Against Mammon: An Open Letter to the Magic Resistance
Dear sisters and brothers,
Today I had a very interesting conversation with a friend. He’s been a magic practitioner for most of his life, and I have an immense amount of respect for his knowledge and opinions. He suggested, as many others have over the course of our movement, that the ideal resistance strategy is to work to bring enlightenment and compassion to Donald J. Trump and his enablers. He believes that would be a much more effective way to stop the ongoing assault against civil liberties, the environment, the social safety net, and the daily dismantling of the mechanisms of our republic and its replacement by a malevolent kakistocracy.
I understand that position, and I cannot argue with the philosophical/metaphysical beliefs underlying it. It is an entirely valid, morally admirable approach.
But I cannot embrace it.
The GOP’s current “health care” bill (more accurately called “wealth care”) has laid out the party’s desires in full view. Quite simply, Republicans are aiming to implement policies that will allow the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters to suffer and die in order to line the pockets of their obscenely wealthy friends.
There is only one word for that enterprise, and it is a word I use sparingly and with much consideration:
Evil.
On Lammas Eve, in 1940 (so the story goes—its historicity is uncertain), Gerald Gardner and a group of witches and occultists gathered in a pine forest a few miles north of Highcliffe and performed a ritual that became known as Operation Cone of Power. The ritual, allegedly based on similar magical operations against the Spanish Armada in the 16th century and Napoleon in the 19th, was intended to stop Hitler from his planned invasion of Great Britain.
One year earlier, occultist Dion Fortune began mailing out regular dispatches to her magical order, the Fraternity of the Inner Light, with instructions on how to protect the country from Hitler’s invasion and support the Allied forces. According to Gareth Knight’s The Magical Battle of Britain, Fortune renounced secrecy and opened the fraternity to anyone who wanted to join them, teaching formerly hidden techniques to create a “nucleus of trained minds” to resist Nazi Germany. Letters were sent out every Wednesday, with instructions for a meditation to be performed at 12:15 each Sunday, and every weekday thereafter. Subjects of these meditations included:
• Realization of the function of the Tide of Destruction in clearing the ground.
• To assert the rule of law, absolute and inescapable.
• The drawing down of spiritual power into the war effort.
• The attack on the cloud of astral evil over Germany.
Fortune’s group — separated in time and space as we all are today, and connected through their own social network — persisted in their magical resistance even as bombs rained down on London.
The witches and occultists of that era faced down evil in their time, and I believe we are called upon to face down the clear and present evil facing us. Which is why, along with our phone calls, our marches, our sit-ins, and our other acts of daily resistance, we have been joining our collective energies and binding Donald J. Trump and all those — like the extremists who control the Republican Party — who enable his wickedness.
We have done so publicly, proudly, and with the ultimate goal of restoring justice, peace, and compassion to our country and the world at large.
Some among us have created new rituals, including full moon magic to shine the light of truth on the lies and obfuscations of this reckless and criminal administration. Many of us add regular prayers for those working to thwart the malicious activities of Trump and the GOP.
We are growing in number, and in power. Despite our differing beliefs, we are a united spiritual force, whether we call upon the gods and goddesses of old, the elemental energies, the angels and daimons of the air and the underworld, or the Christ who advocated for the same poor and sick brothers and sisters the GOP would consign to poverty, misery, and death.
Our gods are many, but theirs is one. Though they may proclaim their love of Jesus Christ, their true allegiance is to one god — and its name is Mammon.
“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”
— Matthew 6:24
There will be time to use our collective spiritual power to rebuild, to enlighten, and to uplift. We are, first and foremost, artists and technologists of the spirit, mystics, comforters, and healers.
Now, however, it is time to fight.
In love and solidarity,
Michael M. Hughes
June 27, 2017
#BindTrump
#MagicResistance
