Magic in the United States

Today, tech-savvy magical practitioners are creating, remixing, and merging ideas, tools, and practices that are decidedly digital. LEDs instead of candles, Tarot apps instead of paper cards, VR rooms instead of temples – some practitioners are using digital tools to replace or supplement physical ones. And when practitioners interact with an AI as a spirit, they challenge conventional understandi...

Sabrina, Willow, Thomasin, Queenie – many of us have a favorite teen witch from film or television. The teenage witch archetype has changed over the decades, from a silly materialist bobby soxer, to a raging force of rebellious autonomy. But until very recently, the teen witch has almost always been presented as middle-class, female, and white. And while media depictions of witches have inspired S...

Open almost any newspaper and you’ll find your horoscope. But this form of Western astrology has a long and complex history. It began thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia before European settlers brought it to North America, where they used it in farming and for answering questions. In this episode, we learn how astrology has survived and evolved in the United States and ask: is astrology a scien...

St. Cyprian of Antioch was a lesser-known Catholic saint with a fascinating folk history in the Iberian peninsula, Scandinavia, and Brazil. But around 2010, this folk saint of sorcery and magic immigrated to the United States and went pop in some communities of magical practitioners and found a new home in America. Featuring Jesse Hathaway Diaz, José Leitão, and Katarina Pejovic.

Curanderismo originated in Central and South America and is a form of folk healing that merges Catholic and indigenous ideas into its own unique practice. Today, curanderismo is practiced in many Mexican American communities throughout the United States. A curandera or curandero not only treats physical ailments, but also supernatural ones, and often serves as an important community leader. The cu...

The seemingly sorcerous origins of The Book of Mormon

Witches and black cats continue to decorate neighborhood lawns. The flowers on community ofrendas remain fresh --  as golden as an autumn sunset. Halloween was just a few days ago, but it still feels like spooky season -- so get ready for Season 3 of Magic in the United States!  Join host Heather Freeman for more magic, religion, and spiritual remixing on November 12th, 2024, wherever you get your...

Angelica Ross, the actress and advocate, joins Second Sunday's Esther and Darren to explore the unexpected path that led her from the Church of God in Christ to practicing Buddhism for the last thirteen years. Raised in a religious household, Angelica felt a calling to explore spirituality outside the confines of tradition. She opens up about the relationship with her mother and the profound forgi...

Silver Daniels was raised Wiccan by his mom. But as a young adult, he eventually found his way to Lucumí.  We met Silver in Season 2, Episode 2: The Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, and learned about Wicca in both Season 1, Episode 1: Magical Remixing and Season 2, Episode 1: The Starry Minos.   Listen to these episodes first to catch all the nuance, and enjoy Silver's fun storytelling!

Thorn Mooney is a religious studies PhD student at UNC Chapel Hill, an author, magical practitioner, and a witch.  She also has a new book about witches and witchcraft, but this one is for non- practitioners. In her new book, Witches Among Us , Thorn “dispels common misconceptions while delving into what it means to be a witch, including beliefs and practices.”  Heather Freeman did a YouTube live-...

Latter-day Saints are a people of radical faith. Their tradition is one in which angels visit everyday people and sometimes men and women see the divine in stones. In this podcast series, hosts Christine and Chris Blythe,  examine the lived religion of Latter-day Saints, the stories they tell, and the beliefs they debate. Christine and Chris are professional folklorists and LDS converts who openly...

After a strange voicemail about the death of her grandmother, Lucy Verdell travels to an isolated island she hasn’t visited since she was a child. Odd occurrences and powerful memories lead her to four black velvet paintings hidden in the attic — paintings of grim beings best described as ‘fairies’. The discovery unlocks a flood of emotions that surprises Lucy and prompts her to find out more abou...

When the art collective MSCHF released their Satan Shoes in collaboration with artist and rapper Lil Nas X in 2021, all hell broke loose. According to the company, each of the 666 pairs of shoes contained 60cc of ink, including 1 drop of human blood from members of MSCHF, a bronze pentagram, and the Bible verse Luke 10:18 written on one side. The shoes were instantly condemned by social and religi...

For the Paiute of the late 1800s, the “Ghost Dance" promised a new world where the beloved dead would return home and white settlers would disappear into  the earth. It was a dance of hope and rebalance in a world devastated by U.S. policies bent on the destruction of Native cultures and sovereignty. This new dance was – and still is – often referred to as a ‘religion’ by outsiders, even though th...

What exactly is a witch? When is the word a slur, and when is it a title of empowerment? And when is the word a bit of both, a slippery glamor or tricky cunning -- as in the case of Montague and Duck Moore. Little is known about Mont and Duck, an elderly couple who moved into a rural community near Rocky Mountain, Virginia, sometime in the early 1900s. But Mont and Duck engaged in magical racketee...

From #manifesting, to #lawofattraction, to #luckygirlsyndrome – these hashtags are all over social media. But what do they mean and where do they come from? The idea that our thoughts can change our wealth, bodies, and fortunes is so pervasive, that we don’t realize how old – and distinctly American – these ideas really are.  In this episode, we’ll travel backward in time from TikTok to the dawn o...

In 1987, the City of Hialeah, Florida passed local ordinances that prohibited animal sacrifice for religious purposes. The laws targeted one group in particular – the Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye. The City was taken to court, and the case eventually made it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices ruled against the city and called the ordinances "religious gerrymandering.” Almost 40...

It’s the 1970s and New York City’s queer scene is vibrant and organizing itself after the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Meanwhile, Wicca — a form of contemporary witchcraft — is gaining traction as the new religious movement of the hour. Edmund Buczynski is a Seeker of initiatory witchcraft but is denied time and again, often due to homophobia and heterosexism. But Eddie is charismatic and inspired by...

Flowers. The first ripe berries. Love songs. They're all symbols of springtime, and they're found on shrines and altars across the U.S. to gods, goddesses, spirits, and ancestors. But is this magic, religion, spirituality — or something else entirely? Join host Heather Freeman for magic, religion, and spiritual remixing in Season 2 of Magic in the United States, wherever you get your podcasts. Sea...

Now in its third season, * A Little Juju *is dedicated to “Black Ass spirituality, community, and witchy womanist insights into healing and culture.” In this episode excerpt, host Juju Bae — now Osunfunmilola - shares the story of her amazing trip to Nigeria for her initiation into Ifa as a priestess of Osun. And head over to Jujubae.com to listen to the rest of Episode 103 where she talks about h...

Reverend Erik L. Arneson’s podcast Arnemancy covers all things occult and esoteric. This includes a nine-part series on Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa and his influential 1531 text Three Books of Occult Philosophy. Almost 500 years later, it’s still an influential text for many witches, wizards, and occultists. As Rev. Erik says, “If we want to understand Occult Philosophy , we first need to take a lo...

We’ll be back in a few months with the next season of Magic in the United States, but in the meantime, enjoy this excerpt from the podcast Dine with the Divine. In this episode, host Ashley interviews author David Shi about North Asian Shamanism. Then head over to www.dinewiththedivine.com to hear the rest of this episode, and listen to more of Ashley’s content which includes magically inspired re...

We’ll be back this spring with a new season of Magic in the United States, but in the meantime, enjoy this guest episode from Seeking Witchcraft. In this episode, host Ashley interviews Gardnerian High Priestess and initiate of the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), Angela Z, about the life and times of Aleister Crowley. Angela tells us how Crowley became one of the best-known occultists of the 20th c...

We’ll be back with more Magic in the United States this Spring, but in the meantime, enjoy this excerpt from the latest episode of The Kitchen Sisters Present: Lou Reed's Tai Chi “Lou Reed, musician, rock icon, poet, leader of the legendary Velvet Underground, was obsessed with tai chi — the practice, the community, the health and spiritual benefits. Lou had been writing a book about this ancient...

Asian Americans represent a vast diaspora within the United States, but many have been separated from the traditional folk healing and shamanic practices of their ancestors. Something is changing that, and some GenX and Millennial Asian Americans are pivoting their spiritual practices to those of their ancestral homes — like Korean Americans Jennifer Kim and Chaweon Koo. But this isn’t a nostalgia...