My issue with spiritual activism.
Regardless of the religion, every group has their idea of divine timing and fate. Many individuals pray about situations and leave the outcomes up to some higher power. Typically, this is what draws so many to pursue witchcraft as a religion: people believe that they are given the power to influence their own destinies. However, I would argue that humans are already in control of their own destinies.
Whether you are into the witchcraft scene or not, many modern spiritualists rave about the magic of manifestation. These people believe that if you wish for something hard enough—to the point where you can actually visualize yourself physically gaining that outcome—those results will be delivered to you. Of course, this is rooted in psychology’s ‘Law of Attraction’. According to the science, those who think positive thoughts have positive things happen to them. On the flip side of this, those who have a more pessimistic outlook on their circumstances will only encounter further negativity. When spiritualists manifest, they draw the thing that they are thinking about closer to them. Now, while this positive way of thinking can be a strong coping skill in de-stressing, thinking happy thoughts brings forth no real change. Again, these things can be comforting to someone in a time of need, but they do not enact physical consequences.
Similarly, modern folk practitioner Frankie Castanea of Spells for Change states in their book that they only cast spells after they have exhausted all other means of enacting a change. To them, magic should be used as a last resort when all of the mundane—or non-magical—fails. They explain this idea through the metaphor of studying for a test and “actively putting work into something in order to influence the outcome” (Castanea 90). Working towards something is putting your energy into it, and witchcraft is nothing if not energy manipulation. Rather than this Hippie-Movement-style ‘love and light’ campaign being spread on social media, it is far more valuable to use real-world activist means to end harmful patterns. Author Robin Wall Kimmerer of Braiding Sweetgrass put this idea into words through clever metaphors about planting seeds and firmly rooting plants. She calls seeds, “nuts: to provide the embryo with all that is needed to start a new life” (Kimmerer 13). The seeds of change do not grow in a day. She writes, “the sphere of a wise woman is beyond herself, beyond her family, beyond the human community” to remind readers that their work in activism is never finished (97). In a similar manner, the professor of my Native American Women's Writers class stated that making change starts with planting a seed. She stated that individuals look at modern Indigenous people and incredulously wonder how they gained rights to their land so ‘quickly’. What people don’t realize is that these seeds of change had been planted years ago. Within the 2000s alone, American Indian tribal sovereignty—the law that grants Native individuals the right to govern themselves—helped the economies of Native peoples grow, yet gaining this independence takes a long time. In fact, according to Gale Toesing of Indian Country Today, the Shinnecock Indian Nation petitioned to be a federally recognized tribe, but it took 32 years for that petition to take effect (ICT.com). Throughout this process, lives were lost, families were torn apart, and Indigenous people continued to be marginalized.
I believe that this is where my own aversion to Michael Hughes’ Bind Trump campaign came from. In uniting witches under the cause of binding Donald Trump, Hughes garnered a massive following of manifesters all aiming to stop the past president from serving a future term. From what I gathered, he did not encourage individuals to donate to charities and protest alongside this massive group-think. Instead, the spell seemed to work more as an anxiety-soothing coping mechanism. I fear that people were using it as a way to feel better about themselves. As change is the most difficult thing to conjure up in today’s activist climate, individuals who are new to spiritualism frequently use it as an easy way out. They’ll ‘think happy thoughts’ then sit back and dust themselves off rather than actually showing up for a cause. Instead, magic should be used alongside physical steps to make a true difference.
Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “Transformation is not accomplished by tentatively wading at the edge” (Kimmerer 89). Instead, we must dive into our societal issues and uproot those harmful institutions. We need to sign petitions, call our senators, protest, and do absolutely everything in our to make a positive difference in this world. We cannot plant new seeds to take root when the soil is not suitable for sustaining new life. ‘Thinking happy thoughts’ does not stop racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, or any other harmful patterns from occurring.
Castanea, Frankie. “Spells for Change: A Guide for Modern WItches”. Andrews McMeel Publishing. 2022
Kimmerer, Robin Wall. “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants”. Milkweed Editions, 2013.
Toensing, Gale Courey. “Federal Recognition Process: A Culture of Neglect.” ICT, ICT, 24 Jan. 2014, indiancountrytoday.com/archive/federal-recognition-process-a-culture-of-neglect.
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