At the end of May 2020 I felt I had reached a boiling point. I had been watching the protests that erupted all around the country after the murder of George Floyd. The violent police response to the peaceful protesters filled me with despair. I posted my support of BLM to social media. I donated to bail funds. But it didn’t feel like I was doing enough. I wanted to join the protests, but couldn’t. In that moment, caught between dread and frustration, I wrote to Hestia, praying to her:
“Great Goddess Hestia, the first and the last, protect the protestors, protect the rebels, protect the people rising up against oppression.
“Great Goddess Hestia, the most honored of the gods, encircle those who are fighting for a better world in your fiery protection. Keep them safe from bullets, keep them safe from tear gas, keep them safe from harm and malice.
“Great Goddess Hestia, to whom the first and richest portion is given, aid those who have been denied so long their own due. Lift up their voices, lift up their actions, lift up their demand and help them overcome.
“Amen.”
To those not familiar with her, it might seem strange to invoke Hestia in the context of Black Lives Matters protests. She is the Greek goddess of the State, and the State is supposed to gain its power from the People. Since the State was attacking citizens exercising their First Amendment rights, I knew she would side with the people over those in power.
It was comforting to be able to call on Hestia. In doing so, I remembered that there were even more ways I could assist those causes and issues I support. I could work magick to protect protestors, and to amplify their message. Much of that spellwork didn’t have to involve being at a protest to work, either. The mundane ways I was already engaging in movements and issues could be enhanced by the type of magick I was already employing in my personal life.
Letter Writing, Petitions & Donations
Letter writing is understandably still one of the most effective means of communication with elected officials. If someone is taking the time to write out a letter, stuff it in an envelope, seal it, stamp it and drop it in a mailbox, that tells a representative that the sender is willing to put in the effort to vote against them if they don’t do what the sender wants. In the day and age of electronic mail that can be filtered and automatically responded to, letter writing is a valuable tool in the social justice witch’s arsenal. You can use magickal means to give your letter a greater chance at being better received.
Mix the juice of half a lemon with a few drops of water then use a toothpick dipped in the “ink”to draw sigils on your letter writing paper. When the juice is dry the sigil is invisible unless held up to a light. This is better done before you write or print your letter as trying to write the sigil over the printing could make it run. You can also write the sigils in the margins of the letter after you have written if you prefer.
Burn lemon balm, clover or ginger and bathe your letter in the smoke to give it more success of being persuasive. Or add a dab of honey to the envelope seal to “sweeten” your message.
Add sigils or emojis to the signature line of your e-mails to politicians for the same effect as the lemon juice sigils above.
Most online petitions provide a space to add your own thoughts to your signature. Use that space to magickally amplify your message by adding a sigil (drawn in ascii) or emojis or even a magick phrase to support and bring about change.
Fundraising Money Spell
Make a money jar to support the fundraising efforts of any organizations you are supporting. In a jar with a lid place a flyer or print out of their fundraiser information. If they don’t have one, you can make one up or just write the name of the organization and what they need (money, donated items, etc.) on a piece of paper. Place the jar on your altar or in a place where you will interact with it every day. Each morning drop something into the jar that represents money and abundance. This can be coins, monopoly money, semi-precious stones, rings, mint leaves, even cutouts from magazines that represent what the organization needs. After you drop in the daily contribution, close the jar up and give it a shake. Visualize donations raining down on the organization, fulfilling their goals and meeting their needs. Keep filling the jar until the fundraiser is over.
When donating money through electronic means (Paypal, Venmo, etc.) you can add emojis to a note to give the donation a magickal boost. Add three money bag emojis to attach energies of growth and abundance to your donation so that even more donations will flow into the organization’s coffers.
Spellwork for Protesting
Joining a protest and making your voice heard can be empowering. You don’t feel alone because you are surrounded by like minded individuals. It can feel like you are engaging in meaningful action that makes an impact. You should be putting as much thought into the magick part of your protest as your signage.
Blessing and Protective Spells
Before you and others head out to a protest you need to take certain precautions: you wear protective goggles and comfortable shoes, you should also be protecting yourself magickally. Anoint yourself and others with an oil for protection and blessing. Call on your deities, spirit helpers, and ancestors to bless you before you head out. Before you return home after a protest, make sure you are cleansing yourself so you aren’t bringing any negative energies or magicks home with you. You can do so either with a smoke bundle made from herbs like rosemary, mugwort or juniper or with sound cleansing such as ringing bells around your body or dancing to a fast moving song that lifts your spirits.
Protective amulets for protestors
Protective amulets are best if they are as innocuous as possible in case of arrest. Pouches full of herbs, stones or other magica materia could lead to protestors getting held for drug possession or other trumped up charges. Instead, opt for things like pieces of paper with sigils (which can look like doodles to the uninformed). If you want to leverage the protective properties of herbs, make an amulet out of bay leaves by marking them with a protective symbol like an eye, which protestors can carrying in their wallets or pockets.
Black Salt for Invisibility
Black salt is a mixture of herbs and salt that is used for protection, often sprinkled around a property. As there have been many instances of protestors being identified and later arrested or harassed by police, you can make use of black salt’s protective properties in a slightly different way. Burn chicory, fern, mistletoe or poppy on a charcoal disc until everything has been consumed and the disc is completely burned out. Mix the ashes with salt to create your black salt. At a protest, sprinkle the salt behind you. The herbs all have properties of granting invisibility, and so the salt will help to interfere with any attempts to identify you or other protestors for later reprisal.
Spells to Protect Protestors
Marching in a protest isn’t for everyone, however. Many times protests aren’t accessible, leaving people with disabilities on the sidelines. The possibility of injury or arrest can be other reasons people steer clear of protests. That doesn’t mean they can’t participate magickally from afar. Work the protection spell below before a protest to maintain the safety of those who are marching.
Cut a piece of blue fabric into a rectangle that measures 9” x 11”. Gather a number of bay leaves equal to the people you are protecting.1 Write their names on the bay leaves, one name per person. Lay the bay leaves, stacked on each other, at the top of the fabric. Start folding the fabric towards you with the bay leaves in it. Say, “They are protected from violence, they are protected from retaliation, they are protected from opposition.” Ask your deity or any spirits you work with to lend their power to your spell. Keep the leaves wrapped until the protest is over, then unwrap and bury them. Cleanse the fabric and keep it for use when the next protest happens.
Hexing and Binding
Not every witch is comfortable with hexing and binding, but both are valid and powerful magickal tools. CEOs of corporations that are polluting local waterways and environments, police officers who shoot, kill and/or brutalize people, politicians who take bribes and ignore calls for justice are all valid targets for offensive magick.
Even if you aren’t comfortable with hexing and cursing, you can work a freezer spell. All you need is a picture of the target (a print out from a news article is fine), a container (a plastic baggie will do fine) and water. Place the picture in the baggie and fill it with water. You don’t need much, just enough to cover the picture. Seal the baggie and place in the freezer. As you do so say, “You are frozen. You can do no harm. You can not move forward. You can not progress.” The spell will aid in keeping the target from making any progress in their career or life. They’ll basically be in stasis. Should they be brought to justice, you can remove the frozen picture from the freezer. The picture and ice can be buried and the container either cleansed or recycled.
You can add a piece of monopoly money, coins or actual money to the freezer bag if you also want to freeze the target’s finances. As the United States is a capitalist society a foe’s wallet is a legitimate target for binding.
Bring Your Deities Into the Battle
There are a number of deities from numerous paths and religions one can work with in the context of supporting a chosen cause. There are even Saints that can be called upon if you work within a Christian framework. I’m not suggesting the Social Justice Witch pick out a deity like they’re picking out an ice cream flavor. That’s a recipe for cultural appropriation and has the potential of getting on the wrong side of a god. Instead, look to the deities and spirits you work with first. Even your ancestors, if you communicate with them, might be willing to join in the magickal fight.2
More than likely they already share a connection to what you are passionate about. If you are looking ot support LGBTQ+ issues and work with Artemis (for example) you have an established connection all ready to go. If you aren’t sure if the deity or spirit helpers you work with are interested in your causes you can use meditation, divination or prayer to ask them.
As witches, we are not limited to only mundane methods of changing the world. Nor should we focus solely on magickal means. There’s a balance to be struck between the two where real world, effective revolution can be attained. If we ignore certain tools in our toolbox in favor of others we’ll only hamper our efforts. Marrying the magickal with the practical can only speed up the change we want to see in the world.
1This spell works best when you are protecting specific people that you know. You can generalize it by writing the name of organizations on the bay leaves, but the generalized nature of that will mean the protection is not as strong.
2 Be careful, though, if you bring your ancestors in the mix and be sure that they would want to be involved. My grandfather, for example, fought in WWII and liberated a Nazi concentration camp, was a lifelong Democrat and also used many racial slurs. While he would probably support freedom from tyranny, I’m not certain his presence would be particularly welcome in BLM matters.
This article first appeared in Llewellyn’s 2022 Magic Almanac.
Raechel Henderson is a witch, pagan and author. Her books are: Sew Witchy, The Scent of Lemon & Rosemary, The Natural Home Wheel of the Year, and The Witch’s Wardrobe.