There’s all kinds of ways to resist Donald Trump. One of the most creative is being done by a coven of online witches who have come together on each waning moon since the inauguration to cast an anti-Trump spell. Vox:
They’ve come together each month since Trump’s inauguration with one goal: to perform a spell — equal parts quasi-religious ritual and activist performance — to “bind” the president, forming a collective known as the #MagicResistance.
The spell, a variant on a traditional “binding” spell found in many contemporary neo-pagan and other occult practices, involves channeling energy to limit Trump’s power, “so that he may fail utterly/that he may do no harm.” (Practitioners have the option to add, “You’re fired.”)
Maybe it’s working, because failing utterly is what Trump is doing.
xIt's happening again tomorrow night. #MagicResistance#BindTrumppic.twitter.com/vw00NNfyk0
— Kitty_Lemiew (@Kitty_Lemiew) November 15, 2017 xIt's "that time of the month" again! #magicresistance#bindTrumppic.twitter.com/j0Usp6ABxn
— Seana (@ThusSpokeStella) November 17, 2017Like many practitioners of the spell, Doucette was interested in the occult before. She’d signed up for classes at the online School of Witchery, but never cast a spell before she saw fellow interested witches post about the binding spell online. Yet the idea of joining an inclusive, welcoming community — and doing something to address her fear and anger in the wake of the election — motivated her to transform interest into practice. “I like the occult and I like activism,” she said. The #MagicResistance offered her a chance to do both.
We support candidates and causes, they cast spells. To each her own.