This article was first published in one of Anne Newkirk Niven’s 2014 or 2015 Pagan magazines.

Magic to Overcome Oppression
Power to the People

I cast a circle of magic and welcome you into it.

I’m writing this while in a circle because I can discuss traditional Witchery only in a sacred space. This time-honored practice has proven its worth. Unless I experience magic while discussing it, my words are empty.

Feel my writing with your heart and intuition. Does it echo past lives?

This post is a personal, emotional, and philosophical outpouring, instead of exposition alone. Expect me to share, not attempt to prove. Even the limited aspect of traditional Witchery represented in this article is best understood through experiential lyrical mysticism. Instead of logical dissection, I prefer reveling in magic with you, weaving together all this essay’s topics, and discovering its threads woven into the web of life, glistening with star dust.

This post discusses a tenet of old-fashioned Witchcraft: One reason that the Gods endowed humans with magic is so we can free ourselves from oppression—classism, racism, or other forms. Many traditional Witches embrace this belief, such as Pagans I circled with in Europe. It was also accepted in the Shamanic family tradition in which I grew up.

High Magic VS Low Magic?

Systematic discrediting of magic has kept many people from using it to fight for their rights. This smear campaign has been so effective that many Pagans internalized the oppression by dividing magic into “High Magic” and “Low Magic.”

This is an unnecessary, untraditional, and disempowering distinction.

The following erroneous definitions from those who would keep us down are:

“High” Magic is defined as esoteric or mystical ritual.

“Low” Magic is that which fulfills one’s mundane goals—one’s needs and desires.

Low magic tends to be frowned upon as base and not spiritual. No! That is oppressive. Taking care of yourself—through mundane and magical means—is neither low nor base. Self-care is an important part of spirituality.

High and low magic are false distinctions. They are one vital whole. This idea is developed throughout this essay.

Goddess-Given Magic

My Goddess gave me magic for many reasons. One is to improve my mundane life, because I am Her beloved child. Like any good mother, She wants to see my needs met.

In that vein, magic is a Goddess-given tool to fight for my rights, as it was for ancient Witches.

I’m not suggesting greedy or cruel magic is okay. Magic is a tool. Like all tools, it should be used for good, not evil.

Let’s look at Aradia: Gospel of the Witches by Charles G. Leland to continue the discussion about magical freedom-fighting.

Aradia: Gospel of the Witches

(A wee side note: I am not bringing up Aradia to prove my opinions. Something being in a book doesn’t make it true. Some people debate whether Aradia is historically accurate, although I happen to think it is. I mention this eccentric book from the 1800s because it rings with beauty and depth that reveal the heart of Witchcraft as I know it. Mysticism takes priority over magic-suppressing false logic. The book’s passages on magic and freedom from oppression shift my cells. I want to convey a bit of that joyful empowerment.)

Part of Aradia’s immense resonance with rich Mysteries is one of its themes: The Goddess gave Witchcraft to the peasants as a tool to fight their oppressors; Witchcraft exists to set you free from both physical and spiritual tyranny.

The following quote from Aradia reveals the importance the text gives to peasants magically fighting for their rights: “Thou shalt bind the oppressor’s soul with power.” 1

As far as I know, Aradia contains the first printed version of The Charge of the Goddess. Let’s look at some of Aradia’s version. I will include preceding passages for context, to reveal that the Charge’s reference to freedom has a meaning that differs from modern Pagans’ usual interpretation:

“The true God the Father is not yours;
For I have come to sweep away the bad.
The men of evil, all will I destroy!

“Ye who are poor suffer with hunger keen,
And toil in wretchedness, and suffer too…
Ill the fate of all who do ye wrong!

“Now when Aradia had been taught…to work all Witchcraft, how to destroy the evil race of oppressors, she imparted it to her pupils and said unto them:

“…Whenever ye have need of anything…
Ye shall assemble…
She who fain would learn all sorcery…,
Then my mother will teach her…
And ye shall all be freed from slavery,
And so ye shall be free in everything;
And as the sign that ye are truly free,
Ye shall be naked in your rites.”

This passage conveys our modern understanding that the Goddess offers spiritual and sexual freedom. So it’s clear that some traditional Witches had this same wisdom. However, the passage firmly roots that esoteric and sensual freedom in the physical freedom of both personal safety and mundane self-care, which requires liberation from oppression.

Aradia recognizes no differentiation between High and Low Magic: When we take good care of ourselves on both the material and esoteric planes, we soon realize that the material is mystical.

What about Hexing?

Sitting in circle, freedom-fighting magic hits me so strongly that I remember it cannot be fully addressed in an essay. For one thing, it requires personal dialogue.

The power of freedom-fighting magic coils around me, making it plain that it would not be revealed through solely left-brain exposition and analysis in a theoretical overview. That approach is more suitable to academia than to an understanding of magic. So, I am touching on a few crucial aspects of magic for freedom here. This will imply layer after layer to the discerning reader.

One crucial aspect is hexes—magic intended to attack a specific target. Aradia exemplifies the old-fashioned Witchy wisdom that hexing is an honorable tool for redressing injustice. I am not a pacifist, so I am not against hexing. However, I do not seek battle; I fight only when and as needed. For example, I am often tempted to throw down a hex when I am emotionally overwrought. That would usually be a big mistake.

Hexing tends to be my last resort. Just as you can be injured easily when fighting physically, you are as likely to get badly hurt when you hex. Hexing is risky.

There are many ways to claim one’s rights. Spells for justice and protection are effective. In the mundane world, protests and lawsuits come to mind.

Throwing a proper hex is complex (as are many battle magics). A hex done improperly or when inappropriate costs the spell-caster and innocent bystanders great damage.

To show examples of hexes gone wrong, I will describe five instances in which a hex adds trouble instead of fixing a problem:

1) Often, hexes are reactions to imaginary threats. So, one might hex an innocent person, or someone who is annoying or inconvenient, but not dangerous. One of many possible damages from such a hex is that it might backfire and rebound against the spell-caster.

2) Other times, a minor menace exists but seems far greater to the threatened individual. If they think a hex is justified when it is not, good spirits might punish them.

3) Hexes made preemptively can be out of proportion. They have their place, but they are often thoughtlessly inhumane when they are unnecessary. Just as an unwarranted military drone strike outrages decent people, so an unnecessary hex should be odious to a magical practitioner and recognized as unjustified brutality.

4) Sometimes, executing a hex makes magicians subconsciously buy into the corrupt structure they hope to overcome: A system of dog-eat-dog scarcity. Subconsciously motivated, they perpetuate this societal atrocity. The culture of hate (or deadly indifference) for anyone outside one’s tribe (however tribe is defined) is fostered, which is not good for anyone.

Hexes are excellent tools, if thoughtful discretion allows alternatives.

Here is one alternative. Innate goodness and endless potential flow through all the fibers of existence and the human spirit. We can draw on those loving sources of abundance in cooperation with other people, instead of fighting with each other in a model of scarcity and hate.

5) A hex executed sloppily or in haste can rebound back to its maker.

I do not teach hexes publicly. Every situation is different and must be dealt with in great detail for a hex to be safe and effective. I mention hexes here for two reasons. The first is to help you feel empowered about fighting for your rights magically. There is too much shaming about using magic to take care of ourselves. Hexing is often portrayed as a selfish, petty, mean-spirited witch throwing a tantrum, when it is actually a powerful tool that can be used ethically.

Yes, hexing can be tantrum-driven, petty-minded, selfish, or mean-spirited, but that is an improper hexing, as opposed to your inherent right as a human to be a magical warrior!

Here’s the second reason I discuss hexes here with some detail: We humans tend to swing from one extreme to another. Going from no magical self-defense to careless or ruthless hexes is one such swing. It does not embody the magical freedom-fighting I advocate. Instead, as implied above, the swing further traps oneself and others in an oppressive system.

What if I Need Magical Help?

The Slander of Grassroots Pagan Ministers
Working on the Front Lines

The defamation and persecution of Witches has helped keep oppressed people from fighting back for millennia. This attempt to restrain us from using magic is part of a long history of class, racial, gender, and other oppression.

A notable example—even with the growth of the modern Pagan movement—is the belittlement of occult shop psychics, many of whom are legitimate grassroots ministers helping blue-collar people, people of color, and other disenfranchised individuals.

There is a long lineage of nearly invisible ministers working as occult-shop psychics, root doctors, Southern Spiritualists, and in other down-to-earth magical roles. These ministers practice within the framework of traditional Witchcraft’s fight for freedom.

Some Pagans promulgate the belief (commonplace in mainstream Paganism) that such pragmatic grassroots workers are frauds or are prostituting their psychic abilities by receiving payment for their work.

When the disrespect stems from ignorance, it is relatively easy to remedy. But the origin of the disrespect was classism and other “isms.” Oppressors concocted a lie to keep disenfranchised groups from claiming their power. This is harder to change.

Many Pagans insist they wouldn’t “dirty their hands” by doing readings (or, heavens! spell-casting) for money. Some individuals speak like this until they learn better. But the rest? The majority of people espousing this belief are building wealth in careers that foster systemic oppression. Their supposed moral high ground is disguised classism, racism, etc. (I differentiate between them and the individuals working under them—earning far less—because it’s the only way to keep food on the table.)

If magic-workers were in it for the money only, they’d choose other work. Most of them are on the front lines every day, counseling battered wives, runaways, and others in crisis. They empower their clients by doing spell work for them. Hard-working, ethical psychics are as worthy of their wage as any other specialist.

Even many Pagans do not know about the longstanding tradition of otherworldly spiritual advisors who quietly aid disenfranchised people. These ministers work to be of service, not for national praise.

Being paid allows them to serve community full-time and work for free when appropriate. And their practice seats them all day long in the company of the Gods, who provide earthy spiritual joy.

I feel blessed: I have been a part of this grassroots oral tradition for decades. Let me tell you a story, to make a point:

Many years ago, I had been guiding folks in a private practice, mostly by referral. Then I started working as a spiritual counselor in an occult shop. Suddenly I was on the front lines to a degree I had not been previously. People came for a consult because their daughter had died; or their 14-year-old son had gotten somebody pregnant; or their husband beat them.

After my first shocking day, I went home and threw out all my lofty New Age
abstractions. I threw out my Celtic cross spread, because it requires a
lengthy session. (A lot of the readings were only ten minutes long. After that my boss pressed the buzzer: Time’s up!)

I sat there, inventing very fast Tarot spreads that would tune me into the heart of a client’s issue(s) and the essence of the advice that they needed. I compiled a list of community resources, such as women’s shelters and teen crisis counselors. I honed my psychic skills so that I’d sense a client’s needs stat—remember, ten-minute sessions. (I was in the psychic’s equivalent of an intern’s training in an emergency ward.)

In other words, I had become a minister in the trenches.

I still am, decades later. That does not mean all my work was, or is, with trauma survivors. I spend a lot of time helping with more “everyday” concerns, such as creativity or marketing.

But all my work is on the frontlines because it’s down-to-earth support instead of approaches that serve an elite and suppress everyone else, which is one of the points of my story:

Who offers practical magic and approaches clients’ issues with Shamanic (aka “Witchy”) tools? Usually, it is the old-fashioned Witchy psychic, root doctor, Voodoo priestess, etc., who is often frowned upon, even in the Pagan community.

I am proud to be among these practitioners. I offer psychic readings, cast spells for whatever you want and need, and perform energy clearing of your home or other space.

“Respectable” modern Shamanic counseling and Pagan pastoral counseling tend to be based on psychological and Christian models. They are important, save lives, and counter oppression. They might also exemplify the fight for freedom. However, they are granted a legitimacy denied grassroots magical practitioners. 2

Here is another reason that the grassroots oral tradition of Pagan ministry remains nearly invisible. It tends to disappear as soon as anthropologists or other academics arrive. Academia is largely based in upper-class sensibilities, which create a mental and verbal framework in which oppression and remedies for it cannot be expressed.

Also, oral traditions can only be oral. They are as evanescent as the morning mist and fade as soon as you try to write down certain of their methods and underlying techniques.

For example, often its methodologies and principles (the macro) must be conveyed through the micro (the on-the-ground moment). The micro is adapted moment after moment, to each teacher and student, each practitioner and client, and each particular moment, by using intuition and common sense. Study, experience, and creativity also bring Shamanic wisdoms and rites that are necessary tools to make adaptations. This cannot be accurately represented through overviews and theories. When writing, I am not teaching my oral tradition.

The Whole World Consists of Magic

To understand the kind of magical freedom-fighting that I’m trying to convey in this article, understanding a bit more about traditional magic as a whole is important.

The following analogy provides a glimpse:

At first, a potpourri’s ingredients are distinctly separate from each other. There might be flowers, leaves, spices, essential oils, and a fixative. Once mixed, their combined scent evokes strong feelings and ideas. Just so, the rich magical world of traditional Witchcraft is a creative, lyrical potpourri–individual elements coming together into a sensory-rich blend that invokes Gods, miracles, and ecstasy. The blend is far more than the sum of its parts. Elements were blended by the art of witchcraft and the magic of the now. When you experience that, you meet the rich scope of traditional Witchery. That is why this article includes a potpourri of musings on the same topic and related ones.

The way to learn traditional craft at depth is not from written materials, but through personal study with a teacher in oral lessons. I am available for that. My newsletter will let you know about upcoming classes.

My childhood illustrates more about traditional craft as a whole. Born into an Italian Shamanic line that was previously in Celtic countries (talk about eclectic!), I learned magic con leche. So it was not magic as some people think of it: A separate, distinct part of existence or a field of study, academic or otherwise.

Instead, awareness of a magical world was ingrained into me, atom by atom, and into my everyday existence. So today, I experience all of existence as innately magical.

We needn’t choose between High or Low Magic, but can apply magic to any part of life, since magic is already a part of it.

Important aside: Saying that the entire world is magic does not mean I’m burying my head in the sand about evil. Some of the magic is good, some is bad. I choose the good magic. I fight, ignore, run past, or otherwise try to not be subjected to the bad.

In Closing: Multifaceted Magic

Witchcraft means different things to different people. It means endlessly different things to me. I experience it as a multifaceted lifestyle, one part of which is magically freeing oneself and others from oppression. There are many other parts. For example:

To me, magic is surrendering to a flow of beauty that encompasses me with its love. Magic is tuning into the season and celebrating it. Magic is feeding my Gods the power They need to turn the YearWheel. Magic is using a teaspoon as a wand, and stirring healing into a cup of tea before I drink it. Magic is the connection I feel with my students when we walk between the stars together. Magic is experiencing the joy of all these things and many more.

But unless magic is used to overcome oppression, some people will never get to have that joy.

There are many other beautiful aspects of traditional Witchery. It is not limited to the glimpses herein. But I hope this essay has loved your longing for star-drenched magic.

The circle is open. Go with freedom. Merry part and merry meet again.

Endnotes

1) I don’t agree with everything in Aradia, nor do I consider it infallible. For example, its passage “When a priest shall do you injury by his benedictions, ye shall do to him double the harm” is not necessarily good advice. I included passages with which I disagree for context.

Fighting for rights aside, I highly recommend Aradia. It cannot replace oral tradition, but it is as close as print can get to old-fashioned Witchcraft, in all its beauty, depth, mystery, ferocity, and inner strength.

2) Just as you would ask for recommendations for a plumber, electrician, or other skilled professional, it makes sense to ask around if you are looking to hire someone to do divination or a magical working for you. Avoid being credulous, gullible, or falling prey to grifters and con artists. Use your intuition and common sense. The same goes for seeking Pagan ministry that excludes magic to closely follow Christian or psychological models.

Francesca De Grandis is the bestselling author of Be a Goddess!. Now she is publishing less to focus on oral tradition: Long-distance Witchcraft classes, psychic readings, and other services. Fifty years as a full-time community Shaman inform her work. Francesca is a mystic whose Goddess spirituality combines otherworldly travel, practical magic, and down-to-earth wisdom. De Grandis developed Shamanic theories, rituals, and worldviews that have been a seminal influence on modern Paganism. Her home is ecstatic paradox.

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