If you’re in witchcraft spaces, over the last six years or so, you’ve likely heard someone talking about “shadow work” (or more obnoxiously telling someone “they need to do some shadow work”). And while some folks seem to consider it an essential element of witchcraft, for those of us who have been in the community a long time it’s just a little bit puzzling. Likewise, a lot of the people pushing shadow work don’t seem to know where it comes from to begin with. With that in mind, this month I’m going into the origins of shadow work, what it is, and maybe why some folks need to stop pushing it so hard.

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website.

Apple Podcast Users – please switch to the white logo feed to find the missing episodes in the archive.

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “So I Said It,” “Putz and Pulse,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Jaracanda,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 86. Shadow Work (And Maybe Why We Shouldn’t Tell Other Witches to Do It) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s July which means it’s time for the annual feedback/Q&A episode of the show! In this episode I sit down and answer questions that you, the audience, has been sending me over the last few months. It’s the same dance we do every summer, and this year you guys sent me some great questions. It’s a fun one.

Conventions:

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website.

Apple Podcast Users – please switch to the white logo feed to find the missing episodes in the archive.

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 85. Feedback/Q&A Special 2025 first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Last month we talked about a good source new witches might want to add to their libraries, because I know how hard it is to separate the signal from the noise. But this month I thought we’d go look at some of the noise instead! I clicked on every terrible ad for witchcraft stuff I could find on Facebook for a week, and decided to inflict what I found on Hex Positive‘s Bree NicGarran.

It’s so, so bad y’all.

Important Links:

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website.

The annual Q&A/Feedback episode is coming up! I need your questions — send them via my contact form by July 11th 2025 if you want me to read your question on the show!

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Curtain Call,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 84. We Clicked on Every Facebook Witchcraft Ad (with Bree NicGarran) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One year ago I put out this podcast’s first book review. It was for Annwyn Avalon’s Celtic Goddess Grimoire, and I absolutely hated it. It was everything I despise in modern witchcraft publishing, and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I felt like I needed to fix that.

So I decided to make it my mission to find a new witchcraft book I might actually like — to find something I could actually talk positively about to this show’s audience. And that’s when I found Thorn Mooney’s Witches Among Us: Understanding Contemporary Witchcraft and Wicca (ISBN: ‎ 978-0738777375) last fall.

And it turns out I really like it.

Important Links:

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website.

The annual Q&A/Feedback episode is coming up! I need your questions — send them via my contact form by July 11th 2025 if you want me to read your question on the show!

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Pulse,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 83. An Honest Review of Thorn Mooney’s “Witches Among Us” first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

The 1991 Christian propaganda series the Pagan Invasion by Jeremiah Films was oddly formative for me. It’s a masterclass in propaganda, and a perfect example of the kind of misinformation that was spreading during the heights of the Satanic Panic. So in this episode we’re going to break down how “documentaries” like these work to push an agenda, and how to recognize these patterns in other places.

The annual Q&A/Feedback episode is coming up! I need your questions — send them via my contact form by July 11th 2025 if you want me to read your question on the show!

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website.

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Island,” “Peach Cobbler,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 82. The Pagan Invasion and Propaganda first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month on the show we’re talking about the importance of taking stock and realizing that the person you used to be isn’t the person that you are — and how important it is to document who you are now so that you might know yourself better later.

Or something.

It makes sense if you listen, I swear.

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books and visit Trae’s website.

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 81. Reflections first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month I wanted to talk about a couple of things that wouldn’t necessarily fill out a whole episode on their own. First off, after last month’s episode I wanted to clarify some of my thoughts on psychics. Secondly, I wanted to talk about bias and what we do with evidence that runs contrary to our beliefs.

It should be a fun one though.

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books, and find me at Evercon Feb 28th-March 2nd, 2025.

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 80. A Couple of Things… first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the biggest podcasts out there right now is The Telepathy Tapes. It’s topping the podcast charts on both Apple and Spotify’s American listings, but it perpetrates an incredibly dangerous idea about people with autism. But none of this is new, and we’ve seen this kind of trend before.

So it’s about time we talked about it.

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books

Important Links:

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “So I Said It,” “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / “Jaracanda,” Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 79. The Telepathy Tapes and the Dangers of ‘Magical Autism’ first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month we’re going to do something a little different — I’m going to just talk to you about how I’m doing right now. Stuff’s not necessarily the best, so I kind of had a few things I needed to get out of my system.

But I’m still here, still fighting, and still sticking by you.

Remember you can always buy Trae’s Books

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “The Man With One Eye” (Trae Dorn)

The post 78. The State of the Trae first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s been about a year since Hex Positive‘s Bree NicGarran showed up to review a piece of witchcraft media with Trae, and with how terrible the world is, why not take a break and listen to two witches reviewing the latest piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Agatha All Along! Because we all need a distraction… and it’s an amazing show.

Read Trae’s Books:

Bloody Damn Rite

Shadowcasting (Available 12/15/2024)

(And, of course, don’t forget this show is part of the Nerd & Tie Network, and funded by listeners like you via Patreon. Consider joining our Discord or our forums!)

Music: “The Man With One Eye,” “Untitled Nonsense” (Trae Dorn) / Random Loops (Apple Music Library)

The post 77. Agatha All Along Review (with Bree NicGarran) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.