We chatted with the host of Sussex Festival of Ideas event, The Radical, Revolutionary Witch, Zoë Howe. Read about her event and find out how witchcraft can play a role in social justice and activism.

Tell us about your Festival of Ideas event, The Radical, Revolutionary Witch, and what makes Dr Laura Kounine (University of Sussex) the ideal host for this discussion?

Laura and I will be discussing how the witch can be an inspirational archetype for outsiders, activists and radical thinkers, and I’ll be talking about my book Witchful Thinking and a little about magical practice, identity and more besides. Laura and I appeared at the British Library last year for their Festival of the Accused with a similar event and it was a wonderful experience - Laura is hugely knowledgeable and has a fascinating perspective; she is a joy to talk to and learn from and I’m excited we get to do this again at Brighton Festival!

How has the portrayal of witches in popular culture evolved over time, and what do you think has driven this evolution?

Mainstream culture hasn’t always been kind to the witch, and there is still an assumption that to be a witch is to be female, which is untrue - magical life is obviously beyond gender. We’ll be talking about that, and connections with historic prejudices against women, especially older women, and outsiders generally, people who did not conform to heteronormative ‘rules’ - as more of us are now coming to understand, many people (largely but not solely women) were historically accused of being witches even though they weren’t magical practitioners or even working in areas that would now be described as ‘witch-adjacent’ (herbalism, healing, midwifery etc), it just became an effective way of scapegoating certain people when the hysteria around ‘witchcraft’ was in full sway. And of course, little still seems to incite fear in the heart of the patriarchy like, say, a woman in her power, living in an independent way and able to help herself and her community in ways that circumnavigate more mainstream methods. We still have centuries of complex, deeply embedded prejudice to disentangle and a lot of layers of disempowerment to peel away.

In recent years of course the image of ‘the witch’ has changed radically and we are frequently presented with the female witch at least as glamorous, sexy, in her power, but still kind of via the lens of male desire. But there are so many ways to ‘witch’ and many lifelong devotees of the Old Ways do not conform to any stereotype, positive or negative, and they aren’t generally telegraphing it - many of us are subtly witching along undetected for years unless we choose otherwise, and it often takes one to know one! But that isn’t as exciting in pop cultural terms of course! But in answer to your question, I think a changing relationship to the notion of female power, or the power of the ‘other’, of the oppressed, is a big part of the shift in how we see the witch portrayed in pop culture.

What role do you think witchcraft and magical thinking play in contemporary activism and social justice movements?

I think they play a deep role in many respects - in the 1970s there were feminists claiming the word ‘witch’ as a subversive act and a ‘f*** you’ to the patriarchy, and we remember this when we reflect on the reclaiming of the phrase ‘nasty woman’ in reference to Trump’s sexist slur against Hillary Clinton. On a personal level I’ve also used magic in visual artworks politically as ‘spells’, if you like, or coded messages that aim to subtly influence circumstances or perceptions - and perception is reality, so if we can bend perceptions, we bend reality! This works whether it is consciously ‘a spell’ or not - making art, writing stories, songs (I’ve always written and talked about the idea that ‘music is magic and songs are spells’ - it’s a concept and a mantra that means a lot to me. It was since adopted elsewhere after I said it in an interview). All acts of creation are conjury to me, and have the potential to spark change.

The word ‘witch’ is often used by activists as a symbol - a talisman, if you like - this does not necessarily mean everyone who does so is actively living their life as a witch but the act of simply claiming the word has a magical quality. To me, magical thinking goes deep in activism because the witching life is one that opts out of the ‘norm’ and involves questioning - questioning yourself, questioning others, scrutinising your intention and being willing to tune into nature and tune out of the noise. The revolution starts in the mind, starts within. It’s about personal power, understanding it, reclaiming it, using it with intention and so the ripples radiate outwards and affect others - this is what witchery is to me. The belief that all is connected means you can’t really separate the self from the other. And all of this involves opting out of the confusion and disempowering messages, opting out of conditioning wherever you spot it, opting out of internalised misogyny and self-dismissal which serves patriarchy so well. So, the two are intertwined for me, and magical life keeps me connected to what is real - I realise some people might find that an amusing statement, but that’s what is true for me.

What advice do you have for aspiring writers and activists, how can they and others incorporate elements of witchcraft into daily life for empowerment and self-care?

Remember words have power and an energetic charge - as the joke goes, that’s why we call it ‘spell-ing’ - so use them wisely with conscious intention, and treat those of others with respect and empathy. Then, prepare for change - inner and outer - and be observant because change can be subtle at first. When it does crackle into life, acknowledge it - and update your own settings accordingly. Also, come up with your own ideas, be original: we learn from and naturally influence each other but you have to be yourself. If you take no other ‘magical thinking’ technique with you, just remembering the old rule of ‘what goes around comes around’ will serve you well in all circumstances, and prevent any karmic kickbacks along the line. I believe in the collective unconscious, but in this post-truth era, AI aside, it seems alarmingly common to see people openly using the ideas, pictures and words of others as if they were one’s own with little compunction or thought of how it might affect others; this appears to be the kind of grasping, superficial culture we’re in - and those qualities do not sit well with a sincere commitment to the magical life. It needs to be resisted, for everyone’s sake and for so many reasons. We all have something individual and valuable to bring to the world, and the world misses out on that if you try to make your mark by simply magpie-ing the words, work and behaviours of others. Disingenuousness aside, there is also nothing creative about it, and creativity is at the heart of magic, and vice versa.

Sussex Festival of Ideas is a dynamic and engaging programme of talks, events and activities, from the School of Media, Arts and Humanities. Discover the other events in the Festival of Ideas programme.