Witchology (WITCHES & WITCHCRAFT) with Fio Gede Parma
(Image description: Fio Gede Parma wears a patterned button up shirt and sits outdoors, looking toward camera with a slight smile. The Ologies logo appears in the corner.)
Part 1: IT’S HERE. Witches. Not just a witch expert, but also a witch. Author Fio Gede Parma has been a practicing witch and highly respected writer, speaker and teacher, and they cover witch history, different types of witches, intersectional witchcraft, forest covens, teen movies, witch trials, witch fashion, midnight myths, lunar pratfalls, spells, cheerful nudists, awkward Uber rides and more. Also: how does one…become a witch?
And just a warning: we touch on some stigmas and physical and emotional harm suffered by those observing religions considered fringe. Your own spiritual or religious beliefs are yours to keep, but the nature of some conflicts are discussed.
(Science note: this specific episode of Ologies is a little different; not the norm. Unlike vampires or monsters, there are *real* witches among us and I wanted to include their voices in this deep dive of their beliefs. So you may not agree with everything they say and a lot of it can’t be qualified, but this episode is about culture, history and the ideology of a certain spiritual group. So listen with that in mind and you'll learn about religious beliefs —that you may not agree with and that science has not fully figured out or upheld — but you'll get to know the real people and lifestyles behind the tropes we’ve seen in fiction. Then the rest of Spooktober we’re back to genetics and statistics and Google scholar research papers and such. Relax, and enjoy.)
Listen via Apple, Spotify, Google, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Part 2: More witches! History! Lore! Wardrobes! Movie trivia! And some advice from your elders? Part 2 is here with the wonderful, informed, and charming writer, speaker, spirit-worker, witch, and witchologist, Fio Gede Parma, who has most recently authored the book “The Witch Belongs to the World.” We chat cats, commercialization, witch trials, environmentalism, fashion, hallucinogenic tinctures, broomstick legends, sex positive witchery, celebrity witches, science history, cosmological ghost theories, and what to do if you think you might be a witch. Also: don’t call people wizards.
Content warning: we do touch on some of the historical brutality suffered by those outside of dominant religions and the stigmas faced by people worshiping or observing religions that are considered fringe. Opinions and spiritual or religious beliefs are those of the guest and may conflict with yours, but we are learning about their first hand customs, culture, and lived experience.
Listen via Apple, Spotify, Google, Podbay, Podcast Addict, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Visit Fio Gede Parma’s website and follow them on Instagram, Patreon and YouTube
Browse books by Fio including The Witch Belongs to the World: A Spell of Becoming, Elements of Magic: Reclaiming Earth, Air, Fire, Water & Spirit, and Ecstatic Witchcraft: Magick, Philosophy & Trance in the Shamanic Craft
A donation went to Mudgin-Gal
Links to things we discussed:
Part 1:
An Interview With Pat Devin: Consultant for "The Craft"
The Real-Life Witch Who Heavily Influenced The Craft
Teen Witch Movie CLIP - Top That! Rap
Reimagining Witchcraft as a Refuge for Marginalized Groups
How to make a thousand witches with one Supreme Court decision
On the Meaning of the Words “Witch,” “Witchcraft,” and “Sorcery”
Gerald B. Gardner’s ‘Witchcraft Today’ (1954)
The Secret Pioneer Of Witchcraft In Britain | Wicca Man Gerald Gardner | Absolute History
Witch Magazine Cover, UK, 1960s
The Antisemitic History of Witches
Lecture: “Witch Trials and Antisemitism: A Surprisingly Tangled History”
“Animism” Revisited: Personhood, Environment, and Relational Epistemology” by Nurit Bird‐David
Why Do Witches Ride Brooms? (NSFW)
The History Of Jack-O’-Lanterns + Make Your Own Dippy Jack-O’-Lantern
Witchcraft beliefs around the world: An exploratory analysis
Globalization of the magic concept
Belief in Luck and Precognition Around the World
Study finds that magical belief varies around the world
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle
“Incantation” by Alice Hoffman
Part 2:
Netflix’s Witchcraft & the Dark Arts genre landing page
Cultural Appropriation in Contemporary Neopaganism and Witchcraft
Irish-American Witchcraft: Acceptability Politics and Being a Goth Witch
So what's so offensive about green faced witches?
A Bewitching History: Why Witches Ride Broomsticks
Documentary: The Burning Times (1990) an in-depth look at the witch hunts that swept Europe
Why do we still use the image of witches created by the inquisitors?
Why Do Witches Wear Pointy Hats? The History Behind the Costume
The primacy of the image in Northern European art, 1400-1700 : essays in honor of Larry Silver
Mercury crater named for Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde "A Woman Speaks" - Reading at Amerika Haus Berlin 1984
I Tried to Trip Using Only My Breath
The Toxic Reason Margaret Hamilton Couldn’t Eat While on the Set of ‘The Wizard of Oz’
The Wizard of Oz: a horror show in the making
Copernicus, Galileo, and the Church: Science in a Religious World
Persecution of Noted Physicians and Medical Scientists
Science, Medicine and Witchcraft
The science of magic and the magic of science
Telecommunications And The Occult
Human ectoparasites and the spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic
Creepy and nightmarish vintage Halloween photos from the 1900s to 1950s
The History Of Jack-O’-Lanterns + Make Your Own Dippy Jack-O’-Lantern
Galileo to Turing: The Historical Persecution of Scientists
The Wiccan “Great Rite”— Hieros Gamos in the Modern West
pH of soul: how does acid-base balance affect our cognition?
Hyperventilation Syndrome Clinical Presentation
Chronic hyperventilation syndrome associated with syncope and coronary vasospasm
Witchcraft or Mycotoxin? The Salem Witch Trials.
A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials
The History of Plague – Part 1. The Three Great Pandemics
Creepy Vintage Halloween Photos
The Wiccan “Great Rite”—Hieros Gamos in the Modern West
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Editing by Mercedes Maitland of Maitland Audio Productions
Transcripts by Emily White of The Wordary
Website by Kelly R. Dwyer
Theme song by Nick Thorburn