Hexes vs. Prayers: Christians and Witches Are Waging Spiritual War Over Trump
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Hexes vs. Prayers: Christians and Witches Are Waging Spiritual War Over Trump

As witches around the world perform rituals to bind the President of the United States, Christians and other religious organizations have retaliated with prayers of protection.

Witches have been casting spells against President Donald Trump since his inauguration. But while there have been numerous reports detailing the efforts of pagan, Wiccan, and Satanic groups against the president, there have been fewer detailing the efforts of Christians to counteract these magical actions with the power of prayer.

Since February, magic practitioners around the world have been notoriously congregating by the light of the waning crescent moon in order to bind Trump from doing further harm. The mass ritual, which was widely reported at the time, garnered an alarmed response from the Intercessors for America (IFA), a prayer and fasting Christian organization, which issued a global call to the cult of Christ: "Whether or not this call for spells pans out and people act on it, we feel compelled, as the body of Christ and intercessors, to come against this evil with immediate and powerful prayer," the group said in a statement.

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Read more: Anti-Trump Witches and 4Chan Magicians Are Battling Over the Future of America

This month, it seems, the witches and Christians are at it again. On June 20, the former group mobilized against Trump again—taking advantage of the summer solstice, a time when magical powers are believed to be heightened. Earlier this week, multiple Christian outlets reported that both Jewish and Christian believers had started rallying in support of the Trump administration, and the IFA put out another urgent call for prayer.

Michael Hughes, one of the witches who initiated the so-called "magical resistance" against Trump, is skeptical that the pro-Trump prayers will work. "Jesus advocated for the poor, the sick, the hungry, and refugees," he tells Broadly. "These so-called Christians are praying for a narcissistic, crass, hateful, bullying, hypocritical, pussy-grabbing grifter and a party itching to yank health care from the most vulnerable to hand over more bags of cash to their wealthy friends. Jesus would go full moneylenders-in-the-temple on all of their asses."

Hughes further suggests that these prayer warriors are fighting a futile battle, as Jesus would never answer "their prayers to protect the president, no matter how much time they spend on their knees." He also says that witches are already working with a "large number of Christians," who he considers to be more authentic because they "care about the poor, the sick, and the oppressed."

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Aerinn, a New York based witch who also identifies as a Catholic, emphasizes that taking magical action against Trump is crucial. "Trump is surrounded by fear, hate, and blunt, aggressive charisma and these are powerful emotions that make for powerful magic whether intentional or unintentional," she says, adding that Trump is "nestled in a vortex of hate."

These so-called Christians are praying for a narcissistic, crass, hateful, bullying, hypocritical, pussy-grabbing grifter.

In fact, Aerinn continues, she has heard "through the witchvine" that Trump may actually have "actively engaged a number of Old World, Eastern European, and Russian witches to help him attain power and combat anyone who tries to work against him." (However, she cautions that this obviously needs to be taken with a grain of salt, and is likely just a rumor.) "As for the Christians working against these witches to keep Trump safe and sound," she says, speaking as a Catholic witch, "maybe someone should be trying to bind them—because they are contributing more to the evils of America than witches ever will."

As for the rumors, propagated by outlets like the Christian Broadcasting Network, that Satanists are also taking up magical arms against Trump? Lucien Greaves, the founder of The Satanic Temple, says they're not true. "Casting spells to make Trump fail is really no different from performing rituals at night to help the sun rise in the morning," he said in an emailed statement, suggesting that the President's failure is a "natural occurrence," and any magical attempt to bring it on is merely a "delusion."

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However, he notes that such "symbolic expressions of ritualized discontent" are not without value, as they are valid forms of protest. "Done in the religious context, these expressions of protest challenge the moral authority of the theocratic Evangelical narrative: the notion that 'God' is on the administration's side," he wrote.

For Hughes, though, the spell work is far from a delusion, and the battle has just begun. He's not intimidated by the Christians trying to usurp the power of the craft. "I'm willing to see whose magic is stronger," he affirms. "So far, I think we're winning."