The Satyr's Kiss: Queer Men, Sex Magic & Modern Witchcraft

By Storm Faerywolf and Christopher Penczak

Spells, Rituals, and Exercises that Celebrate Queer Sexuality and Identity

Satisfy the passion in your soul with a queer-centered exploration of magical philosophy, history, rites of passage, and sex magic. This practical guide empowers everyone who identifies as male to take his rightful place at the center of his own universe, honoring the unique qualities that set him apart from the mainstream. Emphasizing the importance of sexuality in Witchcraft, this book features a variety of methods for celebrating sex in a magical way.

Sharing an abundance of spells and rituals, Storm Faerywolf helps you improve everything from communication and confidence to romance and sexual protection. This book also provides exercises related to initiation, gender polarity, sex with spirits, celebrating pride, and more. The Satyr's Kiss shows you what it means to live fully in your unique, queer, and magical spirit.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
• Release date: May 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9780738769905

Storm Faerywolf

Storm Faerywolf is a published author, experienced teacher, visionary poet, and professional warlock. He is a regular contributor to Modern Witch and is a founding teacher of Black Rose, an online school of modern folkloric witchcraft. He has written several books, including Betwixt and Between, Forbidden Mysteries of Faery Witchcraft, and The Stars Within the Earth (Mystic Dream Press, 2003). For more, visit his website at faerywolf.com.

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About the Author

Storm Faerywolf is a published author, experienced teacher, visionary poet, and professional warlock. He is a regular contributor to Modern Witch and is a founding teacher of Black Rose, an online school of modern folkloric witchcraft. He has written several books, including Betwixt and Between, Forbidden Mysteries of Faery Witchcraft, and The Stars Within the Earth (Mystic Dream Press, 2003). For more, visit his website at faerywolf.com.

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Llewellyn Publications

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Copyright Information

The Satyr’s Kiss: Queer Men, Sex Magic & Modern Witchcraft © 2022 by Storm Faerywolf.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any matter whatsoever, including Internet usage, without written permission from Llewellyn Publications, except in the form of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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First e-book edition © 2022

E-book ISBN: 9780738769905

Cover design by Shannon McKuhen

Rider-Waite Smith cards are based on those contained in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite, published by William Rider & Sons, Ltd., London, 1911

All other interior illustrations by Mara Benowitz

Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of Llewellyn Worldwide Ltd.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (Pending)

ISBN: 978-0-7387-6770-3

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to the queer Witches and Warlocks everywhere who dare to interpret myth, magic, and life on their own terms, and to the queer ancestors from all races and cultures who have made today possible for us.

IO EVOHE! Blessed be.

Acknowledgments

There are many people whom I wish to thank for the creation of this book.

My beloved partners: Chas Bogan, Devin Hunter, and Mat Auryn. Thank you for your love and support. You have each listened to me ramble on about queer history, magical theory, sex magic, and ritual, giving me a space to further develop my thoughts. I could not have done this without your help. I couldn’t hope for a better queer magical family.

Christopher Penczak, who graciously agreed to write the foreword. In the witch-world, which is often volatile and full of clashing egos, you have been a constant source of friendship, kindness, wisdom, and support. Thank you for being a true friend and brother of the art.

Those who agreed to read parts of my manuscript and offer ideas and notes: Christopher Blackthorn, Michael Cabrera, Christopher Corey, LMFT, Mitchell Diaz, Charles Harrington, Eron Mazza, Christopher Michael, Sky Miles, Steven Morningstar, Grey Townsend, and Marcus Wolf. Thank you for your feedback, your suggestions, and just for letting me bounce my ideas off of you. This has helped more than you know. Thank you for putting up with my constant layout and numbering revisions, as well as my habit of going back several chapters and adding new materials. This was an eye-opening experience for me in terms of my writing process and so I thank you for being a part of it.

Thank you to Vicky Gutiérrez, aka Mamma E, for your blessing and for helping me with the entry for your son, Eddy. Thank you for keeping his spirit alive in the magical communities that you serve and for your kind heart and supportive spirit.

To my Beloved Dead of the Craft:

Kalyn, who taught me that being queer in the Craft wasn’t something to be merely tolerated but actively celebrated.

Claudia Lorie, with whom I had many over-the-counter chats at the shop, and who first taught me about Asushunamir.

Katy Swan, whose loving heart and creative spirit were infectious and drew many of us together for the work. Thank you for those memories. You were taken too soon.

Valerie Walker (Veedub), badass Faery Witch who taught me that it was okay for Witches to go against the grain, and in fact, it was practically expected.

And Eddy Gutiérrez, my friend with whom we spent several nights chatting about magic, the Craft, Reiki, spirits, and of course sex, over probably too many pomegranate margaritas. I wish we had more time to know each other in this life. Here’s to the next.

Disclaimer

This work is intended for adults of legal age only. Some of the exercises and rituals given in this book refer to activities that may not be safe to perform and/or substances that may not be legal to possess depending on your location.

In terms of rituals involving sexual activity, it should be clearly stated that no one should be forced into having sex as part of practicing Witchcraft, including but not limited to initiations. This book is intended for those who wish to incorporate sex into their magical workings and stresses that all participants be willing to engage sexually as well be of legal age to be able to make full informed consent.

Regarding sexual activity involving the exchange of bodily fluids, the reader is advised to make their own decisions in concert with advice from their doctor. In terms of certain herbs or other substances, it is again important to consult a doctor before imbibing anything new. Neither the author nor the publishers take any responsibility for any damages, injury, or legal trouble that may result, directly or indirectly from the use of any of the practices given herein. Any exercise, ritual, or practice described in this book may be easily augmented to omit any element, practice, or substance with which the reader may feel aversion or discomfort.

CONTENTS

List of Exercises

List of Rituals

List of Spells

Foreword by Christopher Penczak

Introduction : On Being a Queer Warlock in a Straight Witch’s World

PART ONE PHILOSOPHY

CHAPTER 1: The Queer Craft

CHAPTER 2: The Symbols We Share

CHAPTER 3: Mythically Queer

CHAPTER 4: Queer Myth in the Present Day

CHAPTER 5: The Rainbow Dead

CHAPTER 6: The Queer Sabbat

CHAPTER 7: A Queer Sex Magic Primer

PART TWO PRAXIS

CHAPTER 8: A Queer Sex Magic Practicum

CHAPTER 9: Foundational Rites

CHAPTER 10: Rites of Passage

CHAPTER 11: A Queering of Spells

Conclusion: Divining the Future

Resources

Bibliography

EXERCISES

EXERCISE ONE Meeting the Oak King

EXERCISE TWO Meeting the Holly King

EXERCISE THREE Aligning the Queer Souls

EXERCISE FOUR Polarity Beyond Gender

EXERCISE FIVE Casting the Magic Triangle

EXERCISE SIX Experiencing the Pink Triangle

EXERCISE SEVEN Working the Amethyst Pentacle

EXERCISE EIGHT Prismatic Breathing #1

EXERCISE NINE Prismatic Breathing #2

EXERCISE TEN Crossing Over the Rainbow

EXERCISE ELEVEN Invoking the Lambda for Balance

EXERCISE TWELVE You, the Queer Historian

EXERCISE THIRTEEN Awakening the Body

EXERCISE FOURTEEN Magical Me Time

EXERCISE FIFTEEN Sexual Empowerment

EXERCISE SIXTEEN Cultivating Sexual Compassion

EXERCISE SEVENTEEN Affirmative Pleasure (or Jacking Off Our Affirmations)

EXERCISE EIGHTEEN The Sexy Sigil

EXERCISE NINETEEN Sexus Naturalis

EXERCISE TWENTY The Mirror of Narcissus

EXERCISE TWENTY-ONE A Sexual Soul Alignment

EXERCISE TWENTY-TWO Sex with a Spirit

EXERCISE TWENTY-THREE The Mirror of Eros

EXERCISE TWENTY-FOUR The Tides of Power

EXERCISE TWENTY-FIVE The Lover and the Beloved

EXERCISE TWENTY-SIX The Lust Power Generator

EXERCISE TWENTY-SEVEN The Web of Power

EXERCISE TWENTY-EIGHT Focus of Desire

RITUALS

RITUAL ONE Casting a Satyr’s Circle

RITUAL TWO Consecrating the Working Tools

RITUAL THREE The Sevenfold Kiss

RITUAL FOUR Full Moon

RITUAL FIVE Dark Moon

RITUAL SIX The Holy Phallus

RITUAL SEVEN The Love of Kings (A Queer Great Rite)

RITUAL EIGHT A Simple Rite to Celebrate Pride

RITUAL NINE Reflections of Pride

RITUAL TEN The Butterfly Rite (Coming Out of the Closet)

RITUAL ELEVEN Dedication

RITUAL TWELVE Initiation

RITUAL THIRTEEN Blessing a Brotherhood (Forming a Circle or Coven)

RITUAL FOURTEEN Handfasting (Marriage/Consecrating a Relationship)

RITUAL FIFTEEN Handparting (Divorce)

RITUAL SIXTEEN The Eldering

RITUAL SEVENTEEN Requiem (Memorial)

SPELLS

LOVE, SEX, AND RELATIONSHIPS

The Flame of Desire (A Glamour Spell)

Tending Eden’s Garden (Drawing Mr. Right)

Getting Down and Dirty (Drawing Mr. Right-Now)

Priapian Light (Increasing Potency)

The Mirror of Anteros (Gently Banishing Unwanted Advances)

Banishing Flakes (To Drive Away Less-Than-Serious Suitors)

Clear Sight (To Determine One’s True Intentions)

Anteros’s Blessing (For Healing Rejection)

HEALTH AND HEALING

Apollo’s Blessing (Magic to Empower the Medicine)

The Untangling (Aiding Communication)

Spell to Ease the Pain of a Broken Heart

MENTAL HEALTH AND SELF-RESPECT

The Poesy of Soothing (To Calm Anxiety)

The Light Through the Clouds (For Depression)

Proud as a Peacock (A Confidence Spell)

To Call Guiding Spirits (For Support When Alone)

Letting Down Shields

Inner Light of Hope and Healing (Coping with Addiction)

PERSONAL POWER AND LIFE-FORCE

Feasting on the Power

Twin Lovers, Light and Dark (A Simple Spell to Generate Magical Life-Force)

Embracing the Green Man (To Connect to Nurturing Earth Energies)

The Warlocking (Rite to Release Old Bonds and Claim Your Power)

PROTECTION SPELLS

The Shield of Daddy Bear (Protection from Violence)

The Rainbow Shield (Protection From Discrimination and for Legal Issues)

The Rite of Eros-Apollo (To Shield From STDs for the Coming Year)

The Helmet of Hades (Invisibility: How to Hide When Necessary

PROSPERITY AND ABUNDANCE

The $3 Bill Spell (Increasing Money)

Tricky Dick (Prosperity and Protection for Sex Workers)

Shattering the Pink Ceiling (On Discrimination in the Workplace)

DIVINATION

The Banner of the Queer Spirit (A Rainbow Flag Tarot Spread)

A Divination of Holy Lust

Foreword

Witchcraft and queer culture, two things that were once discovered as part of a great mysterious quest to satisfy a yearning in the soul, are now found everywhere. They are like the Materia Prima, or First Matter of the alchemists. This is the mysterious substance found everywhere but hidden in plain sight so that few actually see and recognize it. Magick and queerness are everywhere, and most people fail to recognize either of them clearly. Even when so ubiquitous in modern popular culture, people still fail to really see them. However, I am stunned at their overt manifestations everywhere. I think if you asked me about this when I began on the crooked path of the Witch, I would be stunned to know the future held such overt embracing of the symbols of both Witchcraft and queer culture, yet they have always been there, hidden in the cracks and found at the edges of the shadows, influencing culture, art, music, and fashion. Today in many circles it’s actually cool to be a Witch or queer, and many practitioners are both, for an added bonus. The growing voice and presence of both in mainstream culture is a wonderful but staggering surprise.

The quest to find what is hidden in plain sight is the classic hero’s journey. Seemingly an overt adventure out in the world, it’s really a journey to the inner worlds and the entry point for the adventure is anywhere we are. The hero goes on a far-off exotic quest to ultimately understand they didn’t have to go anywhere. This wisdom is held in the classic modern Witchcraft text The Charge of the Goddess:

And you who seek to know Me, know that your seeking and yearning will avail you not, unless you know the Mystery: for if that which you seek, you find not within yourself, you will never find it without. For behold, I have been with you from the beginning, and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

Yet the quest is the catalyst to urge us to explore the worlds within, and to find the magick all around us. The process of getting out into the world; talking to unfamiliar people; making new friends, allies, and lovers; being challenged; and going to strange and exciting new places opens those unexplored parts of ourselves.

My own quest to explore both my spirituality and my sexuality took me in seemingly two different directions around the same time, and, strangely, each overlapped with the other in ways I didn’t expect.

To find magick, I was fortunate to be living near Salem, Massachusetts, and had been invited to attend my first Samhain celebration on the infamous Gallow’s Hill by my art teacher, who, unbeknownst to me at the time, was pretty involved with the coven of Witches hosting the event. That Samhain celebration turned out to be a madhouse of television crews and documentaries on Halloween night as that year was an important anniversary of the historic Salem Witchcraft Trials. Soon that journey led to my own studies with Laurie Cabot who teaches a Witchcraft tradition that was not dominated by heteronormativity. There I met my first open, out, and proud queer people in my classmates. I still wasn’t out yet myself, but they gave me hope and courage. This began an adventure in magick that is still unfolding to this day, with me now inviting the curious to my own community’s Samhain celebrations and opening the door to those who seek. Thankfully, we rarely have television crews documenting us.

When I was exploring my sexuality, it was the days of newspaper personal ads in queer papers and, if out in the major cities, seedy clubs in industrial parks and dangerous neighborhoods you wouldn’t find unless you knew what you were looking for. But the true culture of my queer journey was in the gay bookstores that were a wonderful mash-up of fine literature, art, photography, and pornography. Like the seemingly secret mythos of the Witch, queer culture and history was a hidden treasure then. You had to seek it out. There was always a bit of danger in the quest, even if it was only to your own sense of self.

That wonderful Witchy art teacher urged me to check out some books in the Boston Public Library in my art studies. While straight herself, through her connections in the art world she dropped the hint that the library was a notoriously cruise-y place for gay men to meet, at least according to her gay friends. It was also the place where Laurie Cabot met her first Witchcraft teacher, Felicity Bumgardner, working there as a librarian when Laurie was a young girl. While the library was a crossroads for me for many years, including being the assigned meeting spot for the Temple of Witchcraft to meet when marching in the Boston Pride Parade, it was the gay bookstore, Glad Day Books, across the street, that really opened a new door. On the bottom shelf in the corner, I came across Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture by Arthur Evans. Here, with a simple paperback adorned with a devilish horned satyr face on the cover, my two quests became one in a single moment. It was the first real overt connection of the two, at least for me.

Soon after, I encountered more of the prejudices of other Witches seeking to enforce a heteronormative bias for all Witches and the backlash of not conforming to it. While I knew about it, in my training such philosophy was thankfully presented as one of many ways, not the only way, and not our way. Laurie emphasized the psychic power of the Witch, not fertility. For my first few years in Salem, I was blissfully ignorant of such tensions. Still, it was stunning at the time and might have been a bucket of cold water on my face to shock me out of my love affair with the Craft, as I was not expecting the same prejudices of the mainstream world in my beloved magickal counterculture. Simultaneously, I encountered those who fortified my spirit and kept me anchored in my Craft. Due to the distance diminished by the virtues of the newly growing Pagan Internet, I met more openly gay practitioners discussing their sexuality in context with their magick and spirituality. This began the seeds that would grow to be my book Gay Witchcraft, and this began my first encounters with Storm Faerywolf.

Storm was there, openly sharing both online and in correspondence, his experiences, art, and teachings. His genuine warmth and sincerity shone through and many years later we met in the flesh and my perceptions of him online were confirmed. It’s been amazing to see him bring his work and passion out to a wider community as a speaker, teacher, and author as our friendship has grown. We’ve attended many a convention and festival together, and I have seen his transforming work firsthand and observed its blessing among those who have attended. I remember clearly the first time he guided me through the Amethyst Pentacle with the accompaniment of his singing bell, and while that technique would be worth it alone, there is so much more to be found in his work.

In this book, you have the benefit of someone who has been living his truth and honing his Craft since those early days of queer online and in-person Witchcraft. I can’t think of too many from those days still active in community and teaching now. There are a few of us, but most have quietly disappeared. Storm has grown bolder and more active as time has gone on. His work has not only endured, but grown and evolved. This hasn’t happened without controversies, but those controversies have only refined the work and made Storm stronger. He has seen the trends—what has come and gone—and knows what works in our timeless traditions while not being afraid to explore and experiment. I have always found his counsel wise and his heart open.

Gathered here is the wisdom of Storm’s many years of teaching, leading rituals, and being a part of groups for us brothers of the art and beyond. In these days where raw information and constant opinion can be overwhelming and the voice of wisdom hard to find and hear in the din, this book is a voice of wisdom in the world of the Witch.

Christopher Penczak

June 2021

Introduction

On Being a Queer Warlock

in a Straight Witch’s World

I am queer.

When I use this term, it is an attempt to reach poetically (and, therefore, magically) into the realm of the Other. To some degree, I stand outside the societal norm, existing on the outside looking in. As a queer person, I am the walker between the worlds, the dancer at the gates of twilight. Being queer is a vitally important aspect of who I am, of how I relate to the universe. It is much more than sharing my bed with another man. It colors my perception, focusing my awareness in a way that is somewhat different from that of the mainstream.

Queer stems from what was first intended to be an insult but, through the efforts of many brave gender and sexual nonconforming people, the term has been reclaimed by some to represent perseverance in the face of adversity and pride where we were once forced to feel shame. It is an inclusive term as gay, lesbian, bisexual, asexual, transgender, intersex, and other gender and sexual nonconformists (and even heterosexual allies who identify with the term) can all find a place under this many-colored umbrella, making it a potent political—and magical—term.

I am also a Warlock.

Though many in the Pagan community respond with judgment and scorn at hearing the word, I use that term specifically—and proudly—to challenge the false assumptions that this word is an insult and has no place in our Craft. While it is true that the origin of the term speaks of the betrayal of a covenant, since Warlock is a firmly Christian-era term, we should be under no illusions as to whose covenants were being broken. It is a word associated with magic, and from the authoritarian Christian perspective that is enough to label it as being of their Devil. It was meant to be an insult, to disempower. But that only works if we buy into it, if we accept their stunted version of the truth.

It is also a word specifically associated with men, but also one that attempted to emasculate men who practice Witchcraft by trying to shame us for engaging in what the Church and even much of present society, have largely considered to be a womanly art. As an insult applied to men, it is rooted in misogyny, as most insults against men are, for in the patriarchal mind there can be nothing lower than that which is deemed feminine. Masculinity is a temporary (and revokable) condition that is only afforded to those who toe the line and agree to reinforce the toxic mindset and behavior so glorified by a culture obsessed with dominance, with exploitation, and with death. Challenge these pillars of the patriarchy and be condemned to the outer darkness of obscurity and scorn. At least, that’s what they would like us to believe.

Warlock was yet another term meant to scorn and condemn, but as queerfolk we are no strangers to transforming the words intended to be used against us. Call us faggots, or fairies, or flamers, or queens, or queer … We take these supposed insults, and we make them into things of humor, and of beauty, and of pride. We make them into things of power.

We are men who love one another. We take delight in the company of our brothers, exciting our passions, indulging our appetites. We have hidden in the shadows for eons, venturing out under the cloak of night to gather and celebrate with our brethren in illicit taverns, in derelict parks, and in back alleyways. Here we could embrace with a tenuous safety; our fears of being arrested, or beaten, or worse, giving way to our deep need to connect with others like ourselves. This connection is an affirmation of who we are at our core: the primal need of sex, and pleasure, and human bonding.

We have built our own culture with our own language and our own customs. And though we have been historically condemned by those in power, we have always found a way to thrive; to take the scraps of what has been left for us and transform them into something glamorous, something spectacular, something to give us hope and a reason to celebrate who we are, even when the world demands of us that we do not.

We have fought. We have endured. We have even triumphed, though there is still so very far we must go. But we take our history as inspiration to continue. If our queer ancestors could find hope in those even darker times, then it is our duty to continue on, to carry the light into the next generation. We are called to keep that light alive. We are called to be the guardians of queer spirit.

Though I am gay, and this book is written primarily with that perspective in mind, I will most often use the word queer in the effort of inclusivity, as most often bisexual, trans, and questioning men are excluded from the conversation when it comes to men who have sex with other men. To this, however, I must add that I can really only speak to my own experience, and as such, while I strive toward inclusivity, I cannot directly speak to the unique experiences of bisexual, trans, or nonbinary individuals. I will attempt to include these people in my vision, but in the end my work here is focused primarily on homosexual cisgender men, as that is what I am and so on that subject alone can I speak with the authority that personal experience affords. And even here I can be under no illusions that I am able to speak for all gay men. No community is a singular monolith. If I have failed to address the specific concerns of others underneath the queer umbrella, this is why. I hope the reader will understand and forgive my limitations.

This book seeks to offer a vision of what I call the Queer Craft. This is a practical Witchcraft that not only embraces queer people but celebrates and centers us in its philosophies and practices. While in many traditions and covens across the world queer people are little more than an afterthought (if not outright denied equal footing with their heterosexual peers), in the Queer Craft we take our rightful place at the center of our own universe, honoring and even celebrating those unique qualities that set us apart from the mainstream.

One of the areas of our queer lives that if often neglected when it comes to religious and spiritual practices is that of sex. It is for this reason that my vision of the Queer Craft centers our sexuality, giving us an opportunity to celebrate sex in a magical way, just as our heterosexual peers have often done.

An unconscious bias exists when heterosexual sex is seen as beautiful and holy and homosexual sex is seen as dirty or perverse. Even some who would otherwise welcome us into their circles still entertain such obviously flawed assertions, a wholly unexamined bias that tells them that an opposite gendered pair is the baseline against which all other relationship forms are measured and judged. For some queerfolk, this has led to an unhealthy split in which the sexual is sacrificed at the altar of a spiritualty that is wholly transcendent, and thus devoid of the body’s pleasures altogether, reducing sexuality to being merely a procreative exercise.

We cannot fall into the trap of separating our sexuality from spirituality. Witchcraft in particular is decidedly carnal in nature, and the power that it offers is just as legitimate for us as for anyone else. We simply need the courage to claim it, and to see the spiritual beauty in it as well as the primal desirous power.

Though this book is steeped in sex magic, it is not required for much of the praxis described herein to be useful. Feel free to omit or augment whatever you choose, using the rites and rituals given here as suggestions. For a Queer Craft to be healthy and effective, it must also be personal. Ultimately, there is no greater authority than the Warlock themselves. With that in mind, not everyone will wish to work the Queer Craft in a sexual way. In my nearly forty years practicing Witchcraft I have been a part of groups and participated in rituals that have had sexual elements and those that have not. Neither type is more powerful or important or more authentic than the other.

Sex should never be a requirement for participation in Witchcraft. Some of the exercises and rituals in this book describe sex between even multiple partners. If this is already a part of your healthy sexual activity, then this can be a way to include that into your spiritual and magical life. If you are monogamous or celibate, then you will wish to skip those exercises in favor of your chosen boundaries. It is my hope that even asexual people will be able to find something useful in this work. There can be no one right way to participate in the Queer Craft, other than in a way that affirms your own unique spirit.

Some of the language that I use to describe a portion of the magical and metaphysical techniques offered in this book stem from my work in the Anderson Faery tradition of Witchcraft, also called Feri. Though I have found the language and concepts from that tradition to be among the clearest, one does not need to practice within that tradition in order to work with the exercises and concepts given here. Again, feel free to translate the ideas and language into that with which you feel most comfortable.

It is my hope that the ideas presented in this book give some inspiration to queer practitioners of Witchcraft to practice a Craft that centers our own lives and experiences into our magical praxis. Here we will cover a queer-centered magical philosophy, our history, rites of passage, and even spells that potentially speak to queer souls and queer lives. We will be encouraged to engage this material so that we can integrate and embody it, making it truly our own. We need not be mere guests in spiritual systems that tolerate us at best. We can throw our own party and discover what it means to live fully in our unique queer and magical spirits. We don’t need to live our lives bound to a wheel of someone else’s cycles. We have our own mysteries, just waiting for us to discover them.

[contents]

PART ONE

PHILOSOPHY

CHAPTER 1

The Queer Craft

All models are wrong, but some are useful

–Attributed to British statistician George E. P. Box

As Witches, Warlocks, or Wizards of the queer variety, we are just a little different. The same models and themes that speak to others do not speak quite as directly to us. We can make it work, much as we do when watching most movies or TV shows in which the romantic leads are heterosexual; we can do the translation in our heads. We see that two people are in love (or in lust) and we can relate on that basic human level. But we are not the target audience for much of what society and culture puts forward, because we—or at least those of us who will admit it—are comparably very few.

Very few overall, but in Witchcraft it seems like the ratio gets turned on its head. You can’t walk into any Pagan or Witch festival and swing a black cat by the tail without hitting a handful of LGBTQ+ practitioners, it seems. We come to the Craft often because the religions of our formative years did nothing for us, and that’s if those religions (and the people who follow them) weren’t too busy actively trying to kill us. We left hateful or outdated ideologies behind, and we sought a spirituality that didn’t just tolerate us, but one that actively empowered and even celebrated us. And for the most part, we found what we were looking for.

Or at least it was a step forward.

Settling into our new lives in queer Witchcraft, we eventually start to feel the limitations. There are plenty of myths