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dailynewswebsite · 4 years ago

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This Halloween, witches are casting spells to defeat Trump and #WitchTheVote in the U.S. election

Witch-identified of us are sharing spells on-line in an act of magical resistance upfront of the U.S. election. (Shutterstock)

This Halloween, the witches are coming — to the poll field.

Utilizing the hashtag #WitchTheVote, witch-identified of us are encouraging others who’ve an curiosity within the occult to get knowledgeable about political candidates and solid their vote within the U.S. presidential election Nov. 3.

Initially launched by a gaggle of witches from Salem, Mass., throughout the lead-up to the 2018 midterm elections, #WitchTheVote is a cross-media initiative that identifies and promotes — as one witch tells us — “witch-worthy” political candidates: those that are progressive and social justice oriented. It’s becoming political activism in a city identified for the Salem witch trials and up to date witch tourism.

Witching actions

Greater than a hashtag, #WitchTheVote can also be, in accordance with the group, a “collective intersectional effort to direct our magic in the direction of electing candidates who will push our nation and our planet ahead into the witch utopia all of us envision.”

Right here, intersectional feminist politics work alongside magic and artistic media manufacturing to have interaction in political activism that features advocacy round points like inexpensive housing, reproductive rights and #BlackLivesMatter. #WitchTheVote runs an everyday podcast and has additionally made and distributed zines with data for potential voters, together with methods to register to vote and methods to test to make sure your mail-in poll was obtained.

This collective effort illustrates the methods wherein “magical resistance” has grow to be a preferred, women-led type of mediated, political activism for the reason that election of Donald Trump in 2016.

The resurgence of the witch

#WitchTheVote is located inside a resurgence of witches in fashionable tradition over the previous 4 years. Between Netflix’s teen drama The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, magnificence retailer Sephora’s Starter Witch Equipment (which was finally eliminated on account of backlash), the revival of the cult classics teen witch film The Craft and TikTok spell traits, the witch is having a cultural second.

Learn extra: Dressed to kill: 6 methods horror folklore is original within the motion pictures

Books equivalent to Pam Grossman’s Waking the Witch (2019) have attracted widespread media consideration, whereas public curiosity in astrology and tarot readings has additionally grown.

Esthetically, witchcraft and mysticism flow into simply on visible social media platforms equivalent to Instagram and TikTok, the place vibrant crystals and elaborate altars make for lovely images and movies. From a branding perspective, the witch’s recognition is sensible inside a bigger cultural curiosity in spirituality, wellness and mysticism.

However there may be additionally a case to be made for the very political nature of the witch. The archetype of the witch has a historic relationship with feminist activism. As an unruly determine and risk to the patriarchy, the witch is resistant, and has been utilized in feminist protest for the reason that 1960s.

Learn extra: Sirens, hags and rebels: Halloween witches draw on the historical past of girls’s energy

At a second of regressive politics marked by a resurgence of white supremacy, xenophobia and anti-feminist sentiments, coupled with the uncertainty of a world pandemic and the looming local weather disaster, it’s unsurprising that ladies and different marginalized of us are turning to witchcraft as a technique to make sense of — and act upon — our present political, social and financial milieu.

The digital coven

It’s maybe the collectivist sentiment of latest witchcraft — belonging to one thing greater, collectively — that’s interesting. Certainly, #WitchTheVote’s mandate as a “collective intersectional effort” suggests the pressure of doing one thing collectively, but attuned to the totally different experiences, together with these associated to race, class, sexuality, age and talent, that members might face.

And whereas not the one software for mobilizing a collective, know-how has grow to be a major connector for covens in recent times. Social media platforms, particularly, present what some witches seek advice from as “globally accessible magic.”

By embracing know-how whereas recognizing its limitations and inherent oppressions, witches are participating in new rituals with the intent of maintaining their channels clear for max revolutionary energy on a person and collective stage.

For instance, upon Donald Trump’s election in 2016, witches started a month-to-month ritual of casting a spell to “bind” Trump, stopping him from pursuing his agenda that many witches imagine to be dangerous. Some witches used platforms equivalent to Fb Messenger and Twitter to attach with different spell-casting witches at a delegated time every month, guaranteeing that the “mass vitality of the members” is harnessed.

Spells and rites

Traditionally, spells usually required little or no when it comes to industrial items. As a substitute, witches relied on fundamental home items like candles and feminized rituals equivalent to sweeping to have interaction in witchcraft. #WitchTheVote’s “A Multi-tasking Spell for Mutual Help Throughout COVID-19” lists a pen, paper and “the rest that makes you are feeling like a witch” as mandatory supplies. Different spells advocate candles of any measurement and color and grime out of your yard.

The emphasis is just not on the supplies themselves, however as a substitute participating with rituals that assist witches really feel empowered via practices that present a way of routine, stability and goal in unpredictable instances.

Within the digital age, utilizing the Web as one other avenue to observe witchcraft looks as if a pure extension to the custom of constructing do with the assets accessible to you. We might even consider emojis, shares, likes and retweets as doable applied sciences of magic when used with energetic intention to manifest social change.

And these practices are extensions of activist use of applied sciences equivalent to feminist listservs, e-zines, chatrooms, homepages, feminist blogs and now, social media.

Casting spells and votes

In a political, cultural and financial second wherein many individuals really feel a way of hopelessness in regards to the future, #WitchTheVote encourages activists to floor themselves via ritual and magical resistance.

They remind us of ladies’ and ladies’s prolonged historical past in subverting repressive politics via targeted collective motion. In casting their votes together with their digital coven on Nov. 3, Salem’s activist witches hope to #WitchTheVote, one poll at a time.

Jessalynn Keller receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Analysis Council of Canada.

Alora Paulsen Mulvey doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or organisation that might profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.

from Growth News https://growthnews.in/this-halloween-witches-are-casting-spells-to-defeat-trump-and-witchthevote-in-the-u-s-election/ via https://growthnews.in

#Growth News

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theconservativebrief · 6 years ago

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First, take a candle.

Then, pour some salt into your hand.

Then, keeping the grains in your palm, take a pen to write out a thank you to Christine Blasey Ford, the woman whose allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee — and now justice — Brett Kavanaugh, stunned a nation.

Or, if you prefer, simply say, “I believe you.”

It’s just one of the many quasi-religious rituals circulating the internet — particularly pagan and #resistance circles — in the wake of Kavanaugh’s confirmation. These rituals help self-identified witches process trauma, anger, and grief.

The Gratitude Spell was authored by Instagram user @celestight (who did not respond to request for comment) for the pagan political organization WitchtheVote, which mobilizes voters to support candidates that defend progressive and feminist causes. In this open-ended spell, participants might choose to make a sigil — a sacred sign — on the paper, or vary their tribute to Ford in accordance with their own personal experiences and history. They might, if they so choose, send their note to Ford directly.

No matter what, the message is the same. We’re in this together. I believe you.

Modern Wicca and other New Age traditions in the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s were tied to second-wave feminism. Witchcraft and ritual have become more prominently associated with progressive political causes in recent years with the rise of the contemporary #magicresistance. Last year, for example, a 13,000-strong Facebook group formed to cast regular binding spells on Donald Trump.

But in the aftermath of the bitter fight over Kavanaugh’s confirmation, during which the judge firmly denied sexual misconduct against Ford or other women who came forward with similar allegations, rituals have become more than just an emotionally rewarding part of political energy-raising. They’ve also become a form of self-care.

It makes sense that rituals — and magic — would provide an effective and therapeutic outlet for survivors of sexual violence. After all, we live in a world where 994 out of every 1,000 rapists escape criminal justice, according to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network (RAINN). We live in a world where — as theologian L. Gregory Jones pointed out last month — we have almost no socially cohesive rituals or structures by which abuse survivors can experience justice, or abusers can be rehabilitated.

These rituals of witchcraft, for some, fill a gap in the societal order by providing a structure and a vocabulary for issues that American culture more broadly has not yet satisfactorily addressed.

In the absence of effective, socially enforced structures by which abusers can face justice for their actions, rituals and ritual behavior take on a vital spiritual, psychological, and social role for survivors. They foster community and solidarity. They enable the processing of trauma. And for the 20 percent of Americans who identify as “spiritual but not religious,” rituals can provide a framework for finding meaning in trauma or pain.

Describing their meditation and ritualistic process, yoga teacher Laura Kelleher told Vox, “as a nonbinary genderfluid person I’m focusing on integrating my own feminine and masculine aspects and moreover the abusive and abused parts of my psyche.”

Rituals devoted to exploring these two elements, Kelleher said, double as a form of self-understanding: “What causes aggressive parts of me to force or manipulate unwilling parts of me to do things? What causes me to deny myself rest and connection? Where and how can I allow freer flow of both active and receptive energies to promote balance?”

The historical nature of witchcraft has made it a particularly fruitful field for ritual. As the organizers of an upcoming “Hex Kavanaugh” event at Catland, a pagan bookstore and supply shop in Brooklyn, put it on their event page, “We are embracing witchcraft’s true roots as the magik of the poor, the downtrodden and disenfranchised and it’s [sic] history as often the only weapon, the only means of exacting justice available to those of us who have been wronged by men just like him.”

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A Gratitude Spell for Dr. Christine Blasey Ford Tools: A candle and lighter/matches Salt Paper and pen/pencil Sit or stand wherever you’re comfortable. Ground yourself and light the candle. Pour some salt into one hand and hold it gently while you write a thank you to Dr. Ford, something like “Thank you Dr. Christine Blasey Ford for your courage and sacrifice” or even just a simple “I believe you, I support you”. You can make it a sigil if you want. Now sprinkle your salt over your note, and picture the salt glowing softly, blanketing the paper. Place your hands just above your salted note, not quite touching it. Close your eyes and picture all your gratitude and loving support pouring from your hands in the form of warm light. Feel its tinglies flowing from your palms and dancing around the note, making the salt sparkle like prisms. Picture the salt absorbing all of the abuse and threats that Dr. Ford and her family have suffered through this ordeal. Brush the salt off the note, sweeping all that gross energy away with it. When you feel you’ve poured all the support you can into the note and cleared all the salt off, picture Dr. Ford seeing it in front of her, reading it, and putting it in her pocket. Stay in this space with her for a few moments or longer. If you’d like to send your note to Dr. Ford, you can send it to: Christine Blasey Ford c/o Rep. Anna Enshoo 698 Emerson St. Palo Alto, CA 94301 If not, you can roll it up and carry it around like a talisman, bury it in one of your houseplants, or add it to a sacred space. The end of the spell is to take action. Read up on ballot questions, register your friends to vote, donate to organizations for sexual assault survivors if you can. Let survivors know you believe them. Don’t stop. : @sogayjen

A post shared by #witchthevote (@witchthevote) on Sep 28, 2018 at 8:40am PDT

Witchcraft’s historical association with subversive female power has only made it a more vital ritualistic tool for those working to regain a feeling of control in a political environment that many women see as seeking to deny their agency.

As Kristen J. Sollee, author of the book Witches, Sluts, and Feminists, told Vox, “Witchcraft is particularly powerful for women and folks on [the] feminine spectrum right now because we need tools steeped in community, empathy, and nature to both heal ourselves and fight the abuses of capitalist, white supremacist heteropatriarchy head on. Witchcraft is about conjuring strength and agency from within and not bowing down to arbitrary authority, so it’s a reminder that your oppressors, your trauma, and your government don’t have to define you — or break you. Ironically, the very practices that may have once spelled death for women centuries ago can now be life-saving.”

Different pagan organizations are taking different approaches to their rituals. The WitchtheVote spell focuses on solidarity and support among survivors.

Catland’s “Hex Kavanaugh” event focuses on retribution and redress — participants are invited to hex their own abusers alongside Kavanaugh — followed by a second ritual focused on healing for survivors. That ritual, which the organizers term the “Rite of the Scorned Ones,” “seeks to validate, affirm, uphold and support those of us who have been wronged and who refuse to be silent any longer.”

The Magic Resistance — the Facebook group behind the Trump hexing — also focused their ritual efforts on Kavanaugh. In a “Bind Kavanaugh” spell performed before the Senate voted to confirm Kavanaugh on Saturday practitioners lit a white candle, symbolizing justice and purity, and placed the Justice tarot card adjacent to it on an altar, before wrapping a black thread around a paper doll, symbolizing Kavanaugh, to bind him. Practitioners were encouraged to chant the names of Kavanaugh’s known accusers, binding him “in the name of” all those they believed he had wronged.

According to the group’s founder, magic practitioner Michael M. Hughes, author of Katelan Foisy prepares rituals to call upon the Native American figure of the Deer Woman. Katelan Foisy

Of course, for some practitioners, a vital question remains: Why keep doing magic if it doesn’t necessarily work?

Hughes, whose “Bind Kavanaugh” ritual did not stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation, said that rituals can work in different ways. Simply by galvanizing a despairing group of people to action, he said, a ritual can prove efficacious.

“I mean, we tried everything,” he said, referring to his attempts to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation. “Sit-ins at [Sen. Susan] Collins’s office. … Constantly calling senators. Emailing. Signing petitions. When you’ve exhausted all your tools, and you see the awful people winning, it can lead to despair. … So we need to do things to counter that despair and hopelessness. Ritual is powerful in that respect. Putting aside questions of its efficacy, it absolutely works in transforming consciousness and empowering those who do it.”

Original Source -> We “refuse to be silent any longer”: magic as self-care after Kavanaugh

via The Conservative Brief

#IFTTT #The Conservative Brief

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