REMINDER: Language of the Birds Reading Group Meets Tonight

We're reading Silvia Federici. All the info you need to join us inside.

Detail from the Apocalypse of Saint-Sever Manuscript.

TONIGHT: Thursday, 5/25/23, 6pm: Language of the Birds Reading Group. 

We’ll be reading Chapter 4 of “Witches, Witch-Hunting, and Women” (if you want to buy the book) by Silvia Federici. Thank you, Mica, for helping us get the PDF! Y’all can access it here. Mica also found the painting Federici mentions in the text and that is in the folder is well. Can’t wait to discuss it with you! Here are our discussion prompts, have a think on these before the gathering if you can (but if you can’t you’re still welcome to attend):

• The text discusses the persecution of witches in the medieval period was directly tied to the emergence of capitalism after the peasants rebelled under the feudal system. Capitalism has changed a lot in the past 500 years. How do you see capitalism and witchcraft interacting today?

• Federici says that capitalism required “a new type of individual” who was not bound to webs or relations with the natural world, their communities, and their own bodies. How does witchcraft respond to this system of severance based on your own practices?

• How does Eros (and sexuality) as an uncontrollable force (and therefore a social threat) manifest today — and how do you see contemporary witchcraft practices relating to sexuality? Is Eros and sexuality still an uncontrollable force?

• During the persecution of witches in Medieval Europe the bodies of witches were tortured and destroyed, as were entire webs of relationship… where do we see similar practices happening today. Who are the “witches of today”?

• Feel free to prepare your own questions and thoughts before we begin.