Witches Network

    Back in the day, it was tough to find a witchy community. If you wanted to meet other witches, you would have to convince an innocent woman to sign the devil's book at your Saabat, or fly your broomstick one town over and join their coven. These complications of the past are no more! Now, one simple google search finds Mandragora Magika "A Worldwide Network for Traditional Initiatory Wicca, Witchcraft, Paganism, Witchy Stores, Blogs, YouTube Channels and more..."

Networking

    I stumbled on this website when I was looking for stories about local witches. I wanted to know if there were any witch groups in Fort Worth, and if so, what do they do? This website had the answer to my question, and more. The main purpose of this website is to connect witches to local covens and resources. You can search for a group by state, then by city. If you are starting your own coven, you can upload your contact information and a short description of your group for potential witches to reach out.

    The local coven in Fort Worth is called the "Magical Girl Society" and they are creating "an interconnected network of inspired women (LBT+ Inclusive) who are devout to servicing their communities, healing their bodies and minds, and putting their power and magic into creating a better world - one step at a time." I also found The Texas Local Council of the Covenant of the Goddess which is located in DFW, and they hold their Sabbats in Arlington. 

    It is very easy to fall down a rabbit hole with this website. It has many links to witchy groups websites, which link to coven websites, which link to classes, meetings, history, traditions, etc.

Other Features

    This website has many uses beyond just finding witch groups. They also have a shop where they sell witchy themed art prints, clothes, and accessories. They also provide an extensive list of recommended reading. The reading section stood out to me because of how many different topics they provide. They have readings on the history of witches, witches in the queer community, African witch traditions, and more. They also support small businesses by providing a list of witchy businesses by area.

    This website is a great resource for witches of any experience level. I find it so interesting how modern witches have continued to practice witchcraft. This website is a great example of how witchy communities have continued to thrive.

Witches and Zines

Magical Zines

I'm currently taking WRIT 20323: Intro to Multimedia Authoring: Collective Zine Making with Dr. Wenzel. In this class, we discuss the significance of zines. Zines are essentially self-published mini-magazines. Because they are self-published, they give insight into people and stories that wouldn't be released by major publishers. Zinesters (zine writers) often focus on themes of identity and social issues. You may be thinking, "What does this have to do with witches?" To that, I say surprisingly a lot. 

Though the term "zine" wasn't coined until the 1930s, witches are actually a large part of the history of zines. Some people claim that the writings on how to practice witchcraft created in the 1400s were the first zines. For example, pamphlets on healing, birth control, and herbs written and distributed by cunning folk would be considered zines. Of course, these were quickly followed by religious zines on how to catch witches (Alanna Stapleton 2024, Joe Beil Make a Zine, 2017). In his book Make A Zine, Joe Beil mentions that "Malleus Maleficarum" by our good friend Heinrich Kramer could be considered a zine.

Today, modern witches are still making zines. Witchy zines have grown in popularity over time and have created an entirely new sub-genre of zine. A quick search on Etsy for "witch zine" comes up with over 1,000 results. Many of these zines are guides on how to practice witchcraft in modern times. A lot of them discuss how witchcraft can connect to social issues and identities. For example, "F*** your Magic Antisemitism" by Ezra Rose (which you can download for free) looks at the history of witchcraft and Jewish beliefs. Also "A Pagan Anti-Capitalist Primer" By Alley Valkyrie And Rhyd Wildermuth talks about how paganism clashes with capitalism. 

I find it really interesting how people are still finding ways to practice witchcraft today. Though witchcraft has changed so much over time, these zinesters have the same goals witches did back in the 1400s, spreading knowledge about witchcraft.  

The Tortured Witches Department

    Taylor Swift's newest album, The Tortured Poets Department, came out this weekend on April 19th. During my first listen, I couldn't help but notice some witchy themes. We have talked a little in class about how she includes witch imagery and descriptions in her music and visuals. This new album is no different. Here are my favorite examples of witchy concepts in Taylor's new album.

The Prophecy:

"I look unstable gathered with a coven round a sorcerer's table"

    This is one of the most clear connections to witchcraft in the album. After a failed relationship, the subject of this song is worried that she is destined to never find true love. She resorts to witchcraft to change the "prophecy" that she will be alone forever.

  I find it interesting how much overlap there is between witches and love stories. A lot of our movies feature love stories / love potions like The Love Witch, Practical Magic, and in a way Witches of Eastwick. These are based on the real love spells that witches would attempt like the one in this Wikihow article. This also reminded me of the Venus Glass experiments the girls in Salem would do. Women, especially back then, are made to believe that who they will marry is one of the most important things in their lives. This drove the girls of Salem to oomancy and Taylor Swift to a coven and sorcerer's table.

But Daddy I Love Him:

"Sarahs and Hannahs in their Sunday best / clutchin' their pearls, sighing, 'What a mess'"

    This song is about a girl who's town doesn't approve of her relationship. All of the people of the town judge and ostracize her because she is not following the traditional religious values they do. This reminded me of how witches were often ostracized because they did not fit into the strict puritan values. When I hear this song, I can't help but visualize the hyper-religious small town from Witches of Eastwick.

    This song is not about trying to fit in, but reveling in the fact that you don't. The subject of this song doesn't fit in and she doesn't want to. She is having too much fun standing out. This also made me think of the witches in the movies we have discussed. Many of them are proud of and have fun with their powers.

Who's Afraid of Little Old Me?

"So I leap from the gallows and I levitate down your street / Crash the party like a record scratch as I scream / 'Who's afraid of little old me?' / You should be"

    The imagery of the "gallows" is very connected to the witch hunts. Taylor uses it here to show how the subject of this song had been outcast from society, but is fighting back. She uses her powers to raise herself from the gallows and show everyone that she is strong. This character has already been convicted, and she is coming back to get revenge on her accusers. They convicted her because they feared her, she is giving them a reason to be afraid. Later in the song she says "I'm fearsome and I'm wretched and I'm wrong" which are descriptors that could easily be applied to witches.

Honorable Mentions:

- Fortnight: "Turned into good neighbors / Your wife waters flowers / I want to kill her"

    - Good neighbors often want to kill each other.

- I Look in People's Windows: "I look in people's windows"

    - Good neighbors often look in each other's windows.      

The Greatest Show

 "In a commonwealth where plays and theatres were illegal, the hearings and trials of 1692 were the greatest show the villagers had ever seen."

- A Salem Witch by Daniel Gagnon

    Rebecca Nurse's questioning was a spectacle. All of the townspeople gathered to see an old, sickly woman be called a witch. Not sure that's how I would want to spend my Saturday night, but let's face it... it's not like they had anything better to do.

    As the quote from our reading mentions, plays and theatres were illegal in Salem. This law stems from the strict puritan religion they followed. This got me interested in what else was illegal in Salem and Puritan society as a whole.

Other things that were illegal in Puritan Salem: 

- Kissing in public

- Wearing lace

- Wearing sleeves that were too short 

- Wearing gold or silver (unless you were rich)

- Swearing

- Drinking

- Being lazy

- Gossiping

- Celebrating Christmas

(Sources:  https://shorturl.at/cjqwD. and https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2007/10/puritan-laws-and-customs.html)

    These strict laws did not allow for much personal expression or fun. In this quote, Gagnon suggests that the sensational nature of the trials were a kind of dark entertainment for many people. Rebecca Nurse's hearing is a good example of the drama that surrounded these trials. During the questioning, the afflicted would have fits and visions. These fits built off of eachother, getting worse and worse over time. The people in the crowd were moved by these fits, some crying out of worry. Interestingly, the fits seemed to be responsive to the line of questioning. Whenever Hathorne would ease up with his questioning, the fits would get worse, causing him to take a harsher tone with Nurse. The questioning was less of a legal process and something more like improv theatre. 

    I think this take on the trials is interesting, but it downplays the terrible things that really happened. The people of the town were truly terrified that witches were taking over. Nurse's questioning showed that no one was safe from the devil's influence.  It's possible that some in the town didn't believe anything, and saw the trials as pure drama, but most took it very seriously.

Fortune Telling Games

Divination by Young Girls

    The girls of Salem read their future by putting egg whites in warm water. This practice was called oomancy, and it apparently made John Hale very uncomfortable. In his account of the Salem trials, he said that the girls "tampered with the Devil’s tools so far that hereby one door was opened to Satan to play those pranks"(The Salem Witch Hunt, page 53). He also said this practice led to one of the girl's deaths, after she had seen a coffin in her future. I wonder what he would have thought of the future telling games my friends and I would play in elementary school.

    

    The game we played the most was M.A.S.H. This was a paper and pen based fortune telling game. When we played it, the letters stood for Mansion, Apartment, Shack, and House, but I've seen other variations. The players would write out MASH, a list of people they might marry, a job they may have, the number of kids, a place to live, and the car they may drive. Then, one of the players would close their eyes and draw a spiral until the person who is getting their fortune told tells them when to stop. They would count the number of rounds in the spiral and that would be their magic number. They would go down the list in each category until they reached the magic number, and whatever they landed on would be their future. I played this games many times, but have yet to marry one of the Jonas Brothers or members of One Direction, like was predicted.

        Another fortune telling game I remember fondly was the paper fortune teller. This one was much more involved because you had to learn how to fold the fortune teller. I was always bad at it, but once you got it down, you had the power of divination literally in the palm of your hand.  In this game you would fold a piece of paper to create layers where the players would choose different options that would reveal their future. To start, the player would pick a color and the fortune teller would spell it out loud, opening the fortune teller to a different side with each letter. Then, the player would pick a number and again the fortune teller would open it that many times. Finally, the player would pick a number to open and that would be their fortune. Of course, the fortunes were just written by other kids, so their legitimacy is unclear.  

    

    We always knew that these were just games. They didn't really mean anything about our future. We did them for fun in between classes or during recess. I wonder if the girls in Salem thought the same thing. Were these just silly games to pass the time, or did they really believe in those eggs? Would John Hale call me a witch for knowing how to fold a fortune teller?

I'm not sure, but I would bet the girls of Salem cracked those eggs for the same reasons we drew spirals all over our papers.

Witches in Music Videos

Witchy Music

    Our discussion of witches in film and TV has had me looking for depictions of witches everywhere. This led me to think about witches in music and music videos. For my blog this week, I compiled three of my favorite examples of witches in music.

W.I.T.C.H. by Devon Cole

    

    This song changes the word "witch" to an acronym meaning "Woman In Total Control of Herself". In the song, a W.I.T.C.H. is a confident and powerful woman. The video takes a really fun and lighthearted view on witches. The girls in the video are just dancing to the music and enjoying nature. There are multiple references to witchcraft, like when she says "it's such a wonder to be under her spell" and "I swear to God, I saw her howling at the sky", but the witches are never seen as bad or scary. The witches in this video "ain't out to get you, but [they're] better on your side". 

Seashore by The Regrettes

    This song is about the singer's experiences with being a young woman in the music industry. For context, when this song came out, she was 16 years old. The lyrics talk about her frustrations with being talked down to by older men. In the music video, she plays the part of a woman being burned at the stake after being accused of being a witch. She's not exactly angry about this, more mildly annoyed. I took this as a statement on how she is so used to being treated this way that it doesn't surprise or enrage her anymore. It's annoying, but it's nothing new. This music video makes an interesting statement on the specific kind of misogyny that younger women face.

Willow by Taylor Swift

    We talked a little about the live performance of this song in class where Taylor and her dancers look like witches at Sabaat, throwing glowing orbs around. The music video has a similar scene, where Taylor finds herself at a witch meeting in the woods. The witches are shown summoning something (orange orbs?) from the ground. Taylor joins in and the magic they produced leads her back to the love interest of the video. What we didn't talk about in class was the many official witchy versions of this song. After the song released, Taylor released remixes of this song, each a different witchy vibe. There's Willow (dancing witch version), Willow (lonely witch version), and finally Willow (moonlit witch verison). Overall, Willow is a really interesting depiction of witches in music.

    I'm sure there are many more depictions of witches in music videos, these are just the ones that stood out to me immediately. I find it interesting that all of these depictions are created by women. I wonder how these songs and their videos would differ if they were made by men.

Witchy Children's books

 The Witch who was Afraid of Witches by Alice Low

This week in class we are discussing how witches are depicted in children's books. The book I picked is called "The Witch who was Afraid of Witches" and it is by Alice Low. The title of this book stood out to me because I thought it might follow the classic "good witch/bad witch" characterization. It takes a very interesting approach to this idea.

Plot overview

The book begins follows Wendy, a young witch. She is afraid of "older, bossy, mean witches like her two sisters". Her sisters have their own special powers, but Wendy only has weak powers. On Halloween, a young boy dressed as a ghost comes to their house to trick or treat. She goes with him and learns that she has the power to make up her own spells, she just has to use her own voice. She casts a spell on him that turns his ghost costume into a witch costume. When she goes home, she casts spells on her sisters so they can't fly their brooms. They come home and realize Wendy's powers have changed. They respect her more because she has come into her power. The book says "they knew she was different... just like one of them".

Analysis

First, I want to discuss the way this book visually depicts witches. The witches in this book have a very classic witch look. They have the long black dresses, pointy black hats, brooms, and are often seen around black cats. I think this was a good choice for a kids book because the witches are very recognizable. Interestingly, Wendy is often shown without her hat and in more colorful clothes. I think this was done to set her apart from her sisters and make her more relatable to the audience. The classic witch look Wendy's sisters rock matches the classic "bad witch" personality they have in the book, while Wendy is more sympathetic.

This book is interesting because the main character is a "bad" witch, but it's not really depicted as a bad thing. Wendy wants to be scary and put powerful spells on people. She even puts spells on her sisters so they can't fly. She's doing things that "bad" witches do, but it's presented in a fun and silly way. This silly tone let's children better understand the real message of the book, the importance of being yourself. Wendy learns that to be the most powerful witch she can be, she has to be herself and stop comparing herself to her sisters. 

I think that this message aligns well with the witchy theme. Witches are by definition, different. They are something other than human and they have special magic or knowledge that gives them power over people. This identity lends itself to the lesson that it's important to be different.

Overall, I thought that this book was really cute. It's a nice story and message with vintage style drawings. I give this book 4/5 broomsticks. It misses one broomstick because in the end, she doesn't tell her sisters about her power and I didn't think that was a satisfying ending.