Book · 1978 · Body, Mind & Spirit
Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture
A Radical View of Western Civilization and Some of the People it Has Tried to Destroy
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There's this book that rules. It's called Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture. And it was basically a love letter written to me and you Garrison. Okay. Um [laughter] it was by Arthur Evans.
Why people recommend it
Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture by Arthur Evans is a historical and cultural study examining the intersection of queer history, paganism, and medieval European witchcraft persecutions. Margaret Killjoy brought up the book on Behind the Bastards while discussing crossdressing as part of medieval Christmas traditions, and praised it as a love letter written to her and a co-host. Killjoy returned to the same book later in the episode to cite specific historical examples regarding the condemnation of ritual crossdressing and animal costumes. She noted that the text documented how links between witchcraft and transvestism appeared regularly in early Christian Europe, specifically referencing a sixth-century account where the Christian writer Cesarius of Aries denounced pagan practices involving ritual transvestism and the wearing of animal costumes. Killjoy's enthusiastic recommendation and detailed historical citations underscored the book's value as an unconventional yet deeply informative resource on the hidden histories of gender nonconformity, pagan traditions, and the historical persecution of marginalized groups throughout early Christian and medieval European societies.
Every mention
Margaret Killjoy There's this book that rules. It's called Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture. And it was basically a lov… 2
“There's this book that rules. It's called Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture. And it was basically a love letter written to me and you Garrison. Okay. Um [laughter] it was by Arthur Evans”
“And the same book, Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture says, "Links between witchcraft and transvestism appear regularly in early Christian Europe. In the sixth century, the Christian writer Cesarius of Aries denounced the pagan practices of ritual transvestism and the wearing of animal costumes."”