We Are All Witches Now

a case for claiming the witch archetype

I haven’t written this newsletter since the election — I’ve been mute in the face of what my country chose, mute in the face of horrific world events, mute watching the fires in L.A. where I lived once upon a time. (I could go on but I can’t make myself list even 1/10th of what is wrong.)

When you add in the level of vitriol aimed at women, how it’s become acceptable to threaten us, hurt us, even kill us, my mutness is crossed with rage and I don’t know what to do.

I spent a number of weeks either numbing out or being very depressed.

You can only read so many cozy fantasies and watch so much Masterpiece Theater. I had to find a way forward.

I needed a way to face reality, to give up the story that things are going to get back to normal — normal is gone, just ask anybody who lives in L.A. — and I needed a way to live with my rage and my fear.

Which brings me to Roxane’s quote and the title of this newsletter.

We are all witches now.

When my friend Lucy sent me Roxane’s words awhile back, I knew she sent it to me because I’m writing a contemporary fantasy novel about a magic school for mid-life women. The women learn to use desire and regret to control newly hatched magic. Their goal? To turn back the climate crisis and then, rule the world.

In my two years writing the book, I’ve often quipped to my husband at moments when I needed to be resourceful or brave, “No worries, I’m a witch.¹”

Saying “I’m a witch” always gives me such a shiver of joy and pride and energy.

I started to notice that. I started to think the reason why Lucy sent me Roxanne’s quote was because tapping into the witch archetype feels like the sanest way to handle the insanity that is life now.

A witch is transgressive, a truth teller, and has no f**ks to give.² She speaks truth to power or goes behind power’s back and cuts it off at the knees. She defies meaningless rules and empty conventions. She uses her power to help, herself included.

The witch is the opposite of the trad wife or the MAHA yoga influencer mom, a way to push back against those archetypes, to offer women an alternative. We are all witches now. Could that be a rallying point for our rage, our fear, for feeling gaslit?

As journalist Mona Chollet writes in In Defence of Witches (thanks Amy for the book!)…

“recast the witch as a powerful role model: an emblem of strength, free to exist beyond the narrow limits society imposes on women.”

I also love thinking of myself as a witch because it stirs my imagination and the imagination is a powerful way to fight back against fascism.

Bad actors try to wear us down with chaos that leads to despair. Our imaginations counter despair — remind us to wonder, to come up with alternatives, to attempt the outrageous. I love living in the world of my novel and giving older women real power — it is one way I dug myself out of my despair these last months.

Witches are profoundly creative. We need to be profoundly creative right now, for our sanity and our world.

Author Amber Sparks writes:

"But real witches, of course, are the kind of women who can make their own fate; they do not need men and they are wild with new feelings and ideas and spells. They may or may not have real magic, but they are the kind of women who can howl at the moon." Amber Sparks

Make our own fate. Wild with ideas. Howl at the moon. Sounds better than stuffing my face with popcorn and avoiding reality entirely.

What does the archetype of the witch bring up for you? Does it stir something fierce and creative in you? If you’re a practicing witch, how does your practice help in these dark days?

I’d love to hear. I’ve missed our conversations so much!

Thank you for reading. It means the world to me.

Love,

Jen

P.S. This newsletter is always free and if you care to support me by buying my book, I would so appreciate it.

1. I’m not Wiccan or pagan, although I did my share of women’s rituals in L.A. in the 80s. My pagan and witch friends, if using the term witch steps on any toes, my sincere apologies. It is not my intention to cheapen your spiritual practice or ways of taking action for the greater good but to support all people in good ways to stay alive and free.

2. Full props that this is NOT a new idea. Feminists in the 60’s called themselves witches for just this reason, and practicing witches do political actions everyday.