This is the #OcculTea tag started by Ella Harrison, Joanna the Polish folk witch, and Leah the redheaded witch. I’m not terribly online and don’t inhabit a lot of the Internet spaces that this tag is largely focused on, so I come at it from a bit of a different perspective. I think a lot […]
Read more "Video: OcculTea – Algorithmic Social Media and Internet Witchcraft"Familiars are a defining element of folklore surrounding witches and witchcraft—but in Wicca, they’re often treated almost as an afterthought. Why is that? Here, I talk through a few thoughts about what familiars are, why we think of them the way we do, and a potential reason that they’re not considered central to Wicca.
Read more "Video: Familiars in Wicca"I’m a philosopher, a mystic, and a magician–but those things don’t fit together as neatly as you might expect. In this video, I talk through a fundamental incompatibility between philosophy’s demands for rigorous reasoning and mysticism’s need to suspend reason in favor of direct ecstatic experience of the divine. And just to top it all […]
Read more "Video: Philosophy, Mysticism, and Magic"I’ve previously discussed novels about witchcraft on this channel–but what about novels specifically written about traditional Wicca? Here, I discuss five novels that take traditional (initiatory, lineaged, coven-based) Wicca as a setting for their characters and plots. Although I’m critical of them, I try to pull out the things I find significant in each book, […]
Read more "Video: Novels About Traditional Wicca"In my previous “13 Books for Gardnerian Seekers” video, I shared reading recommendations for people interested in traditional Wicca, but many of the books I recommended are old, out of date, or no longer representative of what can be expected from Wiccan training. In this video, I share an updated reading list. Here are eight […]
Read more "Video: 8 Recent Books for Gardnerian Seekers"Polytheistic worship involves cultivating relationships with deities, but those relationships are a lot of work. Here, I talk about the varying degrees of intimacy that might exist in a relationship of worship, the different kinds of relationship structures that polytheists might have, and why I don’t have the energy to worship lots of gods. The […]
Read more "Video: I’m a Bad Polytheist"While there’s no one belief or practice shared by all Wiccans, there are some hallmarks you’ll commonly find in Wiccan spaces. These include a belief in reincarnation and the practice of necromancy–but those two things don’t look like they go together. Here, I talk through the tension between reincarnation and necromancy, a couple of approaches […]
Read more "Video: Reincarnation and Necromancy in Wicca"New on YouTube. When people talk about “magic,” they mean a lot of different things. In this video, I talk through what I see as a fundamental cleavage in magical practices: Between models of magic that rely on intercessory spirits and those that rely on sympathetic or symbolic connections.
Read more "Video: Spirit-Based and Sympathetic Magic"We’re often used to thinking about religion as imposing a top-down cohesion in theology, myth, and ritual: A religion has a fixed pantheon of gods, shared myths, and certain beliefs and practices that all of its adherents adopt. In reality, this is a very narrow idea of religion that doesn’t map onto the ancient world–nor […]
Read more "Video: The Gods of Right Here"Justin Michael interviewed me for his YouTube channel tonight; we had a great time chatting about how I got into Tarot, different reading styles and systems, and how we challenge ourselves and grow as readers. Check out the interview and give him a subscribe!
Read more "Tarot for Real Life: Interview With Justin Michael"
Jack Chanek 