Drawing Down the Moon

Refusing the binaries of science/magic and technology/mysticism, a new generation of Thessalian witches invoke the moon in their practices. A manifestation of divine feminine power and cosmic spiritual energy, Wiccans continue to weave their spells around the Earth’s only natural satellite, while contemporary artists and activists organize collective gatherings under it. From Isabelle Stengers to Starhawk, TikTok cyber-sorcery to digital covens, there has been a resurgence of witchcraft.¹ 1 - See Lucile Olympe Haute, “Cyberwitches Manifesto” (2017), accessible online. But there has also been a concomitant rise in new forms of violence against women, trans and gender-nonconforming people who organize in resistance to world-destroying forms of neo-colonial domination. Deploying technology in her spiritual and political rituals, French-born Afrodiasporic video artist and healer Tabita Rezaire belongs to this evanescent sorority. Speculating on the connections between technoscience and ancestral belief systems, her work focuses on everything that orbits around the moon.