The all new 50 Books Challenge!
Title: Queering Your Craft: Witchcraft From the Margins by Cassandra Snow with forward by Mat Auryn
Details: Copyright 2020, Weiser Books
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "
“Snow reminds us that witchcraft practitioners and seekers can see themselves in divinity regardless of queerness, gender, or ethnicity. Snow encourages pride over shame and emphasizes embracing our most authentic self in all its unique facets, if we are ever truly going to be empowered in every sense of the word.”
-- from the forward by Mat Auryn
Finally-- a book for the queer aspirant who hears the call toward witchcraft to find healing, empowerment, strength, and pride.
Witchcraft has always belonged to the outsiders and outcasts in society, yet so much of the practice enforces and adheres to the same hierarchy we face in the world at large—a hierarchy that isolates and hurts those living beyond society’s binaries and boundaries. Queering Your Craft reclaims witchcraft and helps put it into the hands of those who need it most: queer and marginalized people and their fiercest allies. While there are books that address magick for resistance and queer myth, until now there has not been one that specifically addresses the practice of queer magick from an LGBTQ+ standpoint. Queering Your Craft combines queer aesthetic and culture (like DIY culture and an emphasis on chosen family over formal covens) with Pagan and metaphysical spiritual practice in a way that makes it accessible for all. This book covers the personal, the collective, and the political, and the deep ties between all three in a magickal practice for those who are LGBTQ+.
In this introduction to witchcraft, Snow presents why and how each concept is important to a queer craft and how to approach it from a queer mindset. What aspirants will find truly enriching is the practical grimoire of unique spells and rituals, written specifically to sustain a queer craft.
While accessible to beginning witches, Queering Your Craft provides new and inspiring information for longtime practitioners who are interested in a pure and personal approach, one that avoids the baggage of history and stereotype."
Why I Wanted to Read It: I was actually looking for a book by Mat Auryn, but this came up instead. The concept intrigued me, so I decided to give it a try.
How I Liked It:
SECOND CONTENT WARNING, LESS SERIOUS! This is going to be an extremely critical review with plenty of snark. This challenge consists of me giving my thoughts on books, remember.
Like with any critical/snarky review, though, I'm attacking the book/ideas in the book and the author's/authors' choices, not the actual author/s. I'm pretty sure I don't have to tell anyone who reads my work this, but engage with the ideas, don't harass people.
Can you love a book in concept but absolutely despise it in actual publication? Can you adore a book that does not actually exist, save for in concept? You probably know where I'm going with this, but give me time to get there.
After a memorable (and very highly publicized, according to the publication material and online resources) forward by Mat Auryn, the book takes you through some of the basics of Witchcraft and this author's thoughts on them, and how they translate (according to the author) to a queer perspective. There are spells and rituals specifically geared towards what the author feels are queer issues and some memoir and backstory from the author along the way.
Before we get into the book proper, let's get into that highly publicized forward. Mat Auryn was, after all, the author I was initially interested in reading.
He starts off well.
Witchcraft, like queerness, is an orientation of otherness. [...]
Both the witch and the queer have a long history of persecution and discrimination. Using the word witch for oneself is a potent act of reclamation and empowerment, very much in a similar manner to which we reclaim the word queer. (pg xi)
Interesting, and I agree! That's setting this off far more than just to fix the queer issues in Witch books, that's nicely showing the link between two historically marginalized communities.
And then it, and the book as a whole, takes a big, ugly turn. I should note that Mat Auryn is a cis gay man.
Ancient Pagan faiths were full of gay, lesbian, pansexual, intersex, transgender, gender-fluid, and gender non-conforming deities. (pg xii)
Whoops! Did you forget someone, Mat? Maybe the people who make up possibly the largest proportion of the queer community? BISEXUALS. You literally just erased me from history.
But wait, look at that other inclusion. And frankly, look at the word "pansexual". Oh dear, this is going to be a bit of a tangent (although it's related!), so settle in.
As a student of Queer history since my early teens, believe me (and the evidence!) when I tell you that the term "bisexual" since it was reclaimed by the Queer community, has ALWAYS meant "all genders/in spite of gender" and has always included trans and nonbinary people.
Unfortunately, the Queer community, which was once the cis white gay male community, and grudgingly became the lesbian and gay community (and those are leaders and organizations still considered foundational, like GLAAD and the HRC) before many other versions to try and be at least somewhat more inclusive, has always particularly hated bisexual and transgender people (yes, it has other limitations and bigotries; I'm concentrating on those particular ones in this tangent).
So despite the fact you don't ask a lesbian for her passport to Greece and you don't ask a gay man why he's so happy, "bisexual" is the term people just can't seem to get past its origins and think it still just means "two". That's one story of the origin of the formation of term "pansexual", anyway. There's also an ugly strain of its history as a term for the type of cis people who fetishize trans people (meaning, this was the term those people used for themselves).
And that would all be frustrating enough, but now a lot of mainstream sources (including Queer ones, like GLAAD) continue to spout false information about "pansexual" versus "bisexual" and don't bother at all with the history. So to justify the use of both "pansexual" and "bisexual", they claim bisexuals either exclude trans and/or nonbinary people (not true!), that bisexuals like/are only "men and women" (WRONG WRONG WRONG), that bisexual means you have a preference (it does not!), or that the "bi" as in "two" means "yours and another gender" (NOPE!), and/or probably other bouts of ahistorical misinformation that are being concocted as we speak.
Once again, BISEXUAL LITERALLY MEANS ALL GENDERS/REGARDLESS OF GENDER AND HAS MEANT THAT SINCE IT WAS RECLAIMED BY THE QUEER COMMUNITY! It was only originally coined at a time when people thought there were only or mainly two genders. We've gotten past the origins of other terms in the Queer spectrum, why are we bisexuals treated differently?
There's also the school of thought, and I suspect this is where Auryn lands, that "pansexual" is a more enlightened term (IT IS NOT). This nonsense that pansexuals somehow inherently include nonbinary and trans people is inaccurate. EVERY orientation inherently includes trans and nonbinary people, it's bigots within it that do the excluding. Also, given the history of the term's use in trans-fetishizing circles, it's not inherently trans and nonbinary inclusive. So it's not a more enlightened term, and a "pansexual" isn't more enlightened or evolved beyond gender than a "bisexual". Frankly, I've seen for myself that most people who find out what bisexual has historically always meant (all genders/regardless of gender) discover that's their term (me, for one!). But false information persists and now is a great reminder that FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT AN ORIENTATION IS BIGOTRY.
I also resent people outside of the community (which Auryn as a gay man would qualify) weighing in on this, as he did with the term he chose to include and the one he did not.
JUST TO CLARIFY! I am obviously bisexual, but so long as they aren't propagating false information about bisexuality and/or excluding us, I don't necessarily have a problem with people identifying as pansexual, although I do think there might certainly be something to the argument that if you show people all this historical information that proves this what bisexuality has always meant and they still decide to reject the term (internalized bigotries are the hardest to overcome), that's troubling. Okay, back to the book!
But hold on! You say. What if it's just a simple omission on the part of Auryn?
If so, that's a HUGE omission to a group that's a large part of the Queer community, and that's been historically and purposely erased from even Queer history. And the author (and proofreader and editor) apparently didn't notice or was fine in leaving in that omission in the forward.
So no, I was not off to a good start with this book.
The author is a genderfluid lesbian who in the book, used both she/her and they/them pronouns. For brevity's sake I will use they/them, as that is the pronoun set the author uses on their About the Author blurb in the book as well as requests on their personal website.
The author, fortunately, includes bisexuals.
As Christianity gained ground and power, we have seen the reflection of the religion's exclusion get passed down even through other subcultures, like Paganism. When Wicca became really popular through Garderian Wicca in the 1950s, male/female polarity was stressed in a way that not only excluded transgender (especially non-binary) people, but also was not very inclusive of gay or bisexual people either. Then there's the Aleister Crowley problem. (pg XXI)
Good and I mostly agree. This is also a way (take note, Mystic Dylan!) that you can mention Wicca and its popularity without claiming it's older than it is, or claiming it was all invented in the '60s when it's actually a thorny, complex issue.
I'd also argue that Gardner's right wing politics and arguably "the times" (although I hate that as any kind of excuse) pushed extremely outdated and rigid gender roles as well as the heteronormativity and cisnormativity.
I have to say, Aleister Crowley had issues certainly but he was an out bisexual (hmmm) and wrote love and sex poetry to the God Pan.
But if I was somewhat mollified after the huge omission in the forward, they run into their own trouble straight away:
I have very complicated feelings about the doctrine of "and harm none," which I'll touch on a little bit later in this book. The phrase itself thought is a tenant of most mainstream witchcraft that is well intentioned but falls very short. It's meant to inspire us to do any witchcraft we want so long as it doesn't directly harm someone else. However, what it calls to mind for me is all the time a marginalized person who has been abused or oppressed, is tone-policed or silenced because they were "too angry." Black activists in particular are constantly told to silence themselves in order to protect white people's comfort and often language is abused to hold them to that silence.
They are told they are being mean or hurtful but that's not true. That tone-policing is a tool of white supremacy to silence dissenting viewpoints and serve the status quo instead of social justice. If we are to be witches, with a duty to humankind and the Earth itself, and to serve social justice, we cannot always be polite and harm free. This is just one way "and it harm none" is nonsense.(pg XXI and XXII)
What.... what on earth did I just read.... what....
Okay, quick note? The author is white. From that passage alone, you probably already figured that out.
Secondly and more importantly! "Harm none" is a guide, not a law. It's also by nature, purposely heavily flexible. Having read various interpretations of Witch ethics, it's generally understood that sometimes? You have to hurt someone to prevent further harm. In "harm none", the harm described is generally considered to be selfish, purposely malicious action. It's also said as a way to keep the working from going in a direction you don't want. If you getting that dream job means someone else that was going to get it is, say, suddenly murdered by a serial killer and that's why the job is open, you as a reasonable human wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with that. Adding "harm none" is a way to ensure if you get what you want, it'll only be by means you feel happy about, whatever that might mean (for example, they have an opening because the person who was about to get "your" job was offered a great job somewhere else, leaving it open for you). It's absolutely not rigid, the interpretation (and in Witchcraft, interpretation counts for a hell of a lot) is up to you. It just connotes a basic sense of ethics.
So that's why this white author giving this absurd, long-winded, and unreasonable comparison to saying "harm none" is EXACTLY like telling Black people to stop being angry is not only nonsense, it's dangerous racist nonsense.
The author going into it later doesn't provide better clarification, either:
As you're reading this book and researching witchcraft, you'll frequently come across the phrase, "and it harm none." It's how we're supposed to conclude our spells and rituals, and it's the basic tenant that a lot of witchcraft is built around. The idea is a good one, in theory, it is supposed to be our reminder that, while we can be selfish, we shouldn't actively work to hurt others. It's a reminder to keep our magic light and airy and not dig into the nitty gritty, because that's painful.
I do not subscribe to this. For starters, this phrase doesn't make logical sense in our society. If you do a love spell to meet the right person, there are exes and people who have crushes on both of you that are going to be hurt. You will never have no baggage or spark the interests of others who have no baggage. Saying "and it harm none," means you honestly may never meet that person. Love also hurts. When my anxiety is working overtime or I am doubled over in Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) pain, those who love me feel emotional pain, too. This is technically doing harm and setting your spells to not cause any harm also blocks out a lot of beautiful things in life, like love itself. (pgs 24 and 25)
I mean, I guess if you invent a ridiculous version of what you think "harm none" means, ("keep our magic light and airy and not dig into the nitty gritty, because that's painful"? WHAT? Who on earth actually seriously said that? Seriously, please quote the source) that's... a refutation, of sorts.
But the author really sounds inexperienced, because I stumbled across ethics talking the complexity of that phrase less than two years into my own practice (the difference of harm versus hurt, working for the greatest good, realizing that everything is some hurt, et cetera) and it was thoroughly unpacked when I studied with a coven.
This sounds an awful lot like the author heard the phrase, drew their own interpretation, and decided to draw some broad, ridiculous, and dangerous conclusions. And it gets worse as the book goes on.
Another example of how "and it harm none" doesn't work is if you're doing a money spell. Sorry not sorry, but capitalism, and therefore money, is inherently harmful. We need it! It's a necessary evil, but people did get hurt for that dollar to hit your hand. I know these are bold statements and I might make a lot of witches wildly unhappy with this statement, but for most of our goals and intentions to be met, that means someone else's won't be. We can't say "and it harm one" and have our spells work. If they do work, we're kidding ourselves that no one got hurt somewhere along the way. (pg 25)
It's the "sorry not sorry" for me.
Okay, putting aside that the author has no idea about the complexities and nuance of "harm none"... this sounds an awful lot like that friend you have that keeps eating at Chik-Fil-A, despite you begging them to spend their money at a place that isn't funding queerphobia and them responding with "There's no ethical consumption under capitalism anyway! Sorry not sorry!"
Furthermore as a marginalized people, in order to have anything worth having, we have to unpack a lot of deep, heavy stuff. It isn't all fun. If "and it harm none" is meant to include ourselves, and why wouldn't it, we'll never get anywhere. We have to hurt to heal. We are literally uncovering wounds so they can feel the air and get better. It is an innately painful process. When we love, it hurts-- even if everything in the relationship is healthy. My queerplatonic partner struggles with severe depression and my heart breaks a thousand times a year wanting to help and knowing I can't. Our love hurts and I wouldn't change it for all the "and it harm none" in the world. (pg 25)
ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, NONE OF THAT IS WHAT "HARM NONE" MEANS, EVEN WITH THE PURPOSELY FLEXIBLE NATURE OF THE TERM.
If we're looking at collective movements, we cannot afford to tack "and it harm none" to our spellwork. What do we think is going to happen if we overhaul the government? What do we think is going to happen if we decriminalize nonviolent behavior? The state will suffer. People with jobs at the state will suffer. Children of people with jobs at the state will suffer. I don't take this lightly, but we have to work towards creating a more fair and equitable society if we're going to call ourselves witches, but there will be people who suffer in the transition. That's just how it is. Furthermore, marginalized people, especially women of color, are constantly being told not to speak up or make waves for the sake of being "nice" and not offending anyone. This is not actually coming from fear of being hurt. It's coming from people who think marginalized people should know their place and not strive for a better society. If we're going to do activism, we will have to challenge the status quo and make a whole lot of well-meaning people uncomfortable. We can't afford "and it harm none." The stakes are too high. (pg 25)
You hear that? THE WHITE AUTHOR NOT BOTHERING TO LEARN THE COMPLEXITIES OF "HARM NONE" IS EXACTLY LIKE WHEN PEOPLE TELL BLACK WOMEN TO STOP BEING ANGRY.
I'm being facetious there, but this is incredibly, dangerously ignorant and shortsighted. Also, "harm none" is also about understanding the effect and impact of your workings. "Harm none" can be "cause the least amount of unnecessary pain possible". HARM NONE IS ACTUALLY ONE OF THE BEST FEATURES OF WITCHCRAFT BECAUSE IT IS BY NATURE SO FLEXIBLE PLEASE CONSIDER AND USE IT AND LEARN ABOUT IT AND IGNORE PEOPLE WHO URGE YOU TO ACT IRRESPONSIBLY AND MAKE HORRIBLE WHITE PRIVILEGED COMPARISONS.
The author has this capper:
That said, I do think we should wield our spiritual gifts responsibly. We shouldn't hex people for the hell of it or because we're jealous of them. We should aim to do as little harm as possible. We should act out of love of community and a better world and not out of fear or hate. Yet as queer witches we have a responsibility to make waves and make change, and I don't think we can do that without hurting people. I think we deserve money, love, and all of the joy that this world has to offer, but we have to be realistic about it or our spellwork and our spiritual growth will be stunted. It makes you a better, more aware person to know that sometimes, through no fault of yours, people get hurt. You are not responsible for that as long as you're behaving responsibly.
So forget what you read about "and harm none" and just try not to be a jerk, okay? Oh, and recycle. Please. The planet needs you, too. (pg 26)
...My head hurts. LITERALLY "wielding our spiritual gifts responsibly", not acting for the hell of it, doing as little harm as possible, acting out of love of community and a better world, making waves and change but being realistic about them (and realizing you can do no harm but have to hurt), behaving responsibly IS ALL A PART OF "HARM NONE". I... honestly am fascinated at this point but what this author has supposedly read or heard about "harm none."
I'm not overly fond of this term since I think it's overused, but I think it's applicable here: "virtue-signalling". What is "virtue-signalling"? In the sense that I mean it here, it's loudly and full-throatedly saying what you think you should say or at least framing it in the right cant, while it's clear you don't actually believe in and/or understand it. I'm not saying that people can't make mistakes or get tripped up, but I am saying that a book of this nature without sincerity is empty, and that's how too much of this reads.
For one example, you just read the author describe, in the most insufferable way possible ("sorry not sorry"!) that "capitalism, and therefore money, is inherently harmful" and I agree about capitalism being inherently harmful (money and commerce is a bit more complicated and is not the same thing as capitalism, despite what some Right wing loudmouths might tell you). They continue:
Marginalized people are ridiculously resistant to basic self-care principles. Between internalizing a hypercapitalist society that forces go-go-go all the time, the ensuing cult of busy that follows after living like that for too long, and the queer ideal of focusing on community first, we insist that we either don't need or don't have time for self-care. (pg 34)
So that's why seeing passages like this throughout the book make me scratch my head:
Actually, using Google Search in place of knowledge is pretty useful too, so don't get stressed out or hung up on that piece. (pg 12)
If I were a Virgo or a Capricorn I would tell you to use Google Search to find a list of such wacky holidays (pg 94)
Schedule in some research time to use Google Search for relevant astrology before you do a spell (pg 97)
Use Google Search to find "queer gods" and you're sure to come up with even more. (pg 115)
Use Google Search to find images of ones that feel good to make sure you truly like them. (pg 126)
Seriously, you're not taking funds from Google, are you, Cassandra Snow? I get that the point is to emphasize (I assume) doing a free, easy search, but why keep pushing a specific company (particularly a hyper monopolistic one that sells your information) like this? If you insist on naming a specific company, why not at least a better one like Duck Duck Go?
It's little stuff like this that shows the author really didn't think this stuff through. They're saying what they think they should be saying and doing something else.
A similar instance is this:
This person was arrested, and while I have a deep disdain for our justice system and mass incarceration, this person was guilty of something objectively awful. (pg 138)
Protection magick is also absolutely mandatory for those doing activism. The cops are not our friends, especially at protests, and the system would happily see us sit in jail for exercising our right to assembly and free speech. (pg 139)
Okay, so I agree that our justice system is deeply flawed to the point of making a great argument on numerous levels for abolition and the dangers of police brutality and misconduct. So why, in a book published in 2020, am I still seeing this extremely loaded phrase?
Place your list of trans people who have been murdered or committed suicide in your country in the year you're doing this spell (pg 141)
I light candles for queer people who have been murdered and committed suicide that year (pg 87)
"Committed suicide" has largely been dropped as a phrase because it posits committing a crime and focusing on that aspect of it, rather than the tragic circumstances that surround suicide. This is multiplied many times over when the victims are Queer, particularly trans. So why on earth would an author who dutifully claims to hate our justice system use such a careless phrase when most people (including news corporations) now say the far better and more respectful "died by suicide"? Well, in case the rest of the book hadn't told you, this person is not only staggeringly ill-informed, they are deeply convinced they are not and are trying to amp up the attitude to cover what they don't know.
And therein lies the entire problem of this disaster of a book. From Witch stuff to Queer stuff to activism, they are reinforcing spotty to false information, some of it dangerously so, and they're doing it from a place of clear ignorance and hoping that their opinions being loud enough is enough to cover that.
Activist Witches are nothing new and some of the best books of the movement have been written by activists. Starhawk, whose legendary and groundbreaking 1979 work The Spiral Dance, is still very much writing and practicing and has written many more books, all of them tackling Witchcraft and Paganism with activism on a far more sincere and thoughtful (not to mention far better informed and more experienced) level. Her books have aged far better than most due to her sincerity in her beliefs, not just parroting talking points she clearly doesn't believe nor exercise. Amanda Yates Garcia is a Queer woman, feminist, and activist whose work also rings far more sincere than the author of this book. Those are just two authors I'm naming from the top of my head, there are countless activist Witches who have done amazing work and continue to do amazing work. Activism and Witchcraft can and does work wonderfully! But as with anything on this path, if you're insincere, it will not. And plenty leads me to doubt the author's sincerity, or at least thoughtfulness.
The author rails against cultural appropriation and what a problem it is, and then they turn around and use the term "chakras" seemingly without pause. (NOTE: While practitioners of Hinduism have varying opinions on the subject on non-Hindus using the word "chakra", like any religion with millions of people around the world, it's easy enough to call them "energy centers" or "energy points" instead.)
I honestly do not think they know what cultural appropriation (which I've taken to calling cultural misappropriation to be more accurate) actually is:
For the rest of us, I want to emphasize that when you're looking for gods and other spiritual entities to work with, please start with the pantheons that your own ancestors would have worked with. Cultural appropriation is a huge problem in the Pagan community, and it's not okay to take something from a culture you have no ties to and claim it as your own. In my experience of working with clients for over a decade, I've found that these callings are mostly false. They are gods that the person likes or thought were interesting, but there was no real connection or wake-up call that led them to that deity. Obviously there are exceptions. I work very closely with Hecate, a Greek Goddess, and I'm not Greek. (pgs 113 and 114)
Yeah, they definitely don't know.
When people express concern about "cultural appropriation", they are actually referring to "cultural misappropriation". (Juliet Diaz's Witchery got this correct!) When people express concern for cultural appropriation, they don't mean the literal practice, which is literally using something from a culture that is not your own (and there's a huge difference between appreciating and appropriating!). They mean a dominant/colonizer culture taking something from a marginalized culture.
For example! White people misappropriating Black hairstyles. Detractors will say that what about Black people wearing white people's hairstyles, which is appropriating a culture, too. These detractors (who are usually arguing in bad faith and should be ignored) overlook the fact that Black hairstyles are designed with Black hair in mind, and Black people are subject to institutional racism for keeping their hair in the styles that are easiest, healthiest, and most natural for them (anything from school dress codes, to the military, to being fired from a job for "unprofessional appearance), whereas routinely whites with the same styles are praised for their fashion innovation.
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION IN THIS SENSE DOES NOT JUST MEAN TAKING FROM A CULTURE NOT YOUR OWN, IT MEANS SPECIFICALLY A DOMINANT/COLONIZER CULTURE STEALING FROM A MARGINALIZED CULTURE!
Given this lack of nuance in the author's description in something as personal as connection to Deity, that comes across as incredibly irresponsible, and fuels false equivalency.
For example, a blogger I like is a Black person and a Witch who has a number of Deities to which they feel drawn, including Athena, the Greek Goddess-- that's absolutely not the same as a white person dabbling in Voudoun and associated religions without sensitivity nor thoughtfulness, but according to this author's description, it is. Also, "no real connection" is highly suspect of a phrase as well.
...And this person is working with clients. Oh, dear.
To add insult to injury, they then follow with this:
Below is a list of gods with ties to LGBTQQIA2SP+ community that you can look into or research. (pg 114)
I should note, "LGBTQQIA2SP+" is the author's incredibly verbose and cumbersome term they use repeatedly, and it includes the term "two spirit" WHICH IS A TERM ONLY FOR SPECIFIC INDIGENOUS CULTURES AND IS DEFINITELY NOT FOR EVERYONE'S USE.
The list of Gods is a very short list (and is lacking several Deities I could name off the top of my head), and includes not only Hindu Gods, but also Voudoun.
Telling people to research is... something, and you should definitely do that, but the most important thing is having respect for the Deity and if you're truly drawn to Them, doing the research as to how They (historically, in folklore, and others' interactions) like to be honored and celebrated. It's possible to respectfully honor a Deity from a culture different from yours, and not appropriate Them. Again, this is a nuanced issue and an important one, and instead the author just threw out an extremely surface definition of cultural appropriation.
If you wanted to be tactful, you could say that the author paints with some really broad strokes. And that's certainly true. They write from position that all Queer people (or "queers" as they love to say and you should not-- I'll get to that later) share a very broad similarity that we actually do not (and pretending we do erases other privileges). There are absolutely things Queer people have in common, or rather traits that show up across Queer culture, but believe me when I say the author largely doesn't depict them. Instead, all Queer people are as I assume the author is: traumatized people struggling who are on the run from their toxic families, horrible religious upbringings, and hateful small towns to the loving, rich, Queer-friendly big cities full of wonderful found family that totally loves and embraces and enhances you. The author pays a brief lip service to the fact the Queer community has infighting and doesn't seem to know what "gatekeeping" means (we'll get to that later, too), but otherwise, finding other Queer people is your ticket to joy, happiness, and understanding community.
While I'm glad that's the author's experience with the Queer community, that is absolutely not the experience of every Queer person and positing it that way is extremely dangerous.
Just a few snippets:
When you live in the margins, mostly people are really good. Queer family feeds each other, literally and metaphorically. People are still people though. (pg 138)
In devout witch circles, it's not uncommon for there to be a little bit of a pressure cooker to mark every important Moon cycle phase, every Sabbat, and every personal meaningful day with big magick. This can be exhausting and unnecessary, especially for queer people who are already running on a deficit of time and energy since they're likely engaged in activism, trying to unlearn harmful cycles and "isms" that they've internalized, and are often working more than one job while trying to make art and also, somehow, find time to be a witch. (pgs 57 and 58)
Side note: can we please stop using "isms" when "bigotry" is right there? Also plenty of good things end in "ism" as well, and plenty of bigotries do not, plus it just sounds ridiculous.
As far as memoir voice, it's honestly so wrapped up in the author's writing as a whole and it's not terribly distinct from the rest of the book. As you can see from the many passages I've quoted and will quote, their writing style is a jumble of rants and run-on sentences. It can sometimes feel like that overzealous friend who doesn't really know what they're talking about cornering you at a party and talking at you and giving long, tangential rants when you ask polite questions.
(Lest you accuse me calling the kettle black, a book review is quite a different animal than an instructional book, particularly one with a social justice basis.)
But okay, how about the magic? How about the Witch stuff?
Aside from the major, major stumbles I've already cited, the author (unfortunately fairly typically for this type of book) ignores any kind of groundwork at all. There's some discussion about meditation, but visualization and other forms of prep are scant to nil. While a couple spells happen to contain the raising and grounding of energy, the author doesn't really explain.
And then there is one of the biggest errors that really tells me how inexperienced this author is.
Usually the best option in a given situation is to empower yourself to overcome. However, sometimes people, administrations, societies, or organizations need to be stopped. Sometimes they even need to be hexed. A hex is a spell cast on someone or something outside of ourselves that causes harm to them. While there are lines I draw, it's important to contextualize magick within the society we exist in, and hexing someone so that they lose their power, income, or ability to cause others harm is causing that person harm. We have to consider that and move forward with hexing only when we're positive it's the right thing to do. Sometimes it really is the right thing to do, though. You can only protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community so much when there are dark forces coming from within society that are actively dead set on holding you down. (pg 224)
Hexing oppressors is community care and we are all charged with the responsibilities of community care. (pg 224)
While the term "hexing" can vary (I've seen it used on everything from a spell to control someone in even a benevolent way, to out and out malicious intent), the term and process of "binding" exists for a reason.
Binding is the act of preventing or limiting someone from doing harm. Generally, binding is almost always coming from a much more thoughtful, responsible place than hexing.
There is a story, possibly apocryphal, about a coven in England in World War II that bound Hitler to limit his influence.
Some of the author's spells in this section actually sound a lot like binding. But "binding" doesn't allow the author to go on their ridiculous seeming attention-grab, so they call it "hexing" and again, some of these spells I would truly doubt the efficacy, although the author claims to have performed them and have them work. "Hexing White Supremacy" and cursing those who cause Queer people harm are sure attention-grabbers, but they lack specifics, an important point in this type of work. You want to stop white supremacy through a Working? Just an idea, but pick a white supremacist group and find out their leaders and bind them. Bind the specific people. Find out if there's going to be some sort of rally and call down some sort of weather disturbance or power outage to complicate matters (and put in a clause/blessing to protect innocent people not involved with the hate group). Having a spell to "hex white supremacy" that involves "a list of everything you hate about white supremacy" and having you say "Fuck the white supremacist patriarchy" just isn't specific enough. You want to stop people from railing against Queer rights? Again, pick a specific person and bind them. But I suspect the point of these types of "spells" isn't to actually accomplish your goals, it's for how they look. And catharsis is a great and necessary thing, but I doubt any kind of catharsis comes from this, it's pure "aesthetic" ("So I hexed the white supremacist patriarchy this weekend!").
One of the spells in the book involves the participant saying "I curse those who cause queer people harm", which begs the question, what are you really after? Do you want queer people to not be harmed or do you want to get to curse people (and say you do), but claim it's for the higher good? Again, these spells seem to geared around how they look versus what they actually accomplish.
There were so many errors and so many ridiculous points, I had to limit myself, and they'll be in the "notable" section. This is such a wonderful and necessary idea for a book and such an absolutely terrible, through and through, execution, it's genuinely staggering.
Because I absolutely love the book this could have been. Witchcraft as a movement and occult spaces are doing much better than they once were, but are still in desperate need of decolonization and improvement about so many things, including Queer issues. And we are not going to get there by fluffing lack of knowledge with "attitude" and out and out false information (and some of it dangerous). If any good can come from this book, I hope it's that another, far better author decides to attempt this and is much more successful. If you want to be extremely optimistic, you could say that this particular author stops and continues their education and sees the error of their ways, and writes a good follow up book to correct this one.
A bad book is bad, but a book that you loved in premise that is bad is utterly terrible.
Notable: There are a lot of notes here. Just a heads up. They aren't all complaints, but most are, I'm afraid. Settle in!
If you are an ally, make a list of resources you could potentially give to a QTBIPOC in need, including food you could make easily for someone who is hungry or financial resources (pg 142)
Can we please, as a people, retire the term "ally"? You don't "identify as ally", you don't "come at these issues as an ally", don't include "ally" in your social media bio! "Ally" is supposed to be a job description and it's now been so abused and overused it's basically meaningless. This is for a QTBIPOC (Queer and Trans Black and Indigenous People of Color) protection spell. The author is white. They have a suggestion for people who are "QTBIPOC" which... strikes me as pretty inappropriate (they could at the very least have a credited contribution on this by an actual Queer Black or Indigenous person), but suggests a special action for them in the spell ("If you are a QTBIPOC, take some notes on what safety means to you and what you are asking the Divine for now"). The "ally" sentence comes after that. It could have much more easily read
"If you are not QTBIPOC, make a list of resources you could potentially give to a QTBIPOC in need, including food you could make for someone who is hungry or financial resources."
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Gatekeepers are the popular kids in the queer community (because every community does have them) who cast judgement on who is and is not queer enough or cool enough to be at this event or that event. In a lot of communities, there aren't real gatekeepers. Sure, there are popular kids in every queer community, but in a lot of places they're open and encouraging to younger queers finding their way. We perceive them to be gatekeepery because of the insecurities we develop as the queer kid in our junior high, high school, or job when we really are different and really do stand out. In those cases we need to address the actual root of our insecurity and work through some healing magick before deciding if gatekeepers are a real issue for you. If you find they are, after you do that soul searching, then this spell will help you combat that energy and claim space in the face of those gatekeepers. (pg 145 and 146)
The author... does not know what gatekeeping means. Equating "you're not queer enough" (as in "you're not queer enough to deserve time and resources and acknowledgement in the community, including of your trauma") is... nothing like "you're not cool enough."
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I put darker in italics because as queer and anti-racist witches I want us to get out of the binary of thinking that light magick is good and dark magick is bad. This thinking came from very racist roots-- a lot of what we think of as dark or black magick comes from traditionally Black cultures like VooDoo. A lot of what we think of as light magick is often appropriated from other religions largely practiced by white people, such as Christian mysticism. Furthermore, a lot of dark magick is also survival magick. We're told it's selfish or harmful magick because these people are doing work just for themselves. So what? We all have needs and desires. Please don't fall into the trap of thinking that gaining something for yourself is dark. That is such unnecessary self-punishment, and on top of that, gives in to those aforementioned roots of racism.
The idea of dark magick even existing also comes from conservative Christianity lambasting all magick as dark magick. The term light magick was created likely as a way to try to compromise with Christians in our lives, but I don't feel like it successfully does that. We've just giving in to corporate Christian views on dark magick, which is something as queer witches we should refuse to do. (pgs XXII and XXIII)
...That's not what "corporate Christian" means. At all. Also "A lot of what we think of as light magick is often appropriated from other religions largely practiced by white people, such as Christian mysticism"--- what?! If you're defining "light magick" as synonymous with beneficial, that is... not even close to accurate. Also, if you're truly against racism and in favor of decolonizing language (as you should be), DROP THE LIGHT AND DARK MAGIC(k) NONSENSE ALTOGETHER! This is another great example of the author giving lip service to a concept (not using certain terms because they're racist, which they are and you shouldn't) and then going ahead and doing it anyway.
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There are infinite genders and sexual identities. Each one deserves the same space and respect as the next. Each one brings something unique and necessary to a circle should they choose to do magick with us. ("A Queer Witch Manifesto")
The problem with this is that certain genders and sexualities (I'm not overly fond of the term "sexual identity" as that tends to frame it as a choice) already have plenty of space and respect. Space and respect is not an issue for them. Marginalized genders and sexualities deserve more space because they suffer from more erasure and persecution. This is another example of "it sounds great if you don't think about it!" and given that this is a line in the author's manifesto is... oof.
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There are infinite ways to express a Pagan or witchy spirituality. (pg 1)
Something about "witchy spirituality" makes me twitch. What was wrong with saying "There are infinite ways to express a Pagan or witch spirituality"?
Also, even saying it that way, uh, sure there are, but that doesn't mean some of them aren't wrong, like cultural misappropriation for one, which the author themselves says is a problem. Another phrase (this one with an annoying to insensitive adjective) that might sound good at first but only if you don't think about it.
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Some of my best witch friends are people I met online. Some of those friendships have stayed online, and we have coordinated spellwork and done spells for each other. Some of them have become strong, potent IRL (In Real Life) relationships that I would be totally lost without. (pg 20)
Can we please, in this decade when regular internet access as a way of life is now twenty years old for most of the United States alone, retire the phrase "IRL" when what we mean is "in person"? Aside from that annoyance, when you interact with someone online (I said someone, not a bot) you're interacting with a real person. Forgetting that seems to be lasting problem of the internet that we should be trying to remove.
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If a close friend is struggling to keep their business afloat, I'll make them a poppet stuffed with cash that I've doused in prosperity oil. (pg 9)
I'm confused as to the point of stuffing the poppet with cash to give to someone struggling financially. So... do they take the cash out of it to use? If it's not intended that way, that's strange, isn't it? Wouldn't the cash reek of the prosperity oil? Is that part of it?
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THE AUTHOR VERSUS COVENS:
Most covens tend to be very rooted in a specific path such as Wiccan, Thelemic, Satanic, or the like, and I honestly take from all of those paths, many other paths, and create my own way a lot of the time.(pg 18)
"Wicca" is considerably more fluid of a term and concept than the author seems to think. Also, if you casually drop the term "Satanic", might be a good idea to dispel any misconceptions people have about that.
[Covens] do serve an important purpose though, namely they make witchcraft and Paganism look like a viable religion in a society that normally thinks we're absurd, goth teenagers who saw The Craft a few too many times. (pg 18)
Uh, that's definitely not the main purpose of covens. The main purpose of covens is providing structure and community (and sometimes education to help further your study). Frankly, if someone wants to cling to a stereotype from at least twenty years ago (I heard it well into the 2000s), I'd rather it be "goth teens that like a slightly cheesy '90s teen horror flick" than "sacrificing animals and abusing children".
Additionally, covens are traditionally very white and the queer community would be nothing without the Queer and Trans Black and Indigenous People of Color (QTBIPOC) who have paved the way for us. Covens are also often very straight or emphasize all male or all female breakdowns that are traumatic and isolating for trans and non-binary people. (pg 19)
"Traditionally" for whom?! To what covens did this author belong? This is elevating a problem that Pagans of color have talked about for years, the erasure from discussions about Paganism, and the author is literally doing that while seemingly just repeating a talking point they don't seem to actually understand.
As for "often very straight" that's not true either. Queer covens have always existed.
I'm not surprised the author doesn't mention that, as they had absolutely nothing (or so scant I missed it, and I went back a lot for this review) about the Radical Faerie Movement. How on earth do you write a book about Queer Witchcraft and leave out the Radical Faeries?! This is why learning history is your friend.
As far as what's generally called "traditional Witchcraft" (meaning generally Gardnerian stuff written in the 1950s that was published in the 1970s, and reiterated and slightly revamped in the 1980s and 1990s), the whole gender binary is indeed something that still needs to be eradicated/improved, but that's old material, not modern, practicing covens as a whole, which can vary from group to group.
This is my personal experience, but the coven with which I studied for a time (three of the members, including the High Priestess, were legal clergy) was multi-racial and contained both Queer people and het/cis people. Actually, the first time I attended a same-gender wedding was through this particular coven! (It was between two coven members and the High Priestess was officiating their marriage.)
Further erasing Queer people and people of color (and QPOC) when you're literally supposed to be framing this against queerphobia and racism/white supremacy is quite the trick.
Throughout witch history there have been solutions to the social problems I listed above, but as Black and Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)-run organizations are disturbingly underfunded, they're often the first to fold when something like coven work starts going out of vogue, meaning the odds of finding a queer friendly and racially inclusive coven are almost nil right now. (pg 20)
What... why... this is not helpful advice to give. It's not practical advice to give. This perspective totally ignores social media which actually makes it easier to find out more about groups and organizations than you could before. Also, you may be able to start your OWN coven and and therefore make sure it's racially inclusive and Queer friendly! Not mentioning that and just basically telling Queer Witches and Witches of color there's basically no option for them when it comes to covens is ridiculous and a questionable choice.
Beltane is when a lot of covens do group sex magic (pg 76)
Define "a lot". Also, again, it'd be super helpful if you'd clarify "sex magic". Do you mean covens are having sex with one another? Do you mean they perform fertility magic (or maybe magic dealing with sex, like perhaps a sex positivity spell, or to help someone that wants to be less inhibited) around Beltane? Don't just fire off phrases like that. The Satanic Panic might be over, but fighting against misconceptions still goes on. In most if not all mainstream Pagan places, sex with strangers or people with whom you're not in an already established sexual relationship is definitely not part of it.
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THE AUTHOR VERSUS TAROT:
In the tarot, the Devil often represents the shadow self. This card shows up dripping with sexual energy and an indulgent attitude. Tarot lore says that's bad, but a good reader will probe you to go deeper and figure out what you've been restricting and why. (pg 23)
What Tarot lore is the author is referencing that it's "bad"? I mean, it's literally the Devil, but cards have nuanced meanings (even if you've never picked up a Tarot deck, you probably already know that the Death card does not actually mean death).
A lot of times the Minor Arcana (those four suits I mentioned above) aren't written about with the fervor that the Majors are, but I love the Minors. Focus on the Majors is something those with privilege and clout can do in our society. When they're not fighting to have their basic needs covered, they can do things like focus on enlightenment. The rest of us are still just trying to find love, make enough money to eat, and heal from our trauma. (pg 126)
....What even is this?! People that tend to focus on the Major Arcana tend to do so because they have less time, something for which the author beats on about Queer people constantly being strapped.
This is again my personal experience, but I remember early on in learning about the Tarot, I met a fellow young Witch who rather shyly said she tended to focus on the Major Arcana based on lack of time and she was literally a lesbian and Black. Framing the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana against one another like the Minor Arcana is the choice of the working people and the oppressed (you know the Minor Arcana literally has royalty like kings and queens in it?) is... strange. Frankly, having the time to be able to focus on ALL of the Tarot is a privilege.
To learn tarot yourself, head to your nearest metaphysical store or bookstore and hold some decks in your hands. While demo stations are not common, they're also not unheard of. (pg 126)
I feel this advice is misplaced. Brick and mortar metaphysical stores are sadly pretty on the wane and it's been that way even before the pandemic. Most people will find Tarot online. I've been to many, many metaphysical stores across many states and have never seen a Tarot demo station. This neglects that short of a demo station, Tarot cards are by necessity wrapped so that only the buyer comes in contact with the cards (and when you buy a set, you're not inadvertently buying it used-- incidentally, I have a used set and I love it!).
This love spell is perfect for those whose relationship looks more like a Three or Ten of Cups tarot card than the seemingly monogamous Two of Cups. (pg 206)
This is a polyamory spell. I... I just.... Look. The numbers on the suit of cups don't relate to actual numbers of lovers or partners. They relate to (very broadly!) types of love. Very, very broadly, the Two of Cups refers to romantic/sexual love (regardless of number of partners). Three of Cups refers to friendship and community, and Ten of Cups refers to family love. I'm kind of shocked (although I shouldn't be, given the rest of the book) that someone who literally wrote a book about Tarot doesn't know what the actual card meanings are. The two of cups isn't "monogamous" (which incidentally originally just meant that you marry one person, not are in a relationship with one person, thus the term polyAMORY not polygamy) unless you tie the current legal standard of marriage to it which... why would you do that?
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Queering our altars can start with aesthetics alone. What screams, "I'm here, I'm queer, and I'm doing freaking magick!" to you? Add all of that to your altar. Add subtle rainbows or go all in on the glitter. Make it the punkest, most DIY looking altar that ever existed, full of patches and ornaments made out of bike tires. Use poppers in place of rum to serve your deities. Put an Indigo Girls poster up. Get creative, and get queer- but do make sure it circles back to the reasons for your altar in the first place. (pg 29)
....My head hurts.
Also, please don't feel that you have to put drugs on your altar.
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THE AUTHOR VERSUS WICCA:
Calling the corners as part of this means calling in each of the elements at the beginning of your process. This is largely a Wiccan practice, but one I still often do (pg 38)
It's generally called "Calling the Quarters" (did they just mishear?), and it's an occult practice that spans far beyond Wicca.
A lot of the Wheel of the Year myth is steeped in specifically Wiccan myth and culture, and I am not Wiccan at all. Yet this wheel, in so many ways, transcends space, time, and culture to provide a framework that any of us can use. A lot of that Wiccan myth takes from other mythologies, meaning that my Celtic roots or someone else's Egyptian roots shine light through on those days too. For this book, and for that reason, I've chosen to leave out as much myth about the Sabbats that one could leave out and still have the day make sense. (pg 70)
Okay, this paragraph makes no sense. For one, there is no single "Wiccan myth" BECAUSE it's a lot of different mythologies. Did the author just hear about something through Wicca and assume that that's where it originated? Because that's the vibe I keep getting.
These are PAGAN sabbats and knowing the various histories behind them enriches them. The author aiming to strip away that history and the mythos around it is a really curious choice and I don't think it's a good one.
Also, "not Wiccan at all" and yet the author mentions in the book that they take things from Wicca. You can take things from something and not be that thing, of course, but this is unnecessarily complicated (and I really don't think the author knows much about Wicca).
This spell is based on the relatively Wiccan principle of "3x3," meaning anything we put out comes back to us times three. I don't believe in the math and some of the darker, spiritual bypassing that get thrown in with this adage, but I do think that when we're generous and kind, we foster generosity in our own lives. (pg 180)
Again, three times three is absolutely, positively, an occult and folklore thing not a "relatively Wiccan" thing. Again, I really, really doubt they know much about Wicca or the history of Paganism nor modern occultism.
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The Moon is often referred to and revered as the Divine Feminine, with the Sun as the Divine Masculine. As queer people, it's up to the individual whether you subscribe to this or not. I will often work with this and then decide that if this is true, the Earth must be non-binary. Sometimes I throw it out all together. (pg 59)
While the author goes on to some lip service about some cultures see the Moon as masculine (and the Sun as feminine), I feel it's necessary to point out that number one, Deities are beyond gender, number two, masculine does not mean male same as feminine does not mean female. Also, nonbinary does not mean androgynous, and it also isn't some third gender (as one great saying goes "Stop trying to make the binary into a trinary!"). Gender is a spectrum.
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Queers love a good party, and this does not have to be a small, intimate affair. (pg 82)
If you're not into systems or structure at all (like so many other queers!) but love the ideas of holding a deck of bewitched cards in your hand (pg 128)
The hanky code, or flagging, was primarily used by gay and bisexual men when it first sprung up in the '70s, but queers of all genders and sexualities have been using this code or a variation of it for awhile now. (pg 188)
I am obviously fully in favor of reclaiming the word "Queer". I think it is a wonderful, inclusive term that belongs to us and that we should use. I do not think it is only a slur, it's so much more, and I think too many exclusionists lean on "it's a slur! It means bad things!" to cease its use because of that inclusivity.
With all that said? Say "Queer people". DON'T say "queers". Say "queer" or "a queer person", don't say "a queer".
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Samhain is the witchiest and spookiest of Sabbats (pg 83)
No, it is not. In popular culture perhaps, but to people who actually go to the trouble of studying the mythos, history, and stories around the sabbats, it's complex and nuanced. There are spooky elements to nearly every sabbat, and none is more "witchy" than the other.
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You can kiss the genders you prefer under mistletoe knowing that it's really a symbol of metaphorical fertility-- affording you many more kisses with that gender or those genders under much more mistletoe. (pg 86)
This is a small thing, but it's an important thing. We still get people saying "gender preference" as though it's a choice. It's not. Also, what exactly does gender have to do with this at all? The custom is kissing people under the mistletoe, and it's not even necessarily romantic/sexual in the current custom. This is... weird and easily fixable.
"You can kiss who you want under mistletoe knowing that it's really a symbol of metaphorical fertility-- affording you many more kisses under much more mistletoe."
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This is a popular witch principle too with the rule of three, and though I don't believe in "three times three" exactly (pg 86)
Now's a good time to bring up what Amanda Yates Garcia pointed out in Initiated. It's less a rule and more of a way we try to live our lives, as though our actions return to us threefold so with that in mind we try to act thoughtfully. I've seen too many people claim they "don't believe in" the Threefold Law (or Law of Three) or just "karma" (quotations because they are not using the term correctly and/or are using it synonymous with the Law of Three) and "debunk it", only to miss the whole damn point.
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It's easy, as a queer person in 2019 to be skeptical and critical of Pride Festivals losing their meaning and giving themselves over to debauchery (pg 87)
Isn't a far greater concern (or rather wasn't it, given that 2019 nearly three years past, but this is still a problem) that Pride has been co-opted by corporations that for business practices only pretend to care about us once a year and enforce queerphobia the rest of the time so we shouldn't be given them space at Pride? (While also acknowledging the fact thanks to tireless activists, Pride is a reality and is now normalized enough to be sound business sense?)
Usually the people whinging on about "no kink at Pride" and gritting their teeth about the Leather Pride flag have no concept of Queer history and plenty of internalized bigotry to work out. Most Pride celebrations have family friendly parts and more adult sections.
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You can absolutely take this a step further and inform your sister, best friend, or nonbinary datemate that you are in fact throwing them a Sabbat for their birthday. (pg 91)
I think I'd rather be called a slur than "nonbinary datemate".
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Many of us know March 14th as Pie Day, a day where we literally just... eat pie. (pg 94)
Uhhh, March 14th isn't "Pie Day", it's Pi Day, as in the number pi (3.14 being the first three digits), and people serve pie as a play on words.
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You don't have to be an expert on queer community to see that LGBTQQIA2SP+ people, especially trans people, live in disproportionate amounts of poverty. That means a lot of books about witchcraft (even those aimed at beginners) aren't a good fit. Those books strongly suggest buying certain things or starting a loop of unending reading and research that is both overwhelming and expensive. (pg 101)
I would need to see the stats on that. I believe it's true about trans people but queer people as a whole? Citation needed, please. I add that because I feel presenting it this way is erasing some privileges that shouldn't be erased.
I do agree that too many beginner books that stress massive amounts of purchases aren't a good idea on any level (it's true props help in the beginning and sometimes after that, but I promise the most important and the only thing is you and your energy). So it's kind of weird that earlier in the book the author suggested taking trips to metaphysical stores (if you're lucky enough to live near one, great! But that's pretty unlikely!) and holding Tarot decks, which can be pretty pricey.
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Some of the most feminist and cisgender women I know frown loudly at the idea that their strongest magick is held in their reproductive system. In some ways, this is anti-feminist, because it says that their greatest value resides in the baby-making parts. (pgs 102 and 103)
In every way it's anti-feminist to see women as walking wombs. That's why I say TERFs (that's Trans Exclusionary Radical "Feminists") are fauxminists. You can't see women the same way misogynists do and get to call yourself a feminist.
(I know I've piled on enough at this point and I've still got more to go, but I swear if I never heard "reproductive organs" referred to as "baby-making parts" again, it'd be too soon.)
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I have a high school friend who's also a lesbian now (pg 107 and 108)
No, you don't. You have a friend from high school who came out as a lesbian after high school. This is another instance of not reinforcing false information. I've had so many straight people ask me when someone "turned gay" or "turned bi" when they came out. STOP!
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I don't have statistics on this, but a lot of queer community and chosen family relationship building veers towards the intense and borderline codependent. (pg 156)
You should get the statistic on this, or at least provide better evidence. Or even just something innocuous about how easy it can be to fall into unhealthy relationship dynamics (or recreate them from that in which you were raised) with chosen community as an adult, particularly marginalized community, so try to be mindful of that would be an improvement.
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Queer witches are not weak and fluffy by the very nature of how hard we work to maintain full, rich lives while also having our voices heard, while also sheltering and loving each other, while also working to create very real change in the world. (pg 137)
"Sheltering and loving each other" is a great goal and ideal, but that's just not the reality for all of the Queer community and portraying it that way erases the experience of those of us who face continuing prejudice from within the community.
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If it's love magick you're into but you live in a small town with few to no queer people, you might have to get creative about where you might find or run into potential paramours. This might mean going online to ensure the people you're talking to are queer (and therefore safer). (pg 174)
Please exercise caution whenever you meet someone in person, regardless of whether they are Queer or not. Marginalized communities that thought they were safe with people from that community learned the hard way they were not. A horrifying number of serial killers have preyed on Queer men looking to meet someone. Hopefully we're better and more informed now, but just knowing someone is Queer does not make them safe.
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Poverty trauma is called trauma for a reason. Years after we leave the bounds of poverty, or even when we start being truly comfortable but are still under the poverty line, we struggle to remember that our next meal is taken care of and to believe that the money we're steadily making isn't just going to all be ripped away from us. This is especially true for queer and BIPOC people who really do need to watch their backs because we do not live in a society that wants us to succeed or move forward. Yet we do owe it to ourselves to succeed, and we can't give back to our community or redistribute our own wealth if we don't have any. (pg 179)
....My head hurts. I agree poverty trauma is absolutely real. I believe it is additionally bad for Queer people and people of color (and on top of that, QPOC). I believe there's nothing wrong with trying to succeed and giving to your community. BUT LITERALLY WHY PUT ANY OF THAT LIKE THAT IN THAT WORD SALAD.
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An optional alternative amplification of this spell is to correlate this spell with sex magick. As you're working towards orgasm, rub your hands together or on your thighs or chest. As you cum, grab the object and allow it to stay in your hands as you come down. (pgs 181 and 180)
This is for a spell that at least contains the raising of energy. However, IT IS C-O-M-E NOT CUM YES THIS IS ONE OF MY HILLS. SEX IS NOT GROSS OR DIRTY AND NEEDS A BAD SPELLING OF THE WORD COME; COME MEANS ARRIVE LIKE ARRIVE AT ORGASM AND IT'S FINE JUST AS IT IS.
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A lot of times finding Mx. Right or Mx. Right Now is a numbers game (pg 181)
Credit where credit is due, that is the appropriate gender neutral title.
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To add the optional glamour step to this spell, think about how you want others to see you. I often wish to be read as gay or non-binary in a queer space, or to be read as sexy on a date regardless of how I feel that day (pg 185)
Given the rest of the book, this initially made me twitch.
However, the author said "read" not "look" which is important. So much of Queer culture is still subtext. We get a sense, or we get a read on someone and those jokes about "gaydar" were a way of Queer survival when it was illegal and not safe to just come out and ask someone's orientation or gender alignment. So therefore, wanting to be read a certain way (for example, at first glance you might look male-presenting, but actually you're nonbinary and use they/them and want people to pick up on that) is fine. I dunno if I'd liken it to wanting to be read as sexy on a date, but if it makes you feel better and gives you confidence, it's fine.
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What I will say is that when it comes to finding true l-o-v-e, the odds are stacked against everyone, but especially against queer people who are only a wee percentage of the general population, even in bigger cities. (pg 194)
Citation needed about queer people being only a wee percentage of the general population. Also, that doesn't factor in closeted people, people that might not realize, or people that are just unfamiliar with all the terminology and when they discover it, they might find themselves. I feel like statements like this cause more harm than good.
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Marginalized people come in to a lot of situations feeling very guarded or on edge, ready to defend themselves, and even a perceived attack can cause them to lash out. This is a lot of what has led to cancel culture and the lack of nuance in those conversations about harm versus forgiveness. (pg 211)
Imagine using "cancel culture" in 2020 when it was pretty well appropriated beyond use by Right-wing ideologues by that time.
But okay. Let's pretend the Right didn't get a hold of it and ruin it. Do people thrive on a mob mentality at times and claim it's in the name of social justice in a way that's sure to harm marginalized people first? Yes. Is the nuance between, say, a formerly beloved billionaire author who has been radicalized by hate groups and is now the main donor (and is currently giving millions) to powerful hate lobbies the same as a small scale creator that made questionable jokes over a decade ago? No. Should the small-scale creator at least address it when people bring it up (a "I was wrong then and know better now." is enough) and do people still have a right to say "That was a bigoted joke"? Yes!
It's nuanced and I at least agree with the author in so far as nuance is stripped from these situations and most major social media companies built their business models and thrive on this, particularly as social media usage is lower than it used to be, so the pressure for "engagement" is higher.
But remove the words "cancel" and "cancel culture" from your vocabulary. They're ruined now. There's no going back.
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As more television characters (especially in prime-time slots) and movie characters are LGBTQQIA2SP+ and as more and more churches rush to prove themselves to be on the right side of history, our parents and grandparents are getting more exposure to identities and viewpoints they may not have considered before. Sometimes they just needed time to process, and now, they're ready to come back. (pg 213)
I agree that representation is important and powerful and I myself have seen its affects first hand, but the "parents and grandparents" thing smacks of the false concept that bigotry is a matter of age. It's not. Growing up with Queer characters in media is a wonderful and necessary thing, but it sadly doesn't ensure understanding or inoculate against bigotry.
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Don't sell yourself short, but don't pull a Sally Owens from Practical Magic and design an impossible person. (pg 195)
Did anybody actually read the book or do people only watch the movie? The movie, I might add, that has copaganda the book does not? THE BOOK IS BETTER, READ THE BOOK!
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I must say, in the spirit of magic, it really does feel like I'm blessed. I was, as I said, looking to read Mat Auryn's book and this came up instead, for that heavily promoted forward. And after his forward in this book and its pointed omission (and in this of all books, really), I'm quite grateful to not have wasted my time.
Final Grade: F
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