Witches of America (My Personal Thoughts)

I’m worried about what other people might make this post mean. I’m not screaming out for attention here. This is not a calculated attempt to ride the waves of popular discourse, either. What it is about is what Alex Mar with her new book Witches of America has been doing to me, people I love and care about, and the Craft in general. This is about how it makes me feel, because I have been there. Literally.

(Note: If you have no clue what that book is about in the first place and why it’s not only very bad writing and an insult to good and decent journalism and research, I recommend that you read this excellent review by Rhyd Wildermuth. You can read an excerpt here in addition, if you really have to. Now let’s proceed.)

In her new book Alex is writing about several Witches, their practices and intimate moments without their consent. I certainly can’t speak for every single person mentioned in the book directly and indirectly, but I definitely never signed up for being made into a projector screen for Alex’ spectacle-seeking mind when I stood in Sacred Space with her. When both of us participated in the Samhain rituals described in the book in that castle in Massachusetts I treated her with trust and as equal. I believed that she was a spiritual seeker and potential Witch. I believed she wanted to learn the Craft. I believed she was trustworthy. I believed she would honor – like the rest of us – the sacredness of our vows and of the Sacred Space we were co-creating.

I have read someone suggesting that we ‘should have known better’ than to trust her, because we knew that she was a film-maker interested in making documentaries. This is not only blaming the victim, but simply absurd. How she approached American Mystic – Alex Mar’s surprisingly good documentary which featured a couple of Witches in an authentic, honest and most importantly consensual manner – was (as far as I understand it) entirely different from what she did with her new book. She never asked any of us if we wanted to become potential subjects in one of her book projects. She never mentioned that her questions about our practices where in fact not those of a fellow-Witch but of an undercover agent/ journalist conducting an interview. There was nothing obvious about it and therefore we treated her as a sister.

Obviously she didn’t deserve that trust, but I don’t think there is any way that we could have known. When I allowed her to observe me doing my spiritual practices, when I stood in Circle with her and even shared a bed with her I did so from a place of love and trust. ‘Perfect love and perfect trust’ is an ideal which we try to court and maintain in our rituals as Witches after all.

This is what makes me feel so violated about it. I never meant to put on a spectacle for an external observer. She not only betrayed us personally (and so many people so much more than me), but she violated our Sacred Space. A space which is supposed to be a safe space for us in which to be vulnerable, open and magnificent with each other. She betrayed something which is literally sacred to us as Witches and essential for Witchcraft: The right to fully self-express in Circle with our covenmates and the Gods. A place which is supposed to be a playground outside of the norms, observations and judgments of mainstream society. A training ground for becoming the best versions of ourselves so that we then can be of best service to said society, ourselves and our Gods.

I don’t play a big role in this personally. I’m not even sure if I’m mentioned in that book directly (I only read some excerpts and others’ descriptions so far – which has been and must be enough to make up my mind – because hell will have to freeze over before I give any cent to that person by actually purchasing that book). I do know several people who have been mentioned personally and in great detail, though, and my heart goes out to each and every one of them. It is not their fault that Alex decided to place her meanings and projections upon their bodies and life decisions. It’s just deeply disturbing and a rape of their privacy. Nothing that should be admired or promoted by anyone, let alone payed for.

I’m worried about what this book and experience might do to us as a community and to our various traditions. I don’t think that shutting down communication with the ‘outside world’ completely is a healthy way to go. Similar to a closed-off body of water things could get foul very fast. One rotten fish can easily taint the whole water in that kind of environment. External perspectives and supervision are still valuable. Which obviously doesn’t mean that we should put on a spectacle for the external observer, either. There are different levels of being ‘external’. An outsider’s perspective (which might just come from another Witch or Pagan from another tradition) which comes from a place of love and concern is something else entirely than the feedback one might get from the spectators of an arena. Careful consideration is called for.

At the same time I want us to become aware that we don’t have to let ourselves be victimized. We don’t have to give that much power to a single person or the general public. It is our choice if we feel powerless in the face of it all. Aren’t we Witches? Can’t we come up with ways to use the attention given to us to our benefit? I was taught that there is nothing a Witch refuses to work with. There is power in public fascination. Let us come up with ways to use it!

Additionally I think this case presents us with a great opportunity to reevaluate how we deal with secrecy in our communities. What is and should actually be secret and why? There are already great thoughts and thinkers out there to get us started on that topic.

It is said, that the true Mysteries can never be shared through written word alone. I believe that to be true. Yet there are things dear to our heart which we rightfully don’t want to see turned into spectacle and entertainment for the masses. One might not want to discuss the intimate details of their sex-life with random strangers. Our rituals can be just as intimate and deserve to be treated with the same respect and decency.

I hope we grow stronger and wiser from this.