Thank you for considering my invitation to participate in this experimental research/media project. You will find additional information about the project below.

Incantations is a mixed-digital media essay that emerged out of my work as a producer and from the desire to dig deeper into my topics than is typical for a podcast or video-essay. I want to have the liberty to fall-down rabbit holes, and the luxury of exploring nuances and multivalent perspectives.

I chose witches and witchcraft as the subject because there is a lot of misinformation about the history of witchcraft that has embedded itself into the practice since the rise of women’s spirituality in the 70s/80s and is now being spread rapidly through social media’s meme-culture. 

As a practicing witch, I believe social media has—generally speaking—played a helpful role in growing and normalizing witchcraft. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have opened up space for conversation, community, and visibility. And anything that helps re-enchant our environment—anything that invites meaning back into the world—is, in my view, a good thing.

One of the costs of ‘the Enlightenment’ was the desacralizing and objectification of the natural environment. If it has no meaning, it is meaningless. And what is meaningless can be exploited without consequence.

Contemporary witchcraft resists that logic; but it is also vulnerable—to superficiality, historical distortion, and reductionism. Persistent misconceptions aren’t just academically inconvenient—they’re dangerous. They make us careless with the truth and obscure the more complex lineage of how witchcraft actually evolved—because it did evolve, even if the figure of the witch was first conjured as the collective’s worst fear.

This research series is an opportunity to explore the role the witch has played through history, and how an archetype rooted in fear and accusation has come to represent the fastest-growing spiritual identity in the world today.

For me, this means asking how the practice of magic fits into the broader human experience. How did it differ from sanctioned religion? What kinds of knowledge or power were excluded by dominant structures—and how did those exclusions shape the witch?

My research will unfold through writing, podcast conversations, and eventually culminate in a multimedia essay—an immersive exploration using text, audio, video, and imagery to guide the audience through this evolving cultural narrative.

Incantations: Shadowing the Witch through History, Myth, and Gossip is an ongoing study into the cultural evolution of the witch archetype. I am most interested in examining how and why this figure has shifted from outsider to cultural influencer and what that might mean.

For this study rather than looking directly at ‘witches,’ I am examining the artifacts—ancient tablets, books, pamphlets, and news articles—that shaped the historical narrative of witchcraft. I will compare these with the contemporary narratives of self-identifying witches.

I have many questions and lines of inquiry that I am sure will shift as my study progresses.

Contemporary witchcraft is considered to have begun in the early 20th century with Gerald Gardner, but in the late 60s and early 70s witchcraft undergoes a critical paradigm shift. Prior to that and with a few notable exceptions (Vali Myers and Rosaleen Norton) ‘a witch was something other people called you, not what you called yourself” as Julian Goodare states: (This will have citation)

Political and ideological shifts during the 60s and 70s led to the founding of W.IT.C.H., Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, a feminist performance art and activist group who claimed then title witch for themselves as a mark of empowerment. W.I.T.C.H. used the shock value to get press and influence other feminist activist groups, and the women’s spirituality movement of the 80s. Though this movement provided a model for a spiritual practice that gave women agency and a feminine face for god, it also helped spread historical inaccuracies and popular misconceptions about the history of witchcraft.

The meaning of the word witch seems to be changing. To identify this shift clearly and how it has played out in the craft today, I want to look at who has defined witchcraft historically, and what role that has played in the identity of contemporary witches – particularly in light of the social media environment that has led to its massive growth into mainstream culture.

My study will include reading relevant books, and essays, as well as studying films and other media that may also illustrate these themes. I will be visiting historic locations, museums and areas of spiritual importance, as well as interviewing academics. I and publish this work through podcast episodes and a multi-media/video essay/documentary.

This study begins with a western idea of witchcraft, but obviously the witch is not limited to western or European culture. Generally speaking, all cultures are considered to have a concept of magic, and a concept of magic practitioner. The most common forms of magic: healing, protection, love and fertility, guidance, divination, binding and banishing, and invocations have been practiced for millennia and not always considered witchcraft. These spells and rituals are present in most, if not all cultures, globally and throughout human history. Perhaps it is magic that unifies us, and in some manner defines us as human. 

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Ancient Magic - origins of witchcraft
  • Magic and Witchcraft in Mesopotamia
  • No witches in Ancient Egypt?
  • Graeco-Roman ideas of Witchcraft 
  • Witches of the Bible
  • Localised traditions increasingly blurred boundaries of Christian practices.
  • The growing power of the church and the creeping definition of witches and witchcraft.
  • Folklore, susperstitions, legends and gossip – the danger of suspicious neighbours.
  • A brief obligatory look at Witch Trials and recommended reading list. 
  • Witches don’t exist, magic doesn’t exist (but neither does spirit, or consciousness in nature or animals.)
  • The Age of Reason: If it has no consciousness we can exploit and enslave it.
  • The New Witchcraft laws 
  • Re-enchanting Nature and the Feminine
  • Fairytale writers who shaped the  witches
  • The role of imagination in magic and in witchcraft
  • Margaret Murray’s first academic study into witchcraft and its lasting influence and discreditation. 
  • Somnambulism, spiritualism, and mesmerism
  • The rise of Esoteric Orders
  • Gardenerian Witchcraft – grasping at the past
  • Rosaleen Norton and Vali Myers – witches as rule breakers. 
  • W.I.T.C.H. is this the birth of contemporary witchcraft? 
  • Myth-Conceptions Women’s Spirituality in the 80s.
  • Web-Weavers: Social-media and the rise of the witchcraft.
  • Creating a future for witchcraft is there is no past. 
  • Witchcraft and Anarchy – a step towards self-definition.
  • The re-enchantment of our world as a call to arms for the environment. 

The Interview Process:

If you are interested and willing to contribute to this project by participating in an interview –first, thank you so much, your insight helps me create better informed pieces. This is what you can expect from the interview process:

  • Ideally, I like to schedule a brief meeting so we can connect and get to know each other. This meeting is also a chance for you to ask any questions about the production before you commit. If possible, please use the same device and setup you plan to use for the interview—this helps ensure we can capture a clean, usable recording.
 
  • After this meeting I will send a release form that you will need to sign granting me permission to use our recording in the podcast and in the multi-media essay, as well as clips for promotional purposes.
 
  • I can provide examples of the questions I will ask in advance but my preference is to follow the conversation. Sometimes my questions are based on what I think I know but our conversation may reveal something else.
 
  • The interview will take place over Zoom, or through Squadcast. My preference is to record video as well as audio as I would like to include the video in an experimental multi-media essay I am creating. However, if you are uncomfortable on video, the audio interview is the most important component.
 
  • If you’d like help preparing your tech setup (mic, lighting, camera position), I’m happy to send a brief guide. Good sound and video help us make the most of your contribution. (If you are concerned about video quality, please see ==Notes for Recording==)
 
  • An Interview typically takes 45 min. – 1 hour. I am happy to record longer if needed or desired.
 
  • If any part of our conversation touches on sensitive topics, please let me know during or after the interview if you’d like something treated with discretion. I will do my best to be respectful of context, tone, and nuance.
 
  • I aim to complete post-production of the interview within 3 weeks, though publication will be scheduled within the context of the project. You’ll receive an update once your episode is ready to preview and again when it is published.
 
  • After you receive the preview link you can let me know if there are any factual errors or issues with how I have presented our conversation. I retain full editorial control over the work, but I value collaboration and your input. I want to create the best work possible, so if you have feedback, please feel free to share it.
 
  • I am happy to provide clips for your own usage, please credit the podcast so others can find my work.
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The Amuseum is a research-based media project exploring the crossroads of consciousness and materiality, magic and science, history and memory.