Head On Fire

Being a femme presenting person in an online space is to constantly walk a minefield of harassment, intimidation, and abuse. To have your authority questioned and your opinion overlooked in favor of a man's. Things aren't better behind the screens either. Earlier this year a lawsuit against one of the world's biggest game makers, Activision Blizzard, brought to light a long-standing "frat boy" culture that permeated all levels of the company and promoted a culture of harm. 

My deepest gratitude to my guests Cara and Deme for their honesty. 

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingARiot. 

Order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: beacons.ai/incitingariot 

Recently I was asked to define some important rules to remember when writing about witchcraft, especially in fiction. My response was to keep in mind that it's never about the magic but about the power that magic provides. For many of us who are drawn to the witchy characters in fiction and folklore, we're often drawn to the witch's ability to level the playing field in an otherwise unfair society using some form of magic. In the new book Bad Witch Burning by Jessica Lewis, this dynamic is played out in one of the most unique and harrowing character studies I've seen in recent years. 

Her book takes on not only what it means to be a young black girl living in poverty and under the care of abusive parents, but what happens when that young girl realizes she has tremendous abilities that allow her to not just communicate with the dead but bring them back. It's a slow burn novel that's perfect to kick off spooky season. 

Find more of Jessica Lewis here. 

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingARiot. 

Order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: beacons.ai/incitingariot 

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingARiot. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: beacons.ai/incitingariot 

In recent days a new law went into effect in the state of Texas prohibiting access to an abortion after 6 weeks. 6 weeks after what, though? Conception? Your period? Something else? And why so restrictive? And why are so many organizations setting up websites to gather tips about patients, providers, and those that aid them? This conversation requires an expert to guide us through the nuance, and I'm grateful that Dr. Leah Torres returned to lead us through the thick of the issues. 

Follow Dr. Torres on Twitter @LeahNTorres and learn more about her work at LeahTorres.com.

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingARiot. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: beacons.ai/incitingariot 

Shadow Work is a trend that seems to have come out of nowhere in the last two years. One cannot explore much of witchy social media these days without seeing recommendations to “do your shadow work”, which seems to mean anything from “go to therapy” to “meditate more” to “write your feelings in a journal”. As with many trends, plenty of people are trying to commodify it with spiritual advisors selling shadow work services alongside tarot and astrology readings, sometimes inserting it into a reading without prior notice. Spiritual dabblers are buying up Shadow Work journals and seeking out more information about how to do this work themselves or with a professional. But…what is it and what makes a professional Shadow Work…er? 

Have you ever seen those food videos on YouTube where a chef or a food scientist tries out a series of “food hacks” found in those viral videos by places like 5-minute crafts or Blossom? The “hacks” as they’re commonly called showcase a new, easier way of cooking in well-edited videos lasting only a few seconds per recipe. Ostensibly, this is to help folks who don’t have a lot of cookware on hand or prior skill make something delicious in a way that’s cheap, accessible, and easy. Making brownies in a paper bag or caramel corn with a bit of candy and some kernels.

These videos are made in a way that most people find not only aesthetically pleasing, but enjoyable to watch and rewatch, to share with their friends, and, of course, to try and replicate. Some of the biggest channels on YouTube are these life hack or food hack videos, garnering hundreds of millions of views across multiple channels and raking in large sums of money for the never-seen owners of the channel.

Invariably, what the chef or food scientist realizes pretty quickly is there is a problem, several actually, with these slick, trendy videos: there are no lists of ingredients used, no temperatures provided, no times given, and no narrator telling you what they’re doing. So, when the expert attempts to replicate the video they immediately run into some problems and typically need to have a fire extinguisher on hand. 

The food scientist or experienced chef can usually break down exactly why the hack doesn’t work as they’re showing you the technique used in the viral video. Either the recipe is missing a key ingredient that would cause the bread to rise or the video tells you to use something that would fall apart in real life. What is most often the case is, if you look closely, the videos are edited in a way that the end result is an already prepared dish that wasn’t made using the hack. 

What does this have to do with a podcast about witches and other magical people? Well, we have similar issues with trendy, viral videos. Except, in our case, they typically come in the form of supernatural claims, ghost hunting videos, and the broad reaching world of paranormal entertainment programs. 

In these videos you might see a person performing a feat of magic or displaying a supernatural ability - such as walking on water or fire - as proof of their gifts. In other videos, you might hear an investigator give long, detailed explanations about all of their technical equipment and how it will prove or disprove the presence of a ghost or other being. 

While many people online making recipe videos or showing off life hacks or, as is the case in our topic today, hunting ghosts are doing it in good faith…there are a few out there that aren’t and they tend to be the most visible. 

Going viral is a goal for a lot of people putting content online. It represents the chance to be seen by millions of people and to suddenly experience fame, receive a financial windfall, or accrue a legion of adoring fans hanging on their every word. Some people seek all three of those, some only one, but in either case what they’re usually seeking isn’t to provide a legitimate good or service to the world, but to increase their own standing in it. 

This distinction is important, because it illustrates that the person’s motivation might end up causing harm on you, the end user. Harm can look like a lot of things. If you don’t know how to temper chocolate properly or how to handle it, you can do anything from destroy your cookware to need a trip to the ER to treat a burn. Likewise, if you are not cautious, a bad faith paranormal entertainer might take your time, money, or worse. 

Kenneth Biddle joins a long line of people who investigate big claims of the possibly paranormal. Like his mythbusters predecessors, Biddle employs a knowledge of scientific research, fact checking, and common sense in his attempts to provide context and reasoning for some of the bigger, more outlandish claims of the paranormal floating around the internet today. He is my guest today in a long, important discussion about the science behind ghost hunting, the tools used and misused by paranormal entertainers, the spectrum of potential harm, and, of course, cryptids. 

Find more from Kenneth Biddle here.

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingProjects. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: https://linktr.ee/IncitingARiot 

The International Panel on Climate Change - otherwise known as the IPCC - just released their Sixth Assessment Report and it is pretty much all the various news outlets, politicians, and talking heads can discuss. But, it's a big report. The full report is thousands of pages long with hundreds of authors and well over 10,000 source citations. When all the headlines seem to say is something like IPCC Report Confirms We're All Gonna Die, it can be difficult to parse out what is important, what is relevant to you, and how much of the catastrophizing to believe. 

That's where Dr. Sam Montano, the disasterologist herself, comes in. She's back to tell us what this report means, which parts she and other researchers are focused on, how alarmed we should be, and what the average consumer can do. We discuss issues like the California wildfires, the Line 3 pipeline in Minnesota, and even touch upon the current wave of COVID resurgence here in the United States. 

Find more of Dr. Montano's work here.

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingProjects. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: https://linktr.ee/IncitingARiot 

Paganism isn't immune to any number of societal ills. While the same issues that plague the culture at large exist in all parts of our community in some way, it is groups associated with Norse Paganism - and all its related and parallel names, Asatru, Heathenry, Germanic Reconstructionism, and more - that most often come under scrutiny. White supremacy. Transphobia. Homophobia. Xenophobia. When one sees a headline from inside our community mentioning Heathens or Asatru or the like, there is a bit of white knuckling that happens before you click the mouse as you wonder...which one is it this time? 

It can be difficult to navigate an authentic spiritual journey into Heathenry because of its associations with these and other issues, and those who do are often afraid to tell others they are Heathens for fear that they'll immediately be labeled a Nazi, or at least a Nazi sympathizer. However, one person is doing just that on the podcast Heathen's Journey. 

Siri, the creator and host of the show, is a queer, non-binary practitioner who is hoping to reclaim the moniker of Heathen from those who would use it as a racist cudgel. They are my guest on episode 175, and we have a wide-ranging and discussion that doesn't shy away from topics such as why white supremacy seems to go hand in hand within Heathenry, the value of reclaiming symbols that have been appropriated by actual Nazis, and what it's like working as an ambassador for modern Paganism and Heathenry specifically in the Minnesotan prison system.

Get more from Siri here.

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingProjects. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: https://linktr.ee/IncitingARiot 

The element of fire has a long history in myth and magic. Fire transforms whatever it consumes, turning it into something new. Yes, of course, wood into charcoal, but it also cooks our food and warms our home. Metaphysically, it is the energetic spark that burns away the parts of us that do not serve our growth and makes way for what should be. Of course, it's a personal favorite of mine. 

Josephine Winter wrote a whole book about Fire Magic, examining the subject from all angles, adding her unique perspective as an Australian witch and Wiccan. It is an excellent book and it is the subject of our interview. 

Find more of Josephine Winter here.

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingProjects. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: https://linktr.ee/IncitingARiot 

The magical tradition of brujería  is shrouded behind a veil made of assumption, colonization, and entitlement. We assume quite a lot about it. One common assumption is that it’s simply the word for witchcraft in Spanish and therefore anyone practicing any kind of magic is, indeed, practicing brujería. 

Learning about this tradition is difficult and confusing for a newcomer. If you don’t already know where to go or who to ask, you do what a lot of people do - you go online and look for books or YouTube videos or podcasts. The issue there is that the novice is suddenly faced with the task of discerning which practitioners are coming from a place of genuine scholarship, cultural ownership, or good faith. 

Too often practices such a brujería, hoodoo, yoga, or reiki are mined by white, western practitioners for magic that will be appealing to suburban audiences, stripped of the fullness and context of the culture from which they originate. They might be combined in a slapdash manner with other practices hailing from unrelated spiritual traditions and sold back to you as genuine for a nice profit.

In that murky space it can be difficult to discern how to start learning and where to go once you’re on the path. 

I spoke to Laura Davila, a lifelong bruja and hechicera who hails from a family of practitioners in Mexico. She came to the US a few years ago and discussed what it means to be a cultural carrier of this magical tradition, who can claim ownership, what gates exist to brujería and who - if anyone - are the gatekeepers. 

Find out more from Laura on her Instagram or Twitter.

If you like this show and want to support it, there are a number of ways to help. Consider liking and sharing it on social media. You can also rate the show 5-stars on Apple Podcasts and leave a review. 

Help keep the show free and producing on a regular basis by chipping in whatever you can. You can buy me a Ko-fi (a one time donation of your choosing) https://ko-fi.com/incitingariot or join my Patreon on a monthly basis. Patrons receive additional audio and video content as well as archived episodes, a private Discord server, and monthly chats with special guests! Sign up at Patreon.com/IncitingProjects. 

Pre-order my book, The Dabbler’s Guide to Witchcraft, here: https://bit.ly/DabblersGuide

Love and Lyte,

Fire Lyte

IncitingARiot.com

[email protected]

Social Media & Podcast Subscription links: https://linktr.ee/IncitingARiot