Original Magic: The Rituals and Initiations of the Persian Magi - Michael M. Hughes 2018

Frequently Asked Questions about Magic
Welcome to the Magic Resistance!

What is magic resistance?

Magic resistance is a term for the use of magic—spells, rituals, prayer, divination, and other techniques—to resist or impede dangerous or oppressive political movements, politicians, and actions, including authoritarianism, white supremacy, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, environmental destruction, attacks on marginalized populations, and other toxic and regressive ideologies. It can be viewed as a magical form of self-defense or defense of others. But it is not just about resistance. This movement also uses magical practices to promote progressive, inclusive, liberating, and empowering political, environmental, economic, and social causes.

How do you define magic?

Magic, in its most basic sense, is the use of directed consciousness to effect change in the world. If that seems broad, it’s supposed to be. A ritual can create a magical effect, but so can a work of art, a prayer, a focused visualization, street theater, or a group of people marching and chanting in unison. Magic works best when it combines a mix of methodologies—that’s why a work of art, when combined with ritual and further energized by a group action or meditation, is especially effective.

Do I have to believe in magic?

Nope. You can do the spells and rituals in this book as a form of personal theater. They will still work, at least sometimes, if you do them sincerely and with your full commitment and energy. Practical magic is largely the enhancement of probability. If you practice the magic in this book and it seems to push your results into the positive results column, it is considered effective.

And doing magic is most definitely useful. One doesn’t need to understand how magic works to practice it. In fact, as one very famous magician, Peter J. Carroll, put it: “Magic works in practice but not in theory.”²

Does doing this sort of magic have personal benefits?

One of the key benefits of resistance magic—aside from having tangible results in the real world—is to renew, refresh, and reawaken your commitment to the principles of truth, justice, peace, and equality, and to strengthen your connection to the natural world and the diverse community of individuals that surrounds you.

Do I have to be a witch or a Pagan to use these spells?

The system of magic in this book is designed to plug into a number of established traditions and can be easily tweaked for your own practice. Because the rituals and spells herein are built upon the core principles that underlie all magical practices, they are just as effective if you practice Wicca, traditional witchcraft, chaos magic, ceremonial magic, or folk Christianity, or if you follow no specific tradition at all. This resistance magic employs universal techniques: directional attunement, incorporation of the four classical elements, ancestor communication, calls to spirits or deity, links to astrological cycles (particularly the moon phases), voice, symbols, sensory stimulation and inhibition, ritualized movement, and consciousness alteration.

If you don’t belong to any particular tradition, you are encouraged to experiment. A prayer to Hekate may connect more powerfully for you than one to a generic Great Goddess, or you may find that incorporating biblical psalms or working with Catholic saints is more effective than working with Norse gods. The best witches and magicians experiment and use what works, so don’t be afraid to try new approaches. If you don’t believe in angels or ancestral spirits, try working with them anyway—and you might be surprised. After all, does it matter if the deity or spirit you contact is objectively real or just a part of your consciousness as long as the magic works?

Isn’t mucking around with spells dangerous?

Of course it’s dangerous! But not anywhere near as dangerous as driving a car or riding a bicycle. Magic is a tool and can be used for positive or nefarious purposes. If you misuse it, it can have negative consequences. But since you’re reading this book, you are already aligned with sustainability, equality, peace, and social justice. And since the universe bends in the direction of those values (or at least that’s what I’ve come to believe), your magic will be aligned with those evolutionary spiritual energies and the deities who embody them. That’s a powerful safety net.

In other words, because you are working for positive causes and results and not harmful aims or ideologies, your magic will work more effectively and will have far less potential for unintended harm or psychic blowback.

But isn’t binding someone or casting a spell that thwarts the will of voters ethically problematic?

Much of the magic in this book is rooted in resistance to extreme conditions and threats. It is not touchy-feely, fluffy-bunny magic because it is meant to be employed against very clear dangers and existential threats. Vodou, Hoodoo, and Conjure, for example, developed as enslaved Africans adapted their magic to their oppressive, inhumane environment and were, of necessity, protective and self-defensive. While bindings and other defensive magic can be seen as constraining the free will of the spell’s recipients, it is clearly ethical to use such spells when the target is harming or attempting to harm others. A good rule of thumb to use is this: Would you endorse a legal action to stop the target’s harmful actions or policies (say, against a minority group, a forest, or a person unjustly accused of a crime)? If so, then a magical action is absolutely ethical.

Also, ask yourself why people question the ethics of magic for effecting change when they’re okay with marches, demonstrations, email campaigns, or direct action. What makes magic resistance somehow morally questionable when mundane means are acceptable? The answer is that people are uneasy about magic because they don’t understand how it works. But as activists, we are concerned with results, and if magic works, there’s no reason we shouldn’t use it.

But don’t you have to be experienced to do

magic effectively?

We live in a magical universe, and we are instinctively magical creatures. If you play lucky lottery numbers, pray for someone’s health, leave flowers at a loved one’s grave, or take notice of signs and omens, you’re practicing magic. Humans have worked magic since we could paint on the walls of caves or draw a circle in the mud with a pointed stick. Magic is, and has always been, a practice of the people, despite thousands of years of priests and religious leaders attempting to take it away. Those who say you need to be trained in specific techniques by their order or coven before you can work magic are just pushing their brand of dogma and probably trying to sell you courses.

The only way to learn about magic is to do it. The only way to get better at it is to keep doing it.

Is it okay to mix politics and spirituality?

Some of the greatest social movements have been driven by spiritual energy: the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements were in large part led by Christians and Jews, for example, and Mohandas Gandhi, a devoted Hindu, helped drive Colonial Britain from India through nonviolent resistance. Witches and Pagans have long been at the forefront of environmental activism, religious freedom, and feminism. And as you’ll discover in the following chapters, magic has been worked against political opponents throughout history, including kings, slaveholders, invading armies, and the Nazis in World War II.

But isn’t this just slacktivism? Shouldn’t we focus our energy on practical activities, like demonstrating, calling Congress, and sending money to organizations fighting for good causes?

You should be working on all levels for causes you care about. This book addresses the magical path, but spiritual activism is useless without engagement in the everyday world of elections, organizing, canvassing, protests, and other forms of on-the-ground action. Many have found that incorporating rituals, spells, and group magic workings into their social and political activism adds extra energy and motivation and brings better results. Hence this book.

Why this book, and why now?

A number of trends have ignited resistance movements around the world: the global rise of authoritarian and nativist political movements; religious and ideological terrorism; regressive policies harming women, minorities, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community; ongoing wealth concentration in the hands of the one percent; cuts to basic health care and social services; and the accelerating impact of devastating climate change. We have reached a perilous moment in our history—and the decisions we make now may decide the very fate of our species.

With the exploding interest in witchcraft and alternative religious practices has come a realization that the political realm is not divorced from spirituality but requires it. The growing magic resistance movement has shown the powerful desire to reunify spiritual beliefs with down-to-earth social and political activism.

So let’s get started!

1. Amanda Yates Garcia (@oracleofla), “So great is the threat to our world now that we must all become initiates,” Instagram photo, February 19, 2018, https://www.instagram.com/p/BfYvkb8HhSP/.

2. Peter J. Carroll, personal correspondence with the author, April 2, 2018.