Scott Cunningham - Blog Posts

Queer witches have always been here

We all know the gays love tarot and astrology, but did you know that the connection between witchcraft and queer sexuality goes back to ancient times?

Throughout history, cultures all around the world have believed that queer people have special spiritual or magical abilities. While "queer" and related labels like "gay," "lesbian," and "transgender" are modern terms, all cultures have people who exist outside of mainstream gender and sexuality norms. These people with non-normative identities are sometimes believed to have a special connection to the world of spirits.

(I am using the word "queer" as a convenient umbrella term for all of these complex identities, but I do recognize that this isn't historically accurate.)

In some cases, such as some parts of Europe, these queer people were explicitly called witches or magicians. "Deviant" sexual behavior was often part of accusations during the English witch trials, for example.

In other cultures, queer identity is connected to other special spiritual roles. Some examples include:

Ancient Mesopotamian sal-zikrum (literally “women-men,” priests of Inanna)

Ancient Roman galli (male priests of the goddess Cybele who were castrated as part of their initiation)

Old Norse vitkar, men who practiced a feminine magical art called seiðr and were sometimes accused of having sex with other men

It's interesting to note that many cultures assign a special spiritual role to people who fall outside the categories of "man" and "woman" -- people we might identify today as nonbinary or genderfluid. In other cultures, magic was associated with homosexuality or bisexuality.

And then, of course, we get into modern occult movements with figures like Aleister Crowley who, as hateful as he may have been in some ways (and he was), was also unabashedly queer in his practice and his writings. If you follow any magical path influenced by Crowley's writings, including Wicca and Wicca-inspired witchcraft, you are borrowing from the work of a queer sorcerer.

Several of the most notable witchy and pagan authors of the 20th century were/are also queer. Scott Cunningham, who pioneered ecclectic Wicca as we know it today, was a gay man. Starhawk, who wrote The Spiral Dance and founded Reclaiming, is bisexual. Stewart and Janet Farrar, who published some of the first widely available books about traditional Wicca, were in a polyamorous triad with Gavin Bone. (Stewart has passed away, but Janet and Gavin are still together.) If you read any popular book on witchcraft or occultism published in the last 50 years, it probably cites at least one queer author.

Witchcraft has always been queer. We have always been here, and we're not going anywhere any time soon.