Currently Reading (March 2026)

Since my previous update in February, I have finished reading In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet, which was an interesting read on how the things that would be used to accuse a woman of witchcraft and convict her as a witch in Europe and the US in the past are things these societies still deem unacceptable for women today.

As I was reading the book, I also watched a three-part documentary about women and spirituality from the National Film Board of Canada (the three parts are called “Goddess Remembered”, “The Burning Times”, and “Full Circle”), which opened my eyes even more to the ancient goddess religion that Maureen Murdock mentions in her book The Heroine’s Journey: Woman's Quest for Wholeness (which I finished reading at the beginning of February).

At the same time, all of that was steering me towards diving deeper into topics like patriarchy and capitalism, and finally starting to read Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation by Silvia Federici, which I’ve wanted to read for many months. Federici’s book was also cited in Chollet’s, so I felt like it was a natural transition to keep going deeper into these different topics that are coming together and weaving into each other.

As all of this has left an impression on me, I’m also taking my time reading Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View by Richard Tarnas, which is about astrology. Perhaps that’s a simple way to describe it, because it’s about a bit more than that. Perhaps a better description for it is that it’s a cross between philosophy, history, and astrology. However you want to describe it, Tarnas’ book also ties into some of these themes that I’m interested in, and it has further solidified the kind of work I want to do right now.

All of this is to say that I am currently working on an essay that will include many of these topics and things I’ve learned lately (I might turn it into a video essay as well). I have no idea when it will be finished, as I’m still reading Caliban and the Witch and have two other books on these topics on my TBR that I want to include in the essay (I might mention them in the next update here). So, I’m still in the research and outlining phase. But I’m very excited about it.

Can’t wait to see what I discover next.