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Copyright by Dominique Pierre Batiste 2016 The Dissertation Committee for Dominique Pierre Batiste Certifies that this is the approved version of the following thesis: QUEER ENCHANTMENTS: Walking Between the Worlds with Male Witches in North America APPROVED BY SUPERVISING COMMITTEE: Supervisor: Kathleen Stewart John Hartigan Craig Campbell Ann Cvetkovich Michael Johnson QUEER ENCHANTMENTS: Walking Between the Worlds with Male Witches in North America by Dominique Pierre Batiste, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2016 Dedication For my beloved Divine Twins: Moselle Josephine Batiste & Marcel Xavier Batiste . Acknowledgements This project is about moving through and between worlds. It is appropriate that it should culminate at a time when I, myself, prepare to move through and between worlds—leaving the world of graduate school to continue upon the trajectory of my career path. I would like to thank the Anthropology Department at The University of Texas at Austin for providing an extraordinary and supportive learning environment, which enabled me to exponentially advance my critical thinking, research, and writing skills. Much thanks is due my advisor, Kathleen Stewart, for all her support and encouragement, for all her time and energy spent reading and commenting upon my drafts, and for providing supplementary materials that enabled me to fill in the gaps in my research. I would like to say thank you to my committee members and readers, John Hartigan, Craig Campbell, Ann Cvetkovich, and Michael A. Johnson, for their guidance and insight, which enabled me to retain a critical perspective on my topic, and to push my research into innovative territories. This project would never have come to fruition were it not for a great support network, outside of academia. I would like to say a grateful thank you to all my family and friends, for their support, and for bearing the brunt of my work. When I was moody, they gave me patience. When I cried tears of frustration, they gave me their arms to cry in. When I was not around, because work demanded my time, they gave me understanding. And, now, as this project v draws near completion, they are there, for me, to give congratulations and join me in celebration. Without their constant emotional support, encouragement, and love, this project would never have been. Lastly, I owe immense gratitude to the witches who participated in this project, for their patience, insights, and contributions to this research. I honor you, and say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for opening up your lives and homes to me, allowing me to eat and drink at your tables, to dance in your circles, and to share in your friendship. I can only hope that my project exemplifies even a fraction of the honor and integrity that you have shown me in our time together. Blessed Be. May 2016 vi Abstract QUEER ENCHANTMENTS: Walking Between the Worlds with Male Witches in North America Dominique Pierre Batiste, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2016 Supervisor: Kathleen Stewart The overall goal of this project is to follow the ways in which enchantment can become a central component, embedded within daily practices, by which people make an effort to bring meaning into their lives. Scholars, from a range of disciplines, have studied enchantment in an effort to theorize the psychological, aesthetic, and social characteristics of modernity. They argue that the world is either completely disenchanted, or, that there are short-lived, immobilizing, moments of enchantment, that slip through the cracks of modernity, briefly capturing individuals, before the enchantment breaks, and ‘returns’ a person, once again, to ‘normal’ life. This project follows the lines of what I call a ‘queer ecology of enchantment,’ co-created by men practicing forms of witchcraft in The United States, who produce an empirical and epistemological space in which human and non-human forces and forms coalesce. This enchanted state, which I vii call coalescence, is not momentary and fleeting, but is an enchanted refrain that is consistently inhabited, as an affective state of being, a form of know-how, a co- production of space, and facilitates the unfolding of queer worlds, and produces the daily practices required for navigating these worlds. Academically, witchcraft in the U.S. has been explored as a religion, a magical system, and a set of ceremonial performances, that focuses upon predominantly female participants in a predominantly female-centered spirituality; this project focuses upon men in the witchcraft movement, and looks closely at the informal daily practices of male witches, in order to trace the ways in which human and non-human objects are given value and intensified through orientations and attunements to enchantment. I argue that it is the daily practices of witchcraft, and not formalized magical or ceremonial settings, that constitute the subjectivity of ‘witch,’ producing a particular relationship between witches and their environments that manifests as intensely political, without being couched in terms of politics or political activism. This project is an experimental, ethnography-based contribution to affect studies, anthropology, sociology, psychology, religious studies, new materialism, cultural geography, and the emerging field of pagan studies, that situates enchantment, and witchcraft, in relation to social strategies connected to health movement, American spirituality, and queer forms of sociality. viii Table of Contents Preface ..................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 43 Opening the Way: The Crossroads ............................................ 43 The Emergence of Modern Witchcraft: Crafting the North American Witch49 The Revival of “The Old Religion” .................................................... 55 The Burning Times: The Danger of Being a Witch ............................ 55 Witchcraft as a Revitalization Movement: Coming out of the Broom Closet ......................................................................................... 56 The Various Traditions of Witchcraft: Structure and Form ................ 58 Witchcraft as Counter-Culture: Rebellion .......................................... 62 A Spirituality Against Oppression: Goddess Spirituality, The Men’s Mysteries, and Sacred Queerness .............................................. 63 Witchcraft as Nature Religion: The Rise of Environmentalism ......... 68 Rogue Witches: Self-Initiations and Eclectic Witchcraft ................... 70 Oppression, Prejudice, and Harassment: False Accusations of Satanism .................................................................................................... 71 European Diaspora: Re-Connecting to Roots ..................................... 73 Theoretical Considerations .......................................................................... 74 De-Territorializing Witchcraft ............................................................ 74 Witchcraft as a Worlding .................................................................... 77 Mapping Affect ................................................................................... 79 The Everyday ...................................................................................... 80 Capturing Affect ................................................................................. 82 A Word on Ethics in Research ............................................................ 83 About This Study ......................................................................................... 85 Project Layout ..................................................................................... 88 ix THEORIZING ENCHANTMENT: ENTERING THE WORLD OF WITCHCRAFT .......... 93 Chapter 1: The Shock of Enchantment ................................................................. 94 Potentiality: Reynard’s First Witchcraft Book .......................... 96 New Relations: Daniel Goes to Witch Camp .......................... 100 Events: Malek Gets “Bewitched” ............................................ 103 Following Signs: What Rowan Learns at Hogwart’s .............. 106 Connection ............................................................................... 109 Chapter 2: Seeking Enchantment ........................................................................ 111 Stuck at the Threshold: Jason’s MeetUp ................................. 112 A Witch Alone: Reynard’s Inititation ...................................... 122 Seeking Others: Reynard Goes to the Witches’ Sabbat ........... 132 Encounters of Promise: The Right Place & The Right Time for Carl ......................................................................................... 145 Participation ............................................................................. 147 Chapter 3 Coalescence: An Enchanted Life ....................................................... 149 Limitations of Enchantment Theory: The Witches Circle ....... 150 Expanding the Magic Circle: “We Are ALWAYS In Circle” . 159 Coalescence: David’s Willow Tree ......................................... 162 Whither Coalescence ..............................................................