SUNDAY
Contemporary Pagan Studies and Religion and Migration Unit and Religion
and Popular Culture Unit and Religion, Film, and Visual Culture Unit and
Religion, Media, and Culture Unit.
American Gods. I
was unable to attend this intriguing roundtable discussion inspired by Neil
Gaiman’s novel, but I wanted Pagans to know that it took place.
Contemporary Pagan Studies Unit
Magic in the Time of
the Tower: Witchcraft, Activism, and Political Resistance. This panel explores various aspects of
political activism within the contemporary pagan and witchcraft
communities. Topics and issues
discussed will include mass protests organized across social media, controversy
among pagan and witchcraft traditions regarding the appropriate use of magic
and spellcraft in political contexts; the influence of popular media texts upon
the lexicon and imagery of contemporary pagan activism; and the presence of
witchcraft culture in the current political climate.
«
Peg Aloi
– “We Are the Weirdos, Mister!”: The
Re-emergence of W.I.T.C.H. and a New Generation of Media Witches. The re-emergence of the late
1960s radical feminist group W.I.T.C.H. (The Women’s International Terrorist
Conspiracy from Hell) has been a dramatic and attention-getting presence in the
current climate of political activism.
This paper will explore the cultural underpinnings of that group and its
use of popular Hollywood imagery of witches (from The Wizard of Oz) to attract
media attention, as well as the more recent proliferation of media-based
portrayals of witches (like those in Bewitched and The Craft) that inform
contemporary political activism within the pagan community and in the wider
culture. The significance of media
portrayals of witches for both practitioners and laypersons will be discussed,
as it relates to both positive and negative developments within the current
political zeitgeist.
I always find this kind of presentation fun. From my days when I was deep into the
movement called Second Wave Feminism, which was before I found the Craft so was
not yet a Witch myself, I well remember the Women’s International Terrorist
Conspiracy from Hell. To discover
that contemporary young women find inspiration from WITCH warms my heart. My notes are scanty, but I know that
Peg mentioned repressed memory therapy, likely relating to the “Satanic panic”
of the 1980s. I was kept abreast
of much of this as it unfolded by way of my friend Don Frew, who was very
involved because of its mistaken association with Wicca.
 |
| Besom Brigade, Berkeley, CA |
She also cited a 1977 writing by Cheri Lesh. When I heard that, my ears perked up,
because Cheri Lesh is a woman I’ve known since my first involvement in
Witchcraft. Her professional name,
which is also her Craft name, is Cerridwen
Fallingstar, and she was my sponsor when I took initiation vows. It’s a strange feeling when the
writings of someone you know in an other-than-academic context are cited, and
you know this person well.
The revival of WITCH, whatever the acronym means today,
relates to the phenomenon begun in Minneapolis by Steve Posch and manifested beyond his
home turf, of besom
brigades. Besom brigades are drill
teams of black-hatted Witches using brooms. See photo.
«
Sabina
Magliocco – Witchcraft as Political
Resistance: Magical Responses to the 2016 Election. Soon after the Presidential election of
2016, instructions for magic spells to stop the actions of Trump and his
administration began to circulate on social media sites. They have continued to spread
throughout the first months of his presidency, sometimes going viral and being
adopted by non-Pagans. This paper
examines the emergence of these spells and responses to them within and outside
of the community of contemporary Pagan practitioners. It explores why they emerged at this historical juncture as
well as the reasons for their appeal both within and outside of magical
communities, arguing that they exist as a performance of resistance that allows
the expression of oppositional feelings at a time of high anxiety. It also uses them to explore the complex
attitudes towards magic, power, and ethics in the belief systems of
contemporary Pagans.
One can count on the fact that Sabina’s presentations are
clear, thorough, and interesting, and this one was no different. The Craft community in which I have my
roots, which I call my matrix community, has always had a strong political
aspect. Witches in that tradition
frequently find themselves front and center of progressive political
activism. Needless to say,
in today’s political climate activism is strong and growing. Witness Black Lives Matter, the Women’s
March of January 2017, and current youth-led activism around gun violence.
Sabina spoke of the phenomenon of the urge to hex Donald
Trump that swept through Witchen communities in the wake of his election. The most common of these spells were “bindings” intended to thwart
his efforts. She credited these
efforts, whether carried out or not, as a means of creative expression and
anxiety relief.
This cultural episode also stimulated ethical discussion
around the meaning the Witchen dictate of “Harm None.” I have mixed feelings about political
spellwork – its ethics, its effectiveness and the wisdom of employing it. There are pages and pages about political
spells in the wake of the last presidential election and its fallout.
«
Egil
Asprem – The Magical Theory of
Politics: Meme Magic, the Cult of Kek, and How to Topple an Egregore. The election of the 45th
President of the United States set in motion a hidden war in the world of the
occult. From the meme-filled
underworld of 4chan’s alt-right-dominated imageboards to the publicized
“binding spell” against Trump and his supporters, the social and ideological
divides ripping apart the American social fabric is mirrored by witches,
magicians, and other esotericists fighting each other with magical means. This paper focuses on the emerging
online esoteric religion of the alt-right, the increasingly (re-)enchanted
notion of “meme magic,” and the open confrontation between different magical
paradigms that has ensued in order to (1) analyze the competing views of
magical efficacy that get sharpened as material and political stakes appear to
increase; and (2) theorize the religionizing tendency of the alt-right as a
partly spontaneous and partially deliberate attempt to create “collective
effervescence” and galvanize a movement around a (in Weberian terms) distinctly
non-legalistic and non-traditional charismatic authority.
This talk was undoubtedly one of the strangest I’ve
encountered at this venue. I had
heard of Pepe the Frog
and had seen ugly images of him, but I generally ignore cartoon-y things. It seems that Pepe the Frog generated The Cult of Kek , Kek being considered the
Egyptian god of Chaos, as well as being part of the “Holy Trinity” of memetic
entities: Kek the Father, Pepe the Son, and Pek the Holy Ghost.
Egil mentioned a right-wing Rosicrucian named David Griffin and his colleague (and
perhaps wife) Leslie McQuade. He
also mentioned a Michael Hughes in connection with the rise of binding spells
against Trump. Michael Hughes
being a common name, an Internet search arrived at a Michael M. Hughes. It turns out that we have dozens of
friends in common. This Michael
Hughes seems to be all on board with hexing Trump, with #BindTrump and
#MagicResistance on his FB page.
A part of this general group of related phenomena is the
collectively created “thought focus,” or Egregore. The spell uses an unflattering
photograph of Trump -- Gods know there are many from which to choose! – a sigil of some kind, and an orange
candle.
I’m sorry to say that lo these many months later there
remains a need to curb the President’s ignorant and ill-considered behavior.
AAR-IV blog to follow.
