Witches Will Hex Justice Kavanaugh Tomorrow

“Basically, it’s all about causing suffering. And we intend to make Kavanaugh suffer.” This is how Dakota Bracciale explains her plans to host a ritual tomorrow to hex the newest Supreme Court justice.

Bracciale is co-owner of Catland Books, a self-described “metaphysical boutique and occult bookshop.” Her store in Brooklyn, New York, has already hosted three hexes on President Trump. The event is also a fundraiser, with proceeds to benefit Planned Parenthood and a center for homeless LGBTQ youths.

Bracciale says the event has sold out. However, that’s only about sixty people who will be in attendance. Thousands more will participate on Facebook.

The coven of witches will conduct a ritual including effigies, coffin nails, graveyard dirt, and a spell. They are planning a second “Ritual to Hex Brett Kavanaugh” for November 3.

The “Bind Kavanaugh” spell

Tomorrow’s event will not be the first time Justice Kavanaugh’s opponents have attempted to use magic against him.

In a “Bind Kavanaugh” spell performed before the Senate voted to confirm him, a group calling itself the Magic Resistance lit a white candle, symbolizing justice and purity. Then they placed the Justice tarot card adjacent to it on an altar and wrapped a black thread around a paper doll, symbolizing Kavanaugh, to bind him. Practitioners were urged to chant the names of his known accusers, binding him “in the name of” those they believed he had wronged.

The fact that Justice Kavanaugh was confirmed despite their efforts did not deter the “Bind Kavanaugh” participants. Their leader explains: “We need to do things to counter . . . despair and hopelessness. Ritual is powerful in that respect. Putting aside questions of its efficacy, it absolutely works in transforming consciousness and empowering those who do it.”

Bracciale agrees, stating that witchcraft has historically been an outlet for oppressed people to “take matters in their own hands.”

“Not as I will, but as you will”

This is exactly what Satan wants us to do.

His temptation to “be like God” (Genesis 3:5) is as effective today as when he first employed it. Just as their sinful desire for self-reliance separated Adam and Eve from God, so self-sufficiency separates us from God today.

The cure for the sin of the Garden of Eden is found in the Garden of Gethsemane. There our Savior prayed, “Not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). He rejected self-sufficiency and chose self-surrender. The atoning sacrifice that resulted offers salvation to all who make him their Lord.

When we accept Christ, we who were banished from the tree of life in Eden (Genesis 3:22-24) will eat from its fruit in heaven (Revelation 22:1-2). We will learn that “the leaves of the tree [are] for the healing of the nations” (v. 2).

And we will worship our Lord forever (v. 3).

Why the occult is so popular today

In the meantime, it is urgent that we understand the spiritual attacks being waged by the enemy today.

There was a time when witches were viewed as dangerous to society. Now they are in fashion. Earlier this week, the website announcing tomorrow’s hexing ceremony had been viewed 750,000 times.

The Satanic Temple has fifteen chapters around the United States, including chapters in Dallas (where I live) and Atlanta (where I previously lived). Occult and pagan images and designs are increasingly popular in clothing. Occult stores are proliferating.

Humans have always been fascinated with the occult. But I think more is at work today. The promise of empowerment and self-sufficiency made by occult practitioners is especially attractive in a chaotic and conflicted day.

Women who have been victims of sexual abuse feel they are unheard. Men fear being unjustly accused and assumed guilty. Horrific weather has devastated cities across the country. The economy has been especially turbulent lately.

The more we feel out of control, the more we reach for ways to feel in control. However, God’s word warns us: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

“I stand at the door and knock”

Americans are largely a self-made people. We created our country with a frontier spirit and “can-do” entrepreneurial attitude. But anything God uses for good, the enemy tries to use for evil.

That’s why we don’t have to attend an occult ritual to seek self-empowerment. We are all tempted by work that becomes an end rather than a means, possessions that possess us, and a striving for popularity that cannot feed the hunger of our souls.

American Christians are just as susceptible to this satanic strategy. We can work with God more than we walk with him. We can confuse religious activity for spiritual union with our Lord. Jesus can be the object of our faith more than a living presence we experience each day.

But this is not true Christianity. Jesus wants to be as real in our lives as he was in the lives of his first followers. While the disciples were in his physical presence, you and I are to be in his spiritual presence. His Holy Spirit lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). His Father is as close as our next prayer. He is ready to be a constant, transformative reality in our daily lives.

Speaking to the self-sufficient Laodicean Christians, Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

When last did you open the door of your heart to him?

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