{"id":14194,"date":"2018-04-01T01:10:53","date_gmt":"2018-04-01T06:10:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=17685"},"modified":"2018-04-04T17:31:09","modified_gmt":"2018-04-04T22:31:09","slug":"interview-michael-h-hughes-magic-for-the-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2018\/04\/01\/interview-michael-h-hughes-magic-for-the-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Michael H. Hughes, Magician & Author of \u201cMagic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In his latest book, Michael H. Hughes brings together activism and magic as tools for the resistance.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019ve discovered doing research for this book is witchcraft, in particular magic, has always been the tool of oppressed people. When you are out of other means of getting something done, you still do what you have to do, and in many cases that involves magic,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Enslaved Africans used hoodoo and root work. Voodoo was instrumental in the uprising against Haiti\u2019s white class. In medieval Europe, there were poppets and wax figures used against royalty.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe more you dig into the history of magic used as a tool against oppression, the more emerges. There\u2019s even a book that just came out serendipitously for my research, I must say, called \u2018Magic as a Political Crime in Medieval and Early Modern England: A History of Sorcery and Treason (International Library of Historical Studies)<\/a>\"\".\u2019 about how magic was used against the ruling class or how the ruling class sometimes used it to persecute people, to accuse them falsely as in the witch persecutions,\u201d Hughes said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the introduction to his book that is due coming out September 8, in advance of the midterm elections, he states, \u201cWe are living in a time of great turmoil at the edge of history. A time in which liberal, democratic values and ideas that have withstood wars and despots are under attack by rising tides of nationalism and racial supremacy; in which the industrial model of our society is crumbling, and with it the patriarchal, hierarchical structure that has kept it in place. An era in which our very existence as a species is imperiled by a warming planet, overpopulation, and our unquenchable desire for material goods.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

For those who don\u2019t wish to give up and are willing to advocate for change, this book can serve as a toolkit to manifest equality and peace. It contains <\/span><\/span>spells, rituals and historical examples to help readers put their magic to work to make the world a better place.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Magic, Hughes explained, is \u201c<\/span><\/span>innate in us. It wants to express itself.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

What Hughes found when he stripped away erroneous history and dogma were folk traditions and indigenous traditions he considers the roots of magic \u2013 the basic techniques that are universal. Those include sympathetic magic and elemental associations. For instance, he noted, traditions all over the world consider fire a creator and a destroyer. Everywhere people work with the four directions. Magic words, chants, song and dance are used in every culture.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was just working on a chapter on talisman and amulets. I was looking into how they evolved and where they came from. It\u2019s so fascinating to think that Africans from the Congo are brought to this continent and they meet Native Americans who were using medicine pouches that there\u2019s no difference between the Congolese bags that they wore around their necks, even to the same natural items that they would have in their bags,\u201d he said in early March as he was putting in long hours to get the finished manuscript to his publisher.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Ancient Egyptians wrote on papyrus they rolled up and put in a little tube that they wore around their necks. Observant adult Jews put on <\/span><\/span><\/span>tefillin<\/a>, small black leather boxes holding parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Catholics are given the scapular to wear.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo even if a lot of these don\u2019t come from the same roots, they\u2019re universal. For me, it seems to argue for the fact it works. It\u2019s effective magic. When you carry around items symbolic, important, protective or powerful on your body, then, for whatever reason, as humans we like to do that. So if you don\u2019t believe in magic, then you have to assume it\u2019s somehow part of our psychological makeup or something like that. But if you believe in magic like I do, then the ubiquity of all these kinds of traditions seem to indicate that it probably works; that\u2019s why people do it.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When people think of magic they think of spells, and when they think of spells, they think of witches. But magic does not belong to one group or one culture. It underlies all spiritual traditions and systems. In it\u2019s most basic sense, Hughes defines magic as the use of directed consciousness to effect change in the world.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m trying to do with this book is be clear this is just magic. It\u2019s not witchcraft, it\u2019s not traditional witchcraft, it\u2019s not Druidry, it\u2019s not indigenous tradition, it\u2019s not chaos magic, it\u2019s not post-modern magic, it\u2019s just magic. And as such, I try to create these rituals so that they can be plug and play, which is what I think the success of the Trump binding spell,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him<\/span><\/span><\/span> led to this book.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOriginally I was going to write a book on magic, theoretical and practical magic before this Trump spell took off and had a life of its own and dragged me along with it,\u201d Hughes said.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

At the time he crafted the binding spell used for the first time February 24, 2017 , Hughes said, \u201cI really thought, \u2018This is just going to be some small thing that I publish [on Medium] and a few people, maybe the pagan community, they\u2019ll argue about it,\u2019 which they did. But wow, it really just blew up beyond anything I could have imagined. The whole thing has been a really surreal experience.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Within days, it went viral.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA couple of stories that blow my mind,\u201d he said. \u201cOne is I was going to do the ritual. I had about 30 or 40 people who were going to gather to do it and the night of it I went to pick up some wine and beer for afterward and I walk into some random liquor store in Baltimore and the woman, probably in her 20s, said, \u2018Do you want your receipt?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, yeah I\u2019m hoping to write this off. I\u2019m cursing Donald Trump tonight.\u2019 And without batting an eye she said, \u201cOh, do you have the unflattering photo?\u201d I just stared at her. She said, \u2018Me and my friends are doing it later tonight.\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was dumbfounded. I knew it was circulating pretty wildly. The entire week after I published it, I was on the phone all day. People calling, reporters emailing. I did so many interviews it was ridiculous. As the ritual got closer, I realized how big it was getting, I started getting calls from TV reporters [wanting to film the ritual]. I didn\u2019t want reporters, especially at the first time. You never know how they\u2019re going to portray it. I didn\u2019t want it to be really intrusive \u2026 but they were so insistent on filming it, I said, \u2018Oh, I hear there are going to be people at Trump Tower doing it.\u2019 I just made that up.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

When the film crews showed up at Trump Tower in New York City, there were 20 witches outside. More were in front of his tower in Chicago.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt happened and I had no idea. I really just pulled that out of thin air thinking, \u2018Well, maybe there\u2019ll be some people there doing it\u2019 and sure enough they showed up and did the ritual.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The witches weren\u2019t the only ones. Thousands upon thousands of occultists and magicians took part. Even Christians and Buddhists \u2013 many tweaking it to use their way in their tradition \u2013 performed the ritual. Many had never never performed a ritual in their lives. It became the largest and longest continuing magical working in history.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n