Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power (Witchcraft Bestseller)

by Pam Grossman

In February 2017, magic practitioner Michael M. Hughes shared his “A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him” on Medium.com. As with most spells that circulate, it has a list of ingredients (his suggestions include an unflattering photo of Trump, a Tower tarot card, and a tiny stub of an orange candle—though a baby carrot can be substituted, he states). It also has an incantation to be read out loud. An excerpt of Hughes’s spell includes the following language: I call upon you To bind Donald J. Trump So that his malignant works may fail utterly That he may do no harm To any human soul Nor any tree Animal Rock Stream or Sea Bind him so that he shall not break our polity Usurp our liberty Or fill our minds with hate, confusion, fear, or despair And bind, too, All those who enable his wickedness And those whose mouths speak his poisonous lies.