Witchy Whims

My identity as a witch and my identity as a queer individual are, as far as I am concerned, integral pieces of myself without which you don’t truly see me for who I am. The struggles and life choices that were a direct result of these two identities are what made me the person I am today, my life would be completely different without these choices, and therefore I would be completely different if not for these two identities. I am not the first to propose that queerness and witchcraft have had great effects on one another. In fact, there is an entire genre of metaphysical books dedicated to this discussion. I like to call this intersection: QueerCraft.

Witchcraft As A Practice for the Oppressed

I do not believe that witchcraft itself is closed (except for certain traditions that belong to closed cultures). Magick has been passed down for generations from myriad cultures around the world. However, the foundation, the upholding, and the cultivation of the craft are owed entirely to those groups who were persecuted in its practice. Witchcraft is a practice that allows the oppressed to gain power over their oppressors. It allows those who normally lack the ability to physically escape the clutches of abuse to manipulate, control, and weaken those who are harming them. As these practices became noticed, the oppressors grew fearful, and so began the persecution of witches. The term witch eventually fell upon any whom the leading voices did not like, however, the majority of persecutions were made against those who were oppressed: Women, BIPOC, and Queer Individuals.

Although the term witch hunt still holds true to the actual hunting of witches, an informal definition of a witch hunt can be made as “a campaign directed against a person or group that deviates from the norm.” In this way, any campaign made against oppressed groups has become a witch hunt of sorts. The prosecution, discrimination, murder, and abuse of these individuals whether they be a woman, queer, and/or BIPOC is in fact just a modern-day witch hunt. A new group of individuals to fight against so the oppressors can keep their power. However, many of us now find ourselves living in countries where the more literal witch trials are over, which as far as I am concerned, seems like the green light for switching the power dynamic again.

Identities As Societal Taboos and Tribulations

The expressions of witchcraft and queerness have both been persecuted by the Church. Both were labeled as sinful and society as a whole was demanded to uphold this idea. Through the study of linguistics and deep biblical research, it has become known to the general population that the Bible has, on multiple occasions, been censored, edited, and mistranslated. It was through these efforts that things such as witchcraft and homosexuality were added to the sin pile in the book. Although these identities were both attacked for different reasons – homosexuality was attacked due to the influence of stoicism and sociopolitical ideologies and witchcraft because the use of witchcraft within the church gave lay persons the ability to connect to God without the church’s interference. The demonization of these identities spread from the church into the larger society. and vice versa. Both groups have been persecuted, abused abused, and murdered openly in our society and this hatred exists even today.

The Rainbow Flag

Intersectionality is the key to understanding all persons. You can not see me as just queer or as just a witch, I am a queer witch. I am an outsider in my spiritual path, my gender, and my love. The same intersectionality applies to Witches of Color. You must see all of a person’s identity to see them fully because these identities and the trauma/discrimination/abuse that comes with these identities shape the way we as humans look at the world around us. Now that we understand the importance of these two identities being coincidingly accepted, lets move on to how we can bring these identities into our craft.

I believe that queerness is inherently witchy simply through the expressive use of the flags in queer identities. Just like in color magick each color on a queer flag has meaning to it. Let’s look at the New Pride Flag for example.

• Red – Life
• Orange – Healing
• Yellow – Sunlight
• Green – Nature
• Blue – Harmony
• Violet – Spirit
• White/Pink/Light Blue – Trans Community
• Brown and Black – BIPOC Community, Inclusivity, and those living with HIV/AIDS, people who have passed from the virus, and remaining stigma

We can see that using colors as representation mimics the practice witches use for color magick when we choose our candles, veils, and altar colors.

Queering the Craft and the Witchy Gay

Witchcraft is inherently queer. I say this for three reasons (1) the previously mentioned statement that Witchcraft is a life cultivated and founded by the oppressed (2) modern-day witchcraft is bound to its identity as a life of liberation (3) the transcended understanding of gendered terms as alternating and intertwined energies rather than polar opposites.  The queer identity exists outside of norms and rejection of societal demands coincides with the identity of a witch. A common expression that we see used by modern-day craft practitioners is “being in or coming out of the broom closet.” The difficulty of accepting the identity of a witch paired with coming out to religious parents often leads to fear of truth within the witch community that matches the fear we experience when coming out as queer.

There is also an intersection to be seen between witchcraft and the trans/nonbinary identity. In spirituality, there is a concept defined as the Divine Feminine and the Divine Masculine. The concepts are not inherently divine nor are they attached to the boxes of feminine and masculine that are outlined by the patriarchy. They are not polar opposites either. The divine masculine is about more physical approaches to life that are attached to our corporeal understandings such as logic, reason, and strength whereas the divine feminine transcends the physical and encompasses wisdom, intuition, and healing. Both aspects also have their darker sides to them but we won’t talk about that here. The trans identity often requires a deep internal reconstruction of gender norms and ideas that have been forced upon us and the spiritual concepts of these gendered terms are just another way that we can deconstruct and reframe our thinking.