Yesterday there were “Hands Off!” protests all across the country. We needed them, and we need more like them. We need to start building momentum and assert our right to protest. As they say, use it or lose it.
The project of taking action against fascists has me thinking about the Battle of Britain, and the country-spanning magical (or magickal) resistance effort organized in the U.K. by Dion Fortune. This essay by Sable Aradia about the “Magical Battle of Britain” speaks so clearly to our present moment and its perils that I have to say I was shocked to find it was first posted in 2015.
One of my favorite insights is that Fortune “invoked the ancient spirits pledged to Britain’s protection, including King Arthur, Merlin, St. Michael and St. George.” And Aradia considers whether American magic-workers, resisting fascism on our own shores, might invoke this land’s protector deities:
Perhaps we can ask Paul Bunyan or John Henry to fight for the working class. Perhaps we can ask Lady Liberty to stand fast against those who would take our liberty from us; perhaps we can ask Mother Canada to cry out against the suffering of Her children.
I think this could be not just a strong piece of magic but also a successful protest tactic: to reclaim these American archetypal spirits and tie them to positive values of freedom, community, and justice. The “Tea Party” fifteen years ago invoked just one archetypal figure, the tri-corner-hat-wearing colonist, and they have had an impact that reverberates to this day. (Of course propped up by billionaire cash infusions.) Here’s my expanded list of figures to dress up as, put on protest signs, and invoke in your workings:
- Lady Liberty
- Paul Bunyan
- John Henry
- Rosie the Riveter
- Johnny Appleseed
- John Brown
- The Cowboy
To be effective, they shouldn’t be historical personages, but instead archetypes. (John Brown sneaks in because his one public act led directly to martyrdom.) As a white person I don’t think it’s my place to nominate Coyote or Guanyin or the Chupacabra, but I could see them fitting in, too. The big point here is: America at its best used to stand for something, even if it never lived up to it. We shouldn’t give up on that dream.
And: can’t you just see a photograph of ICE agents arresting Lady Liberty splashed across every newspaper and social media feed in the land?
