#Alex wrekk

[spiralhouseshop]

It's the season of the witch and until the end of October I'm offering Brainscan issues 33 & 34 by Alex Wrekk at a price where it will be about $10 including postage anywhere in the US! In these two zines Alex explores over a decade of building a secular witchcraft practice.

Brainscan #33 - DIY Witchery invites you into a deeply personal journey through the world of witchcraft. Over the course of a decade, the author has explored and practiced witchcraft, and this zine shares their unique experiences. It's not a how-to guide, but rather an insightful personal narrative. The author delves into their journey into witchcraft, the development of their secular and non-pagan practice, and the distinctions between their approach and contemporary witchcraft. They also tackle critical issues within the modern pagan and witchcraft communities, including discussions on racism, cultural appropriation, colonialism, and capitalism, reflecting their intersectional politics. For those interested in venturing on their own path, the zine offers tips and resources.

"Brainscan #34 - A Dabbler's Week of DIY Witchery is a zine born out of a challenge sparked by a cntroversial witchcraft book review in January 2020. The review suggested that modern witches were anti-vaccine and climate change deniers, leading a witch to question what it really takes to explore witchcraft for a week. The author, an experienced witch, takes up the challenge and presents their response in this zine.

Within these pages, daily activities are proposed, designed to shift your perspective and introduce you to their personal world of witchcraft. Activities include space cleansing, simple energy exercises, correspondences, animism, and basic spells. All of this is presented in a friendly, non-authoritative tone, making it perfect for those curious about witchcraft.

https://portlandbuttonworks.com/secular-witchcraft-zine

[alexwrekk]

It's here! Happy International Zine Month!

Flyer design this year by Jordan Ducree, a graphic designer and web technician in Portland, Oregon. Text inspired by the continued celebration of IZM set forth by @alexwrekk and other contributors since 2009, updated in 2024 by Novie Nimble and Joshua James Amberson of @antiquatedfuture

If you're in Portland, you can pick copies of the flyer up (for yourself or to distribute) at Grover's Curiosity Shop.

Available to download and print from here.

Also available for free from @spiralhouseshop @portlandbuttonworks

[upthewitchypunx]

Hi, I’m Alex Wrekk, long time zine maker of Brainscan Zine (over 30 issues) and author of the book Stolen Sharpie Revolution a DIY Resource for Zine and Zine Culture. My day job is running Portland Button Works and The Spiral House shop where we make custom pin-back buttons and sell our own button designs as well as zines, books, and other curiosities.I've also built a personal secular witchcraft practice over 17 years based in animism, folk magic and DIY punk. I've written two zines about my exploration of secular witchcraft, maintained the sometimes shambolic tumblr blog upthewitchypunx, and have been a founder and organizer for zine fests like the Portland Zine Symposium and the MidWest Perzine Fest, as well as part of the Critical Thinking Witch Collective that brought together two years of the virtual CritWitchCon.

For several years I have wanted to attend The Viridis Genii Symposium, an event that explores the spirit of plants, green mysteries, and intelligence that animates the natural world. Viridis Genii Symposium is an immersive 3 days and 3 nights event in the Pacific Northwest. The standard price of $525 includes 9 lectures plus food and lodging with the option of extra add on workshops for additional fees.

The custom button business has not quite gotten back to pre-pandemic stability and with other obligations this year like home and business maintenance, I’ve realized sadly that my funds would be better saved and put to other uses over my interests. But I would really like to attend, that’s where you come in, maybe? The event is in July and I turn 46 in June, maybe you would like to give me a little gift? So, I'm setting up this GoFundMe to raise enough funds to help me make my way into the woods for this event.

To sweeten this deal in a way that does not include a birthday cake, if you donate $10 or more, I will send you a zine that I will create about my experience at the symposium. In this zine, I'll share my insights, learnings, and discoveries from the event. I think attending this event will enrich my life, connection to the Pacific Northwest, my personal magical practice, and foster community and connections.

Any funds raised beyond $525 will go to attending additional workshops or for materials, printing, and shipping for the zine. Thank you for your support, and I look forward to sharing my adventure with you.

[traegorn]

The Bullshit-Free Witchcraft Podcast: 53. Modern Witchcraft History (at CritWitchCon 2022)

This episode of BS-Free Witchcraft is actually a panel from CritWitchCon 2022 this last October. Spend an hour with Alex Wrekk, Bree NicGarran, Lozzie Stardust and myself as we talk about the history of modern witchcraft. Also you get to listen to me speed run like 130 years of history in under five minutes.

It’s a lot of fun, and I think you’ll like it.

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Podcast Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord!)

Music: “The Man With One Eye” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

Listen to the episode / Subscribe on iTunes

[emberintayson]

Color coordinating my zines for a road trip! Because you can’t take them ALL with you.

[criticalthinkingwitches]

CritWitchCon2024

September 27-29, 2024

Our Schedule is up and we're proud to announce our speakers for this year!

Shannon Knight, Sedna woo, Dr. Kate Cherrell, Nina Zina, Catamara Rosarium, Kate Wallace, Scorpio Amber, Chelsey Pippin Mizzi, Bree NicGarran, Sarah Best, Lane Smith, Alex Wrekk, Lee Ignire, Sian Sibley, Lozzie Stardust, Timothy Facey, Amethyst Rhodes, Alex Cherok, and more!

CritWitch Con is a virtual convention!

Tickets on sale now! (and scroll down to "agenda" to see the schedule for this year)

[violsva]

May Reading

Recent: RWRB fanfic continuing as usual. Otherwise, lots of trouble settling on or keeping focused on things, until You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian came out. Finished it well before it needed to be returned, highly recommended, very sweet, everyone deserves hugs.

At work, The Three Musketeers, chosen specifically because it was long enough to last until yesterday when my contract was up and would hopefully be engrossing (so I wouldn't have to try and figure out something new to read). Worked on both counts. Not sure I liked it exactly, but I am very glad to have another addition to the list of Awesome Female Villains Who Should Get to Murder Whoever They Want.

Current: Just gave up on The Perks of Loving a Wallflower, which has a kind of narrative voice I dislike and the historical issues which I associate with it. Isn't it lovely to live in a world with enough historical lesbian romances that we can cast aside the ones we don't like?

Nightborn by Isabel Cooper, who seems to share a lot of my taste in tropes. I've liked all the other books I've read by her, including the previous one in this series, and this looks likely to continue.

In audio, The Grand Tour, or The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. I don't feel like I'm paying as much attention to the plot as I should be, but it's working for when I can't have Dimension 20 as crafting background noise.

A couple different crafting books, the authors of which I have varied opinions on.

Stolen Sharpie Revolution by Alex Wrekk has been hanging out in my purse for a while, but after TCAF I picked it up properly again.

And today I am at the library doing life admin things and I read the first chapter of Unmarriages: Women, Men, and Sexual Unions in the Middle Ages by Ruth Mazo Karras in between.

Future: This weekend I am going to Chicago with my siblings and my niece, which may result in either a lot of reading or very little reading. As well as the above I have a collection of Virginia Woolf's short stories and Gentleman Wolf by Joanna Chambers, and we'll see which if any gets picked up.

[zine-garden]

Prompts

Prompts will be scheduled at random throughout the month, respond to them in anyway you feel like! These are just suggestions, as long as you are somehow celebrating zines, you can participate.

A good number of these prompts are from the Stolen Sharpie Revolution site which is run by Alex Wrekk.

🌷 Stolen Sharpie Revolution IZM suggested prompts (Last updated 2021)

Questions

What is a zine? Come up with a definition in your own words.

Tell me about your first zine? Or most memorable zine?

How did you learn about zines? How did you get into zine culture? If you’re new to zines, what about zines or zine making is appealing to you?

Tell me about your creative process?

Have you ever been to a zine fair (online or in person?) Tell me about it!

How do you sort and categorize your zines?

Why do you love zines?

Have you ever learned something from a zine? If so, what did you learn?

Show some love, tell me about a favourite zine creator?

What is something that is technically not a zine (if you are a purist), but definitely could be a zine…? Tell me why this counts as a zine! Example: Video game pamphlets are info/instructional zines; my personal tumblr… is just like a web perzine…

PROMPTS

Not posed as questions, but you are encouraged to create submissions! (So I can see them. I want to see them !!!)

For zine makers

Organize your zine library, post a shelfie!

I miss going to zine fairs so much! Show me your table set up! (Recent or old)

Do you sell your zines in a shop? Post a link!

Tell me about a zine fair you really loved tabling at!

Please show off your zines this month <333 I love you!

Communities and research

Zine Pride! Explore LGBTQIA+ zines! Buy, share, and read zines by people of marginalized sexual orientations and gender identities. Check out the Queer Zine Archive Project! (from SSR)

AmeriZine Day! Explore marginalized voices in the Americas. Buy, share, and read zines about racial justice and zines written by BIPOC (Black Indigenous and People of Color) from the Americas.

Need a place to start? Check out Brown Recluse Zine Distro (from SSR)

Discover DIY publishing and small press communities from outside of North America. If you are from outside of North America, show some love and tell me about your local OR your country’s zine/indie publishing scene!

Indigenous AmeriZines! Explore Indigenous zine makers in the americas! Buy, share, and read zines about Indigenous issues (by Indigenous people) or work by Indigenous people in general in the western world!

Check out Voices: Indigenous Women on the Front Lines Speak, and Jenna Rose Sands Broken Pencil Article: Jenna Rose Sands’ zine philosophy: Rage and Resilience Speak Truth to Colonialism

Indigenous Zines outside of the Americas - This probably overlaps with zines from outside of North America since that is where like most of the Indigenous world exists, but humour me!

Revolutionary Zines - Explore Revolutionary Zines and Revolutionary Zine History

Disability Pride! Buy, share, and read zines by disabled people or centring disability in some way. If you have a digital zine or comic, write full image descriptions for your work! Share the web accessible version with us!

Access either IRL or digital archives and tell me about a cool zine you found!

Reading and sharing prompts

Read a zine from the 90s.

Read a zine from the 80s or earlier.

Read a zine from each of these categories this month: Comic Zine, Fanzine Info Zine, Political Zine, Perzine.

Read a zine from outside of North America.

Show me or tell me about a zine that brings you comfort!

Check out Youtube channels, Tiktoks, and other social media dedicated to zines.

Hey Gamers! Play something from a TTRPG zine

Make an info zine or fanzine, for a piece of media that does not exist

Recipe zine!! Make something from a zine

Have fun!

[seagreenzines]

Happy International Zine Month 2023! And So It Begins...

Hello, hello, and hello once more zine friends! Welcome to July, and welcome to International Zine Month 2023. I had a lot of fun doing my warm up for IZM videos, so thank you once more to True Zine Marin for suggesting making something for the lead up to IZM. This year we don’t have a refresh on the prompts list from Alex Wrekk. However, Zineville has kindly stepped up to the plate and created…

[spiralhouseshop]

New zines in the catalog for Spiral House at Portland Button Works for October 16th, 2023!

As Above So Below Issue 1

As Above So Below Issue 2: Star Craft Wort Cunning

Grimoire Silvanus Issue 9

Behind The Zines #16: Zines Saved My Life (cover art by @alexwrekk)

(SALE!) Brainscan #33 & #34 DIY Witchery and Exploration of Secular Witchcraft (2 zine set $10 includes shipping in US)

Scavenged Rituals V1 N3 (limited amount of audio ritual vinyl record)

Quick note! We are headed on a quick trip out of town so all orders placed between 7AM Pacific on Tuesday October 17 and 7PM Thursday October 19 will go out Friday October 20th!

[alexwrekk]

I have a new zine! And it's a split zine with one of my favorite people, Jonas!

Shouting at Seagulls is an imaginative zine project by Jonas and Alex Wrekk that tells parts of a story through postcard correspondence between two characters, Joni and Cassie. Postcard-sized snapshots between Joni and Cassie show a playful friendship, thoughts on growth and aging, reflection on their past, and a bi-coastal distaste for seagulls.

 32 pages, 1/4 sized zine, color cardstock cover

Follow the link above to purchase it for $5 postage paid in the US for just the zine OR if you would like to purchase it from Portland Button Works and The Spiral House Shop you can find it here OR if you would like to purchase it from Etsy you can find it here.

[upthewitchypunx]

Last chance to sing up for the zine I'll make after attending Viridis Genii Symposium! I leave for a retreat place near Olympia, Washington in about an hour. I hope I have all the things I need. I've got two notebooks and two tarot decks and a backpack with a sleeping bag and whatnot.

I had a revelation that I don't know what I'm going to do with myself at an event that I am neither part of the organizers nor vending at. It seems silly, but I'm used to having a job at events so I'll probably end up volunteering to do something.

I do know one person going, they are zine friend, but they are also a presenter so I'm sure they will be busy with that. I had people who donated vote on the workshop I should add on. Of course if I asked a bunch of zine friends they would suggest the paper making workshop!

Okay! Into the woods and I'm leaving Ian B in the button mines and fields of zines.

[fanzines]

Things to make and do during International Zine Month 2022 by @alexwrekk ✂️

[emberintayson]

[nerdandtie]

Hex Positive: Bonus - Witchcraft Activism with Alex Wrekk

[stevelarder]

UK Zine folk - I have copies of Brainscan 33 'DIY Witchery - An exploration of secular witchcraft' by @upthewitchypunx

Visit https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/RumLadZinesAndArt to pick one up (or alternatively holler at me on here/zinefests/whatever).

Blurb as follows -

'This is the 33rd issue of Brainscan, written by Zine veteran, Alex Wrekk (also of Stolen Sharpie Revolution, Portland Zine Symposium, Copyscams and Portland Button Works). Cover and interior Illustrations by Steve Larder www.stevelarder.co.uk' - 'In 20 years of publishing Brainscan zine there is one incredibly important thing in my life that I have not written about, and that is witchcraft. I am a witch and I have been studying and practicing witchcraft for over a decade and it has been a very useful tool in my life and personal growth. This zine is a not a how-to-witch zine. This zine is an issue of Brainscan that just happens to be about witchcraft told through my personal narrative. In this zine I explore what witchcraft is, how I became interested in it, how I built my own practice as an agnostic secular witch and how that differs from a lot of contemporary witchcraft. I share a glimpse of what my personal practice as a non-pagan and non-Wiccan witch looks like. I also examine my personal issues with modern pagan and witchcraft culture addressing things like racism, cultural appropriation, colonialism, capitalism, the excessive gendering of all things. My politics are intersectional and so is my witchcraft. I also discuss some tips and a few resource for those that might be interested in exploring witchcraft for themselves.

£4

1/4 legal sized (7"x 4.25") 64 pages with vellum overlays, cardstock cover, hand stitched binding, illustrations by Steve Larder ( Stevelarder.co.uk )

The cover is a Steve Larder Illustration of an altar I made to help with the process of the latest issue of Stolen Sharpie Revolution: A DIY Resource for Zines and Zine Culture by @upthewitchypunx