BS-Free Witchcraft

So we don't talk about a lot of new age gurus, life coaches, and other "spiritual leaders" on this show. But when so called "Wealth Witch" Leah Steele reached out to me literally out of nowhere this month... I ended up going down the weirdest rabbit hole that ended at an "Australian Sex Wizard." That is a sentence I just typed. Last month we went solidly into the Witchcraft category, this month we...

We've talked before about how dabbling in witchcraft is not just perfectly acceptable, but should be encouraged. It leaves the question open though -- just how does one dabble? With that in mind, and at the suggestion of Tumblr user AskSecularWitch , I've gone through and created a "Dabbler's Week" -- a week of activities that someone could do to get a taste of what my form of witchcraft is like.

While reading a post on The Wild Hunt I got to thinking about the wild world of self publishing and Witchcraft books. How does a new Witch know if a source is good or bad? How can they tell if it's a genuine writer or a pen name optimized for SEO? Why is everything so frickin' complicated?

On this episode of the podcast we are talking about something this show rarely covers -- actual practical spellcraft advice. Specifically, we're just going to talk about candles. Yep, you read that correctly, this is twenty-something minutes of Trae talking about fricking candles. It'll make sense when you listen to it

I got a question in my inbox from a listener asking if whether or not knowing a lot of Wicca was created less than a hundred years ago made it feel less legitimate. It's an interesting question, and whether or not something being more "established" makes it more "real" is something I thought we should tackle. Also, there's a tiny bit more of that interview with author Bree NicGarran from last epis...

It's that spooky time of year again. With Halloween and Samhain coming up in a few days, it's time to talk about ghost stories again. This time around I'm joined by the author of Grovedaughter Witchery: Practical Spellcraft and The Sisters Grimmoire Bree NicGarran as we talk about our personal experiences with the paranormal. Like last year, this is an extended, hour long episode. Oh, and I compla...

On this episode of the podcast we're digging into the differences between "Paganism" and "Witchcraft." While there is clearly a lot of overlap between these two umbrella terms, there are some important differences. So, yeah, let's talk about them.

There are a lot of regressive ideas built into some forms of witchcraft when it comes to gender, and it's about time we sat down and talked about it. On this episode of the podcast we're talking about gender and witchcraft, and how gender essentialism is massively bull. So, y'know, we're keeping it light.

On this episode of the podcast I'm answering questions sent in from listeners like you! I'm also doing it from a cabin in the Wisconsin Northwoods though, so there is no music, no second takes, and it's been recorded on my iPhone. Hopefully this doesn't turn out terribly.

Last year one of the biggest hub bubs in the Witch community was Pinrose introducing a "Starter Witch Set" which was intended to be sold at Sephora stores. There was such an uproar from the Witchcraft community that Sephora ended up pulling the kits before they were ever able to reach consumers. But was this remotely a good thing? On this episode of the podcast Trae's going to talk about the comme...

It's generally accepted that witchcraft is "just a phase" for some people -- that they'll dabble a bit and then move on from it. I guess my question then is... is this actually a bad thing? Isn't trying out stuff good? I think it is.

The Satanic Panic of the 70s, 80s, and 90s shaped the Modern Witchcraft Movement in a lot of unexpected ways. Its effects still ripple through a lot of our sources, so in this installment of the podcast we're digging into this extremely weird part of American history. It's a bit of a doozy, after all.

The Wiccan Rede is the foundational moral principle of Wicca. As it's one of the larger forms of Witchcraft practiced today, I thought we'd dig into it and understand where it came from, what it means, and why it's important.

On this eighth episode of the podcast, we're talking about good old Technopaganism. Well, "Technowitchcraft" is probably the better term, but I'm old and from the 90s. In any case, the point is that there's a lot of ways that technology can be incorporated into Witchcraft, but there are a lot of questions we have to ask along the way. Or something.

On this episode of the podcast, the topic is the importance of accepting that we're all ridiculous human beings and that's it's a good thing. Witchcraft should be done with a sense of play, and we should all keep that in mind before we take ourselves too seriously. Because when we take ourselves too seriously, none of us are remotely pleasant to be around. Doing witchcraft by rote isn't the best i...

How witches are represented on television and media has always been a controversial topic in the modern witchcraft community, and 2018 has seen several high profile series launch with the reboot of Charmed and the adaptation of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina . In this episode, Trae looks at these new shows and how they represent witchcraft in popular culture -- and how they fall short.

On this episode of BS-Free Witchcraft, Trae attempts to cover a topic from one of the show's listeners: How the heck do you get started in Witchcraft in the first place? What we end up with is twenty minutes of Trae attempting to cover this exceptionally broad topic which is, at the very least, entertaining... and hopefully informative. Hopefully.

With Samhain and Halloween just around the corner, the show is going full on spooky this episode. Joining me again is Lee Bradford , and we spend the whole show talking about ghost stories, personal experiences, liminal spaces, murder, and so much more. This episode is also over an hour long, so strap in for this deluxe, extra podcasty edition of the show!

On this episode Trae digs deep into the history of Wicca, and tries to give the most accurate history of the religion as they can. I mean, yeah, we know this is a general Witchcraft podcast, but Wicca is the most widely practiced form of Witchcraft in the US, UK, Canada and Australia... so how it got started is kind of important for the modern Witchcraft movement. And trust me, there aren't any pu...

In this episode Trae tackles the question "How do you become a witch?" The answer, of course, turns out to be amazingly easy -- do some witchcraft. Of course, there's more to the episode than that. Dragging fellow witch Lee Bradford onto the show, Trae and Lee tell their personal stories about how they came to their (different forms) of witchcraft. Afterwards they discuss things like gatekeeping a...

In this inaugural episode of BS-Free Witchcraft Trae decides to start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start. Mainly this episode focuses on the basics of the modern witchcraft movement -- because how can we have a discussion if we don't actually define the terms we're working with? From defining "witchcraft" itself to poking at random corners, we're covering as much as we can cram...