If you too have had enough of the patriarchy – men running the world, men being abusive of the systems, our bodies, our lives, politics – may I offer you an alternative.
It’s not a life free of men or lesbianism, unless that’s what blows your skirt up, but an existence filled with nature, light, spirituality, alchemy – and this power can be conjured from within us. You see, there is a wave of hope flooding social media, but it’s been active within our society for ever. In fact, I suspect that many of you are already involved and you don’t even know.
Magic. Witchcraft, to be precise. Another place in which the patriarchy has really done us over.
Witchcraft is trending heavily on social media right now and it could just be timing – with Practical Magic 2 and American Horror Story out, and Halloween around the corner – but this feels different, and it’s not just the woo-woo tribe getting into it.
In the last week, I have seen How to Fail podcaster and author Elizabeth Day offering a money spell, by writing an amount of money on a bay leaf, setting her intention and burning it and – lo and behold – a surge of cash has come to her. Meanwhile, Lana Del Rey once placed a binding spell on Donald Trump.
Women have more tools than we really understand in our magical bodies. Without even realising it, we make love and health spells every day, and have our own rituals that make us feel good, safe and calm. Many of us are playing with alchemy, even if it’s simply taking naturopathic supplements. Cooking with herbs and spices and pouring your love into it is witchcraft. Making a loved one a healing soup and wishing them better is witchcraft. Manifestation is witchcraft.
My Instagram “For you” page is full of women calling for a female revolution, in which we use our bodies and our power, along with spells and rituals, to overturn a male-run world that is going down in flames. I decided to cast a few spells of my own to see what happened.
Blood spell
On the night of the full Moon, I filled a large Kilner jar with water and left it open on the windowsill. In the morning, I had Moon water.
I transferred about 300ml of this Moon water into a jam jar and mixed it with 5ml of my period blood. I then kept it in sunlight and waited. Inside the jar, something that resembled a plant had formed. I poured the liquid over a plant in the garden and, although it’s only been a few days, it’s looking mighty proud all of a sudden.
The inspiration for this spell came from the discussion around the Voynich manuscript: this 15th century work, written in an unknown language, has resisted translation for centuries – but nonetheless it is suddenly everywhere online. Some believe the text contains secret knowledge about menstruation, fertility, contraception, pregnancy and women’s health, kept hidden from men.
The reason it’s resurfacing in 2026 is that it has become connected to a much bigger cultural idea: what if women in the past had knowledge about their bodies, sexuality and nature that was misunderstood or dismissed?
We might never fully understand the text, but the illustrations show strange plants, stars and bathing figures, which suggest herbal remedies, Moon water, witchcraft and spiritual rituals. The wildest online theories link menstrual blood to plant growth and spells like the ones I tried.
I do think our wombs have more power than we know, and I am now convinced that blood magic from your period holds unbounded secrets.
Cookery rituals
As a chef, kitchen witchcraft is where I get most of my thrills. There is something deeply comforting and familiar about gathering ingredients, following a recipe and transforming them into something that changes how someone feels. We even have our own books of instructions, stained with the evidence of previous experiments. A grimoire with butter on it.
For a kitchen witch, the intention is part of the preparation. Rosemary might be chosen for remembrance, basil for prosperity, a loaf baked to welcome someone home. I already know what I want my cooking to do: comfort someone, seduce them, make them feel loved.
At the same time as doing the Voynich blood magic spell, I also did a prosperity and safekeeping spell. I mixed a tablespoon of rice, with a pinch of sugar, three bay leaves and eight cloves into two litres of Moon water. Two weeks on, I have some very live and fizzy kombucha, some of which I used to clean the doorways, and, you know what? It’s kept the spiders and slugs out.
Green witchcraft
Then there is green witchcraft: working with plants, the seasons and the natural world. Growing herbs on a windowsill, learning what grows locally, noticing when something flowers and when it dies back. Paying attention to a world we spend much of our lives rushing past.
What appeals to me is the relationship involved. You look after something. You learn what it needs. In a culture that manages to sell us another product for almost every feeling, there is something satisfying about finding meaning in a plant you have grown yourself. Although I suspect I could still turn buying herbs into a financially ruinous hobby.
The modern coven
The coven is perhaps the part I understand most immediately. Women coming together, sharing knowledge, listening to one another and making room for things they might struggle to say elsewhere. You can see the appeal.
A gathering might involve candles, tarot, a shared meal or marking the new moon. But the thing that interests me is having a regular place to put our hopes, grief and anger, with other women there to hear them. Friendship can get squeezed into hurried voice notes and dinners booked three months ahead. A ritual gives gathering a purpose, and perhaps permission to take it seriously.
Digital witchcraft
Inevitably, the coven has a group chat. Social media can introduce you to tarot, spell jars, lunar rituals and people whose spiritual interests resemble your own. A phone becomes a place to keep a digital grimoire: recipes, dreams, intentions and things you want to learn.
My own feed is what drew me into this column. Among the endless instructions on how to improve our faces, bodies and productivity, women were talking about their power. That caught my attention. Of course, the internet can sell you a crystal as efficiently as it sells you a face cream. I’m interested in what we actually do with these ideas once we put the phone down.
Hexing the patriarchy
Which brings me to the bit that really has my attention: hexing the patriarchy. The anger makes sense to me. When you feel that decisions about your body, money and future are being made by people who barely seem to consider you, a ritual can give that anger somewhere to go.
I’m drawn to the idea of reclaiming autonomy. Deciding what we believe, who gets access to us, what we will tolerate and where we draw the line. Saying those things aloud, with other women beside us, has a power.
I want that feeling to follow us out of the circle: into how we vote, organise, spend our money and stand up for one another. If a little witchcraft helps women find the confidence to do that, I can understand why we’re reaching for it. And please don’t for one second believe we live in a society where the patriarchy is a safe space for us.
They burnt us at stakes when they realised our power.
Pass the rosemary. We have things to do.