Brooke Palmieri in conversation with Starhawk
City Lights and Dopamine Books celebrate the publication of
Bargain Witch: Essays in Self-Initiation
by Brooke Palmieri
published by DOPAMINE / Semiotext(e)
An occult history that grounds the sacred yearning for magic in real life.
In these essays by scholar and self-initiated witch Brooke Palmieri, occult history, the eternal now, and our magickal queer futures align, connecting us to an enchantment both contemporary and classic. Drawing upon the knowledge and influence of practitioners from Rachel Pollack to Tituba, Palmieri grounds the sacred yearning for magic in real life, whether exploring the gossip of feuding Salem witches, paying the rent by playing “wizard” for news cameras, or detailing the psychic ups and downs of working in an occult bookshop. Written in a voice electrified with love for the craft and its lineage of eccentrics, Bargain Witch shows us witch life in all its quotidian humor and splendor, taking its place amongst the magickal classics that inspired it, a literary ouroboros.
Brooke Palmieri is a writer and artist based in Joshua Tree. His writing considers the past as a supernatural encounter, spanning hundreds of years of queer and trans history, and the magic, mystery, and erotics of working in archives. Bargain Witch: Essays on Self-Initiation is his first book.
Starhawk is a community builder, feminist, and writer. She is known as a theorist of feminist neopaganism and ecofeminism. She is the author of numerous books including the bestselling title: The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess amongst many others. Starhawk has taught in several San Francisco Bay Area colleges and universities, including John F. Kennedy University, Antioch University West, the Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names University, and Wisdom University. She is presently adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies, and is currently affiliated with United for Peace and Justice, the RANT trainers' collective, Earth Activist Training, and other groups. Her written works have appeared in translation in Spanish, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Czech, Greek, Japanese, and Burmese.
Praise for Bargain Witch
Magic, through and through.
~Susan Stryker
Sexy, dangerous, and ecstatic.
~Amanda Yates Garcia, author of Initiated
A gift to witches and queers (and nerds and freaks) everywhere.
~Sam Cohen, author of Sarahland
This event is made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation
