You may be familiar with Michael M. Hughes as the witch who wrote "A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him" and helped lead and coordinate mass hex work during 45s first Administration. In fact, Magic for the Resistance is a revised and updated edition, with a new introduction, updated and brand new spells. Significantly, there are workings specific to our times, such as the mass deportations.
For those that need a primer, Magic for the Resistance opens with using witchcraft and magic in activism. Hughes reminds us that magic works by using small acts at key energetic moments to turn large tides. Just as activism is small sustained actions taken over time and requires that we not give up. It's both spiritual and mundane actions brought together. Hughes says, "...spiritual activism is useless without engagement in the everyday world of elections, organizing, canvassing, protests, and other forms of on-the-ground action."
The introduction is followed by direction in the creation of a magical toolkit for activism, offering suggestions, spell and ritual ideas, safety tips, tool options, and more. He explores the ethics of binding, hexing, and cursing, reminding us that we are using these types of spells as self-defense. "If you wouldn't do something by non-magical means, don't do it with magic."
Even for an eclectic witch like me, Hughes is a little cavalier about cultural appropriation. In his opinion, if you are being respectful and responsible, then you can use whatever tools are necessary. Frankly, this is a deeply colonial mindset, to believe that just because we are fighting against the same horrors, we can use whatever we want, even from closed practices. As such, readers are cautioned to think about the origins of some of the practices Hughes teaches. Do some research, be aware, be thoughtful.
Magick for the Resistance is of many books that offer an excellent toolbox for these difficult times. Right alongside Witchcraft Activism: A Toolkit For Magical Resistance by David Salisbury, Tarot for the Hard Work: An Archetypal Journey to Confront Racism and Inspire Collective Healing by Maria Minnis, and Tarot In Other Words: An Essential Anthology by Leading Queer Tarot Writers edited by Cassandra Snow, among many others.
Magic has always been and will always be a form of resistance; using it to fight against oppressive systems is our birthright.
~review by Lisa McSherry
Author: Michael M. Hughes
Crossed Crow Books, 2025
pp. 290, $21.95
We reviewed the previous edition, here.
