When Witchcraft Gets Drafted Into Fascism
TL;DR:
This isn’t aesthetic. Real people are being harmed and dying under authoritarian policies and dehumanizing rhetoric.
Deities aren’t mascots. Using “dark goddess” energy to bless cruelty is spiritual laundering, not devotion.
Dark ≠ shadow ≠ harmful. Shadow work is accountability and integration, not a license to be vicious.
Sovereignty ≠ supremacy. Sovereignty is self-determination and right relationship, not domination.
Witchcraft has always been political. Our history is tied to persecution, religious freedom, and resistance to tyranny.
Look for roots and receipts. Values, teachers, sources, community accountability, scope, real training (and honest claims about certifications/licenses).
Red flags: scapegoating, purity politics, dehumanizing language, “the deity told me so,” punishing questions, demanding obedience.
Bottom line: The sacred is not a weapon for fascism. The crossroads are for truth.
Dark goddess aesthetics, trending deities, and why “neutral” is not an option
Content note: This post discusses political violence, deaths in immigration custody, and harm to marginalized communities.
Let’s stop treating this like a quirky internet debate.
There’s a rise in openly right-wing “witch” content and communities that dress authoritarian politics in altar aesthetics: black candles, iron-clad captions about “order,” deity name-drops, and spellwork aimed at “enemies,” “invaders,” “degeneracy,” and whatever scapegoat the algorithm serves next.
And it’s not harmless. It’s not edgy. It’s not “just different beliefs.”
Real people are being taken. Real people are dying.
Reports have documented a record number of deaths in ICE custody in 2025, and additional deaths tied to immigration enforcement in early 2026, including cases described as medical neglect, suicide, and fatal uses of force.
An autopsy in one 2026 case was officially classified as homicide after a detainee died during restraint.
So when someone calls themselves a “patriot witch” while supporting ideology entangled with White Christian nationalism, then tries to baptize it with goddess names and “protection” rhetoric, I’m going to say it plainly:
That isn’t spirituality. That’s harm laundering.
Why this is not “just politics”
White Christian nationalism is not simply “being Christian” or “being conservative.” It’s an ideology that insists the U.S. is meant to be a Christian nation founded for white Christians and shaped by their religious rule, often opposing equality for marginalized groups and undermining church-state separation.
And it’s not academic. Research has found links between Christian nationalist adherence and support for political violence.
So no, I’m not being “dramatic.” I’m being accurate. And I came with receipts. (See the link resources throughout this blog and the rest below.)
This isn’t new: “God said so” is the oldest con in the book
Let’s zoom out for a second.
Turning deities into mascots is not some new TikTok-era problem. Humans have been weaponizing religion and sacred symbolism for power since forever. Kings claiming divine mandate. Empires blessing conquest. Institutions justifying oppression by pointing at a holy book, a saint, a cross, a flag, a prophecy, a “chosen people” narrative, whatever icon will make the crowd stop thinking and start obeying.
Same trick, different altar.
And that’s what’s happening in certain right-wing “witch” spaces right now, just with trendier packaging: deity names, dark goddess aesthetics, “warrior” branding, and a political agenda that requires scapegoats.
Here’s the part that should make your skin crawl:
If someone truly worked with these deities or archetypes devotionally, they would know the difference between a living relationship and a propaganda puppet. They would understand the themes. The ethics. The currents. The contradictions. They would know when something violates the spirit of what they claim to serve.
So when someone invokes “the goddess” to justify cruelty, exclusion, or authoritarian harm, what’s being revealed isn’t spiritual depth.
It’s ill-education and a willingness to bend truth into whatever shape keeps their narrative intact, no matter the cost.
That’s not devotion. That’s not gnosis.
That’s ideology looking for a divine excuse.
And when questioning is punished, dissent is shamed, enemies are manufactured, and the leader or group positions themselves as the only “awake” ones with the “real truth”?
Call it what it is: cult-like behavior.
Because spirituality that cannot be questioned isn’t sacred.
It’s control dressed up as revelation.
2. Dark ≠ Shadow ≠ Harmful (and shadow is not synonymous with cruelty)
Let’s clean up a spiritual vocabulary problem that people keep exploiting on purpose.
Dark and shadow are not the same thing. And neither automatically means “harmful.”
Dark
“Dark” often points to the terrain, not the ethics: underworld, night, death, grief, endings, the unseen, the liminal, the taboo, the composting truth that turns breakdown into rebirth. Dark can be fierce. Dark can be protective. Dark can be uncompromising.
But dark is not inherently cruel.
Shadow
Shadow is not “evil.” Shadow is what gets exiled. What gets denied. What gets repressed, distorted, or made unconscious. Shadow is where unintegrated fear hides, where shame ferments, where wounds shape behavior from the basement of the psyche.
Shadow work is not a hall pass to be vicious.
Shadow work is accountability: integration, honesty, repair.
Shadow isn’t synonymous with cruelty. Cruelty is a choice.
And when people confuse “shadow” with “license to harm,” what they’re actually doing is spiritual bypassing with fangs.
The Divine Spectrum (and yes, there’s shadow feminine and shadow masculine)
Most of us understand Divine Feminine and Divine Masculine energies as archetypal currents, not gender roles. They exist across bodies, identities, and expressions.
But there’s also the Divine Shadow Feminine and Divine Shadow Masculine. Not “bad,” not “evil,” but the initiatory expressions of those currents: the parts that confront illusion, test integrity, sever what’s false, and demand maturity.
And there are deities and archetypes that embody these facets, not as aesthetics, but as living teachings.
Since I work primarily with Greek deities, here’s a clean example map:
Apollo as Divine Masculine
Apollo is clarity, illumination, truth, discernment, artistry with precision, healing that requires honesty. He’s not “soft light.” He’s a bright blade: revelation.
Apollo doesn’t bless propaganda. He burns it.
Hades as Divine Shadow Masculine (a “Dark God”)
Hades is depth, consequence, devotion, oath, the unseen architecture of power, the weight of what we inherit and what we must face. Shadow masculine is not domination. It’s responsibility. It is integrity under pressure.
Hades does not cosplay. He does not posture. He does not reward cruelty disguised as strength.
Hermes as the Spectrum and the Liminal Thread
Hermes moves between worlds. Messenger, boundary-crosser, psychopomp. He’s the intelligence of transition: negotiation, language, trade, trickster wisdom, and the ability to travel the in-between without losing yourself.
Hermes exposes lies by slipping between them.
Artemis as Divine Feminine
Artemis embodies sovereignty of self, protection of the vulnerable, the wild integrity of “no,” devotion to what is untamed and uncompromised. She is not the patriarchal “good girl feminine.” She is autonomy.
Artemis doesn’t bless coercion. She ends it.
Hekate as Divine Shadow Feminine (a “Dark Goddess”)
Hekate is threshold, initiation, keys, crossroads, the torch that reveals what’s lurking. Shadow feminine isn’t “mean.” It’s truth with teeth, boundary with blessing, protection without politeness.
Hekate doesn’t serve purity politics. She stands at the edge where categories break.
Persephone as the both-and, the liminal, the nonbinary embrace
Persephone is the bridge: bloom and bone, maiden and queen, ascent and descent, the sacred “both.” She’s a living refusal of simplistic binaries. If you’ve ever needed proof that the sacred can hold paradox, she is it.
Persephone doesn’t validate a worldview obsessed with rigid hierarchy and forced belonging. Her mythic territory is transformation, not policing.
How these energies are meant to be used (and what “real devotion” looks like)
When people work devotionally with these archetypes, it tends to do the opposite of what extremist spiritual laundering requires.
Devotional work should:
sharpen discernment (Apollo)
deepen accountability (Hades)
reveal the tricks and contradictions (Hermes)
strengthen sovereignty and protection of the vulnerable (Artemis)
demand integrity at the threshold (Hekate)
teach both-and transformation instead of purity and punishment (Persephone)
So when someone drags “dark goddess energy” into scapegoating, dehumanization, and authoritarian “protection” rhetoric, it isn’t edgy.
It’s insulting.
Because it shows there is no lived devotion behind the words. No education. No relationship. Just a willingness to bend the divine into whatever shape serves their narrative.
That’s not “shadow.” That’s control.
Shadow work asks: Where am I lying to myself? Where am I projecting? Where am I hungry for power at someone else’s expense?
Extremist spiritual content asks: Who can I blame so I don’t have to transform?
One is initiation. The other is recruitment.
3. Witchcraft has always been political, because our bodies have always been policed
I need people to understand something: witchcraft doesn’t become “political” when you start caring about what’s happening in the world. Witchcraft has always been political because the right to practice, the right to gather, and the right to be “other” has always been contested.
The modern obsession with “keep politics out of spirituality” is a luxury statement. It’s what people say when their life, body, marriage, healthcare, immigration status, or religious freedom isn’t being used as a bargaining chip.
The witch hunts weren’t a cute aesthetic, they were social control
The witch trials and persecutions across Europe and colonial America weren’t a Halloween storyline. They were a mechanism of fear, power, and enforcement, often braided with religious conflict, local politics, property disputes, and social scapegoating. Scholars have analyzed how periods of religious contention correlated with witch-trial intensity.
And yes, women were disproportionately targeted in many places, but so were the poor, the socially vulnerable, the disabled, the “difficult,” the outsiders, the healers, the unconventional, the ones who didn’t fit. Feminist historians have long pointed out how “witch” accusations were frequently used as a clamp on women’s autonomy and acceptable behavior.
So when someone says, “Why are witches talking about freedom and fascism?” I’m like… babe. Our history is literally about what happens when a society decides some people are disposable.
Religious freedom isn’t a side quest, it’s the whole battlefield
Modern Pagan and witch communities have spent decades fighting for basic religious legitimacy: the right to worship openly, to have our symbols respected, to gather without harassment, to exist without being treated as a punchline or a threat. The “witch wound” isn’t abstract. It’s built into law, culture, and the way “othered” people get framed as dangerous when power wants obedience.
Which means: when authoritarian movements rise, we notice. Because we’ve seen how this story goes.
The Cone of Power: collective magic aimed at real outcomes
In many Wiccan contexts, the Cone of Power describes raising energy through movement, chant, breath, drumming, and shared focus, then releasing that energy toward an intention.
And whether one reads it as literal, symbolic, lore, or historical claim, Gerald Gardner wrote about a wartime working often called “Operation Cone of Power,” where witches raised energy focused toward stopping a Nazi invasion, repeating a command along the lines of “You cannot cross the sea.” Gardner himself didn’t claim magic “singlehandedly” stopped Hitler, but the framing matters: the impulse was resistance to fascism, not collaboration with it.
That’s the point I want tattooed on the inside of the spiritual internet’s eyelids:
Collective will has always been part of witchcraft. The question is what you aim it at.
W.I.T.C.H.: activism with teeth, spectacle, and political clarity
In 1968, the feminist collective W.I.T.C.H. (Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell) used witch imagery as political theater to critique capitalism, patriarchy, and institutional power. Their inaugural action involved dressing as witches and “hexing” Wall Street, a deliberately theatrical protest meant to disrupt the spell of the status quo.
Was it literal spellcraft? Was it performance? Both? Doesn’t matter. It was witchcraft as resistance symbolism, explicitly turned toward liberation and critique of oppressive systems.
Reclaiming: a living tradition that refuses spiritual neutrality
And then there’s Reclaiming, a modern Pagan witchcraft tradition founded in 1979 by Starhawk and Diane Baker, explicitly weaving spirituality with political activism and principles like inclusivity, justice, and personal authority.
Reclaiming exists as a visible example that modern witchcraft can be devotional, mystical, and deeply magical without turning into hierarchy worship or scapegoat spirituality.
So no, witchcraft isn’t “supposed to be neutral”
If your “spirituality” requires silence while people are being harmed by policy, by violence, by dehumanization, by forced religious dominance, by detention and death… that’s not neutrality.
That’s permission.
Witchcraft has always been entangled with power. The only question is whether you’re using your power to protect the vulnerable and resist tyranny, or whether you’re laundering harm in sacred language because it makes you feel untouchable.
And I’m going to say it plainly:
If you’re aiming your magic at scapegoats instead of systems, you’re not doing resistance work. You’re doing persecution with better aesthetics.
…And here’s the part that’s truly back-assed
What makes the “MAGA witch” phenomenon so offensively hypocritical is this:
They are using the exact same machinery that historically persecuted witches and “others,” and cheering while it gears up again.
Witch hunts weren’t just about “magic.” They were about social control: who gets to belong, who gets to speak, who gets to live outside the approved script. They were fueled by moral panic, religious dominance, scapegoating, and the weaponization of fear.
And now we’ve got self-proclaimed witches siding with movements that thrive on those same tactics, then calling it “protection” or “tradition” or “patriotism.”
That’s not rebellious. That’s collaboration.
You cannot inherit the wound of persecution and then turn around and help build the cage. You cannot call yourself “othered” and then align with systems that other people harder. You cannot cry “religious freedom” for yourself while backing policies and rhetoric that strip freedom and safety from everyone else.
That’s not spiritual strength. That’s a desperate bid to be “one of the good ones” in the eyes of power.
And it’s downright wrong.
Because the minute your practice is used to justify dehumanization, you’ve stopped doing witchcraft as liberation and started doing witchcraft as enforcement.
Same scaffold. New costume. If your magic needs a boot on someone else’s neck to feel like “order,” you’re not a witch at the crossroads. You’re a cop in a cloak.
4. Sovereignty Isn’t Supremacy: The Morrígan, Hekate, and the Word Everyone’s Using Wrong
“Sovereignty” has become the spiritual buzzword of the year. It’s on mugs. It’s in captions. It’s the rallying cry of every “wake up babe” carousel post.
But sovereignty isn’t aesthetic independence. And it sure as hell isn’t supremacy.
At its core, sovereignty means self-determination and legitimate authority. In political terms, it’s about the right to govern yourself without a higher power claiming ownership over you. It’s boundary. Agency. Autonomy. Consent.
Supremacy is the opposite. Supremacy says: My freedom requires your subjugation. Sovereignty says: My freedom is mine, and yours is yours too.
Now, enter The Morrígan.
In Irish tradition, The Morrígan is tangled up with war, fate, and prophecy, yes, but also with the protection of land, people, and kingship, the old sovereignty current that asks: Who is fit to lead? Who is loyal to the land? Who serves the people rather than feeding on them?
And here’s what matters for this conversation:
Ireland’s history is soaked in the struggle for sovereignty, identity, and self-governance, including colonization, resistance, revolution, partition, and the long aftershocks of all of it. So when people wave The Morrígan like a banner for authoritarianism, they’re either deeply misinformed or deliberately twisting the archetype.
Sovereignty does not mean “my side gets to dominate.” It means the right to live free, whole, and self-ruled, without being erased.
Now let’s talk about Hekate.
Hekate is frequently reduced online to “Mother of Witches” and then used as a vibe-check deity, like she’s stamping passports at the gate: approved / unapproved. But historically and mythically, she’s bigger, stranger, and far less interested in human purity theater.
Hekate is a threshold goddess: crossroads, doorways, liminal spaces, transitions between worlds. Keys, torches, dogs, the art of navigation when the map runs out.
So no: her keys are not a purity test.
A key is a tool. A threshold is a responsibility. Hekate’s keys speak to access, passage, initiation, and discernment. Not moral policing. Not spiritual border patrol.
And about the “Great Mother” piece: you’re exactly right to call this out.
Hekate as “Great Mother” isn’t one clean, universally agreed ancient role. Depending on the era and source, she can be framed as a cosmic mediator or world-soul type figure in Late Antique theurgy, while “Mother of the Gods” is often much more firmly associated with figures like Rhea/Cybele in Greek and Anatolian contexts. In other words: the sources get syncretic, interpretive, and messy.
Even modern Hekatean writers who emphasize her “Great Mother” face tend to mean something more like creatrix + destroyer + initiator, not a soft-focus motherhood trope.
The vibe in one sentence:
Hekate’s “mother” face in this article is less Hallmark, more cosmic womb + crossroads guardian + tough-love initiator.
So when extremists or authoritarian “trad” spiritualists try to recruit Hekate, The Morrígan, or any “dark goddess” current as justification for cruelty, supremacy, or dehumanization, it’s not devotion.
It’s cosplay with a weaponized caption.
Because shadow isn’t synonymous with harm.
Dark isn’t synonymous with domination.
And sovereignty is not a throne built from someone else’s throat.
5. Discernment check: How to Spot Extremist Spiritual Laundering (Look at Roots, Not Aesthetics)
If you want to clock extremist spiritual laundering, don’t start with the altar photos.
Start with values, roots, and accountability.
Because propaganda doesn’t always arrive wearing a swastika. Sometimes it shows up wearing linen, a goddess name, and the word “sovereignty” on a Canva graphic.
Step One: What are their values, and are they actually visible?
Do they clearly state what they stand for, beyond vibes?
Look for explicit commitments like:
human dignity across race, gender, sexuality, ability, and religion
opposition to authoritarianism and dehumanization
trauma-informed ethics and consent culture
accountability when harm happens
If values are vague on purpose, that’s a feature, not a bug. Vague values create wiggle room.
Step Two: Where are their roots?
“Connected to Source” is not a credential. It’s an experience. And yes, it matters. But it does not replace education.
Ask:
Who taught them?
What traditions, communities, or elders shaped their practice?
What books, scholarship, or primary sources do they cite?
Do they distinguish between UPG (personal gnosis), mythic storytelling, and historical fact?
If everything is “ancient wisdom says…” with no trail of sources, that’s not mysticism. That’s marketing.
Step Three: Are they accountable to real community, or just an audience?
A culty dynamic often looks like:
the leader is the main character in every story
followers praise, defend, and police dissent
questioning is framed as “low vibration,” “uninitiated,” “attack,” “jealousy,” or “fear-based”
there’s always an enemy, and you’re pressured to join the war
Ask: does this space create sovereign practitioners, or dependent believers?
Step Four: Education, training, certifications, and licenses (and what they actually mean)
This is where we get practical.
If someone claims expertise, look for:
What certifications do they have?
Where did they get them? (Is it reputable, transparent, and specific, or a vague “academy” with no standards?)
Are they licensed for what they’re offering? (Therapy, mental health treatment, legal advice, medical advice are regulated for a reason.)
Do they clearly define their scope? “I’m not a therapist” should be standard if they’re not one.
Certifications aren’t everything. Plenty of wise practitioners don’t collect certificates like Pokémon. And certain things don’t need certifications like Tarot, mediumship and being psychic to name a few.
But here’s the key: a mature practitioner doesn’t hide from standards, scope, or accountability. They don’t inflate titles, blur lines, or imply licensure they don’t have.
Step Five: How do they handle money?
Money tells the truth faster than branding.
Ask:
Are pricing and policies transparent?
Are refunds and boundaries clear?
Do they offer accessible entry points, scholarships, or community support when they claim collective liberation?
Do they use urgency and fear to sell (“enroll now or you’ll miss your destiny”)?
If the message is “healing for all,” but the structure is “pay up or stay unworthy,” that’s a mismatch.
Step Six: Spot the rhetorical red flags
Extremist laundering often uses the same tricks, even when it’s dressed in sacred language:
Scapegoating: “Those people are the problem.”
Purity politics: “Real women, real families, real tradition.”
Dehumanizing language: “Illegals, invaders, parasites, degenerates.”
Authority addiction: “Only we see the truth.”
Punishing nuance: “If you question this, you’re weak.”
Myth-as-proof: “The goddess told me, so accountability doesn’t apply.”
And here’s the line in the dirt:
If someone bends truth to protect their narrative, no matter the cost, that’s not devotion. That’s control.
the sacred is not a weapon for fascism
Witchcraft isn’t neutral. It never was.
If your politics require scapegoats, your spirituality will too. And when people start using deity names and “dark” aesthetics to justify authoritarian harm, it proves one thing: there is no real education or devotion behind it, just a willingness to bend truth until it serves power.
Real practitioners have roots. They can name sources. They can define scope. They don’t hide behind “Source” to avoid accountability. They don’t treat gods like mascots. They don’t turn keys into purity tests. And they don’t punish questions like a cult.
If your “protection” targets the vulnerable, it’s persecution. Full stop.
The crossroads are for truth, not fascism.
Further reading (for witches who check receipts)
Americans United: overview of White Christian nationalism and its harms.
Yale ISPS: scholarly framing and why it matters to democracy.
Gardner-era “Operation Cone of Power” discussion and contextual notes.
American Counseling Association: licensure requirements + scope basics.
Reclaiming tradition and the explicit “spirit + politics” orientation.
May protection hold. May truth rise. May safe passage open.
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights
With reverence,
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