One of my favorite lesbian stereotypes is our love for astrology. One would be hard pressed to find a lesbian without their sun sign in their social media bios, let alone their entire star chart. Tarot, crystals, and witchcraft just seem so inherently lesbian. So how did the New Age and lesbianism become linked? For the answer to that question, we’ll turn our gaze to lesbian feminist spirituality during the 1970s.
WITCH
On Halloween of 1968, a group of women came together to form WITCH, which originally stood for Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell. The acronym changed alongside the political goals of the individual groups that made up the broader WITCH organization. Some more infamous examples are Women Interested in Toppling Consumer Holidays or Women Incensed at Telephone Company Harassment. WITCH was, at its heart, a conglomeration of several feminist groups that adopted the figure of the witch as a potent symbol for women’s liberation. The figure of the witch continues to be that for many women. She epitomizes the idea of female power with her rebellious nature, her freedom from the tyranny of male domination, and her ability to solve her own problems. She is what patriarchal religions fear. As such, she became the perfect rallying cry for these feminist women, sick of being oppressed by the patriarchal standards that they were expected to operate under.
The manifesto of WITCH, as quoted in Robin Morgan’s Sisterhood is Powerful, states that “Witches have always been women who dared to be: groovy, courageous, aggressive, intelligent, nonconformist, explorative, curious, independent, sexually liberated, revolutionary.” She is the self-actualized woman. She’s aware of her own power and uses it to battle oppression. It’s no coincidence that religions associated with witchcraft (such as Wicca, Druidry, and other Neo-Pagan religions) typically have a lot of women involved in leadership roles, as priestesses and oracles, as well as many lay practitioners. You can bet that wherever there are abundant, powerful women, there will be lesbians.
Consciousness raising
The feminist spirituality movement was born out of consciousness raising groups These women-focused groups sought to, as the name suggests, raise the consciousness of every woman in attendance through acknowledging the validity of each woman’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences under the oppressive regime of patriarchy. These groups sought to give women the tools to trust themselves and trust each other, while realizing themselves as fully human in their own right, rather than as just subservient, failed males.
Consciousness raising led to a growth in female centered spirituality. These women were increasingly able to trust themselves when they had spiritual experiences. Instead of dismissing their spiritual perception, they had the tools to integrate and understand their spiritual selves. They now knew that their experiences were important and held weight, which meant they were able to build spiritual practices, theology, and understanding around these experiences.
All of this was the ultimate rebellion against the norms of the society around them. Instead of showing up in the Sunday pews or bringing casseroles to the church potluck, these witches were dancing in groves and making offerings to the moon. They were misbehaving.
Spirituality for the rebel woman
Lesbian separatists adored these ideas. The intention of separatism is for females to live with as little reference to males as possible. Groups like the Gutter Dykes, the Gorgons, and Radicalesbians created their own communities free from men and patriarchal ideas. While being free from patriarchal ideas may have been a goal too lofty, they were certainly free from males. This was a radical rejection of the broader goals of the society they were forced to exist in. They were avant garde rebels that dared to make women the only priority.
Witchcraft was used as a tool of power for rebels and feminist women, which made it attractive to these lesbian punks. They were learning from consciousness raising groups that they had power in their minds. They were learning from groups like WITCH that they had power in their spirits. By enacting the rituals they were learning about, by forming separatist communes, and by learning tenets of self-defense, they were able to feel the power in their bodies. They could work the ground without the help of males. They could achieve sexual gratification without the help of males. And they could achieve spiritual enlightenment without the help of males.
Subverting tradition
Traditional monotheistic religion had taught lesbians that their desires were sinful and that their sex put them at a disadvantage. God was the Father, and the Son. God was He and Him. As the church father Athanasius wrote in his book about the incarnation of God into Jesus, “God became man so that man may become God.” In this, God is made male so that men can become divine. With the growth of the 1970s feminist spiritual movement, the concept of deity could be redefined. Suddenly, the center of the universe was Goddess. She was alive and active and female.
Homosexuality was not a sin in the Goddess religions. Quite the contrary. Quoted in Margot Adler’s groundbreaking book Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids. Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America, one of the leaders of the Neo-Pagan movement of the 70’s, Gwydion Pendderwen, told Adler, “I’ve seen the most supreme expression of Woman in these lesbian feminist Witches… They have gone through an incredible load of bullshit in their lives; they have found their true selves and have risen above it. They look head and shoulders above the rest of us. The combination of feminism and Witchcraft has produced some Amazons, some true giants.”
Fertile ground
It was during the turbulent time of the 1970s that the unique powerlessness of lesbians, who experience the intersection of homophobia and misogyny, was being critiqued. The women’s and gay rights movements made fertile ground in which lesbians were able to create and cultivate new power where we could. In a way, it is our suffering that created our strength. The rituals of witchcraft, and the connection to a supreme female Goddess, mitigated the lesbian alienation caused by the straight, patriarchal overculture. Witchcraft seeks to address the wounds of alienation from our own nature, and from the concepts of capital “N” Nature, and heal them.
The appeal of witchy rituals, like spells, astrology, and divination, to lesbians, lies in its ability to take spiritual power out of the hands of priests and churches – men and their patriarchal institutions – and into the purview of the individual. You can read Tarot for yourself and perceive your own future. You can create an astrological chart for yourself and perceive your own inner mechanisms. You can trust yourself and be yourself regardless of your sex or sexuality through non-patriarchal spirituality. So next time a new date asks you what your sign is, know that – knowingly or not – she is the successor of a rich history of feminist lesbians who dared to find the Goddess.
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