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Modern Witchcraft

Strawberry Moon Declaration

I Am a Solitary Eclectic Pantheist Modern Pagan Witch and I wholly and fully repudiate the religion I was originally baptized under

Reposted for the 50th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision.

Note: this post was first published in 2018 (at my arts and culture blog), when former Justice Kennedy announced his retirement from the Supreme Court. Though he was a reputed centrist, he knowlingly retired when the political powers in place in the Legistlative and Executive branches who would nominate his replacement were hardline conservatives, intent on seeing Roe v Wade overturned. His replacement was Brett Kavanaugh. I knew in my bones what was to come, though I had hoped I would be wrong. This spiritual declaration was one of many ways I did and continue to do what I can against the threat of liberty and bodily autonomy, which the overturning of Roe v Wade signifies with the Dobbs decision.

The Catholic Church Has No Claim to Me as a Member Despite My Baptism and I Declare Myself an Apostate Who Wholly Repudiates the Catholic Church

For today’s Strawberry Moon 🍓🌝❤️ I declared my un-baptism from the Catholic Church, on the website notme.ie 🇮🇪 Joining and declaring your apostatehood on that website is only symbolic. Canon Law makes it really difficult to remove yourself from the official tally from the Catholic rolls. But on this day especially, with the announcement of Justice Kennedy’s retirement, I want it shouted from the mountaintops, or at least all over social media: I am not Catholic. 

I do not believe in the tenets of the Catholic Church. I am not Christian. I do not believe in monotheism as conceived in the Abrahamic religions. I do not believe in sin, nor in the devil as conceived in the Abrahamic religions. I believe you should do right by yourself and others based on your own inherent morality and not for or on behalf of a religious entity. Further, I do not believe that sex and sexuality have any inherent morality in absolute form. I believe that to assert actions regarding sex and sexuality have inherent morality has lead to much of what is wrong in this world, and it needs to stop. 

I am a pantheist: I believe there is a spirit in all living things. I am a modern pagan, and I observe the Celtic earth-based holidays. I don’t think magic is a hocus-pocus imaginary thing; I think it’s often science intuited and not yet proven. “The myth is proof of fact.” Further, and most importantly, I believe that if you harm none, you can do as you will. 

I am pro-choice. I am pro-women’s rights. I am pro-women as dynamic, whole, wholly capable beings who need not feel shame for their body, or feel any inferiority to men, or feel they are only vessels for children, or feel that taking pleasure from their body and in their bodies is wrong.

To my mind, and to my spirit, I feel that any of the good that comes social justice work done by factions within Catholicism is, unfortunately, moot. While I will always have an affinity, admiration, and love for the legacies of certain figures within Catholicism who have informed much of our current notions of justice, equality, and love, such as St Francis of Assisi and the spiritual figure I was named after, St Brigid of Kildaire, they and their likenesses have always been outliers of the institution of the Catholic Church. The church itself chose to focus more on hate: for women and pregnant people by being anti-choice, for children by enabling predatory priests, for the LGBTQ+ community by focusing on Augustinian & Thomistic notions of sexual activity sanctioned solely for procreation, and for all those stances taking precedence in Church doctrine and politics over, “Love thy neighbor.” 

I am not Catholic, and I denounce the Catholic Church, and all anti-choice entities–religious or otherwise–for focusing vehemently on the politics of a pregnant person and/or woman’s right to choose what to do with their bodies, over all other concerns; for bringing the very real impending threat of the end to this democracy that has brought–along with the bad–so much of the good we have in this world. 

Consider this a schism. Consider me a heretic. Consider me an apostate, wholly and fiercely repudiating such a loathsome, hateful, destructive institution. 

I love this earth. I love justice, equality, and freedom. I am a pantheistic solitary eclectic modern pagan witch. That is my declared spiritual practice. 

It is so ordered ⭐️

Categories
Modern Witchcraft Things To Do

The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming

A Virtual Field Trip to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA

In October 2021 I went up to Salem to the Peabody Essex Museum to see their exhibit, “The Salem Witch Trials: Reckoning and Reclaiming.” Even on the first week of October, Salem is WILD. It’s a lot like being in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. I love it, but if you’re crowd wary, take note.

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, I have put together a “Virtual Fieldtrip” for those of you who didn’t make it up to Salem, Massachusetts to see the exhibit for yourself. It ran from October 2021 to March 2022.

Part One: The Reckoning and Reclaiming

The first slide show has artifacts of the accused, primary source documents from the time of the Witch Trials, and a timeline. It ends with a featured couture gown from the late fashion designer Alexander McQueen’s Fall 2007 line. He dedicated that show to his ancestor, one of the accused, named Elizabeth Howe. The gown was made in her honor.

Part Two: Major Arcana, Portraits of Witches in America

The second slide show captures another part of the exhibit, titled “Major Arcana: Portraits of Witches in America.” This section featured photographic portraits of modern American witches such as StarhawkPam Grossman, and Juliet Diaz. It ends with a quote from M. Macha Nightmare, “A Witch is a mover and a shaper who draws power from the natural world and from within herself.”

Categories
Modern Witchcraft Things To Do

A Witch’s Treasury of Local Hocus Pocus 2 News and Events

Hannah Waddingham in Hocus Pocus 2 (Disney+)

Witches of Northern Rhode Island and All Over New England Celebrate the Premier of Locally Filmed Hocus Pocus 2

The long awaited sequel to Hocus Pocus, Hocus Pocus 2, premiers this weekend. It was filmed in my backyard, practically. Ha! Well, filmed in nearby Lincoln, East Providence, and a block from my old apartment in Federal Hill.

(Side note: it’s silly to have my main graphic be Hannah Waddingham and not the Sanderson Sisters, I know. But my love of Ted Lasso only grows, whereas And Just Like That has diminished my devotion to SJP and Sex and the City. Hahaha. Anyway, that’s why Hannah gets pride of place!)

Hocus Pocus Happenings in Rhode Island

To commemorate the occasion, Rhode Island is chock FULL of celebrations and tributes. And there’s a lot of great stories of people who worked on the film some way or another.

Blackstone Valley Events

Super sad that the BeWitched and BeDazzled Event at Chase Farm is sold out! It is going to be AMAZING! If you’re lucky enough to somehow get a ticket, I hope you have a great time.

https://greatroadheritagecampus.org/bewitched-and-bedazzled

Maeva’s Cottage in Woonsocket, a metaphysical shop in my neighborhood https://www.facebook.com/maevascottage

However, 1 mile away from me, the delectable Wright’s Dairy Farm is having a special Hocus Pocus menu for the occasion, so I can pop by and check that out!

And, EVEN CLOSER to home, just a half a mile from my front door, the new metaphysical shop, Maeva’s Cottage, is have a Hocus Pocus Takeover event: https://www.facebook.com/events/601868298186931/

For even more Hocus Pocus-ery check out the Tour Blackstone website: http://tourblackstone.com/hocus-pocus/

c/o @TheFemmeBrulee on Facebook

The Official Costume Sparkler

A while back I used to volunteer for Front-of-House duties for Boston-based burlesque shows sometimes. One of the best costumers and burlesque performers I know, Robyn “Femme Brulee” Girgosian, was the official Costume Sparkler for the Sanderson Sisters’ costumes. How freakin’ cool is that?! She posted about in on her Facebook account in a public post. Read all about the intricacies of the costuming at her post: https://www.facebook.com/thefemmebrulee/posts/pfbid035MjXvRDLjHosV45LKCdH9Cp8nPLFgpCtKuPpQLKC7ohUTZYMMrdDkQhwTDaa8eS1l

Enjoy the Hocus Pocus Focus This Halloween Season!

If you’re a fan of the original and excited about the premier of the sequel, I hope you enjoy the magic of the Hocus Pocus premier weekend!

Categories
Modern Witchcraft Word Witch

The Truth about Witchcraft Today by Scott Cunningham

Book Review: The Truth about Witchcraft Today by Scott Cunningham, first published in 1987

This is actually an “oldie but goodie” as far as #witchbooks go but I will never understand this cover. Ever. 😆

Someone said maybe it looks like this to convey that yes, even “young women in 1980s businesswear with jobs that require briefcases can be and are witches.” 🤔🤷🏼‍♀️

I guess back then, as now, there’s all sorts of people about with the misconception that witchcraft has anything to do with devil-worship? When anyone with an ounce of sense knows that the fictional entity called “the devil” is a purely Christian construct.

A poet friend, @gildedy made me remember this cover because she has a whole other cover to submit to the “Misleading Covers Sweepstakes” so thanks for the inspo, Gilmore. 

This short but comprehensive books, first published over 35 years ago, has a lot of information that is still relevant today. I think it’s a good place to start for self-described baby witches, or others who are magick/pagan/witch curious.

It’s is still available for sale, and I bought mine at Better World Books, but you can also find it on Amazon and other online book sellers.