Martha Stewart, Books of Hours, The Jesus Prayer, And Witchcraft As Habit

In case you haven’t noticed, witches are big these days. I don’t have much to say about the modern fascination with witches that hasn’t been said better elsewhere. But for me, the appeal of witchcraft is that it’s something you can do. I was chatting with someone the other day who characterized witches as the latest supernatural fad, like aliens or zombies or vampires before them, but the difference is, witches are real. You can’t really be a zombie fighter or a superhero or a vampire (though I know some people trying) but you can be a witch, right now.

In our current political climate, when people may feel helpless, lighting a candle or burning some sage feels like something, some small hopeful action beyond just sitting at home scrolling through Twitter. (I might add that all the witchcraft-practicing people I know do a lot of volunteering and donating and political organizing, too — we’re not relying solely on binding spells.)

When I’m anxious about something in the world or in my personal life, I have a lot of nervous energy I have to dissipate by doing something.

Many religions incorporate sacred actions, but the mainstream Episcopal and Methodist churches I attended as a child retained very few of them and the ones we did took place only at church and never at home: lighting a candle in the little side chapel, dipping your fingers in the chalice of holy water in the narthex.