As a new witchling, I’m drawn to other witch’s accounts of their awakenings, journeys, and lives. I’ve been drawn to magic and witchcraft since I was a kid, but growing up in a conservative Christian household meant that I had very little access to anything about magic or witchcraft, save what I could read about in fantasy novels. So I set aside that interest. Now, as an adult, I’m finally letting myself explore what I’d denied for far too long. Lisa Lister’s Witch: Unleashed. Untamed. Unapologetic promised to ignite the flame of the witch that’s been untended for far too long.
“I don’t write books to tell you how you ‘should’ do things, I write them to spark a fire of recognition and remembrance in your womb, gut and body.” (xvii)
Lisa Lister, Witch
Witch is a book of many things: the author’s personal journey, a feminist witch polemic against the patriarchy, a call to power, an invitation to heal, and an overview of some of the basic tenets of witchcraft, like the Sabbats, correspondences, and magical affinities for herbs and crystals, filtered through what she calls the 5 archetypes of witches (more on this later). Spells and rituals are scattered throughout as well, of the sort one can find in most any practical spell book. What comes through this book most however, is the author herself and her particular lens through which she practices her craft. This is clearly a very personal book for her and she shares quite a bit about herself, her own tradition, and her journey to get there.
She comes across as incredibly personable, like your friend who cheers you on while you’re having a rough time. Her choppy, single-line-sentences and ALL CAPS declarations style of writing in the first half of the book is not my personal cup of tea; it feels like a mix between a pep rally, a TED talk, a motivational speaker’s seminar, and a therapy session, nary a full paragraph to be found. Lister wants her readers to remember the magic inherent to all women, magic she tells us that has been suppressed, denied, abhorred, and murdered by centuries of patriarchy. There’s no denying that. Who knows what we could have achieved as a society if women didn’t have to deal with misogyny, sexism, or gender discrimination? If we’d been allowed to step into our full power instead of denied it? What will society look like when we remember and reclaim our power? This is what Lister entreats us to do throughout the course of the book.
“Our work, the work of the witch, is to make it safe to be powerful again…the power to shape events, to change things up and make things happen flows naturally through you. Your biology is honed and optimized to wield that power and use it for good.
It’s your birthright as a woman.” (12)
Lisa Lister, Witch
And yet here is the crux of my main issue with the book aside from its style: it’s incredibly Essentialist, which in terms of gender, holds that there are innate biological differences between men and women and views gender therefore as fixed instead of socially constructed. Lister’s insistence on the womb and menstrual cycle as THE sources of power for women deny any concept of gender fluidity and locate a woman’s power in her biological reproductive organs. This is not to say that there ISN’T magic in that, but to say that is the innate source for magic is pure TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism) territory. She tries to head this criticism off early in the book by saying that while she knows she’s going to piss off the mens and the Trans community by not including them, “I do women’s work, and I’m definitely not going to apologize for that. That thought? That need to apologize? That’s the very reason why I HAVE to write this book. What I share is NOT intended to exclude others. But trying to be all-inclusive would totally miss the point” (p. xviii). Her intent here matters for shit because her book is written to completely exclude anyone who is not a biological female.
At one point in the book, she actually says when directing the reader to place their hands on their “womb space” that “if you no longer have a womb, that’s ok, the energetic imprint still holds power” (p. 90). Even if you don’t have a uterus, you still had to have one at some point to find your source of power. I’m a cis-woman and felt uncomfortable with all the womb/bleeding as the source of your power (due less to internalized patriarchy than the fact that I’ve got no patience for TERFs), so I can only imagine how this part of the book might make a Trans or non-binary witch feel, let alone a dude witch.
Healing is an art and women’s creativity starts in the womb. Not only is it able to birth new human life, it’s in this place that women dream, vision and create revelations AND revolutions.” (200)
Lisa Lister, Witch
This is not the kind of essentialist feminism I want forming the basis of my Craft.
TERFS, this book is for you. To biological females who need to hear this call to remember your power, I hope it helps you. For biological females who need to seat their power deep in their wombs, this may be exactly what you need to hear. But for anyone else, this book is very clearly not written for you. However, you can skip ahead to chapter 7, which gives an overview of the 5 archetypes of witches according to Lister: the Force of Nature, the Creatrix, the Oracle, the Healer, and the Sorceress. Each archetype is given it’s own chapter and here is where you find the meat of the book (and paragraphs!). She somewhat arbitrarily sorts different magic affinities/abilities into these archetypes. For example, the chapter on the Creatrix includes how to cast a circle, creating an altar, and sigil magic, while the Force of Nature covers the Sabbats and moon phases, something most witches use and are aware of. Many witches also use altars and herbs in their craft, whether they are Green Witches or not. As someone for whom archetypes hold weight, I found this half of the book kind of interesting. Witches can be any one of these archetypes at any given moment, or embody several for a casting. There’ still a lot of womb and bleeding-as-the-source-of-your-power talk in the second half of the book, but you can skim to pick out the spells, rituals, tables etc. you find helpful, if you find anything about this book helpful at all.
There are a few other issues I have with the book, but they feel like small potatoes compared to the TERF-level gender essentialism and style. Early in the book she claims that 13 million women were killed as a result of the witch hunts and trials, while most historians conclude that the number globally was closer to low six-figures, with wide variations between regions/countries. As soon as I read this, I was wary of the rest of the book. She also cites no sources throughout has no bibliography. I am someone who adores bibliographies and I prefer claims like the above to be backed up with even a minimal amount of research.
But if you want a jolt of fire in your soul (or womb, rather) about witchcraft and what it means, this book may surely give it to you. I have no doubt Lister is a magnetic person and this comes across well in her book. But due to the rampant gender essentialism, this book has no place on the Witching Hour’s personal shelf. Check it out from the library, pull out what you find useful, then give it back.
Further Reading:
Barbara Ehrenreich & Diedre English, Witches, Midwives & Nurses: A History of Women Healers
Kristen J. Sollée, Witches Sluts Feminists: Conjuring The Sex Positive
Pam Grossman, Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power
Briana H. Saussy, Making Magic: Weaving Together the Everyday and the Extraordinary
The Witching Hour Review 