The phrase “Hex the Patriarchy” has become a rallying cry in modern witchcraft communities, particularly among feminist practitioners who view magic not just as spiritual practice but as a form of political activism. But what does it actually mean to hex the patriarchy? Is cursing justified? And how does this movement relate to broader feminist goals?
What is Feminist Witchcraft?
Feminist witchcraft emerged prominently during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s when women began reclaiming the term “witch” as a symbol of power rather than persecution. For centuries, the word witch was used to control, torture and execute women who challenged social norms, practiced medicine, owned property independently or simply existed outside patriarchal control.
Modern feminist witches have reclaimed this identity deliberately. By calling themselves witches, they honor the countless women murdered during witch hunts while simultaneously rejecting the patriarchal narrative that women with power are dangerous or evil. The witch becomes a figure of rebellion, autonomy and resistance to oppression.
Feminist witchcraft intersects with various social justice movements including LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, disability rights and economic equality. It recognizes that patriarchy doesn’t just harm women but creates hierarchies that oppress people based on gender identity, sexual orientation, race, class and ability.
Understanding Feminism: More Than “Man-Hating”
Before diving deeper into hexing the patriarchy, it’s crucial to address a common misconception: feminism is not about hating men or believing women are superior to men.
Feminism is the belief that all genders deserve equal rights, opportunities and treatment. It seeks to dismantle systems of oppression that harm everyone including men who suffer under rigid masculinity expectations, emotional suppression and limited parental rights.
The patriarchy that feminists oppose is not “all men” but rather a social system that concentrates power in masculine-coded traits and male-dominated institutions. This system tells men they can’t cry, must be aggressive providers and are less capable parents. It tells women they must be nurturing, submissive and available for others’ needs. It marginalizes anyone who doesn’t fit into rigid gender categories.
When feminist witches say they’re hexing the patriarchy, they’re targeting this oppressive system not individual men. Many feminist covens include men, non-binary practitioners and people of all genders who share the goal of dismantling harmful power structures.
Is It Okay to Curse? The Ethics of Baneful Magic
This question divides the witchcraft community deeply. Some practitioners follow the Wiccan Rede: “An it harm none, do what ye will.” They believe all curses are unethical regardless of target or intention. Others argue that in a world where marginalized people face systemic violence, magic may be one of the few tools available for protection and resistance.
Arguments Against Cursing the Patriarchy
The Rule of Three / Karma Concerns: Many believe that negative energy sent out returns threefold to the sender. Cursing powerful systems might bring backlash.
It’s Still Violence: Some argue that using magic to harm even oppressive structures or people is ethically equivalent to physical violence.
Focus on Positive Change: Rather than cursing what you oppose, manifest what you want to see. Build rather than destroy.
Spiritual Bypassing Risk: Using magic as activism might replace actual political action with symbolic gestures that feel good but create no material change.
Arguments For Hexing the Patriarchy
Self-Defense is Valid: When facing systemic oppression, violence or abuse, using protective or baneful magic is justified self-defense. If you wouldn’t judge someone for physically defending themselves, why judge magical defense?
Magic is a Tool of the Powerless: Marginalized people often lack access to legal, economic or political power. Magic provides a means of resistance when other avenues are closed.
Baneful Magic Can Be Protective: Binding spells that prevent abusers from harming others, curses that bring consequences to rapists or hexes that expose corrupt politicians serve protective purposes.
Historical Precedent: Enslaved people, colonized communities and persecuted groups have used magic as resistance throughout history. This tradition continues.
Harm Reduction: A curse that stops an abuser from hurting others prevents greater harm than allowing the abuse to continue.
The Middle Ground: Transformative Witchcraft
Many feminist witches take a nuanced approach. They might use:
Binding Spells: Rather than harming, these prevent harmful people from continuing their actions. Think of it as a magical restraining order.
Mirror Spells: Reflect someone’s negative energy back to them so they experience the consequences of their own actions.
Justice Work: Focus on bringing truth to light, ensuring accountability or supporting survivors rather than directly causing harm.
Transmutation Magic: Transform patriarchal energy into something beneficial. Alchemize toxic masculinity into healthy masculinity. Turn rape culture into consent culture.
Protective Wards: Rather than attacking the patriarchy, create strong boundaries and shields that protect vulnerable people from its effects.
Amplification Magic: Use magic to amplify the voices, visibility and power of marginalized people rather than diminishing oppressors.
The key question each practitioner must ask: What will create the outcome I actually want? Sometimes that’s a curse. Sometimes it’s protection. Sometimes it’s manifestation work. Often it’s a combination alongside tangible political action.
Concrete Examples of Hex the Patriarchy Work
Trump Hex Covens
Beginning in 2017, thousands of witches worldwide participated in coordinated binding rituals targeting Donald Trump. These monthly rituals, timed to the waning crescent moon, aimed to bind Trump and his administration from doing harm. Participants used orange candles, unflattering photos of Trump and spoken intentions to restrain his power.
The spell was explicitly designed as binding rather than cursing. The goal was not to harm Trump but to prevent him from harming others. Organizers framed it as magical resistance equivalent to protests, phone banking and other activism.
This movement sparked intense debate. Some witches felt any magic targeting a person without consent was unethical. Others argued that public figures wielding governmental power forfeit some magical privacy rights. Still others pointed out that binding someone from doing harm is protective magic, not baneful.
#WitchTheVote
This social media campaign mobilized witches to vote in elections, particularly focusing on issues affecting marginalized communities. Rather than cursing candidates, #WitchTheVote encouraged practical activism: registering voters, providing rides to polling places, canvassing neighborhoods and using magic to protect voting rights.
Practitioners created spells for safe travel to polls, rituals to overcome voter suppression, glamours to help marginalized voters feel confident and visible and protection magic for poll workers facing harassment.
This movement demonstrated that hexing the patriarchy doesn’t always mean literal hexing. Sometimes it means using magical practice to support tangible political action.
Rapist Binding Spells
In response to inadequate justice systems that fail sexual assault survivors, some witches perform binding spells on known rapists and sexual predators. These spells aim to prevent the person from sexually assaulting anyone again.
The ethics here are particularly fraught. Supporters argue that when legal systems fail to protect survivors, magical intervention is justified. Critics worry about due process, false accusations and the spiritual consequences of cursing another person.
Some practitioners create variations:
- Spells that bring truth to light so predators are exposed
- Magic that strengthens survivors’ voices and credibility
- Rituals that help survivors heal from trauma
- Community protection wards that keep predators away from vulnerable people
Corporate Curse Work
Many feminist witches target corporations that profit from exploitation, environmental destruction or worker abuse. Amazon, fast fashion companies, fossil fuel corporations and mega-farms become targets for curse work.
This might involve:
- Confusion spells that disrupt corporate operations
- Spells to expose unethical practices to consumers
- Cursing CEO bank accounts or stock prices
- Rituals to strengthen union organizing efforts
- Magic supporting boycotts and protests
Some practitioners create “ethical consumption” spells instead, using magic to support small businesses, cooperatives and ethical brands rather than cursing unethical ones.
Abortion Protection Spells
With abortion rights under attack in many regions, witches have created various forms of magical support:
- Protection spells for people seeking abortions
- Safe passage rituals for those traveling for care
- Hexes on politicians restricting reproductive rights
- Wards around abortion clinics to protect from protesters
- Binding spells on crisis pregnancy centers that deceive people
- Healing rituals for people processing abortion decisions
- Ancestor work honoring those who died from unsafe abortions
TERF Banishing
The feminist witchcraft community has grappled with trans-exclusionary practitioners, particularly in some Dianic Wiccan traditions that define womanhood by biological sex. Many covens have performed banishing rituals to remove TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) ideology from witchcraft spaces.
These banishing spells aim to create inclusive communities where trans, non-binary and gender-nonconforming practitioners feel safe and welcome. Some target specific TERF influencers or organizations, while others focus on cleansing spaces of transphobic energy.
Menstrual Magic Activism
Menstrual blood has long been considered powerful in magical practice. Feminist witches have reclaimed period blood as a tool of resistance:
- Using menstrual blood in spells targeting menstrual equity legislation
- Period blood sigils painted on government buildings (magically if not physically)
- Rituals breaking the stigma around menstruation
- Free bleeding as both protest and magical act
- Creating art with menstrual blood as political statement
- Moon cycle syncing for collective ritual power
Equal Pay Manifestation
Rather than cursing, many practitioners create abundance magic specifically targeting the wage gap:
- Manifestation spells for raises and promotions
- Glamours that make women’s competence undeniable in workplace settings
- Magic supporting salary negotiation confidence
- Rituals before asking for raises or job interviews
- Collective spells supporting women-owned businesses
- Curses on companies with significant pay gaps
Glass Ceiling Breaking Hexes
Some witches perform literal and metaphorical glass ceiling breaking rituals:
- Smashing glass while visualizing breaking through career barriers
- Spells that make women’s achievements visible to gatekeepers
- Magic targeting industries with few women in leadership
- Rituals supporting specific women running for office or seeking promotions
- Collective energy raising for women’s firsts (first woman president, CEO, etc.)
Patriarchal Ancestor Healing
Many feminist witches work with their ancestral lines to heal generational patriarchal trauma:
- Communicating with female ancestors who suffered under patriarchy
- Healing the abusive patterns passed down from male ancestors
- Breaking curses of misogyny within family lines
- Honoring the resilience of feminine ancestors
- Transforming inherited toxic masculinity
- Creating new ancestral patterns of equality and respect
Additional Manifestations of Feminist Witchcraft
Consent Culture Spells
Magic focused on creating cultures of enthusiastic consent in communities, workplaces and social spaces. These might include boundary-setting rituals, spells that amplify people’s ability to say no or magic that makes consent violations immediately visible.
Domestic Violence Protection
Witches create protective magic for people escaping abusive relationships including safe house wards, spells that confuse abusers trying to track down partners, magic that strengthens resolve to leave and rituals that heal trauma.
Street Harassment Hexes
Some practitioners curse catcallers and street harassers with immediate consequences like sudden digestive issues, wardrobe malfunctions or public embarrassment when they harass someone.
Feminist Deity Work
Working with goddesses and gods who embody feminist values including fierce mother goddesses, warrior women, trickster figures who challenge authority and deities who protect the marginalized. Examples include Kali, the Morrigan, Lilith, Hecate, Athena and many indigenous feminine deities.
Reclaiming Witch Hunts History
Rituals honoring the estimated 40,000 to 60,000 people (mostly women) executed during European and American witch hunts. These ceremonies acknowledge historical trauma while drawing power from survivor lineages.
Magic as One Tool Among Many
Hexing the patriarchy represents a broader movement of feminist witchcraft that views magic as inseparable from politics. Whether practitioners choose binding, cursing, protection, manifestation or healing work, they share a commitment to using magical practice in service of justice.
The most effective approach likely combines magical work with practical activism. Hex the patriarchy if your ethics allow it, but also vote, protest, donate, educate and organize. Magic works best when paired with action in the material world.
Ultimately, each practitioner must determine their own ethical boundaries. What matters is the intention to dismantle oppressive systems and create a world where all people can thrive regardless of gender. Whether you achieve that through hexes, healing or both is a personal decision rooted in your own magical ethics and relationship with power.
The patriarchy has used violence, law, religion and culture to maintain its power for millennia. Feminist witches are simply using every tool available including magic to fight back. And that, perhaps, is the most threatening thing of all to systems built on the suppression of women’s power.
