BS-Free Witchcraft

Look, there are two things I wanted to talk about this month, but didn’t have enough time to fully prepare an episode on either. So, instead, I’m just going to talk about my current thoughts on both of these (unrelated) topics. First off we have the US Military no longer recognizing about 180 different religions, and then after that I’m talking about my thoughts on Chaos vs Eclec...

Well, it must be May, because I’m doing another book review! This time around I’m reviewing Thumper Forge’s “The Chaos Apple” (ISBN 9780738775432) which came out last fall. It is, unsurprisingly, a book on Chaos Magic – a topic it turns out I knew more about than I realized. And while overall I liked this book a lot, it does have one glaring issue for me…...

One of the biggest challenges in building a real community in the modern witchcraft movement is, honestly, the lack of respect a lot of folks show each other. From asserting that unverified personal gnosis is fact to spreading misinformation, it’s a huge issue. Well, we need to fix that. Pre-Order Welcome to Peregrine Lake: Peregrine Lake Chapter One ISBN: 9798348498733 Pre-Order: BookShop.o...

One of the topics I’ve wanted to cover on this show for the longest time is gatekeeping in witchcraft spaces. It was on my original list of topics when I started the show, and it just kept getting knocked down the list. My opinion has evolved a lot over the years though, and the take I have now is in many ways completely different than what it would have been if I’d made this episode w...

A long time ago I made a joke post on Tumblr called “ Beginner Witch Tips ” where I included the advice to curse your enemies. I later recreated that list on TikTok too . But just like how the item “ Fight a God ” went from tongue in cheek to genuine advice, this one was always partially serious too. So this month, I’m going to explain why I think you should just star...

There’s an annoying thing in the witchcraft community where every new idea or trend gets cast as an “ancient” practice even if it’s just a few years old. Time and time again, we see people constructing false narratives about the supposed historicity of ideas, spells, and rituals in witchcraft spaces, and all of it is bad for us. Why do people feel the need to lie? Why does...

I’m getting a bit contemplative at the end of the year, and this month we’re talking about the importance of the mystery of the night. Everything feels just a little more magical in the dark, and why that just feels right as a witch. That’s right, we’re talking about an aesthetic this time around. Who would have guessed? Read Trae’s new Novel Buried Memories ! ISBN: 9...

One of the biggest things I think a lot of older witches take for granted is that people understand what makes Wicca, well, Wicca . While we’ve discussed the history before, and last month talked about the weird anti-Wicca backlash , I think there are a lot of misconceptions about how this incredibly diverse religion is practiced. Frankly, just the fact that it is largely an orthopraxic reli...

If you spend any amount of time on social media these days, especially TikTok, you’ll find a surprising amount of anti-Wiccan sentiment… and a lot of it’s pretty weird. Thumper Forge, Gardnerian Wiccan and author of the forthcoming The Chaos Apple , joins me as we, frankly, debunk some of the worst of it and talk about why we think this has happened. Also we end up on about twent...

This episode marks seven years of this podcast, and as we start the eighth, I decided that it was time we looked back on how much things have changed in the modern witchcraft space since then, along with how different things are since I first became a witch over twenty-five years ago. Because what is witchcraft if it’s not change? Also, I’m standing in a park most of the episode, which...