WXTCHcraft

☾☾☾O☽☽☽

WHY WXTCH?

The astute reader may wonder why we write WXTCH rather than Witch when describing our Apocalyptic Coven, and Wxtchraft in general. ‘Witch’ is a word loaded with meaning, often conflated with crude caricatures, or inane apolitical, commercial Sabrina-the-teenage-witch style fantasies. Such representations trivialize the inherently radical (and sometimes dangerous) nature of practicing Wxtchcraft, occluding the bloody history of persecution that came from being branded as a Witch.

But unlike the Witch, a Wxtch has done her homework. And recognises the oppressions and struggles of the Craft, as well as the challenges faced by those practiconers who historically have been excluded from the discourses of White, Western, Second wave feminists & Goddess movements.

After years of conducting careful research, I was delighted to discover that with a simple sleight of hand, the good folx at the Royal Academy of Art in den Haag, Netherlands, encompassed all this contemporary critique of witchcraft, transforming a WITCH into the WXTCH.

“Many second-wave feminist groups and contemporary traditions like Wicca and WITCH (the Women's International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell), found in the figure of the Witch an embodiment of the supreme feminine. These groups did the relevant and necessary groundwork. However, they relied on essentialistic and binary notions of gender, which empowered some at the expense of the exclusion of others.

Today, the witch resurfaces in new, more inclusive guises to respond to the current clusterfuck of multiple crises. During this Studium Generale witchcraft is approached as first and foremost a contemporary feminist liberatory practice offering tools for storytelling, self and community care and survival appealing to queer, trans folx, gender non-conforming people, and BIPOC.

Sometimes a broom is not just a broom, but a dildonic device that allows wounded healers to draw circles and boundaries and mark the end of this (structurally racist and sexist) world as they know it. Ultimately, they have always had to use magic to survive.

Opposed to the commodified and tamed cultural representation of the witch, opposed to the unmarried, child-devouring mean-spirited black demonic hag stands the Wxtch. Opposed to rational, scientific reason with its many tools of oppression stands Craft.”

WXTCH KABK

Check out the powerfully radical and incredibly magickal work from the Royal Academy of Art in Den Haag, who's Studium Generale for the last few years has focused on the WXTCH and all their multiple manifestations. Be sure to visit their vimeo for some fantastic conversations with radical thinkers working towards healing justice & social transformation, as well as the 3 accompanying Zines!