Explore every episode of the podcast BS-Free Witchcraft (Nerd and Tie Network Feed)

So we covered some of this back in the "Respect" episode, but I really just wanted to take some time and explore how we talk to each other in witchcraft spaces. And, uh, I might be part of the problem here from time to time.

The post 99. Communication first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Bree NicGarran joins me this episode as we finally get around to talking about the 1998 film adaptation of Practical Magic. For some people the '90s movie that got them pulled into witchcraft was The Craft, while for others (like Bree) it was this one! We figured with the sequel coming out soon, we really needed to get around to talking about this one.

So we did! For two hours! You could have watched the whole movie on your own in that time!

The post 98. Practical Magic (1998) (With Bree NicGarran) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s July which means it’s time for the annual feedback/Q&A episode of the show! In this episode I sit down and answer questions that you, the audience, has been sending me over the last few months. It’s the same dance we do every summer, but maybe a surprise guest will show up and help me answer one of these.

The post 97. Feedback/Q&A Special 2026 first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Look, there are two things I wanted to talk about this month, but didn't have enough time to fully prepare an episode on either. So, instead, I'm just going to talk about my current thoughts on both of these (unrelated) topics. First off we have the US Military no longer recognizing about 180 different religions, and then after that I'm talking about my thoughts on Chaos vs Eclecticism.

Like I said, unrelated topics.

The post 96. A Fireside Chat first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Well, it must be May, because I'm doing another book review! This time around I'm reviewing Thumper Forge's "The Chaos Apple" (ISBN 9780738775432) which came out last fall. It is, unsurprisingly, a book on Chaos Magic - a topic it turns out I knew more about than I realized. And while overall I liked this book a lot, it does have one glaring issue for me... but only because I'm a pedantic nerd.

The post 95. An Honest Review of Thumper Forge’s “The Chaos Apple” first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the biggest challenges in building a real community in the modern witchcraft movement is, honestly, the lack of respect a lot of folks show each other. From asserting that unverified personal gnosis is fact to spreading misinformation, it's a huge issue. Well, we need to fix that.

The post 94. Respect first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the topics I've wanted to cover on this show for the longest time is gatekeeping in witchcraft spaces. It was on my original list of topics when I started the show, and it just kept getting knocked down the list. My opinion has evolved a lot over the years though, and the take I have now is in many ways completely different than what it would have been if I'd made this episode when the show first started.

And hopefully it's a journey you're willing to take with me.

The post 93. Gatekeeping. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

A long time ago I made a joke post on Tumblr called "Beginner Witch Tips" where I included the advice to curse your enemies. But just like how the item "Fight a God" went from tongue in cheek to genuine advice, this one was always partially serious too. So this month, I'm going to explain why I think you should just start dishing out the curses to everyone who deserves it.

Remember, cursing is self care.

The post 92. Curse Your Enemies first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

There's an annoying thing in the witchcraft community where every new idea or trend gets cast as an "ancient" practice even if it's just a few years old. Time and time again, we see people constructing false narratives about the supposed historicity of ideas, spells, and rituals in witchcraft spaces, and all of it is bad for us. Why do people feel the need to lie? Why does something being a new idea make it less credible in people's eyes? Why have we been doing this as a community from the start?

The post 91. “Ancient” Practices first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

I'm getting a bit contemplative at the end of the year, and this month we're talking about the importance of the mystery of the night. Everything feels just a little more magical in the dark, and why that just feels right as a witch. That's right, we're talking about an aesthetic this time around. Who would have guessed?

The post 90. Nighttime. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the biggest things I think a lot of older witches take for granted is that people understand what makes Wicca, well, Wicca. While we’ve discussed the history before, and last month talked about the weird anti-Wicca backlash, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about how this incredibly diverse religion is practiced. Frankly, just the fact that it is largely an orthopraxic religion and not an orthodoxic one is a concept a lot of folks raised in predominantly Christian frameworks struggle with.

So let’s talk about it.

The post 89. What Makes Wicca Wicca? first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

If you spend any amount of time on social media these days, especially TikTok, you'll find a surprising amount of anti-Wiccan sentiment... and a lot of it's pretty weird. Thumper Forge, Gardnerian Wiccan and author of the forthcoming The Chaos Apple, joins me as we, frankly, debunk some of the worst of it and talk about why we think this has happened.

The post 88. Wicca Bad? Featuring Thumper Forge first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This episode marks seven years of this podcast, and as we start the eighth, I decided that it was time we looked back on how much things have changed in the modern witchcraft space since then, along with how different things are since I first became a witch over twenty-five years ago. Because what is witchcraft if it's not change?

Also, I'm standing in a park most of the episode, which is why it sounds like that.

The post 87. A Season of Change first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

If you're in witchcraft spaces, over the last six years or so, you've likely heard someone talking about "shadow work" (or more obnoxiously telling someone "they need to do some shadow work"). And while some folks seem to consider it an essential element of witchcraft, for those of us who have been in the community a long time it's just a little bit puzzling. Likewise, a lot of the people pushing shadow work don't seem to know where it comes from to begin with. With that in mind, this month I'm going into the origins of shadow work, what it is, and maybe why some folks need to stop pushing it so hard.

The post 86. Shadow Work (And Maybe Why We Shouldn’t Tell Other Witches to Do It) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It's July which means it's time for the annual feedback/Q&A episode of the show! In this episode I sit down and answer questions that you, the audience, has been sending me over the last few months. It's the same dance we do every summer, and this year you guys sent me some great questions. It's a fun one.

The post 85. Feedback/Q&A Special 2025 first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Last month we talked about a good source new witches might want to add to their libraries, because I know how hard it is to separate the signal from the noise. But this month I thought we'd go look at some of the noise instead! I clicked on every terrible ad for witchcraft stuff I could find on Facebook for a week, and decided to inflict what I found on Hex Positive's Bree NicGarran.

It's so, so bad y'all.

The post 84. We Clicked on Every Facebook Witchcraft Ad (with Bree NicGarran) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One year ago I put out this podcast’s first book review. It was for Annwyn Avalon’s Celtic Goddess Grimoire, and I absolutely hated it. It was everything I despise in modern witchcraft publishing, and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

I felt like I needed to fix that.

So I decided to make it my mission to find a new witchcraft book I might actually like — to find something I could actually talk positively about to this show’s audience. And that’s when I found Thorn Mooney’s Witches Among Us: Understanding Contemporary Witchcraft and Wicca (ISBN: ‎ 978-0738777375) last fall.

And it turns out I really like it.

The post 83. An Honest Review of Thorn Mooney’s “Witches Among Us” first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

The 1991 Christian propaganda series the Pagan Invasion by Jeremiah Films was oddly formative for me. It's a masterclass in propaganda, and a perfect example of the kind of misinformation that was spreading during the heights of the Satanic Panic. So in this episode we're going to break down how "documentaries" like these work to push an agenda, and how to recognize these patterns in other places.

The post 82. The Pagan Invasion and Propaganda first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month on the show we're talking about the importance of taking stock and realizing that the person you used to be isn't the person that you are -- and how important it is to document who you are now so that you might know yourself better later.

Or something.

It makes sense if you listen, I swear.

The post 81. Reflections first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month I wanted to talk about a couple of things that wouldn't necessarily fill out a whole episode on their own. First off, after last month's episode I wanted to clarify some of my thoughts on psychics. Secondly, I wanted to talk about bias and what we do with evidence that runs contrary to our beliefs.

It should be a fun one though.

The post 80. A Couple of Things… first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the biggest podcasts out there right now is The Telepathy Tapes. It's topping the podcast charts on both Apple and Spotify's American listings, but it perpetrates an incredibly dangerous idea about people with autism. But none of this is new, and we've seen this kind of trend before.

So it's about time we talked about it.

The post 79. The Telepathy Tapes and the Dangers of ‘Magical Autism’ first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month we're going to do something a little different -- I'm going to just talk to you about how I'm doing right now. Stuff's not necessarily the best, so I kind of had a few things I needed to get out of my system.

But I'm still here, still fighting, and still sticking by you.

The post 78. The State of the Trae first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s been about a year since Hex Positive‘s Bree NicGarran showed up to review a piece of witchcraft media with Trae, and with how terrible the world is, why not take a break and listen to two witches reviewing the latest piece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — Agatha All Along! Because we all need a distraction… and it’s an amazing show.

The post 77. Agatha All Along Review (with Bree NicGarran) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It's October, so even though we took the year off last year, we're going back to the show's roots with yet another spooky episode! This time around, Lozzie Stardust takes the guest spot and we talk about ghosts, cryptids, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Look, we got really off track on this one.

But I think you'll like it.

The post 76. A Spooky-ish Episode (with Lozzie Stardust) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

You do your best in this life to try and figure out what you're doing. You write everything down, you make a schedule, and you plan. And sometimes those plans work out and sometimes they don't. That's what this episode is about.

Sort of. Kind of. In a way. I think.

The post 75. Plans first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Homeopathy is harmful and complete and total bull. I can't emphasize that enough. In this episode we're diving into the history of Homeopathy, what it is, and why it's bad. And I think, by the end of it, you'll agree with me.

The post 74. Homeopathy is Bulls***. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It's July, so that means we're doing the annual feedback and Q&A special! You guys spent the last few months sending in witchcraft questions, and they got shuffled around, picked at random, and now you're getting some answers! We've played this dance before, you know what's up.

The post 73. Feedback/Q&A Special 2024! first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

The entire #ReturnTheStone debacle over the last couple of weeks on WitchTok is honestly just a symptom of a a

The post 72. Arrogance. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

When the publicist for Weiser Books reached out to the show asking if I wanted a review copy of Annwyn

The post 71. I Hate This Book. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Sometimes in this community folks have a habit of making things about them that… aren’t. So that’s what we’re addressing

The post 70. It’s Not About Us first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the most frustrating conversations we keep having to have in the modern witchcraft movement is about cultural appropriation.

The post 69. Cultural Appropriation first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

A question that is significantly harder to answer than most people think is “What is Witchcraft?” This month I’m going

The post 68. What is Witchcraft? first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Combating misinformation has always been one of the primary missions of this show, and honestly? It just gets exhausting sometimes.

The post 67. The Headache of Misinformation first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Last month Hex Positive‘s Bree NicGarran joined Trae to take a look at the classic witch-centric movie Hocus Pocus (1993).

The post 66. Hocus Pocus 2 (2022) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s time to dig back into the VHS tapes that you’ve shoved in a box in your basement (or just

The post 65. Hocus Pocus (1993) first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

For the first time in five years, we’re breaking the “Trae talks to someone about ghosts for an hour in

The post 64. Ask the Question. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

One of the most common descriptions of “witchcraft” you’ll find out there will say that it’s a “nature based” practice.

The post 63. Nature and Witchcraft first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Variations of the phrase “There’s No Wrong Way to Witch” get tossed around our community, and I think it’s about

The post 62. Wrong Way to Witch? first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s July! You know what that means — it’s time for our annual Q&A special! Where you the audience send

The post 61. Feedback/Q&A Special 2023! first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month we’re talking about a very important concept: doubt. There are times when we question our beliefs and our

The post 60. Doubt is Good. first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

The Aquarian Tabernacle Church has announced a new accreditation program to “professionalize” Wiccan Clergy. They’re not the first people to

The post 59. Should There Be Wiccan Clergy? first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month we’re talking about liminality and the spaces in between. The places that don’t really seem to belong where

The post 58. Liminal Spaces and the Crossroads first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month on the show we’re answering a question I get a lot, and that’s how do you celebrate the

The post 57. Change the Wheel first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month on the show we’re going down a bit more of an unhinged rant than we’ve done lately, as

The post 56. “Finger Waggling” first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This month we’re taking a look at one of New Age spirituality’s most toxic philosophies: The Law of Attraction. We

The post 55. Lucky Girl Syndrome and the Law of Attraction first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Back in September of 2021, we put out an episode all about Mabon and the person who named it, Aidan

The post 54. A Conversation With Aidan Kelly first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

This episode of BS-Free Witchcraft is actually a panel from CritWitchCon 2022 this last October. Spend an hour with Alex

The post 53. Modern Witchcraft History first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

It’s October, and that means we’re in the spookiest of seasons! With that in mind we continue the podcast’s long

The post 52. Another Spooky Episode first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

Consumerism has been a driving force in the witchcraft movement since the beginning, but in the age of social media

The post 52. Consumerism and Witchcraft first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.

On this episode we’re talking about the general tone of witchcraft discourse on social media, including Tumblr and TikTok. Is

The post 50. Witchcraft and Social Media first appeared on Nerd & Tie Network.