight, whimsy, and, most importantly, joy.
Those who are engaged in resistance are often hyperaware of injustice and oppression. It comes with the territory. And the lack of easy victories, and the frequently daunting odds against us, can be a recipe for despair. Despair, if allowed to fester, can literally kill you.
The antidote to despair is joy.
So, work hard to discover what brings you joy. Is it making art? Going to see your favorite band or musician? Dancing at a festival? Swimming naked in the ocean or lying in a field under the stars? It might be as simple as curling up with your favorite book and a cup of tea.
Whatever it is, find the time and do it. When you’re feeling lost, when you feel like the world is sliding into the abyss, when the politician you’ve campaigned for has been roundly beaten by a fundamentalist bigot, when the forest you spent months trying to protect is razed by bulldozers…do something to bring yourself joy.
And play is vital. We tend to think play is just for children, but adults need it, too. Board games, trivia nights, bowling, or—my favorite, tabletop roleplaying games—can add fun and levity. Embrace play, especially in times when the world seems dark.
Whatever it takes, and even if it seems futile, invite more joy into your life. If we all die tomorrow in a nuclear conflagration initiated by a deranged tyrant, wouldn’t you be rather spend your final night with funny, interesting friends and a very attentive lover than waste it scrolling through strangers’ Instagram photos? Or, worse, watching cable news?
It’s easy to lose sight of how fortunate we are. We would not be here right now, riding the edge of time, if our parents hadn’t created us, and they wouldn’t have existed had it not been for a chain of love and sexual attraction stretching back to Africa hundreds of thousands of years ago. And none of them would have existed if our mother planet hadn’t given rise to microbial life, which evolved into the incredible diversity of the billions of organisms surrounding us. Earth would not exist if it were not for the beneficial fires of the sun, water carried from deep space by comets, and chemical elements forged in stellar reactors. We are stardust, yet it’s so hard to remember that.
Aim to make expressing gratitude an everyday practice, even when you’re feeling despair. If you can’t feel gratitude to the universe or a deity, go out of your way to be gracious to the people around you, from your spouse to the guy behind the counter at a gas station. There is a reason giving thanks is universal in spiritual traditions. It doesn’t just provide spiritual benefits and connections; it has proven positive physical effects, too.
If you use intoxicating substances, strive to approach them ritually and with appropriate respect and caution. Alcohol can be medicinal and is an excellent social lubricant (which is why it is the most common drug used by humans), but it can also destroy lives when used indiscriminately or excessively. Only you can discover if it is an ally or an enemy, but if you drink, try to never do so unconsciously or habitually. And if you suspect you might have a problem, stop and find out. If you can’t stop, get help.
While cannabis can be a powerful, broad-spectrum medicine and a boost to sensual and esthetic pleasures, expanded consciousness, and creativity, it is a literal dream stealer—it limits your ability to experience REM sleep, which is when most dreams occur. So, if you use cannabis, try not to use it daily, or if you do, make sure to occasionally take a few days off. As many daily stoners have noted, your dreams come back with a vengeance when you stop.
Dreams are important for spiritual development and are keys to hidden levels of consciousness and psychic abilities. They convey important messages. Don’t let regular cannabis use (unless needed medicinally) block you from receiving them.
Psychedelics, both plants and chemicals, have a long history in witchcraft and magic. They can be unparalleled tools for growth and insight, but should never be used indiscriminately or casually. And they are not for everyone, or even most people. I have a simple rule: if you find yourself drawn to plant and chemical magic, do your research, make sure your materials are pure, and go slowly and with the assistance of experienced helpers. If you are not drawn to these powerful substances, don’t let anyone convince you to try them. And please use the utmost caution with plants traditionally historically associated with witchcraft, many of which are poisonous when ingested. Just because a product says it’s “witch’s flying ointment” doesn’t mean it won’t fly you right to the emergency room.
One exception is MDMA, which can be remarkably healing and therapeutic for many people when used intelligently and judiciously.
It is no exaggeration to say that one experience with it, in the right circumstances and with the right people, can be the equivalent of many sessions of conventional therapy—which is why it is has been used in trials for people with otherwise intractable PTSD. Unfortunately, it is illegal, which means it carries the risk of arrest and imprisonment. Illegality also means that without a proper lab to test it, one cannot be sure that what one is taking is pure MDMA or a dangerous fake. My hope is that in a more enlightened future MDMA, psilocybin, and similar medicines will become more widely available to people who need or desire them, especially in the controlled setting of spiritual retreats and with the help of qualified therapists. If you find this concept appealing, you may want to volunteer or make a donation to organizations working to make that vision a reality. Also, be very thorough in investigating any group that uses psychedelics as part of their spiritual practice. Psychedelics can leave people very open and vulnerable to cult tactics, and there are accounts of spiritual leaders or self-described shamans taking advantage of these powerful substances to manipulate and prey upon their followers. Do your due diligence by talking to former members and always trust your instincts.
Magic requires preparation. You don’t just jump into a ritual—you need to prepare yourself physically, mentally, and spiritually.
The link between physical and spiritual cleanliness is nearly universal in magic traditions. Preparation for spiritual work often requires fasting or a restricted diet, avoidance of alcohol, silence, meditation, ritual bathing, and other cleansing practices. We see it in Pythagoras’s insistence on a vegetarian diet for his students, in proscriptions against sexual activity in ancient magical grimoires, in the Jewish mikveh, and among ayahuasca shamans who insist upon a very strict meat-and salt-free diet before their healing ceremonies.
Why this universality? There are all sorts of metaphysical explanations, but in short: because these techniques have been tested and simply work. Preparations like the above help set your focus and intention for the work ahead.
So while it is not absolutely necessary, it is helpful to begin all magic, including resistance magic, with a purification ritual.
The most simple and effective preparation for magical work is a salt bath. Just run a hot bath and add salt: sea salt, Epsom salts, or special scented bath salts. Even plain old table salt works fine. One to three handfuls is usually plenty.
Light four tea lights and place them away from anything flammable at the four corners of the bathtub (or in the four cardinal directions if your tub is round).
You can, of course, buy or make your own special salt baths with herb sachets or essential oils. Be very cautious about adding essential oils to baths because some can cause skin and eye irritation. Do your research first and start with a tiny amount. If you don’t have a bathtub, simply rub your skin with salt while showering.
Use the same visualizations whether you are bathing or showering: Breathe deeply as you soak with eyes closed. As you inhale, imagine the water entering your pores and filling your body with light. As you exhale, visualize and feel the purified water exiting through your skin and pulling out all negativity, toxicity, and stress from within you. Repeat for several minutes.
You can also cup your hands full of water and release it over your head, shoulders, chest, and back. As the water runs down your skin, feel and see it washing away all negativity and tension.
Say a silent prayer of thanks to the universe or your deity of choice and ask for cleansing and blessing on the work ahead.
After drying off, you can apply a special cleansing oil or lotion (see below).
Fasting and dietary restrictions also help set your focus and attune your body and spirit. It can be as simple as refraining from particular foods (commonly meat or animal products) to fasting from food entirely. The physical benefits of fasting have drawn increasing attention from scientific researchers in recent years, but it’s the magical aspects we are interested in. There are possible dangers, especially for anyone on medications or with health issues, so please talk to your doctor before you try it, and always start with a short period (say, four hours)
before attempting a longer fast. And never attempt a dry fast (without water)—always stay hydrated.
I will usually refrain from all food for at least six and up to twentyfour hours before major spellwork. The bigger the spell, the longer I try to fast. The change in energy level and focus is dramatic.
If fasting is not possible or appealing, consider abstaining from animal products, processed food, sugar, and junk. Eat whole, unprocessed foods prepared simply.
One thing to keep in mind: it’s probably not smart to fast before heading into an unpredictable situation, like a protest, in which you may not be able to eat for a long time. Take a cleansing bath instead and have a big meal. Be smart and flexible, not dogmatic.
Anointing oneself (or another) with oil before magical work is common. My go-to is hyssop oil, which is easy to make—just add one part dried hyssop herb to three parts oil. After a few days, you’ll notice its pleasant vegetal scent, and the smell will only get deeper and richer over time. You can use any oil, including olive oil (which has a long magical tradition), but some carrier oils, like jojoba, apricot kernel, coconut, or almond oil will last longer before developing an “off ” scent.
For Power Oil, which I save for special workings, combine the following with your preferred carrier oil (with twice the amount of oil as dried material):
• 1 part hyssop
• 1 part angelica root
• 1 High John the Conqueror root (whole)
You’ll need a container large enough to fit the High John the Conqueror root (I use a small glass jar). You can powder the root, but it’s quite the chore, so I just leave it whole. Let it sit in a dark place for at least three days after combining.
I use the Consecration Spell (page 140) to empower magical oils, then apply them to the top center (crown) of my head, my third eye (middle of forehead between and slightly above eye level), and the
centers of both palms. You can draw a symbol as you’re applying the oil—a pentagram, cross, and hexagram are common. I say a prayer in my own words, or sometimes use the good old standby, verse 7 of Psalm 51: “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” Only a small amount is necessary. Further uses of oil for protection are covered in a later chapter.
Prayer is a great way to get your head straight before doing magic. Unfortunately, thanks to fundamentalist dogma and moribund religious traditions, many people have negative associations with the idea of prayer. So I will state clearly: you don’t have to cower before a spiteful sky god or supplicate yourself before whatever demanding deity your parents pounded into your innocent head.
Prayer should be a joyous, deep, personal connection to a force, principle, or deity, not a groveling plea.
The goal is to aim your spirit toward union with whatever deity or archetype floats your spiritual boat: the Great Goddess, Yahweh, Jesus, Krishna, Persephone, Ganesh, Buddha, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hekate, the Universe as the Ultimate Ground of Being, the void, your deepest/highest self. You get the idea.
Sit comfortably with your back straight. Breathe slowly, naturally, and deeply. There’s no need to measure or count your breaths.
Light a white candle and burn your favorite incense. Watch the flame for a few moments, and then close your eyes.
The key to simple prayer is to open yourself, in humble gratitude, to aspects of the deity or force that exists in the vastness within you and outside of you. Don’t ask for anything. Don’t desire anything. Be quiet and listen.
When you feel like you’ve made contact, simply let it unfold. Relax into the communion between yourself and the higher power. Breathe slowly and deeply and experience the connection for as long as you feel comfortable. You may see visions or hear sounds, you may get messages or downloads of information, or nothing much may happen at all.
When you feel ready, give thanks and ask for her/his/their/its blessings. Open your eyes and blow out the candle.
This form of prayer can work wonders for your mental and physical health, as attested by abundant anecdotal evidence and numerous controlled studies.
Working effective magic requires that you learn how to shift your consciousness into what I call the “ritual mind,” otherwise known as an expanded or altered consciousness or trance. You enter light versions of it when you’re caught up in a good novel or when you’re driving and forget how you got from point A to point B, and you can slip into it when you’re hovering between sleep and waking. But doing it intentionally requires a little practice. Without the proper focused and heightened consciousness, your rituals will be empty actions with no more magical effectiveness than brushing your teeth.
Luckily, ritual itself is an effective tool for getting into the proper headspace.
The ritual mind is similar to a meditative state. While meditation is largely an inward-focused experience, usually with closed eyes, the ritual mind requires physical action and outward-directed activity. It can be thought of as an active meditation.
A large number of time-tested techniques can help you transition from normal waking consciousness into the transmundane realm where magic manifests. Those techniques include stimulation (or dampening) of the senses, controlled breathing, visualization, words of power, posture and gesture, chanting, drumming, dance and movement, music, and psychoactive substances.
Combining techniques tends to work synergistically. In many of the spells in this book, you’ll utilize breathing, posture, visualization, movement, and words of power. You’ll stimulate your senses with colored candles, music, and incense.
Let’s look at some of these individual elements:
Sensory stimulation involves light, color, smell, taste, and touch. Sensory dampening is created with darkness, closed eyes, and silence. Sensory deprivation (float) tanks are the ultimate in sensory dampening technology, and a great way to experience deep relaxation and heightened inner visionary states. I often use an inexpensive eye mask to while praying or meditating.
Focused breathing is a critical tool for magic. Slowing, deepening, and holding the breath has powerful physiological and mental effects, calming the body and mind, while quickening the breath stimulates and energizes. Unless otherwise specified, always breathe slowly and deeply when working magic.
Some people are better than others at visualizing, but everyone can get better with practice. If you’re feeling frustrated by instructions to visualize during your spells, try your best to imagine or experience the visual instead of seeing it. The more senses you can involve, the better. If you’re invoking Elemental water in a consecration ritual, for example, feel its coolness, hear its rushing currents, and taste it on your tongue. If a spell suggests visualizing your candidate winning an election, feel the endorphins rushing through your bloodstream as the winner is announced, hear the crowds cheering, and imagine yourself celebrating with friends. Feeling can be just as effective as traditional visualization in spellwork.
Spells utilize words differently from casual speech. Ritual words are weighted with meaning and depth, and the best spells resonate like great poetry. Some words can be intoned (drawn out and vibrated). Sometimes, words that sound nonsensical or meaningless (voces magicae) can trigger powerful energies. Words or phrases can be sung, chanted, or whispered to create specific effects.
Many spells call for adopting specific postures or using gestures to change consciousness or channel energy. The hands are frequently employed in ritual to sense, direct, contain, or concentrate energies. In Hinduism and Buddhism, these hand gestures are called mudras.
Repetitive chanting can induce a very deep state of expanded awareness, which is why it is widely used in many different spiritual systems.
Drumming is one of the oldest methods of trance induction and is a staple of many indigenous shamanic systems. Modern trance and electronic music works similarly to bring large groups into altered states, and it is often combined with psychoactive substances to further heighten consciousness. If you own a drum, practice different rhythms to see how they change your consciousness. You can also purchase recordings of drumming for shamanic induction.
Dance is often accompanied by drums and rhythmic instruments, but can also be done in silence. One of the best ways to enter trance is to put on simple, rhythmic music and let yourself freeform dance. Let the energy of the music drive your body and avoid conscious control. Like the saying goes, dance as if no one is watching—which should be easy if you’re alone.
Of course, that begs the question: if you believe in an animist universe, are you ever really alone?
Music is an amazingly diverse tool for altering consciousness. A song can inspire people to march to war, lift a crowd to ecstasy, or bring a rapt audience to tears. Think of songs from your childhood and adolescence and the immense depths of emotion they can stir, taking you back to peak moments in your life.
Music can also enhance ritual consciousness and direct magical energy during magical workings. I suggest using sacred music, which is specifically designed to transport you from the monkey-mind into the realm of the spirit—not the music you listen to solely for pleasure, but music that tunes the frequency of your environment.
This is a matter of taste, of course. I’m not a fan of anything that you’d hear coming from a boombox while getting your chakras adjusted at a holistic healing expo—in fact, I’m allergic to most music that falls into the New Age category, especially Native American flutes played by non-Natives and backed with incongruous tinkly chimes, tablas, and synth swirls. Blech.
Chants (especially Gregorian and Tibetan) take me very deep very quickly, but try to get the straight vocal recordings and avoid those layered with synthesizers and other superfluous aural junk. Singing bowls are nice, too, because you can strike them like a bell or use a mallet to create a resonant tone. Indian classical ragas and devotional chants can be powerful trance inducers, and if you’re into Western classical music, Chopin’s nocturnes are exquisitely calming and elevating pre-ritual options.
You might want to try environmental recordings, particularly of ocean, woodland, and jungle settings. The Tintinnabulation recording (see resources in the Appendix), composed of layered, computermodulated bells, is a more deeply felt than heard soundscape and is useful for all sorts of meditations and magical workings when melodic music would be a distraction.
If you’re working with deities of a particular pantheon, such as Greek or Egyptian, you can seek out music reconstructed from their classical worship. When invoking Hermes, for example, I often use recreations of ancient Greek music played on traditional instruments like the lyre and kithara. Streaming music services makes finding such music easy, and the goddesses and gods seem to appreciate the effort. And don’t neglect a simple bell. Ringing a bell to open or close a ritual is a beautiful way to demarcate magical time.
I don’t use music during most workings, but I do use it beforehand to tune my environment and to help me get into a ritual mindset. Experiment and see what works best for you.
Although I find psychoactive substances extraordinarily valuable in many ways, I generally avoid using them before or during rituals. Your goal should be to reach powerful altered states via focused ritual activity alone, particularly when you are a beginner. Adding the unpredictable effects of drugs or alcohol will slow your progress considerably and may give you an illusory sense of progress.
Once you are competent at getting to the proper state of consciousness through ritual, you can then consider experimenting with substances. But that is a road for very experienced witches and magicians, not novices, and even then, it must be done conscientiously and intelligently. If you want to explore shamanic paths that utilize entheogens, be sure to use adequate precautions (especially in regard to the quality of your materials) and take care to know the laws in your region.
Under no circumstances should you ever take a psychoactive plant just because it’s in a book about witchcraft. Many witchy plants in the historical record, such as henbane, belladonna, datura, and mandrake, can seriously derange or even kill you. Be wary of plant-based concoctions bought over the internet. The recent popularity of psychoactive “flying ointments” concerns me, as I have seen firsthand the dangerous delirium that can be produced by the alkaloids they contain. Please exercise extreme caution when working with traditional psychoactive “witch” plants. My best advice is to avoid them unless you are under the tutelage of a skilled practitioner.
When you finish a ritual, it is important to ground yourself and return to normal “mundane” consciousness. Stand up, shake a little bit, stomp your feet, and jump up and down. If your hands are feeling tingly and energized from your magic, shake them off as if you’re flinging water to dry them. The goal is to get back into your body and out of the deep ritual mind state. If you don’t ground, you may continue to feel spacey, particularly if your ritual generated a lot of power. It is also helpful to have a bite to eat. Chocolate is particularly good for grounding (not to mention delicious), as are spicy foods
and sweets, and cakes are traditional post-ritual foods in witchcraft. Coffee tends to do the job quickly, too, as does an alcoholic beverage. There are exceptions. You may want to go from a ritual directly to bed in order to cultivate dreams or hypnagogic visions. Or you may want to continue working on a project while still in the ritual mind state. But in the majority of workings, be sure to ground, setting a clear demarcation between your day-to-day mind and the altered state during magical workings.
Some witches use the term between the worlds to describe the liminal space in which they do magic. The Centering Ritual is a way to generate a magical space around you. It aligns you with the axis of the universe and connects you with the infinite. In your center, you will find safety, peace, calmness, connection to divinity, and wisdom. This is the core ritual that should be performed before all the other rituals and spells in this book. As such, you should practice it several times a week until you have it memorized. It can also be used nonmagically any time you’re feeling disconnected, anxious, or out-of-sorts.
The ritual itself is very simple and is based on my years of exploration in a number of magical traditions. It draws upon elements of rituals found in sources as diverse as the ancient Greek Magical Papyri (the Heptagram ritual), contemplative Christian practices, Native American spirituality, and modern witchcraft, among others. It is also indebted to the legendary Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus and the wellknown Hermetic maxim carved on it:
That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.
This is usually summarized as “as above, so below.”
The Centering Ritual is also a template upon which you can (and should) build and expand as you grow. Variations and further suggestions may be found in the Correspondences in the Appendix (page 208).
The Centering Ritual, as the name suggests, centers you in your body and creates sacred space around you. In a magical sense, you become the center or axis of the universe, the nucleus of a magical, protective sphere in time and space. And the center of your body— your heart center—becomes a brightly glowing pinpoint of divinity. As the Chandogya Upanishad eloquently states, “The little space in the heart is as big as this great universe. The heavens and the earth are there, the sun, the moon, and the stars, fire and lightning and winds are there also; and all that exists now and all that exists no longer: for the whole universe is in Him and He lives in our hearts.”35
Stand or sit comfortably, with your back straight and feet slightly separated. Imagine a string pulling upward at the top center point of your head. This should naturally cause you to lower your chin a bit and further straightens and elongates your spine.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply and slowly through your nose, filling your stomach first and then your chest, reversing the movement when you exhale.
Place your hands in front of your chest in the well-known prayer position, which is known as the anjali mudra in Sanskrit. Your thumbs should be together and resting on your breastbone, with your fingers extended and lightly touching (don’t smash your hands together— simply allow them to rest against each other, leaving a slight hollow in your palms). Relax your shoulders and elbows. The heart is considered the center of your being; therefore, you are bringing together polar energies (when represented by your hands, left is receptive and right is active) and uniting them at your very center (heart).
Say,
“Spirit before me.”
35 Ioan P. Couliano, Eros and Magic in the Renaissance, trans. Margaret Cook (University of Chicago Press, 1987) 133.
You are not calling on individual spirits, but the universal spiritual consciousness that permeates and underlies our reality. Direct your consciousness ahead and feel the immensity of the universe expanding into infinity before you.
Say, “Spirit behind me.”
Feel the immensity of the universe behind you, expanding into infinity.
Say, “Spirit to my right,” and feel the infinity to the right.
Say, “Spirit on my left,” and feel the infinity to the left.
Say, “Spirit above me,” and direct your consciousness to the cosmos above. Feel the universe stretching out to infinity.
Say, “Spirit below me,” and feel the expansion into the limitless depths of the earth.
Say, “Spirit outside me,” and feel the universal spirit surrounding you and permeating the universe.
Say, “Spirit within me,” and feel the infinity within your center. Visualize a bright light at the center of your chest, radiating to, and connecting with, all the directions.
Now, a prayer.
Begin by extending your arms to your sides, elbows bent, palms turned slightly upward. It should feel as if you are holding up a large, invisible balloon. This is known as the orans posture (Latin for “prayer”).
Say, “Between the future,” and feel the future unfolding in front of you. It may help if you visualize and feel yourself moving forward physically into infinite, unfolding possibility.
Say, “And the past,” and feel and see the past unfurling behind you. Again, feeling yourself moving ahead physically can enhance the sensation. I visualize my body leaving blurry trails behind.
Turn your head to the right, saying, “Between the sun,” and extend your awareness to your right side. Visualize the sun, radiating heat and bright light, cradled in your palm.
Orans Posture
Turn your head to the left, saying, “And the moon,” and extend your awareness to the left, visualizing the moon, cradled in your palm and shining brightly. Even better, find out the moon’s current phase and visualize it as such.
Tilt your head backward, gazing to the sky, saying, “Between the heavens,” and visualize the expanse of the starry cosmos above you.
Lower your head toward your feet, saying “And the earth,” and extend your awareness down through your feet (or your tailbone, if sitting) into the dark, rocky depths of the earth. See the crystals within the earth shining like stars.
Lift your head and face forward, saying, “As outside me,” and extend your awareness to the full sphere of space beyond yourself, extending into infinity.
Bring your arms and hands back to the prayer position, saying, “So within me.” Feel the infinity at the center of your heart, deep and boundless.
Say (or intone) “Amen” or “So mote it be.” Or intone “Om, ” feeling the vibration of the mantra in the center of your chest (with your thumbs resting against your sternum, you will be able to focus on the vibration). I find that stretching out the word or phrase and vibrating it results in a deeper connection. Experiment and see what takes you deepest. Remain standing or sitting, feeling and visualizing your heart as the center of the universe. Breathe slowly and deeply, joyfully experiencing yourself as the nexus around which all else exists. You are present in the timeless now, between the future and the past, the heavens and the earth, the inner and the outer. This is where the magic happens.
When you feel ready, slowly open your eyes. At this point, you can end the ritual by grounding (stomping your feet, shaking your body) or continue with further magical workings.
If it sounds complicated, it isn’t. You will probably have it memorized after a week of daily practice. Don’t worry if you mess it up or get confused; just keep at it and soon it will be second nature. Keep in mind we are dealing with metaphorical centering. Obviously, a literal line drawn through you vertically doesn’t extend into a limitless earth, but emerges on the other side of the planet and extends into interstellar space. Instead, we are dealing with symbolic space—the starry cosmos above and the deep, dark regenerative earth below. The center is a spiritual principle, but also a deep, powerful “place.”
Some things to remember:
• You may substitute another word for spirit if it fits your beliefs or tradition better. There is a famous Christian prayer called St. Patrick’s Breastplate that uses Christ and it fits perfectly into this scheme, for example. You may want to try energy, power, Goddess, God, or names of individual deities, angels, beings, and so on. Experiment and see what works best for you.
• Aim to keep your body relaxed. Don’t strain or stretch beyond your limits.
• If you have disabilities that prevent you from performing the physical aspects of the ritual, visualize yourself doing them instead. In fact, once you are competent at the ritual, doing it in your imagination (while lying in bed, for example) can be very effective.
• You can say the words aloud or internally. Aloud is best, but if you must be quiet, try to hear the words aloud in your head. Some people try different ways of saying the words—stretching them out, using a singsong voice, or resonating them. Experiment.
• Don’t rush the ritual. Take your time and really feel and visualize as you go.
• You may want to visualize lines of energy extending through your body vertically and horizontally and stretching into infinity. They come to a point in your heart in the center of your chest.
• You don’t need to face any particular direction. That’s the beauty of this ritual—it creates sacred space around you no matter where you are or which direction you’re facing. Later, we’ll discuss circumstances in which you may want to align yourself with the four cardinal directions and how to alter this ritual to do so.
• As you become more proficient, you can begin to expand the ritual by adding other directional attributes, including visualizations and sounds (as found in the correspondences section of the Appendix on page 208).
One person stands in the circle’s center and leads the group in the Centering Ritual. After the final “So within me,” the leader says,
“Spirits of the four directions, of the heavens, and of the earth, consecrate this Circle of Art and guide us in our work. So mote it be.”
The group responds,
“So mote it be.”
1. Facing ahead, prayer position. “Spirit before me.”
2. Sensing behind. “Spirit behind me.”
3. Sensing right. “Spirit to my right.”
4. Sensing left. “Spirit to my left.”
5. Sensing above. “Spirit above me.”
6. Sensing below. “Spirit below me.”
7. Sensing all around. “Spirit outside me.”
8. Sensing within. “Spirit within me.” Arms in orans position.
9. “Between the future…” Feel the future, full of possibility, waiting ahead.
10. “And the past…” Feel the past streaming behind you.
11. Turn head to right. “Between the sun…” Visualize the sun.
12. Turn head to left. “And the moon…” Visualize the moon.
13. Look to heavens. “Between the heavens…” Visualize the starry canopy.
14. Look to earth. “And the earth…” Visualize the depths of the earth.
15. Face forward. “As around me…” Visualize a sphere around you extending into infinity.
16. Return hands to prayer position. “So within me.” Visualize the infinite center of your heart.
17. Intone “Amen,” “So mote it be,” or “Om.”
Here is a basic spell to consecrate (make sacred) an object for ritual or other magical use. It can be used for everything: blessing salt for a purifying bath, energizing an oil, charging a sigil, and empowering your ritual tools. It is best done under a waxing or full moon.
Have the four Elements represented on your altar (see the section on altars in Chapter Four), along with your incense censer. Use copal or frankincense (loose incense is best, but sticks and cones are fine).
Arrange three small white candles (tea lights are fine for this) in the center of your altar in an upward-pointing triangle. Light the candles to begin the ritual.
Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual. Light your incense.
Hold your object (container of salt, mojo bag, vial of oil, sigil, ritual tool, etc.) in your non-dominant hand, then say,
“Bless this (name of object), powers of earth (touch object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold over your fire symbol), and air (hold in rising incense smoke or touch to feather), spirits of the heavens (lift toward sky), and of the underworld (lower toward altar or ground).”
Then hold it in both hands in front of you.
“Consecrate this (name of object) so that it may serve its purpose well, for the highest good. So mote it be.”
Lift the object and blow into it. Feel your personal energy, the breath of life, moving into it and awakening it. Say,
“Awaken.”
Place the object in the center of the triangle of candles. Place your palms over it. As you inhale slowly, feel and visualize energy pouring down from the cosmos and into the top of your head, then down to your heart (the center of your chest). At the same time, feel and visualize energy coming up from the earth, entering your feet, and meeting in your heart, where it mixes with the cosmic energy and glows brightly.
As you breathe in, feel the light energy pouring into your center, and as you exhale, feel those energies from the heavens and the earth swirling, mingling, and glowing ever brighter.
Then, when it feels like the energy has reached a peak, inhale deeply.
As you exhale, see that powerful energy pouring out of your heart, running down your arms, through your hands, and into the consecrated object.
Let the energy flowing from your palms subside with your exhalation. Slowly bring your hands together in a prayer position over your heart. Feel and visualize the heart energy contracting, and then clap your hands three times. The third clap ends the ritual.
Shake your hands, as if flinging off water. Stomp your feet and shake your body to ground yourself.
Leave the object inside the triangle of candles for a few minutes or longer, exiting the room if possible (and if safe to do so with candles burning). This is when it “cooks” and its energy settles into the new form. After a while, you should feel that it is ready. Extinguish the candles and place the consecrated item in a safe location on your altar (if you know it will remain unmolested by other people or pets), leave it under your pyramid, or tuck it safely away until you need it. You may want to wrap it in cloth for safekeeping. You should be the only one who touches your consecrated items—unless, of course, you’re consecrating objects for other people.
You may want to occasionally reconsecrate items as a way to recharge them. Use your intuition. If a particular object seems to have lost some of its energy, do a reconsecration and you’ll often see a noticeable improvement.
I’m going to say something that goes against the grain of many traditions, particularly witchcraft and Western ceremonial magic. It may be shocking and heretical to those of you who are long-time practitioners.
You don’t need to cast a circle to do magic.
Witches, please don’t throw the book across the room. Allow me to explain.
Magical circles are used for group workings in many traditions and, in fact, the idea of doing a group ritual without a circle would seem ludicrous. A primary reason is that the magic circle is used as a “container” to hold the rising group energy before it is released to do its work.
My philosophy differs. From my experience, group energy is just as effective when it remains contained within the individuals until it is consciously released. Instead of filling up the circle or sphere with the combined individual energy (and how does that happen anyway? Does it leak out during the ritual? Is it gradually released?), the participants build the energy up within themselves until the ritual’s climax or peak, when they discharge it to do its work.
Unless your system demands otherwise, there’s no need to “banish” negative energies or to work within a protected magical circle for your safety. You can work magic safely and effectively at your altar without going through a ritual to create a protective bubble. Nothing will hurt you, and your magic will be just as effective.
So, why do so many traditions claim otherwise? While doing magic within a circle goes back to ancient Egypt (at least), the traditions that focus on banishing—and most of them fall broadly in the category of Western magic (Traditional Witchcraft, Wicca, and ceremonial magic that grew from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and Freemasonry)—emerged from a narrow set of historical European systems in which spirits or demons were evoked and the circle served as a barrier to protect the magician from them. Many of these traditions treated the evoked entities with arrogance and cruelty, binding, bribing, and coercing them to do the bidding of the magician. It’s no wonder those magicians needed magical protection! Unless you’re doing Goetic magic or working in the classical grimoire traditions, that hierarchical, patriarchal model should be abandoned. That sort of magic is beyond the scope of this book anyway. We won’t be doing necromancy (summoning the dead) or conjuring demons to cajole them into running our errands. When our magic calls upon spirits, it is in the context of respect and cooperation. Attuning yourself with the Centering Ritual and working in service for the highest good of all is protection enough. And if you use incense with protective qualities, such as frankincense or copal, you’re further cleansing and protecting your environment.
Now, having said all that…
Although I part with many established traditions when it comes to the emphasis on circles, banishing, and protection, there are times
when it is prudent to create a circle (actually, an enclosing sphere). Such occasions may include when you feel the need for protection (physical, mental, or magical), when you have the need or desire to close off the outside world and minimize its influences, and when you are doing group rituals and want to sanctify your working space.
Let’s face it—activism and resistance can be dangerous. Your opponents, whether they are corporations, politicians, or a group of reactionary individuals, can be actively aggressive against you. In my days as a peace activist during the first Gulf War, I was run off the road by other drivers (on multiple occasions), my car and property were vandalized, and one night after work I was followed home by a group of drunks and pepper sprayed as I got out of my car (they didn’t like my “No Blood for Oil” bumper sticker). I know many people who have been subjected to physical abuse by police or counter protesters. So, doing some protection magic when you may be facing aggressive opponents is prudent (and see Chapter Five for other methods).
Your opponents may also use magical techniques against you. This is extremely rare but not unheard of. Alt-right groups during the 2016 presidential campaign employed chaos magic techniques against Hillary Clinton and her supporters, for example (and for a fascinating history of the magical battles of that election, see Gary Lachman’s Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump). A number of right-wing Pagan groups and magicians actively sought to oppose those of us doing the Trump binding spell (though their results were far more comic than troubling).
Beginning magicians and witches, particularly those with strong natural abilities, can sometimes generate energetic weirdness in their environments. It’s not harmful, but can become bothersome and annoying. It tends to manifest as unusual visual phenomena (like creatures or shadows moving in one’s peripheral vision) and can, on rare occasions, cause physical manifestations (noises, movement of objects, and other poltergeist-type effects). When I first began practicing Kabbalistic magic, the overhead lights in my basement started turning on and off by themselves. It was maddening to be in the midst of a deeply meditative candlelit ritual only to have bright fluorescent lights pop on. Talk about killing the mood! When I stopped doing the heavy
ceremonial workings, the lights returned to normal and never exhibited that odd behavior again.
These low-level phenomena can also manifest as unpleasant, bizarre dreams, nightmares, or sometimes a generalized malaise or feeling off-kilter. This is quite rare, but if you find it happening to you, the protection ritual below should calm things down energetically. If that fails, just stop your practice and engage in social and non-magical activities until you feel better.
When it comes to group workings, circles are a natural, nonhierarchical formation for gatherings. Doing rituals within a circle allows everyone to take part, and ritually defining the boundaries of your operation facilitates the proper atmosphere and serves to sanctify group space. The Hermetic Seal is an all-purpose circle or sphere spell you can use whenever and however you wish.
The ritual employs a charged symbol—either an equal-armed (Greek) cross + or a pentagram [pentagram symbol]—drawn in the air with a lit stick of incense or with your extended index and middle fingers. I recommend the incense stick for beginners, because in a darkened room the burning end will leave optical “tracers” that will help you visualize the symbols better. Any incense stick will do, but copal or frankincense are my go-tos.
First, a word about the cross. While Christian magical practitioners may certainly use the cross in an explicitly Christian context, the cross as a spiritual symbol long predates Christianity, with the earliest depictions dating from the late Paleolithic. It is found in religious iconography of the ancient Egyptians and the Maya of Mexico and Central America and is a powerful religious symbol of the African Kongolese, who revere it as denoting the crossroads between the cycles of death and rebirth. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’s Rose Cross ritual, which is much more complex but very similar in its protective effects to the Hermetic Seal, utilizes the Christian cross. If cross symbolism has negative associations for you, use a pentagram. Either will work equally well, as will an image of a rose.
I advise trying the cross first because of its geometry. You will be creating a spherical, three-dimensional matrix of protective energy, and the cross plugs in geometrically to the six points of that matrix.
Where you see the +, use your glowing incense stick (or extended index and middle fingers) to trace it in the air before you, beginning with top of the vertical arm to the bottom, then with the left end of the horizontal to the right. Visualize the symbol glowing red as you trace it, and see it lingering in space before you, a powerful ward against any intrusion.
If you use the pentagram K, begin at the lower left corner, moving upward to the top center, down to the right, across to the upper left, and so on (as shown in the diagram). This is known as a “banishing” pentagram, common to both Kabbalistic magic and a number of witchcraft traditions. In this case, you’re not actually banishing anything, merely sealing up your space with the symbols serving as a set of locks, guards, or wards.
This may all sound complicated at first, but when you try it, you’ll see how it all comes together logically and intuitively.
You will be moving clockwise and creating a sphere around you, so you will need to judge the required space. In a small space, you may take a step or two forward from the center to begin the circle, whereas in a large room (such as for a group ritual), you will walk forward several steps farther to begin. If you are forced to do the ritual in a tight space (say, a bathroom), just turn in place. The effects are the same whether you’re casting the sphere for yourself or a large group.
If you’re casting a circle while standing at your altar, you can simply turn in place.
You can also set up the circle with white candles before you begin the ritual—it looks beautiful and reinforces the energy of the spell. I use twelve tea lights, starting with four in the cardinal directions and filling in two in each quarter.
Unless your tradition specifies otherwise, begin facing east (or in that general direction).
First, do the Centering Ritual (page 134) to get into the proper level of consciousness.
Light the incense stick and hold it in front of you in your folded hands at heart level.
Say,
“I call upon thee, spirits, and ask for your blessing.”
Step forward toward the east. With your right hand, trace your + or [pentagram] symbol in front of you, visualizing it as hot, bright red energy, while saying,
“Guardians of the east, protect me.”
After you trace it, use the incense stick (or your fingers) to “shoot” your energy into the center of the symbol. See and feel powerful energy surging into the protective symbol as you push into the center, causing it to glow brightly. Try to time the drawing of the symbol and the words so that you’re saying “protect me” as you shoot the energy.
With your incense stick still pointing in front of you, walk along a circle to your right, stopping at the south. You are essentially tracing a horizontal line of energy as you walk, so visualize it glowing bright red as it trails the burning end of the incense stick.
Facing south. Again, draw your symbol, saying,
“Guardians of the south, protect me.”
Again, try to end your words as you’re shooting the energy into the symbol’s center.
Move along the circle to the west, continue tracing a horizontal glowing line of energy with the burning end of the incense, and stop in the west.
Draw your symbol and charge it as you did previously, saying,
“Guardians of the west, protect me.”
Move along the circle to the north, continuing the glowing line with the burning end of the incense, and stop in the north.
Draw and charge your symbol as before, saying,
“Guardians of the north, protect me.”
Move along the circle back to the east where you began, linking the horizontal line to the glowing symbol already hanging there in space. You have now formed a horizontal line connected to all four glowing symbols. You don’t need to say anything or draw the symbol because it’s already there. Stand still for a moment and visualize all four crosses or pentagrams blazing with protective energy in the air around you. Feel them as vividly as you can.
Now this is where it gets a little tricky to describe, but follow along and you’ll see it’s actually pretty intuitive.
With your arm extended in front of you, slowly turn in place to your right. As you are turning, begin to bring your arm overhead, stepping forward toward the center of the circle and continuing a
vertical line to directly over your head. The idea is to time your steps so that when you arrive in the center of the circle the incense stick will be pointing directly overhead.
Looking upward at the sky as you trace and charge your symbol as before, say,
“Guardians of the heavens, protect me.”
You are sealing the top center of the sphere you are creating.
Step to the west, tracing the line of energy from top center and joining it with the glowing symbol already suspended in the air in front of you in the west. Again, you don’t need to draw or charge the symbol because it’s already there—just make a point of connecting it.
Mirroring your action in the east, turn in place to your left, slowly bringing your arm and pointed incense stick downward this time as you step back to the center. When you arrive in the center of the circle, your incense stick should be pointing directly below you at the earth. While tracing and charging your symbol, say,
“Guardians of the earth, protect me.”
Step back to the east, tracing the line of energy with the incense and linking it to the glowing symbol in the east. You have now connected all six of the symbols in a glowing, three-dimensional protective sphere and returned to where you began.
Turn in place 180 degrees and step back to the center, bringing your hands into prayer position. When you arrive at the center, turn around again and face the east.
Stand quietly. See and feel all six glowing, charged symbols around you, connecting a matrix of vibrant, protective energy—in the east before you, the west behind you, the north to your left, and the south to your right, as well as above your head and below your feet. See the lines connecting the glowing symbols and forming the outlines of an impenetrable, sacred sphere.
Now visualize the symbol glowing within you and feel it connected to the energized sphere around you. You can imagine a line of energy going from the infinite heavens through the top of your head and out of your feet into the earth, while two other lines bisect you horizontally from north to south and east to west. Your body has become embedded in a three-dimensional six-armed cross with a glowing center at your heart.
See the grid turning into a sphere around you. Visualize it as bright, glowing gold.
Finally, say,
“Bless (Protect) this Circle of Art Guide me in my Work
Protect me from all harm
So mote it be.”
If that sounds complicated, it isn’t. Walk through the steps as you’re reading it, and you’ll see how intuitive and simple it is to perform. Now you can meditate or pray (sitting or standing) or work your magic within the protected sphere.
Closing
To end the ritual, stand again in the center, facing east, with your hands in prayer position. Say,
“All those present may now go in peace, with my gratitude.”
The ritual above can be easily adapted for group use.
For a simple sphere, have the group form a circle. One person walks the outside perimeter with incense in a censer (or holding a stick of incense) three times while all the participants visualize a sphere forming and surrounding the group.
For a candle sphere, everyone is given a candle (white, unless you’re using a specific color), and a larger “mother” candle is lit and placed in the center of the circle. The leader lights theirs from the mother candle, returns to their place in the circle, then the person to their left lights their candle from the leader’s, and so on around the circle until everyone’s is burning. The group meditates silently, forming the sphere, and then proceeds with the ritual.
Notes
Why visualize the symbol as red? Red has been used magically as a protective color in many cultures (with ancient Egypt being an exception, as it was associated with Set and malevolent magic). Red says “stop!” and “danger!” and, as the color of blood, was painted on armor and weapons by ancient cultures. It is a firm warning to anything that may want to get through to stop.
However, you can try other colors. If you’ve been doing the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) for a while, you’re probably used to using blue or white light. Experimentation is the key to establishing what works best for you.
If you’re doing other workings after you cast the circle, have your necessary tools and components with you at a temporary altar in the center when you begin. Most importantly, have a fireproof container or burner for your incense.
Unless you feel strongly otherwise, there is no reason to ritually close or shut down the circle. Simply visualize it fading when your work is finished and after you have sent away any attendant spirits.
The following spells have been created to be easy to follow and understand, and they utilize common or readily acquired components. That does not mean they are “beginner” magic or in any way “dumbed down.” This is the real deal. Approach these spells with respect and perform them responsibly.
With minor modifications, all of them can plug into a wide variety of traditions, so adjust and tweak accordingly.
As you read and work with the spells in this book, you will begin to see the patterns that make up a larger set of practices I have developed through trial and error, over the course of nearly thirty years. By practicing the following rituals, you will be well on your way to understanding and mastering the larger system. The spells here can, and should, be used as a foundation to create your own workings.
There has always been a divide between magicians who emphasize a personal energy model of magic and those who adhere to a spiritbased system. I find that split, like many divisive arguments in the magical community, to be silly and counterproductive. Both models work, so I use both. Experiment and see what works best for you.
I first published this ritual on Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2025, which unfortunately coincided with Donald Trump’s first day in office for his second term.
It was fitting that on that brutally cold, dark, and ugly day of Trump’s second term, many of us were celebrating the life of a man who brought a powerful and eloquent message of love, nonviolence, and justice to the world—a message that is more important now than ever. I am leaving the introduction to the spell as I wrote it, as I feel it was prescient and still very relevant.
We are entering a time that will test our patience, our strength, and our precious energy in ways we cannot predict.
The chaos will be shocking. The agents of chaos aim to throw us off balance, to leave us broken, helpless, hopeless, and defeated.
We cannot allow that to happen. We will not allow it to happen.
The key to resisting the oncoming darkness and chaos is to keep our inner strength and resolve burning brightly.
Resistance begins within, and we must fortify and strengthen ourselves to do the necessary work. And the work will be hard. Dr. King knew this, too—and he ultimately gave his life for the struggle. “The road to freedom must be uphill, even if it is arduous and frustrating,” he said. “Out of this crucible of service, a creative specialist in social change must emerge.”
The time we live in calls us to become those creative specialists in the service of social change. But we can’t do the necessary work if we are beaten down, hopeless, exhausted, or overwhelmed.
We must hold fast to the spiritual light within us and support each other to get through the darkest hours.
The ritual I am sharing is a means of keeping the light of love and hope alive and burning fiercely inside of us, and spreading that vital spiritual light across a global, expanding network of awakened and compassionate human hearts.
Make no mistake, though—this is not some delusional and toothless self-help fantasy, or a way to pretend everything is going to be okay. We can’t push back against the darkness by just wishing it away. We will need to do what Dr. King called the arduous and frustrating work ahead—the marches, protests, boycotts, emailing, phone calls, and other practical but necessary actions. But we need the inner strength to do it well and effectively.
This ritual, which I am calling the White Candle Conspiracy, is a way to keep your inner spiritual fire burning against the darkness and to reinforce our community. It is simple, but its power lies in its simplicity. Do not be tempted to dismiss it until you have performed it. It is, like all the rituals I create, ecumenical—this one even more so than most, because I want it to be appealing and accessible to those of all spiritual paths and traditions.
And this working is a conspiracy, an invisible network of conspirators for the forces of light, but one that is “a secret hidden in the open.” More about that below, but the idea is that you can keep this candle out in the open in your home, in a spot where it is innocent-looking but immediately recognizable for those with eyes to see.
This will be a core practice, a daily affirmation of principles and connection to the global network in resistance to authoritarianism and fascism. It is also a tool to maintain your energy, positivity, determination, and focus. Other rituals, for more specific purposes, will be shared in the days ahead. Malefica may be practiced for specific aims, but due to the nature of the times, those workings will be shared mouth-to-ear, or sub rosa (not publicly).
The White Candle Conspiracy (v. 1.0)
Components
• A plain white pillar-style candle. Get one as wide and tall as you can find.
Place the white candle in a conspicuous spot in your home and on a fireproof surface. This is not a candle to be placed on your altar, but rather anywhere you might normally put a decorative candle—on your dinner table, mantel, coffee table, etc. The more you can see it during your time in your home, the better. If you want to dress the candle or otherwise “activate it,” feel free to do so, but your daily intention and ritual will activate and empower it.
At night, preferably around 9 p.m. in your time zone if possible. The goal is to create a mass ritual that rolls across the planet every evening.
Ritual
Each evening, sit or stand before the candle, ideally in the recommended timeframe (9 p.m.), either alone or with other participants. If possible, darken the room.
Close your eyes and take a few calming, centering breaths. Open your eyes. Light the candle and say,
“I am a candle in the darkness. Where I am, there are many, and together we are one.”
As you say the words above, visualize the earth, as a globe, in the darkness of night, centered on your continent. Suddenly, white lights flare up in the darkness, more and more, rolling from east to west across the continent, and then covering the entire planet. Beams of light branch out and connect to each bright glowing individual flame of consciousness like a giant web, until the planet is connected, enmeshed, and glowing.
Then say,
“I shine the light of freedom against the darkness of tyranny
I shine the light of knowledge against the darkness of ignorance
I shine the light of truth against the darkness of lies
I shine the light of peace against the darkness of war
I shine the light of tolerance against the darkness of bigotry
I shine the light of compassion against the darkness of violence
I shine the light of love against the darkness of hate
With this light, the darkness disappears.”
Remain sitting or standing calmly before the candle for a moment, visualizing and feeling the connection to the web of love and consciousness among people just like you—like us—encircling the planet while committing ourself to our deepest principles.
Then, when it feels appropriate, say,
“So mote it be.”
(Or “amen” or any other word or phrase that resonates with you) This ends the ritual.
Leave the candle burning as long as you wish (always keeping in mind fire safety, of course). When you feel it’s appropriate, or before you go to bed, blow out the candle. As your breath extinguishes the flame, imagine and feel a bright, powerful flame igniting in your heart. That is your inner spiritual flame of love and resistance to darkness that you will carry always.
The white candle is such a common decorative item in many households that it makes a perfect “hidden in plain sight” symbol of resistance— always visible, yet perfectly innocent. For those who live in repressive communities and are fearful of open symbols of resistance, the candle can be a daily reminder of one’s commitment to the principles of
human rights, democracy, and justice, while not drawing the attention of antagonists—there is always plausible deniability. Yet, for those who are part of the conspiracy, a slight smile and nod in the direction of the candle can establish a bond of secrecy.
It is also an easy way to practice spiritual resistance if you live in a home with others who may not share your values or may be antagonistic towards any practice of magic. You can just light the candle and recite the ritual silently, and no one will have any idea what you’re doing.
There is a special power in having a secret. Only share the purpose of your candle with those who are trustworthy and aligned with your values.
You can view the ritual as a prayer if you are religious or, if you are not spiritually inclined and prefer a humanistic interpretation, as an affirmation of your values and positive thinking. No matter what you believe, there is proven power and efficacy of rituals in providing hope and positivity while decreasing stress and fear. So, if you share this ritual with like-minded others—and I hope you will—assure them that it can be done according to their beliefs.
Please resist the urge to complicate the White Candle Conspiracy by adding other magical elements. It is meant to be simple and concentrated. But there are some ways to build on it without unnecessary complication, including:
• Tracing a sigil or words on the candle with your finger
• Adding symbolic items around the candle, especially natural items like crystals, shells, feathers (but avoid anything overtly political that would give away its purpose)
• Doing this as a group, such as your family or friends who are visiting
When you are short on time, or if you prefer, you can shorten the ritual to just saying the principles aloud (but keep the visualization):
“Freedom Knowledge Truth Peace Tolerance Compassion Love.”
Please share this ritual among your networks, whether it’s your coven, prayer circle, healer network, activist group, or other group. Give white candles as gifts, and send the link to this ritual or provide a printed copy to your recipient (a one-page PDF is available online).36
A reporter once asked A. J. Muste, a Dutch-born American clergyman and activist who protested against the Vietnam War, “Do you really think you are going to change the policies of the country by standing out here alone at night in front of the White House with a candle?”
Muste replied, “Oh, I don’t do this to change the country. I do this so the country won’t change me.”
Our first Blue Wave spell, which I published in October of 2018 in advance of the midterm elections, was a massive success. Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and many more women and people of color brought bold, new energy and activism. Without the Democrat-led House, we could never have impeached the president or discovered the real extent of his crimes and abuses of power.
36 medium.com/@michaelmhughes/the-white-candle-conspiracy347ea6ce4162
I remember a lesson my father taught me when I was a kid as I watched him record the televised Watergate hearings on a reel-toreel tape recorder. He was a lifelong union man, someone who always stood up for the underdog and taught me to resist unprincipled and despotic power. We talked about the importance of voting, and he made a point that is too often overlooked. “You can vote to put someone you like into power,” he told me. “And that’s important. But you can also use your vote to take someone out. Especially if that person is corrupt or dangerous.”
In other words, voting is our collective way of saying, “You’re fired!”
Voting is a tool, not a love letter. It can work two ways: as an opportunity to vote the right people into office, but also as a defensive act to remove the corrupt, the criminal, and those doing grievous harm.
This ritual targets Donald Trump and his sycophantic Republican Party in the United States, of course, where the two main parties are symbolized by the blue/red dichotomy, but you can adjust the names and colors to suit your country if you are outside the U.S.
Do this ritual as frequently as possible until the election, if possible. Noon is best, midnight is also a good time, but do it whenever you have the opportunity.
Components
• Blue candle (I recommend a glass-enclosed novena/prayer candle, but any type of candle will do. You can print out and apply the Bind Trump sigil to the candle if you wish)
• Small red candle (ideally one that has never been lit)
• Black and white printout of a map of the United States (or your country)
• Blue paint and brush, crayons, markers, or colored pencils (blue paint is especially good because it is largely water)
• Justice tarot card (or print of one)
• Pin or nail (to inscribe candle)
• Optional: Photos of candidates you are supporting, their campaign literature, or other election materials
• Optional: Items from your own spiritual or magical tradition and/or photos of people of power—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, perhaps, or (as on my altar) my former Congressman and Trump foe the late Honorable Elijah Cummings (Cummings went to bat for me when I was falsely arrested by Baltimore Police, so I have a strong love for the man)
If you have an altar, use it. If you don’t have an altar, clear a quiet, private space to serve as one. A table or desk top is fine. If you like incense, burn a fragrance that pleases you.
Use the pin or nail to inscribe the words “Blue Wave” in the wax of the blue candle. If you’re using a prayer/novena candle, carve it into the top of the candle near the wick. Place the candle in a central spot on your altar.
Take the printout of the map of the United States and place it on your altar space with your blue paints, markers, or pencils.
Place the Justice tarot card on your altar. You can lean it up against the blue candle if you’d like.
If you are using photos or literature of candidates you are supporting, arrange them around the blue candle.
With the pin or nail, carve TRUMP GOP in the red candle. If your candle is too small to carve, just say (with contempt) “You are Donald Trump and the Republican Party!” while holding the candle. Place it on your altar in front of the blue candle (lying on its side is fine).
Prepare for ritual per your tradition (if you have one), meditate for a moment, or just take a few deep breaths to center yourself. You are now ready to begin.
Ritual
Light the blue candle, then say,
“Hear me, oh spirits
Of Water, Earth, Fire, and Air Heavenly hosts and spirits of the ancestors I call upon you
In this hour of need
And request your aid
To save my country and its people
From the grip of tyrants and evildoers
Raise a mighty blue wave, spirits
A wave of justice, and mercy, and truth
To wash away the corruption And injustice And wickedness
Of Donald Trump and the Republican Party In a peaceful transition of power.”
Take your paintbrush, marker, or pencil, and begin coloring the map. Fill it in completely with blue. During this process, visualize an enormous wave of blue water washing over and cleansing the land. You don’t have to be neat and color within the lines—the important thing is that you feel the powerful wave of blue voters filling in the map. Make splashy water noises. Get into it!
You could also repeat phrases or ad lib as you color in the map: “Wash away the Nazis, wash away the hate” or similar.
If there are states in which you have a particular focus (critical swing states, perhaps, or those with tight races), spend extra energy coloring them in.
When you’re done turning the map blue, place it face-up under the blue candle. Hold your hands out, palms facing the candle, and say,
“Water, may you wash away corruption and injustice Earth, may you bury the rot and sickness of authoritarianism
Fire, may you fuel the desire of all good people to vote Air, may you carry truth and honesty on your winds.”
Pick up the red candle.
“Donald Trump and the Republican Party, by your wickedness, you are broken Donald Trump and the Republican Party, by your deception, you are broken Donald Trump and the Republican Party, by your corruption, you are broken.”
Say with absolute contempt and fury:
“Your power is broken!”37
Snap the red candle, feeling the power of the entire Trump administration and the GOP breaking and shattering. Hear their cries of anguish and despair. Place the pieces of the red candle in front of the blue candle.
“Donald Trump and the Republican Party, you shall be ground to sand beneath the waves.”
Again, hold your hands out to the blue candle. Then say, with increasing power while visualizing a huge blue wave rising and washing over a map of the United States:
“Blue Wave, rise!
Blue Wave, wash over the land!
Blue Wave, cleanse! Blue Wave, renew!”
(You can add candidate names here; see notes below.)
37 You may target particular Republicans by name here; see “Notes” at the end of this ritual.
End the ritual with a prayer, clasping your hands and saying:
“May the sword of Justice prevail
May those who have embraced hate find love
May those who have gone astray
Find the path of righteousness
Forgive them, spirits
Break the chains that bind them
Open their eyes
Fill their hearts with mercy
For the sake of democracy
For the sake of the Union
For the sake of the earth
For the sake of all sentient beings
So mote it be!”
Allow the blue candle to burn as long as you would like, radiating its energy. When you blow it out, say “thank you.” Light the candle every day and say a prayer for victory, even if you don’t do the full spell.
Dispose of the broken red candle remnants at a crossroads (a trash can or dumpster near a crossroads is ideal) or in running water, or bury it in a desolate place. Treat it as if it’s rotten, toxic garbage. If you have used campaign literature on your altar, give it out before the election or at the polls. And did I mention…get out the vote!
Notes and Variants
This spell is easily adaptable for groups. Just say the words in a calland-response manner.
Visualization is a key element in effective spellcasting. See in your mind’s eye the cleansing and purifying blue wave rising, impossibly high above the land, and washing across the country. After you say “So mote it be,” feel the joy of a Democratic sweep, resoundingly crushing Donald Trump and his allies and winning the House and Senate. Use all of your senses—hear the cheers of voters, feel the upwelling of happiness in your heart, see in your mind’s eye
the electoral map flipping from red to blue on cable news. Really feel it, as if it is already accomplished. That is an important key to manifesting magic.
If you are focused on particular candidates, especially those in close or swing state races, you may consider reciting their names in the ritual after “Blue wave renew!” For example: “Blue Wave, renew! (Name of candidate), rise!”
If you’re feeling a bit hexy and want to get personal, feel free to add a litany of the names of despicable GOP members after “Your power is broken!” For example:
Donald J. Trump…your power is broken! JD Vance… your power is broken! [Name]…your power is broken!
This is a spell for justice in what has become an increasingly common situation—when an African American is the victim of an unjust, extrajudicial killing by a police officer. I watched as my home city, Baltimore, was torn asunder after the death of Freddie Gray, who died of a broken spine after being given a “rough ride” while shackled in a Baltimore Police van. None of the officers was charged with a crime, which is also all-too-common in these cases.
I’m tired of innocent Black men, women, and children dying without any consequences. And since the publication of the first edition of this book, the Black Lives Matter movement has seemingly lost public momentum, despite the lack of progress. I hope that is just a momentary slowdown, because until we eradicate the racism at the heart of many law enforcement agencies, we must continue to voice our support for our Black siblings facing systematic oppression and violence.
In this spell, the power of the color black is invoked to represent the energy of the African American resistance in the United States, going back to the uprisings of enslaved Africans.
This is a powerful working that calls upon the severity of the sword of Justice and should not be employed lightly or indiscriminately, but only when it is abundantly clear that the officer or officers killed someone without justification.
The ideal time is during the waning or new moon.
Components
• Black candle
• Hyssop oil or Power Oil (see page 127)
• Pin or nail to inscribe candle
• Justice tarot card (you will need to give up this card for the spell, so if you can’t afford to buy a new deck, use a printout instead)
• Images of slain African American activists: MLK Jr., Medgar Evers, Fred Hampton, Malcolm X, etc.
• Images of the police officer or small square of paper with their name written on it
Arrange the images of the slain civil rights leaders around your altar. They will be the audience for your working.
Inscribe the candle with the name of the victim while keeping the victim in mind and saying a prayer for them. Anoint (dress) the candle with oil.
Print the photo or write the name of the assailant on a piece of paper. Write JUSTICE across their photo or name twice, in the shape of an X.
Place the image (or paper with name) of the perpetrator face down on a fireproof surface your altar. Place the Justice card on top of it, face up. Then place the candle on top of the Justice card.
Do the Centering Ritual.
Light the candle.
As you look upon the faces of the slain Black activists, say,
“I call upon the honorable spirits of those who died in the great struggle for civil rights. May you be with me as I work for justice for the soul of (victim’s name).
As this candle burns down, just as the spirit left (name of victim)’s body, may it bring the full force of Justice, by all means necessary, down upon (name of perpetrator). May the soul of the unjustly murdered (name of victim) find peace, and may the guilty be tormented by the cries of the spirits of the unjustly slain until they atone for their wickedness.
Amen, selah, so mote it be.”
Burn the candle daily for as long as it takes to melt it down to a stub. If wax drips on the tarot card, so much the better.
When the candle has fully melted, take all the components and leave them on the steps or grounds of a courthouse (ideal), jail, or detention center, or bury them away from your home near a crossroads or in a place with little human traffic.
As with all spells in which components are left in a public place (which should only be done when magically and symbolically significant), please balance the act by collecting and disposing three times the mass of your leavings of litter nearby or elsewhere.
(With special contributions by Nick Dickinson)
Deity options for this spell include, but aren’t limited to, Great Goddess, Horned God, Demeter, Artemis, and Diana. Perform this ritual during the waxing or full moon.
This spell arose as a response to the vacuous “thoughts and prayers” offered by politicians and pundits in response to the plague of school shootings in the United States. It recognizes the need to spread compassion, education, and justice to end violence against children, and can be performed as a prayer at schools or other places where children congregate. You may wish to combine this spell with the Hex the NRA spell (page 188) for a double whammy against the purveyors of toxic gun culture.
Components
• Rose quartz
• White candle
This spell may be performed individually or in a group—see notes at the end of the spell for group suggestions.
Perform the Centering Ritual. Stand before your altar. Hold the rose quartz in your clasped hands at the center of your chest. Close your eyes.
Recall in your mind the most beautiful sunrise you have ever seen. If you don’t have a specific memory, visualize the sun rising over the ocean, its rays spreading through brilliantly colored clouds. Feel the warmth of the sun’s rays on your skin, your face, your heart, and in the rose quartz in your hands. You may begin to feel the crystal warming along with your visualization. Say,
“A sunrise.”
Recall in your memory a time when you laughed to the point of tears. If you can’t recall a specific moment, visualize and hear the friend you laugh the most with as you both are overcome with unstoppable laughter. You should be smiling broadly and on the brink of laughter. Feel the laughter coursing through your body, into your hands, and into the rose quartz. When the laughter reaches a peak, say,
“Laughter.”
Call to mind people you love dearly. See their faces, smiling. See your love for them reflected in their eyes. Feel the love that exists between you and them centering in your heart and energizing the rose quartz in your hands. When the feeling reaches a peak, say,
“Love.”
Take a deep breath and blow into the rose quartz, charging it with the energies of a sunrise, laughter, and love. Say,
“I charge you to carry sunlight, laughter, and love.”
Place the rose quartz on the center of your altar. Now hold out your hands at your sides and feel people at either side taking your hands into theirs. Visualize a line of people to each side of you stretching in a circle so wide it wraps around the earth. Say,
“Hand to hand, heart to heart, mind to mind. May wisdom and reason prevail. May the cycle of ignorance, hatred, and violence be broken.”
Visualize the glowing love in your heart running down your arms, through your hands, and into the hands and hearts of the millions of others connected in your circle. See your compassionate circle making a protective fence surrounding all the world’s children. Say,
“May all the world’s children be treated with reverence and respect. May our circle protect them from all dangers, violence, or injustice. May they experience health and harmony, and grow into healthy and harmonious beings.”
Light the white candle. Again, extend your hands and reconnect with all those in your infinite circle of compassion. Say,
“I offer this light to the world. May it burn away all ignorance, hatred, and violence. May it lead us all out of darkness and fear into the purifying light of joy.”
Feel the healing light expanding into infinity as you breathe slowly and deeply. Know that the children inside the circle are safe, loved, and supported.
When you feel the time is right, say, “So mote it be” and blow out the candle.
Ground yourself. Shake your body, jump, stomp your feet, and have a small bite to eat. Chocolate is a delicious choice. When the opportunity arises, give the charged rose quartz to a child. Tell the child it is a very special stone of protection and love,
and if they ever know someone who is feeling unsafe or hurt, they should gift it to that person, with the same message to pass it along to someone else in need.
Donate money to a child protection or gun control organization. Volunteer at a local school, daycare, or recreation center.
Notes
The rose quartz portion of the spell creates a powerful protective talisman and can be done on its own (ending when you place the rose quartz on your altar). You can give these to people to carry, incorporate them into protective mojo bags, place them inconspicuously on school grounds, or use them in other workings.
Without the ritual elements, this can be done as a group prayer, starting with “Hand to hand.”
Components
• Four ordinary, small rocks
• Black marker or black paint and brush
• Voter protection sigil that you have created
• Altar with four Elements represented
• Three small white candles
• Incense
• Water bottle (or other discreet container) filled with spring water, rum, or whiskey
Several days before a major election, look for four rocks. They should stand out from other rocks or otherwise call to you, but they should look normal. Clean the rocks with soapy water and let them dry. When dry, use the marker or paintbrush to draw a voter protection sigil on each of the rocks. As you are adding the sigil to each rock,
focus your energy on imbuing them with protective energy. Allow them to dry completely.
Set up your altar for the Consecration Ritual (see page 140). Place the four rocks in the center of the triangular candle formation. Stand or sit before your altar and perform the Centering Ritual. Light your incense.
Pick up the four rocks. Hold them in your hands in front of you and then say,
“Bless these stones, powers of earth (touch object to your earth symbol), water (touch water to your extended index and middle fingers and wet the object with them), fire (hold over your fire symbol), and air (hold in rising incense smoke or touch to feather), spirits of the heavens (lift toward sky) and of the underworld (lower toward altar or ground).
Consecrate these guardians to serve as wards for my polling place. May they keep the voting honest, safe, and free of meddling. May they alert the poll workers if anyone attempts to circumvent the free and fair process. So mote it be.”
Blow into the rocks, feeling your breath imbuing them with watchfulness and protective energy. Say,
“Awaken to your duty. When it is done, return to your natural state with my grateful thanks.”
Ideally, a day or two before voting, visit your polling place. If you can only visit the day you vote, arrive early. Enter as deeply into ritual mind as you can without causing a scene. Call out to the spirits of the place. Open your spirit to contact, and welcome the connection with whatever spirits occupy this piece of land. They may be from centuries before, or they may be recent occupants or just passersby. Just quiet your mind and use your magical senses.
Say out loud or internally (have the spell copied out if you don’t want to carry the book),
“Spirits of this place, I ask you to accept my presence and my respectful offering. I beseech you to protect those visiting your home as they come to take part in the sacred act of voting. Please watch over them and forbid all those who would cheat or do harm. So mote it be.”
Discreetly pour out a libation from your water bottle onto the ground as an offering to the spirits of the place. Then, place the four rocks around the polling place. Try to put them where they won’t be disturbed or dislodged, but where people will have to pass by them to enter the building to vote. The goal is to form a shield of protective energy. When you’re done, thank the spirits of the place silently before leaving.
This is a great spell to do with kids. They enjoy helping put everything together and understand it intuitively. And though it is rather light in its imagery, do not underestimate its seriousness. Perform this ritual during the waxing or full moon.
• Medium-size pot of earth (organic potting soil is good if you can get it)
• Green candle (any size)
• Small plant (an edible magical herb, like rosemary basil, marjoram, mint, or sage is a good choice)
• Small shell or other non-plastic container filled with water
• Small toy animal or animal sculpture, ideally not plastic (even better if it’s an endangered animal—I use a ceramic elephant)
• Rocks, stones, or crystals
• Feather(s)
• Optional: Goddess sculpture from your tradition
• Optional: Moon and Sun tarot cards
This “little earth” that you care for connects your energy to the larger earth. It should be separate from your working altar, occupying
its own place of respect, ideally near a window or on a balcony or sunny porch. This is an easy way to do “hidden in plain sight” magic because it looks just like a nice arrangement. Place the candle in the center of the pot of earth. Plant the small plant away from the candle and add the other items, arranging them in a pleasing manner. Bury some stones or crystals in the soil. If you’re using the Sun and Moon tarot cards, lean them against the pot or place them nearby or above it. You can return them to your deck after the spell or leave them in place.
If you can do this outdoors, all the better, but near a window is fine, too.
When the arrangement is ready, do the Centering Ritual, light the candle, and quietly pray the following words while holding your open palms in front of the little “mini earth” you have created.
“Mother Earth, giver, creatrix, from you I have risen and to your embrace I shall return. Spirits and Elementals of this place, I offer you the humble home I have made of earth, water, fire, and air. Take residence here as you wish and depart as you will for works of healing and regeneration.”
Feel healing energy streaming from your hands into the pot.
“I consecrate this microcosm for the healing of the earth, all growing and blooming things, the crawling things, the walking, flying, and swimming things, the air, the forests, the waters, the deserts, and the ice and snow. May healing and balance come to you, Great Mother, to the rocks of your bones, the waters of your blood, the green earth of your flesh, the air that carries your voice, the fire of your immense heart, and to all of your children who live and love and die beneath the Sun, the Moon, and the stars on your sacred skin.”
Hold your hands on the pot and energize it with your healing energy and your graciousness for the earth that sustains you.
End the ritual with “So mote it be.” You can now blow out the candle. Every day, take time to pause and say the above prayer or a short little personal prayer for the healing of the biosphere. Make sure to keep the small container of water from going dry, and keep your miniature earth clean and healthy.
Repeat the ritual on the solstices, equinoxes, and on Earth Day, April 22.
When the plant starts to get too large, remove it and transplant it elsewhere. Continue and honor the cycle as the plants transition from the little earth to the wider world, and enjoy the bounty in your cooking and magic. You can also gift the plants that you remove,
spreading the healing energy to others.
These mini-earths also make great gifts. Make a copy of the ritual and pass it along, too.
If you want to charge an object or sigil with earth energy, just place it on the soil. Extra points if you leave it overnight under a waxing or full moon.
Donate money, time, or both to an organization protecting the earth.
Perform this ritual during your period (if you have one), in response to anti-choice votes or initiatives, to protect clinics under siege, or during the full moon. Do this ritual at night, never in the daytime.
This is a spell for the protection of women’s reproductive rights. It can also be done for protection of women’s health clinics and their doctors and health care workers.
The first time I saw this ritual performed publicly, by my friend Jessica at the Salem Witch Fest in Salem, Massachusetts, I was shocked by its raw power. It was the first time I had seen any of the rituals in this book performed by someone else, and the experience is seared in my mind—particularly when she tore up a GOP logo at the climax of the ritual while shouting the final “Mine!”
This ritual is ideal for a public working—try it and I think you’ll agree.
Components
• Red candle with the words “Hands off” inscribed into on one side and “Laws off” inscribed onto the reverse using a pin or a nail
• Your menstrual blood (if during your cycle) or consecrated olive oil (see the Consecration Spell on page 140)
• Incense charcoal
• Cauldron or ashtray
• Bay leaves and myrrh
• Photo or name paper of politician, representative, judge, preacher, or other figure opposing a woman’s right to choose, or the printed logo of an anti-choice organization
• Piece of red cloth large enough to wrap around the candle
If it is during your period, you may want to anoint the candle with your menstrual blood. It is an extremely potent magical substance, so you only need a tiny bit spread across the surface.
At your altar, dress the inscribed candle with your menstrual blood or olive oil. As you’re doing so, see and feel your fingers transferring your personal power into the wax while repeating in a whisper,
“My blood, my life, my power.”
Dab your blood onto the photo, name paper, or logo of your target. Feel the feminine energy overpowering your target.
Set the candle on your altar, with the target paper in front of it. Perform the Centering Ritual and begin.
Light your charcoal. Light the prepared candle. Say the following prayer:
“I call to thee, Hekate of the Crossroads Queen of the starry cosmos Lady of the dogs Guardian of the realms of the dead Come to me from the deserted places of the night I call you to my sacred chant Please accept my gift of incense
And hear my prayer Of Protection.”
Drop bay leaves and myrrh onto charcoal. Watch the smoke as it rises to please Hekate.
Pick up the photo, name paper, or logo in your left hand and hold it in front of you, just below eye level. Say with passion, ferocity, and strength,
“Keep your hands off my body
Keep your laws off my body
Only life that is wanted
Shall we carry into this world
Only life that will be loved
Shall be brought forth from our bodies
Whenever the choice must be made
The choice shall be mine
My body Is not your property
My body Is not your domain
My body Is not your god’s
My body Is my own Hands off Laws off Hands off Laws off Hands off Laws off.”
Light the target paper on fire from your candle and say,
“Not your choice Say with all of your focus and will, MINE!”
Drop paper into cauldron and let it burn. When the paper is burning, say the words of power (see note):
“AKROKODÊRE MOUISRÔ CHARCHAR ADÔNAI ZEUS DÊ DAMNAMENEUS KYNOBIOU EZAGRA.”
When the paper has burned completely to ash, say,
“The spell is cast. My body is protected.”
Throw more bay leaf and myrrh onto the charcoal. As the smoke rises, say,
“I give praise and thanks to Hekate of the crossroads. May you go in peace, carrying my prayer. So mote it be.”
Extinguish the candle. Clap three times to end the ritual and ground. Wrap the candle tightly in the red cloth. Keep it stored in a safe, secret place, as a ward to protect your body and your choice, ready to be used again if the need arises.
Note
Pronounce the “barbarous” words of power, which are drawn from an ancient ritual of Hekate, phonetically to the best of your ability. If you’re feeling ambitious, look up ancient Greek pronunciation. We really don’t know exactly how the words were pronounced, so just say them with passion.
A spell for protection of the LGBTQIA+ community calling upon the bisexual god Pan, this is a great ritual to do with friends before going to public events, pride parades, celebrations, or political actions. Perform during the waxing or full moon.
Components
• Incense charcoal
• Myrrh and patchouli blend (or just myrrh) or frankincense
• Rainbow candle
• Salt (about ¼ cup)
• Chalice or cup of wine
Set up your altar normally. In the altar’s center, pour out the salt into a pile. With your index and middle fingers, spread the salt out from the center to make a clear space (about the diameter of your candle). Place the rainbow candle in the clear space and the cup of wine in front of it. Do the Centering Ritual (page 134). If you’re doing this with friends, stand in a circle around the altar and do the group version. Light your charcoal, and when it’s ready, throw on a small pinch of incense.
Light the rainbow candle.
Leader:
All:
Leader:
“I call on you, Great Pan Immortal god, the world is thine You are the world and world is you Oh, earthly power divine.”
“Hail Pan!”
“Goat footed, two-horned Piper, lover, bacchanalian Pan Come, attend our holy rite And hear our fervent prayer.”
Pour out a tiny bit of wine onto the circle of salt. Throw another pinch of incense on the charcoal. Raise your hands above your head. If working as a group, everyone raises their linked hands.
Leader:
“As all nature is in your care, Protect all who love Regardless of their nature
Female
Male
Both
Or none
For love is your nature Love, without bounds.”
Lower hands and bow your head.
Leader:
All:
“Protect our circle, Great Pan Beneath the dancing stars May your sweet pipings Bring forth love in all its many forms And vanquish fear and hate.”
“May the right of consenting adults to love one another prevail. May all live and love freely without fear, persecution, or hatred. I ask this in your name, oh great god Pan. So mote it be!”
Blow out the rainbow candle to end the ritual. Pass around the chalice of wine if you’re doing the ritual as a group. Put a small bit of the salt on your tongue, and as it dissolves, feel the energy of Pan spreading into your body. You may feel energized, full of joy, and even (thanks to Pan) a little horny. Ground by putting on some music and dancing.
This all-purpose anti-bullshit spell may be used against individuals or groups (perhaps a certain bullshit-spewing “news” network) who are creating, weaponizing, or disseminating lies, baseless conspiracy theories, propaganda, or “fake news.” It is best performed during the waning or new moon.
Components
• White candle
• Hyssop oil or Power Oil
• Small piece of paper with written name, printed photo, or logo of target
• Piece of jet, obsidian, or quartz crystal
• Sage bundle, sage leaves burned on charcoal, or copal or frankincense
• Ashtray or cauldron (for burning paper)
Inscribe the word TRUTH on four sides of the white candle and anoint it with hyssop oil or Power Oil.
Place the piece of paper on your altar face down. Put the gem or crystal on top of the paper. Place the candle behind them.
Light the candle and your incense and do the Centering Ritual. Point at the name or logo paper or photo and say, with as much vitriol as you can muster,
“I call bullshit on you, (name of target) Spreader of poison Mouth full of shit May your tongue burn With every lie.”
Pick up gem or crystal and say,
“This rock will draw your lies And bind them within So that your bullshit Will fester and rot Hiding from the light of Truth.”
Place the rock back on your altar and hold up the paper. Say,
“I call bullshit on you, (name of target) And may the fierce fire of Truth Burn away your deceit And turn your lies into ash.”
Light the paper from the white candle. As the flames consume it, chant with increasing vehemence,
“Bullshit! Bullshit! BULLSHIT!”
Allow the paper to burn out in the fireproof container. Bring your hands into prayer position across your chest and say while gazing at the white candle flame,
“Bright light of Truth Fire that burns away lies May you prevail in times of confusion And illuminate all deception Give voice to the honest And clarity of mind to the people So mote it be.”
Blow out the candle, ending the ritual.
When it’s safe, take some of the ash from the burned paper and rub it on the gem or crystal. Then place the crystal somewhere related to defecation, such as in a bag of dog feces before disposing of it, next to your cat’s litter box, hidden in a public bathroom (the grosser the better), inside your toilet tank, or tossed into a portable toilet. Finally, donate money or time to an organization fighting the spread of bullshit (a term I prefer over the ambiguous “fake news”).
A spell to protect immigrants and refugees, especially those fleeing harm, and to encourage global fellowship via the invocation of Hermes. Perform during the waxing or full moon.
Components
• Printed photo of Earth from space
• Blue candle
• Statue or printed image of Hermes or Magician tarot card
Cut out the printed image of Earth so that it is a circle and place it on your altar between your Elemental symbols. Place the blue candle on the center of the earth. Have the statue or image of Hermes or your Magician tarot card propped up and looking upon your ritual.
Do the Centering Ritual.
Light the blue candle. Hold your arms in the orans position (arms extended to your sides, elbows bent, palms turned slightly upward; it should feel as if you are holding up a large, invisible ball). Each time you repeat the refrain “No borders, all one family,” bring your hands to prayer posture, resting against your chest. Then return to the orans posture. Say,
“Come unto me, Lord Hermes Protector of travelers
Crosser of all boundaries
Bestow upon me your grace
And hear my prayer
May those fleeing persecution and danger
Be welcomed and protected
No borders, all one family
May families never be torn asunder
But united and made whole
No borders, all one family
May those who spread hatred of immigrants
Realize their kinship with all people
No borders, all one family
May boundaries dissolve
And borders disappear
No borders, all one family
May we all awaken to our common humanity
And accept our brothers and sisters with love and compassion
No borders, all one family.”
Retain prayer position until the end of the spell.
“Lord Hermes, whose eyes are the sun and the moon
Please protect those traveling to foreign lands
And those living in new lands
Open the hearts of the ignorant and bigoted
And awaken us all to love for our brothers and sisters
No matter where they were born
For thou art king of heaven and earth
And thy name and spirit rest upon the good
So mote it be.”
Stand silently, imagining a globe without borders, in which all humanity acknowledges our deep connection as one family.
Blow out the blue candle to end the ritual. Be sure to ground.
While you’re still feeling the leftover energy of the spell, make a donation (however small) to an immigrant rights or refugee support organization. If you desire, make it in the name of Hermes.
Note
If done as a group, the leader should read the main passages while the others respond with the refrain “No borders, all one family.”
This spell targets sexual abusers, especially those who have not been outed. Its goal is to bring their behavior to light so they may be exposed, shamed, and prosecuted (if applicable), and also to bind their predatory actions so that no one else is harmed. It may also be used against online harassers.
Sadly, since the first edition of this book, the #MeToo movement, along with Black Lives Matter, has been slowed and minimized as far-right conservatives launched campaigns against “wokeness” and what they call “cancel culture.” Because of that regressive trend, this ritual is all the more relevant and necessary.
The spell cuts all psychic ties to the abuser and ends with a powerful affirmation of healing, empowerment, and strength.
Perform during the waning or new moon.
Components
• Black candle
• Nail or pin (to inscribe candle and for use on altar)
• White candle
• Paper figure of a man (about four inches tall, or shorter than your black candle. It can be rough, just a general outline of a human figure)
• Black thread or string
• Pen or marker
• Optional: Dirt from near a court building
If you have been abused and your abuser is known, write their name (or online name, Twitter handle, etc.) on the black candle with the nail or pin. As you are digging in the nail, imagine it cutting deeply and painfully into the target. If you are doing the spell in support of all women who have been abused, inscribe “abusers” on the candle instead. On the white candle, carve #MeToo.
Take the cut-out paper figure and write the full name of the abuser on it if you are targeting someone specifically. If your abuser uses Twitter
or other online platforms to harass you, write their pseudonym or handle name. If you have a photo of the abuser’s face, cut it out and glue it onto the paper doll. Otherwise, draw an X for each of its eyes and for its mouth. Place all the spell components on your altar.
Do the Centering Ritual.
Light the white candle. Say “Me too” if you have been subjected to sexual abuse. Otherwise, say, “I light this candle to honor the abused.”
Using black thread or string, begin to wrap it around the paper doll and the black candle (you are wrapping the paper doll to the candle). While you wind the thread or string, say,
“I bind you, (name of abuser or all sexual abusers)
So that you shall never hurt another vulnerable person I bind your hands so they shall not touch another without permission I bind your eyes so they shall not stare when it is not wanted I bind your mouth so you shall not speak unwanted words.”
When it is completely wrapped, tie a knot around the paper doll, binding it to the candle. Say,
“I bind your genitals, that they may fail to bring you pleasure at another’s expense.”
Take the nail or pin and pierce the paper doll’s genitals, embedding the nail or pin in the candle.
Light the black candle. While holding it in front of you, speak to it as your abuser, summoning all your righteous anger:
“You are powerless over me
You are powerless over others Your foul deeds have bound you
To their consequences
And as the elements expose What lies hidden beneath the soil
So your wicked behavior
Shall be exposed to all.”
Blow out the black candle. Lie it on its side. If you’re using dirt from near a court building, sprinkle it solemnly on the candle. Hold your hands out to the white candle, palms facing the flame. Say with power and truth three times, with increasing intensity, “I am powerful I am safe I am whole and healed I am a survivor.”
Feel your body, mind, and soul completely healed and radiating strength and power.
If you are aiming the ritual at a specific abuser, visualize a thread connecting you to the black candle. It is the last connection to your abuser. Use your dominant hand like a blade to sever that final thread, saying,
“I sever all connection to you.”
When you cut it in half, it withers and disappears. Feel, as powerfully as you can, that you have broken all links to the abuser. (If you are aiming the ritual at abusers in general, skip this step.)
When you feel ready, say a prayer of thanks to your preferred deity, finish with “So mote it be,” and blow out the candle. Take the bound black candle and leave it somewhere desolate and exposed to the elements. You may need to head into the woods or seek out a deserted, trash-strewn lot. You want to leave it where it will be exposed and where it’s unlikely anyone will disturb it. As with all spells in which you leave something outdoors, be sure to pick up and dispose of three times the spell component’s weight in litter to right the balance.
Donate to, or volunteer to help, an organization that supports survivors of sexual abuse.
As mentioned earlier, this spell, previously appearing on Medium, was born of the reprehensible response of the National Rifle Association (NRA) to the murder of seventeen students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day 2018.38
On Valentine’s Day, seventeen schoolchildren were mowed down and over a dozen others were injured by a nineteen-year-old with an AR-15.
Earlier that same day, the NRA retweeted a gun manufacturer’s holiday promotion: a photo of a heart-shaped box and two 9mm pistols, along with the message “Give your significant other something they’ll appreciate this Valentine’s Day.”
Something is seriously wrong with this country.
As Tim Dickinson details in his Rolling Stone article from 2016 (“How the NRA Paved the Way for Mass Shootings”), the National Rifle Association’s unholy legion of lobbyists is responsible for the surreal state of affairs in which mass shootings have become a normal part of American life.39 The NRA fought for Florida’s permissive gun laws, earning it the nickname “the Gunshine State.” Governor Rick Scott earned an A+ rating from the NRA for opposing universal background checks, and the organization spent two million dollars to ensure Scott’s reelection.40 And while the state mandates a three-day waiting period for handgun purchases, there is no such restriction for assault rifles.
38 Originally published on Medium as “Hex the NRA: A New Spell for the #MagicResistance,” 15 February 2018, medium.com/@michaelmhughes/ hex-the-nra-a-new-spell-for-the-magicresistance-5be06f113c41.
39 Tom Dickinson, “How the NRA Paved the Way for Mass Shootings,” Rolling Stone, 15 June 2016, www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-thenra-paved-the-way-for-the-orlando-shooting-20160615.
40 Dickinson, “How the NRA Paved the Way for Mass Shootings.”
Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who also received an A+ rating, received $90,205 of NRA blood money in the 2015–2016 campaign year and over three million dollars in his career.41
The biggest beneficiary of all? Donald Trump, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars spent on the 2016 presidential campaign. Surprise, surprise. Perhaps that’s why he said, “I am going to come through for you” when he addressed their conference in Atlanta in April of 2017.42 And why, shortly after he was elected, he rolled back a safety measure aimed at preventing severely mentally ill Americans from buying guns.
Let’s be honest, shall we? As a supporter of the right to own firearms, I have no issue with citizens owning guns for hunting, home defense, or sport shooting. But the NRA is not the champion of gun owners—it is the marketing wing of the gun manufacturer industry, and those gun makers are increasingly dependent upon sales of assault-style weapons like the one that killed those seventeen Florida children and so many others before them.
The NRA is not a patriotic defender of hunters and sportsmen, but a profit-driven mercenary cult fueled by sales of increasingly lethal weapons designed not for hunting, but for the mass killing of human beings. They oppose any and all gun safety regulations, including common-sense measures like background checks that the majority of their members support. And they suppress scientific research into gun violence by public health organizations—because they know the truth would appall all decent Americans.
41 Nancy Dillon, “Top 15 recipients of gun group campaign donations and their NRA grades as firearm bills keep getting shot down,” New York Daily News, December 10, 2017, www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/15-top-recipients-donations-gun-rights-groups-nra-grades-article-1.3687802
42 John Wagner and Elise Viebeck, “‘I am going to come through for you,’ Trump vows to NRA,” Washington Post, April 28, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/politics/i-am-going-to-come-through-for-you-trump-vows-tonra/2017/04/28/3258b3e6-2c20-11e7-a616-d7c8a68c1a66_story.html.
They’ve stoked paranoia about the government coming for everyone’s guns (how’d that turn out?) and radicalized citizens against civic institutions. They incited violence against nonviolent activists and echoed Trump in tarring the news media the “enemy of the people” in slick propaganda videos.
I’ve fucking had enough.
Graveyard dirt is a very powerful magical substance. In all traditions, it must be gathered appropriately (with permission from the spirit or spirits) and paid for. So don’t just stop by your local cemetery and grab a handful of earth. Learn about its proper use or don’t use it. Powdered mullein is a good substitute.
Note the possible legal complications of this protest mailing. If you’re wary of getting on some sort of enemies list, by all means, avoid this direct action and just do the spell itself. But I don’t believe there’s need to worry, unless you put your real name and address on the envelope, and even then, this is clearly a symbolic action, not an actual bloodied bill (and please, do not think about using actual blood, which is a biological hazard and could actually land you in the slammer. Don’t. Do. It). You have the right as a citizen to express your dissent symbolically, through writing and imagery, to your compromised representatives or morally bankrupt organizations, as long as you are not threatening anyone or sending illegal substances.
While technically illegal, defacing or destroying money as a symbolic protest is extremely unlikely to result in prosecution. If the government comes after you for painting a dollar bill red, I suspect the resulting negative publicity would win you a very supportive lawyer. But as always, you make your decisions and accept the responsibility. I will happily paint my dollar bill red and write “NRA Blood Money” on it in front of the Treasury Secretary if it comes down to defending your right to do it.
Finally, protest is not meant to be polite. Fuck the NRA.
• Red paint or red permanent marker
• Black permanent marker
• Dollar bill
• Printed image of an NRA logo
• Black candle engraved with NRA (use a nail or pin)
• Printed image of an assault rifle
• Ashtray or flameproof container
• 3 wildflower seeds (from plants native to your region)
• Envelope and stamp
• Optional: Olive oil
• Optional: Graveyard dirt
Take your red paint or red permanent marker and apply it to the dollar bill, covering the entire front. Make sure there is enough red paint or ink to render it invalid as legal tender. You’ll see why soon enough. Use your black marker to write across the bill, in bold lettering, “NRA BLOOD MONEY.”
On your printout of the NRA logo, write the following text from Psalm 37:13–17 across it, reading the words aloud as you write them.
“The wicked have drawn out the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.”
Assemble all the components on your altar. If you’re using the optional graveyard dirt, dress the engraved black candle with olive oil and roll it in the dirt. Place the candle atop the NRA logo, in the center over the eagle.
Say a prayer to God or your preferred deity or deities for the protection of innocent beings against violence, and ask for a blessing on yourself. Light the black engraved candle.
Say the following, with as much emotion as you can:
“I curse you
Merchants of mayhem
Profiteers of pain
Dealers of death
You who fatten on the blood of innocents
And feast like demons on their corpses
May your thoughts and prayers
Turn to poison in your mouths
May every mother’s cry be a bullet to your heart
May the weeping of children rend your flesh like shrapnel
May the people turn against you
May they, too, curse your wickedness
May they melt your murderous machines.”
Light the paper image of the gun from the candle and let it burn out in your ashtray or flameproof container.
“May your blood money blister your hands
And your riches turn to ash
In the eternal fires of hell
So mote it be.”
Blow out the black candle. Bury it somewhere far away from your home. Plant the three wildflower seeds above the candle, saying a prayer for the protection of all innocents from gun violence. If you’re feeling any negative residue from this working, take a salt bath, pray, and, if possible, spend some time playing with children.
Now comes the important part, where your hex is sent directly to its recipient.
Fold the blood money dollar bill inside the inscribed NRA logo. You want to fold it so that it will fit inside a regular envelope. Put the folded package inside an envelope. A security (opaque) envelope is best.
For the return address, use a fake address and the name of a victim of a mass shooting in place of your name.
Address it to the NRA Headquarters at 11250 Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030. You can address it directly to Bill Bachenberg or leave it blank. You can also send it to your Congressional representative (if they are a recipient of NRA money) or use the handy website OpenSecrets.org to find the worst of the worst offenders. Add a stamp, and as you’re dropping it in the mailbox, whisper a curse (“Fuck the NRA,” which I use, is short and succinct).
Request free NRA materials from their website. Burn them while repeating the above spell, and return your red-painted dollar bill in their reply envelope.
After doing any hex, it is always wise to take direct positive action to keep the scales balanced. Donate money to a gun victim support fund or charity, donate blood, or volunteer with a gun safety organization.
After this spell began to circulate, the NRA’s longtime CEO Wayne LaPierre resigned amid a corruption trial—a trial he eventually lost. The organization became mired in scandals, has continued to bleed cash, and is in utter disarray. A once-powerful and seemingly unstoppable propaganda arm of the gun industry is now struggling to stay afloat.
Do not let anyone tell you magic doesn’t work.
Here is a simple spell to help a candidate in an election. It is best done during the waxing or full moon.
As this may be utilized as a “road opener” spell, especially if the candidate faces great odds, you may consider invoking the following deities: Ganesha, Hekate, Hermes, Elegua, Papa Legba.
Components
• Glue stick
• Printed photo of the candidate (sized to fit ⅓ the width of the candle)
• Yellow or white glass-enclosed prayer candle
• Campaign materials (pamphlets, flyers, buttons, bumper stickers)
• Power Oil (see page 127) or abre camino oil
• Incense (frankincense, copal, or your preference)
• Lodestone (or magnet)
• Emperor or Empress tarot card (depending upon sex or identity of candidate; if nonbinary, use the World card instead)
Use the glue stick to apply the photo to the glass. Voilà! Instant vigil candle for your candidate. Place it on your altar.
In the center of your altar, pile the campaign materials. Place the lodestone or magnet atop them. Lay the tarot card atop the lodestone.
Anoint the candle by first wiping a bit of the Power Oil around the wax at the top (near the wick) with your finger. Make three clockwise circles.
Do the Centering Ritual.
Light your incense. Light the vigil candle, saying,
“Hear me, oh spirits (or deity name)
In the name of all that is good, and true, and honorable
Open the way for (name of candidate) Who represents the lawful
The righteous And the just Guide (her/him/them) to victory
In the contest before us
For the sake of the (name of town/city/state/country) May (name of candidate) serve with honor Compassion And fairness And awaken the people to their true goodness.”
Hold your hands over the campaign materials, feeling the spiritual energy radiating from your hands, and say,
“Bless these materials, spirits (or deity name) May they open the road to victory
For (name of candidate)
In the name of the greater good So mote it be.”
Clap your hands three times, ending the ritual. Allow the candle to burn and the lodestone to attract more energy for as long as you’d like. Extinguish the candle and ground. Afterward, when possible, distribute the energized campaign materials to voters who are either leaning toward your candidate or on the fence.
Burn the candidate vigil candle daily, each time saying a silent prayer for victory.
Note
You can repeat this ritual with more campaign materials as desired. If you’re doing the spell for an important election but it’s not one you are personally connected to locally, omit the campaign materials and use a photo of the candidate beneath the lodestone and tarot card instead. Use just a plain white or orange candle.
When you find a special stone in your travels, use the following conjuration adapted from Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches.43 Hold the stone in your hand to the sky and say,
“Spirit of good omen, Who art come to aid me, Believe I had great need of thee. Since thou hast come to aid me in my need, I pray of thee do not abandon me: I beg of thee to enter now this stone, That in my pocket I may carry thee, And so when anything is needed by me, I can call unto thee: be what it may, Do not abandon me by night or day. Therefore, O Sprite! I beg thee in this pebble make thy home! So in my company thou shalt ever be, And thou and I will ne’er part company!”
Add the stone to your altar, keep it in a special place, or carry it with you for good luck.
This spell has been updated for this edition. Originally a binding, circumstances have become so dangerous for minorities and immigrants in the U.S. that I changed the language from a binding to a full-blown curse. Human lives are in danger; therefore, we must do what is necessary to protect the people we love.
This multipurpose, hardcore curse and binding jar spell may be used against neo-Nazis, fascists, antisemites, white supremacists and nationalists of all varieties, and the alt-right. It may be used to target an individual or a group as necessary. It should ideally be performed in
43 Char les G. Leland, Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches (David Nutt, 1899) 27–28.
the evening during the waning or new moon, optionally at midnight, but don’t let timing stop you—do it when it feels right. It is rather complex, so you may want to write or type the steps out (in print large enough to read by candlelight) as a script to have on your altar. If you are part of an African-based magical tradition, call upon your “hot” deities to aid you in this working. This spell is extreme, but remember: the targets are people who would harm or even exterminate those they consider inferior because of skin color, race, sexual orientation or gender, disability, or religion. Working magic against such toxic targets can leave you feeling icky and energetically sticky, so be sure to take a purifying salt bath after this ritual if possible, or otherwise cleanse yourself via ritual or prayer. And guess what? You can regularly add new targets to the jar. Even if you only have their name—in the jar they go. It can get crowded in there, but hey, the more the merrier.
Cursing is a tool of self-defense, not aggression for the sake of aggression. Fuck fascists—they deserve everything you can throw at them.
Components
• Pin or nail
• Small white candle stub (no taller than 3 inches, ideally about an inch)
• Small container of vinegar
• Large black candle
• Hyssop oil, Power Oil, or your preferred oil
• Incense charcoal (optional if burning resin)
• Incense (Frankincense or copal are ideal)
• Glass jar with tight-fitting lid (a Mason jar is perfect)
• 9 sewing needles or pins
• Small piece of glass, shiny metal, or mirror
• Small container of salt
• Small container of red pepper (ground or flakes)
• Representation of your target: printed photo of an individual, logo or symbol of group, or small square of paper (5 × 5 inches or so)
• Optional: 2 High John the Conqueror roots
• Optional: Phone or camera for capturing photo of the jar
Gather all of the materials at your altar. If you don’t have the printed photo, logo, or symbol of your target, write the name of the person or group on a piece of paper.
With the pen or marker, write the following, adapted from Psalm 1:4–6 across the image, logo, or name: “The ungodly are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”
Using the nail, carve the name of your target individual or group, along with their symbol (if they have one) into the white candle stub.
Dress the white candle with vinegar (applying it with the fingers of your right hand) and set it on its side on the center of your altar. Leave your workspace, wash and dry your hands, and return.
Dress the black candle with hyssop or Power Oil (or your preferred oil), using the fingers of your right hand. With the remainder of the oil on your fingers, say a prayer for protection to your deity as you anoint the top (crown) of your head, your third eye, and the centers of your palms.
Place the large black candle behind the white candle, dominating and overshadowing the small, white stub. If you’re using the John the Conqueror roots, place one to each side (left and right) and touching the black candle. (Get the image here?)
Do the Centering Ritual or your preferred opening ritual or relaxation exercise and begin when you feel ready.
Light your charcoal and add your incense.
Light the black candle and say, emphasizing the energy of the words:
“Power. Strength. Virility. Courage. Truth.”
Pick up the inscribed white candle stub (do not light it). Say, with contempt and ridicule,
“You, (name of person or group), are powerless. You are weak. You are impotent. You are cowardly. You are a liar. You are pathetic and doomed to failure. Your memory will be a curse.”
Laugh at the pathetic white candle stub. Drop it in the glass jar. Pick up the needles. Say,
“I turn your anger against you, that it may pierce you.”
Drop the needles into the jar. Pick up the pins. Say,
“I curse your wicked tongue(s), that your words may bite and rend you.”
Drop them in the jar. Pick up the piece of glass, shiny metal, or mirror. Say,
“I curse your hateful thoughts, turning them back on you.”
Drop them in the jar. Pick up a pinch of salt. Say,
I curse your false ideology, that it may be mocked and rejected.
Drop the salt in the jar. Hold up the container of red pepper. Say,
“I curse you and drive you away from all you would dare to harm.”
Pour the red pepper in the jar. Pick up the container of vinegar. Say,
“I curse you and all those who share your malignant ideology, that you may turn against and rend each other.”
Pour a small amount of vinegar into the jar. Finally, pick up the photo, symbol, or name paper. Say,
“I curse you, (name of person or group), and call upon the spirits, protectors, and ancestors of all those you hate to send your poison back to you threefold, that the harm you wish for others be visited upon you times three.”
Fold the paper up tightly and drop it in the jar. Pick up the jar lid and screw it on tightly. Say, with power,
“And thus you are cursed and bound in the prison of your hatred! Amen, selah, so mote it be.”
As you’re doing so, imagine your target trapped inside the jar. Hear the anguished cries and their despair fading as you continue to seal the jar.
Let the jar sit in front of the black candle, imagining the black candle basking in its victory over the ideology of hate and the fascist imprisoned in the jar. Feel the joy and confidence in the triumph of love as the hateful person (or persons) is silenced.
Say,
“May love prevail.”
Blow out the black candle. Clap your hands three times, ending the ritual.
Place the black candle (and High John roots, if you’re using them) in a safe, hidden place. Place the sealed jar somewhere hidden and out of the way—if possible, in your bathroom, near your toilet.
Ground yourself. If desired, take a photo of the jar.
Take a purifying salt bath to rid yourself of any sticky negativity, or cleanse in your desired manner. Pray to your deity.
Important: After each time you perform this ritual, donate something—even if it’s just a dollar—to an antifascist or human rights organization.
If you are technically savvy enough, use an application to remove all EXIF or other identifying data from the photo and post to an
anonymous image site labeled with the name of the target. Or share with your witches for their delight.
Components
• 9 dollar bills (or equivalent bills in your national currency)
• Pen or marker
• Green candle
• Hyssop oil or Power Oil
• Tower tarot card
• Emperor tarot card
• Fool tarot card
• Incense (frankincense or copal, or your preferred prosperity incense)
On each of the dollar bills, write “Share the wealth” on the front and “Feed the poor” on the reverse in small lettering with a regular pen. Dress the green candle with hyssop or Power Oil.
At the far end of your altar, place the Tower and Emperor cards next to each other. Place the nine dollar bills around the cards. Set the green candle so that it touches the Tower and Emperor cards. Closer to you, place the Fool card.
Light your incense.
Do the Centering Ritual and begin.
Light the green candle. Say,
“Wealth that is hoarded is wealth that is stolen
From the hungry, the wretched, the poor, the cold, and naked
For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat
But it withereth the grass
And the flower thereof falleth and perisheth So also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.”44
44 Adapted from James 1:11.
Move the candle and place it atop the Fool. Say,
“Those who give to the poor will lack nothing But those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.”45
Slide the dollar bills across your altar to the Fool. Say,
“Because the poor are plundered and the needy groan, I will arise and protect them from those who malign them.”46
Hold your hands, palms down, over the dollar bills. Feel the energy of compassion and generosity streaming from your palms. Say,
“May the mountains bring prosperity to the people, the hills the fruit of righteousness. May the afflicted be defended, may the children of the needy be saved, and may the oppressors be crushed. Spirits (or deity), bless this money, that it may take away wealth from those who hoard their riches and rob the needy. Bless this money, too, that it may provide refuge to those in distress, shelter from the storm, shade from the heat, food to hungry mouths, and medicine for the sick.”
Visualize the bills spreading from hand to hand, drawing wealth from the rich and multiplying exponentially as it helps the poor. Blow out the candle and say,
“So mote it be.”
Take the bills and keep them with you separate from your other money. Give them out, one dollar at a time, to homeless people you see on the streets. Be sure to smile at them and acknowledge them as human beings.
45 Adapted from Proverbs 28:27.
46 Adapted from Psalm 12:5.
Create ceasefire shrines in your community. You can set these up around your area where people are suffering from crime (or fear of crime). Of course, exercise appropriate caution, and don’t create shrines in unfamiliar or potentially unwelcoming communities.
Eirēnē (pronounced “ay-RAY-nay”) is the Greek goddess of peace and the spring. She is also one of three keepers of the gate of heaven, along with her sisters Dike (Justice) and Eunomia (Good Order). She is frequently portrayed as a beautiful young woman with a cornucopia in her left hand and an olive branch or staff of Hermes in her right. As the goddess of peace, this spell calls on her to bring peace to troubled places and the souls of those who have suffered violence.
You can charge multiple candles and rose quartz crystals at the same time before creating altars in multiple locations.
Components
• Rose quartz crystal
• Fresh flowers (any kind)
• White candle (glass prayer candle if possible)
• Hyssop oil
• Piece of paper with “ceasefire” written on it
• Incense (frankincense, rose, cinnamon, or your favorite peace or healing incense)
Arrange the rose quartz, flowers, and white candle at the center of your altar. Place the “ceasefire” paper with the words facing up beneath the white candle. Anoint the top (crown) of your head, your third eye, and the centers of both palms with a tiny bit of hyssop oil.
Light your incense and do the Centering Ritual to begin. Light the white candle and say,
“Oh great goddess, Eirēnē, You who bring peace to the troubled And abhor slaughter
Accept my offerings
Of flowers and sweet incense And hear my prayer.”
Pick up the rose quartz and hold it between your palms. Bring your hands clasped together in front of your heart. Say,
“Bless this stone, great goddess May it carry your blessing of peace
May it end the slaughter
And the violence
And bring healing to my community.”
Close your eyes and feel the goddess’s energy surging from your heart, through your arms, into your hands, and into the rose quartz. Say,
“May your peace grow
In the hearts and minds of all Like green shoots from the earth
May your shrines
Sprout like flowers in the spring So mote it be.”
Clap three times and blow out the candle. Ground. Take the candle, the flowers, the rose quartz, and the “ceasefire” paper and find a place in your community to set up a shrine to Eirēnē. Try to find a spot that won’t be molested, such as a nook in a wall, a quiet corner, or in the crook of a tree. You may also set up shrines at places where someone has been murdered or add them to the shrines already in place. Light the candle, say a quiet prayer to the goddess, and extinguish the flame before leaving. If possible, check on your shrines occasionally, bringing them new flowers and rose quartz, and pour a libation to the goddess.
Why do we march in the cold rain when we could be sitting at home with a bottle of wine watching a great new series on TV? Why do we spend time knocking on doors and trying to convince people to vote for someone when we could be reading good books? Why do we give up time with our friends and families and risk arrest in direct political action?
And why do we do resistance magic when we could be doing magic for love, money, and pleasure?
For most of us, we can’t not do those things. As spiritual beings, we feel deeply embedded in the ecology of souls around us. We have empathy and compassion for our siblings who are suffering, oppressed, and marginalized. As sentient organisms on a living planet circling a star, we understand our fates are interwoven with trillions of other organisms, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, in a lush, interpenetrating, interdependent, interrelated tapestry of consciousness and life.
When you become truly conscious of this interconnectedness, you realize there is no line between you and a child on the other side of the planet, the animals, insects, trees, plants, bacteria, rocks, clouds, rain, oceans, and even the atoms and subatomic particles. And as we become acquainted with higher aspects of reality, including the noncorporeal beings around us, our family grows exponentially larger.
Right now, our family really needs our help. Collective spiritual CPR, stat.
So, I hope you will use this book to help carry the bright glow of your spiritual power into the nitty-gritty world of resistance and activism. Never forget that you are the embodiment of the creative, evolutionary force of the cosmos, an emissary of the Divine, a teacher of compassion, and a pioneer of a powerful new way of active, engaged, mindful, courageous, compassionate living. Now light a candle and get to work.
Every book of practical magic seems to need a table of correspondences. But let me suggest that the most powerful and useful correspondences are those already embedded in your consciousness. When adding fire energy to a spell, your favorite hot sauce may make more sense than a difficult-to-find plant cited in a medieval magical text. Be creative, follow your intuition, and don’t be afraid to build your own table of correspondences.
The exception is when there is historical documentation of a particular correspondence. The statue of Hermes on my altar gets cassia (cinnamon) incense because it is noted as an offering to him in the Greek Magical Papyri.
Also note that some items have paradoxical or contradictory associations: for example, a black candle can represent African American power or fertility and regeneration as well the traditional dark or negative linkages found in many traditions. Magic embraces paradox.
Herbs and Resins
Abre Camino: Road-opener, removing obstacles, power. Angelica: “Archangel root,” feminine, guardian, protection, healing. Asafoetida: Banish evil (and everyone else with its pungent stench). Basil: Goddess (especially Holy Basil or Tulsi), healing, protection.
Bay Leaf: Offering to Hekate and Apollo, banishing negative energy, luck in situations that require physical strength.
Cinnamon: Offering to Hermes/Mercury, to “heat up” or “sweeten” a spell, as incense to purify a space
Copal: One of the “dynamic duo” of incense (along with frankincense)— multipurpose clearing of negative energy, creating sacred space, energizing space, attracting good spirits and repelling negative entities, sanctifying and consecrating, elevating mood and altering consciousness.
Dragon’s blood: Protection, cleansing of negative spirits.
Frankincense: The other (along with copal) of the “dynamic duo” of incense. Multipurpose cleansing and purification, sanctifying and consecrating, elevating the energy of a space, attracting benevolent spirits while repelling negative spirits, mood lifting, consciousness shifting, common offering to deities.
Garlic: Repelling negative psychic energy (think vampires), Mars, Hekate, protection.
High John the Conqueror: Often carried as a talisman or added to mojo bags. Power, luck, “masculine” energy.
Hyssop: Purification, blessing, protection. My go-to magical oil, especially for protection and sanctification.
Jezebel root: For protection of sex workers.
Mint: Cleansing and purification, burned with frankincense to generate visions.
Mugwort: Psychic energy and dreaming, protection from psychic negativity, burned as incense to sanctify and purify space.
Myrrh: Protection, cleansing, healing. Very similar in most respects to frankincense, and may be combined with it for a synergistic effect. Good for banishing negativity and creating sacred space.
Red pepper: Repellent, to “heat up” or energize a spell, keep someone away.
Rosemary: Aphrodite, protection (especially when planted near front door), purification (when burnt as incense or used in a bath).
Rue: Protection, cleansing.
Sage: Cleaning, protection, feminine energy/power.
Solomon’s Seal: Protection, decision making, wisdom.
Rocks, Minerals, Crystals
Antigreed, capitalism: Pyrite (Fool’s Gold).
Attract energy: Lodestone.
Binding and banishing: Jet, obsidian.
Capture and hold energy: Quartz (all varieties).
Goddess: Moonstone, selenite.
Grounding: All crystals, especially salt, hematite, lodestone, petrified wood, and quartz.
Hekate: Moonstone, selenite.
Justice: Bloodstone, hematite, selenite.
Peace: Amethyst, celestine, jade, obsidian, selenite.
Protection: Amethyst, black tourmaline, fire agate, obsidian.
Reproductive rights: Moonstone, selenite.
Salt: Deep cleansing, powerful protection, purification.
Curios
Mercury (Liberty) dime: For mojo bag, protection, general good luck, liberty.
Animal teeth, bones, hair, etc.: Energies and qualities of the particular animal.
Feathers: Elemental air, swiftness and flight, energies and qualities of specific birds.
Colors (Candles)
White: Purity, cleanliness, sterility. As it contains all other colors within it, it can substitute for other colors when necessary.
Red: Mars, blood, heat, passion, warfare, love.
Green: Plants, earth, money, abundance.
Blue: Peace, pacifism, water, healing.
Yellow/Gold: Sun, fire, attraction, positivity, intellect, wealth.
Black: Black power, Africa, darkness, shadow, negativity, hiding something.
Pink: Sexuality, femininity, friendship, nonsexual love.
Brown: Court cases, legal issues, humility, animals.
Rainbow: LGBTQIA+ “rainbow flag,” humanity in all its colors and variations.
Moon Phases
Waxing (increasing) moon: Spells for attraction, growth, increase.
Full moon: Revelation, power, shining a light on a subject, peace, justice.
Waning (decreasing) moon: Decrease, sending things away, binding, banishing, and release spells.
New (dark) moon: Binding, obscuring, halting, negativity, regeneration, rest.
Before me: Future, infinity, beings yet to come, choice, open road.
Behind me: Past, the dead, ancestors, choices I have made, consequences.
On my right: Father, sun, light, active, giving, beginnings.
On my left: Mother, moon, receptive, taking.
Above me: Angels, planets, stars, infinity.
Below me: Rocks, magma, fire, crystals, the dead.
As outside me: Everything external.
So within me: Soul, spirit, imagination, daimon, muse, deepest self, divinity.
Resources
Activism
Magic Resistance (formerly Bind Trump) Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/OfficialBindTrump/
The official home of the #MagicResistance on Facebook—a diverse, supportive community that coalesced around the Trump binding spell and grew into a much larger movement. The group has gone private in the second Trump administration, so ask around for an invitation.
The Network of Spiritual Progressives spiritualprogressives.org
Boggs, Grace Lee. The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism
for the Twenty-First Century. University of California Press, 2011. Horwitz, Claudia. The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World. Penguin, 2002.
Sharp, Gene. From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation. The Albert Einstein Institution, 2002.
African Diaspora and African American Magical Traditions
Lucky Mojo
www.luckymojo.com
Lucky Mojo Curio Company publishes a large collection of books and online information about Hoodoo, Conjure, and Rootwork.
Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers readersandrootworkers.org/
Chireau, Yvonne P. Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition. University of California Press, 2003.
Murphy, Joseph M. Working the Spirit: Ceremonies of the African Diaspora. Beacon Press, 1994.
Tann, Mambo Chita. Haitian Vodou: An Introduction to Haiti’s Indigenous Spiritual Tradition. Llewellyn Publications, 2012.
Ceremonial Magic
Kraig, Donald Michael. Modern Magick: Twelve Lessons in the High Magickal Arts. Llewellyn Publications, 2010.
If you’re intrigued by ceremonial magic, this popular course, based on the Golden Dawn curriculum, is the perfect place to start. It also covers, to a lesser extent, witchcraft and chaos magic.
Entheogens/Plant Medicines
MAPS www.maps.org
Erowid erowid.org
Heaven, Ross. Plant Spirit Shamanism: Traditional Techniques for Healing the Soul. Destiny Books, 2006. Smith, Huston. Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals. Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2000. Vayne, Julian. Getting Higher: The Manual of Psychedelic Ceremony. Psychedelic Press, 2017.
General Magical Theory
Ramsey Dukes (Lionel Snell) has created a superb series of videos that explore many topics in magic: www.youtube.com/channel/ UC8-NwOu0WV5Qd_U4zOP33sw/videos.
Jodorowsky, Alejandro. Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy. Translated by Rachael LeValley. Inner Traditions, 2010.
DuQuette, Lon Milo. My Life with the Spirits. Weiser Books, 1999. DuQuette’s fascinating autobiography is a deep dive into the ups and downs of the magical life.
Quareia: A New School of Magic for the 21st Century www.quareia.com/
Josephine McCarthy and Frater Acher created this free, in-depth curriculum in visionary magic. Highly recommended.
Hermetic Magic
Hermetic Magic: The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris. Edited by Stephen Edred Flowers. Weiser Books, 1995. A practical guide to Hermetic magic derived from the Greek Magical Papyri.
The Hermetic Library hermetic.com
Incense
Cunningham, Scott. The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews. Llewellyn Publications, 1989.
Neal, Carl F. Incense: Crafting & Use of Magickal Scents. Llewellyn Publications, 2014.
Mermade Magickal Arts www.mermadearts.com
High quality magical raw incense and blends, electric heaters, charcoal, and accessories.
Buddhism
Beyer, Stephan. The Cult of Tara: Magic and Ritual in Tibet. University of California Press, 1978.
Though focused on Tibetan Buddhist magic, this hefty book contains a wealth of wisdom about magic in general.
Christianity
Conner, Robert. Magic in Christianity. Mandrake of Oxford, 2014.
—. Jesus the Sorcerer. Mandrake of Oxford, 2006.
Robert Conner’s groundbreaking scholarship sheds new light on the use of magic in Christianity.
Meyer, Marvin W., and Richard Smith. Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power. Princeton University Press, 1999.
Judaism
Bohak, Gideon. Ancient Jewish Magic: A History. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Islam
Knight, Michael Muhammad. Magic in Islam. Penguin, 2016.
Meditation
Chödrön, Pema. How to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Making Friends with Your Mind. Sounds True, 2013.
Music
Environments 2: Tintinnabulation, Atlantic 81765-2, 1990.
I have yet to find a more powerful musical adjunct to rituals than this recording of modulated electronic bells. Worth seeking out.
Kay Gardner. A Rainbow Path, Ladyslippper LRCD103, 1984.
Gorgeous, evocative acoustic music for meditation on the chakras.
Harner, Michael. Shamanic Journey Solo and Double Drumming, Foundation for Shamanic Studies C-1, 1993.
Powerful, simple shamanic drumming.
Protection Magic
Fortune, Dion. Psychic Self-Defense. 1930. Weiser Books, 2001. A must-read for anyone beginning magical practice.
Science and Magic
Radin, Dean. Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe. Harmony Books, 2018. Sheldrake, Rupert. Science and Spiritual Practices. Coronet, 2017.
Shamanism
Harner, Michael. The Way of the Shaman. HarperOne, 1990. The classic introduction to shamanic practice.
Sigils
Wen, Benebell. The Tao of Craft: Fu Talismans and Casting Sigils in the Eastern Esoteric Tradition. North Atlantic Books, 2016.
Tarot
Knight, Gareth. Tarot & Magic: The Treasure House of Images. 2nd ed. Skylight Press, 2012.
Tyson, Donald. Portable Magic: Tarot Is the Only Tool You Need. Llewellyn Publications, 2006.
Witchcraft/Wicca/Paganism
Cunningham, Scott. Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. Llewellyn Publications, 1989.
Yes, it’s a little on the “lite” side, but Cunningham’s book has introduced more people to Wicca than any other.
Huson, Paul. Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens. Backinprint.com, 2006. A classic, foundational book on witchcraft that pulls no punches. Although somewhat dated, it is still one of my favorites.
Hutton, Ronald. 2001. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford University Press, 1999.
—. The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Yale University Press, 2017.
Ronald Hutton’s scholarly books are impeccably researched guides to the history of modern witchcraft.
Starhawk. Dreaming in the Dark: Magic, Sex & Politics. Beacon Press, 1982.
—. The Spiral Dance. 20th anniversary ed. HarperCollins, 1999. Starhawk pioneered the use of magic in social and environmental activism.
Adler, Margot. Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, GoddessWorshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. Rev. ed., Penguin Books, 2006.
Alinsky, Saul David. Rules for Radicals. Vintage, 1989.
Alvarado, Denise. Voodoo Hoodoo Spellbook. Weiser Books, 2011.
Armand, Khi. Deliverance!: Hoodoo Spells of Uncrossing, Healing, and Protection, edited by Catherine Yronwode. Missionary Independent Spiritual Church, 2015.
Armstrong, David. A Trumpet to Arms: Alternative Media in America. South End Press, 1981.
Athanassakis, Apostolos N., and Benjamin M. Wolkow, tr. The Orphic Hymns. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013.
Bell, Karl. The Magical Imagination: Magic and Modernity in Urban England, 1780–1914. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation: Including the Demotic Spells. University of Chicago Press, 1986.
The Bible. King James Version, Bible Gateway, 1987. https://www.biblegateway.com/.
Boggs, Grace Lee. The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century. University of California Press, 2011. Bonewits, Isaac. Neopagan Rites: A Guide to Creating Public Rituals That Work. Llewellyn Publications, 2007.
Bracelin, Jack L. Gerald Gardner: Witch. Pentacle Enterprises, 1999.
Brown, Coleston. The Mystery of the Seven Directions. Le Brun, 2010.
Camahort Page, Elisa, Carolyn Gerin, and Jamia Wilson. Road Map for Revolutionaries: Resistance, Activism, and Advocacy for All. Ten Speed Press, 2018.
Carroll, Joseph Cephas. Slave Insurrections in the United States, 1800–1865. Chapman & Grimes, 1938. Reprint, Dover, 2004.
Carroll, Peter J. Liber Null & Psychonaut. Weiser Books, 1987.
Carter, Chris. Science and Psychic Phenomena: The Fall of the House of Skeptics. Inner Traditions, 2012.
Casas, Starr. Old Style Conjure: Hoodoo, Rootwork & Folk Magic. Red Wheel/Weiser, 2017.
Brown, Coleston. Magical Christianity: The Power of Symbols for Spiritual Renewal. Quest Books, 2007.
Conner, Robert. Magic in Christianity. Mandrake of Oxford, 2014.
—. Jesus the Sorcerer. Mandrake of Oxford, 2006.
Cooke, Charles, and Russell Maloney. “Hexing Hitler.” Talk of the Town, The New Yorker, January 18, 1941.
Couliano, Ioan P. Eros and Magic in the Renaissance. Translated by Margaret Cook, University of Chicago, 1987.
Cunningham, Scott. The Complete Book of Incense, Oils & Brews. Llewellyn Publications, 1989.
Cyprian of Antioch. The Book of St. Cyprian: The Sorcerer’s Treasure. Translated by José Leitão, Hadean Press, 2014.
d’Este, Sorita, and David Rankine. Hekate Liminal Rites: A Study of the Rituals, Magic and Symbols of the Torch-Bearing Triple Goddess of the Crossroads. Avalonia, 2009.
de Alverga, Alex Polari. Forest of Visions: Ayahuasca, Amazonian Spirituality, and the Santo Daime Tradition. Inner Traditions, 1999.
Decker, Ronald, and Michael Dummett. A History of the Occult Tarot, 1870–1970. Gerald Duckworth & Co, 2002.
Dickinson, Tom. “How the NRA Paved the Way for Mass Shootings.” Rolling Stone, June 15, 2016, www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/ how-the-nra-paved-the-way-for-the -orlando-shooting-20160615.
Dillon, Nancy. “Top 15 recipients of gun group campaign donations and their NRA grades as firearm bills keep getting shot down.” New York Daily News, December 10, 2017, www.nydailynews.
com/news/politics/15-top-recipients-donations-gun-rights-gro ups-nra-grades-article-1.3687802
Dominguez, Ivo, Jr. Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans: Using the Planets and the Stars for Effective Spellwork, Rituals, and Magickal Work. Weiser Books, 2016.
Du Bois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches. A.C. McClurg & Company, 1903.
Dukes, Ramsey. The Little Book of Demons: The Positive Advantages of the Personification of Life’s Problems. Aeon Books, 2005.
—. How to See Fairies: Discover your Psychic Powers in Six Weeks. Aeon Books, 2011.
Dunn, Patrick. Postmodern Magic: The Art of Magic in the Information Age. Llewellyn Publications, 2005.
DuQuette, Lon Milo. My Life with the Spirits. Weiser Books, 1999. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. “Burning Incense Is Psychoactive: New Class of Antidepressants Might Be Right under Our Noses.” ScienceDaily, 20 May 2008, www. sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080520110415.htm.
Flint, Valerie I. J. The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe. Princeton University Press, 1991.
Fortune, Dion. Psychic Self-Defense. 1930. Weiser Books, 2001.
—. The Magical Battle of Britain. 1993. Edited by Gareth Knight, Skylight Press, 2012. Foxwood, Orion. The Candle and the Crossroads: A Book of Appalachian Conjure and Southern Root Work. Weiser Books, 2012.
Fries, Jan. Visual Magick: A Manual of Freestyle Shamanism. Mandrake of Oxford, 1992.
Gamache, Henry. The Master Book of Candle Burning: How to Burn Candles for Every Purpose. Original Publications, 1985.
Gardner, Gerald B. Witchcraft Today. With additional material by Judy Harrow, Ronald Hutton, Wren Walker, and Tara Nelson, Citadel Press, 2004.
George, Leonard. Alternative Realities: The Paranormal, the Mystic, and the Transcendent in Human Experience. Facts On File, 1995. Goldsmith, Barbara. Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull. 1998. HarperPerennial, 1999.
Grasse, Ray. Under a Sacred Sky. The Wessex Astrologer, 2015.
Greenwood, Susan. The Anthropology of Magic. Berg, 2009.
Grey, Peter. Apocalyptic Witchcraft. E-book, Scarlet Imprint, 2013.
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Art of Black Mirror Scrying. Visionary Living, 2014.
Hall, Manly Palmer. The Secret Teachings of All Ages: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy. Philosophical Research Society, 1977.
Hansen, George P. The Trickster and the Paranormal. Xlibris Corp, 2001.
Harms, Daniel. The Book of Oberon: A Sourcebook of Elizabethan Magic. Llewellyn Publications, 2015.
Harner, Michael. Cave and Cosmos: Shamanic Encounters with Another Reality. North Atlantic Books, 2013.
Harpur, Patrick. Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld. Pine Woods Press, 2003.
Havelin, Kate. Victoria Woodhull: Fearless Feminist. Twenty-First Century Books, 2007.
Hermetic Magic: The Postmodern Magical Papyrus of Abaris. Edited by Stephen Edred Flowers, Weiser Books, 1995.
Hoffman, Abbie. Revolution for the Hell of It: The Book That Earned Abbie Hoffman a Five-Year Prison Term at the Chicago Conspiracy Trial. 1968. Thunder’s Mouth, 2005.
Hohman, John George. The Long-Lost Friend: A 19th Century American Grimoire. Edited by Daniel Harms, Llewellyn Publications, 2012. Honorius of Thebes. The Sworn Book of Honorius. Translated by Joseph Peterson, Ibis Press, 2016.
Hughes, Michael M. “Hex the NRA: A New Spell for the #MagicResistance.” Medium, February 15, 2018, medium.com/@ michaelmhughes/hex-the-nra-a-new-spell-for-the -magicresistance-5be06f113c41.
Huson, Paul. Mastering Witchcraft: A Practical Guide for Witches, Warlocks, and Covens. Backinprint.com, 2006.
Hutson, Matt. The 7 Laws of Magical Thinking: How Irrational Beliefs Keep Us Happy, Healthy, and Sane. Hudson St. Press, 2012.
Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford University Press, 1999.
—. The Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present. Yale University Press, 2017.
Jodorowsky, Alejandro. Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy. Translated by Rachael LeValley, Inner Traditions, 2010.
Jodorowsky, Alejandro, and Marianne Costa. The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards. Translated by Jon E. Graham, Destiny Books, 2009.
King, Francis. The Rites of Modern Occult Magic. The Macmillan Company, 1970.
Knight, Gareth. Tarot & Magic: The Treasure House of Images. 2nd ed. Skylight Press, 2012.
Knight, Michael Muhammad. Magic in Islam. Penguin, 2016.
Kripal, Jeffrey J. Authors of the Impossible: The Paranormal and the Sacred. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
Kupperman, Jeffrey S. Living Theurgy: A Course in Iamblichus’ Philosophy, Theology and Theurgy. Avalonia, 2013.
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—. Politics and the Occult: The Left, the Right, and the Radically Unseen. Quest Books, 2008.
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Levy, Paul. Dispelling Wetiko: Breaking the Curse of Evil. North Atlantic Books, 2013.
Li, Qing. Shinrin-Yoku: The Art and Science of Forest Bathing. Penguin UK, 2018.
“LIFE Goes to a Hex Party: Amateur Sorcerers in Washington Try Black Magic against Hitler.” LIFE, 10 February 1941.
Arcana Mundi: Magic and the Occult in the Greek and Roman Worlds. Translated and annotated by Georg Luck, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.
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