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fortresspress.comTurner and other MBS publishers say the appeal of witchcraft today is that it offers
ways to tackle contemporary issues, such as female empowerment, political division,
conflicts over sexuality, care of the environment, and health challenges. But the fasci-
nation with witchcraft is not new or a fad, Turner says. “There is a strong current of
people whose commitment to the ‘craft’ runs very deep and is a genuine aspect of their
identity and worldview.”
Empowering Witchy Women
In the #MeToo era, witchcraft offers models of powerful women. “Cats and cat references
are ubiquitous in art, pop culture, politics, and the occult, and throughout history, they
have most often been coded female,” Turner says. In September, Weiser releases Cat
Call: Reclaiming the Feral Feminine by Kristen Sollée, with a foreword by Pam Grossman.
In the book, Sollée explores the significance of the cat in witchcraft: “Celestial,
illusory, solitary—the archetypal cat and witch are cut from the same cloth,” she
writes. “These shape-shifters have embodied various aspects of the archetypal femi-
nine, their forms and flesh viewed as demonic contagions to be destroyed, erotic
enigmas to be dominated, and liberating identities to grasp for agency.” Sollée is the
founding editor of the sex-positive feminist website Slutist, as well as a lecturer at the
New School and at colleges and conferences across the U.S. and Europe.
Joel Fotinos, v-p, editorial director, and publisher at the St. Martin’s Essentials
imprint, says witchcraft seems to be making a comeback. SME’s entry in the category
is Modern Witchcraft: Goddess Empowerment for the Kick-Ass Woman (July 2020) by
Deborah Blake, who argues for witchcraft as a female-focused religion, a method of
self-care, and an avenue for personal growth. “Many women are feeling frustrated,
frightened, triggered, and down-right furious with the current social and political
environment, but also feel powerless to create positive change,” she writes. “Witchcraft
can give them both a sense of personal empowerment and a number of goddesses
through whom they can channel those feelings in healthy and productive ways.”
Wicca embraces nonconformists and welcomes members across the spectrum of sexual
orientation, gender identification, and lifestyles, she writes. “For women, however, the
greatest appeal may be the worship of a goddess (or goddesses).” Blake is a Wiccan high
priestess and the author of Everyday Witchcraft and The Little Book of Cat Magic.
The election of Donald Trump spurred new political activism: in 2017, speaker and
author Michael Hughes posted online “A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those
Who Abet Him” and called on other witches to join him in casting the spell on Feb.
24, 2017. Books on politically motivated magic followed, and the trend continues with
Revolutionary Witchcraft: A Guide to Magical Activism by Sarah Lyons (Running Press,
Nov.), which introduces the history and practice of witchcraft as political resistance.
Lyons writes that the movement is not really new. “More people have gotten inter-
ested in witchcraft and magic,” she notes. “At the same time, there has been a resur-
gence of activism and polit-
ical engagement that
American life hasn’t seen in
decades. While these two
things might seem wildly
different at first, there’s a
long history of witchcraft
being used as a tool of
political resistance, from
the witch hunts of early
modern England, through
the Salem Witch Trials, to
today.”