Disability Pride + Witchcraft

July is Disability Pride Month, in commemoration of the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into law (July 26th, 1990). During this month, we honor the history, achievements, and intersectional experiences of disabled individuals, while also continue to push for true accessibility and inclusion. Disability Pride Month reframes disability as a natural and meaningful part of human diversity. It's not something shameful. Disability Pride encourages dismantling societal barriers and pushes to eliminate internalized ableism.

The Arc's National Council of Self-Advocates has announced the theme for this year's Disability Pride Month is "The World Works Better With Us," and I find it truly fitting. It emphasizes that society functions better for everyone when disabled individuals are respected, included, and accommodated. This holds true even in witchcraft.

Celebrating Disabled Witches

Celebrating our fellow disabled witches is vital, as disability directly enriches witchcraft, deepens communal magical knowledge, and honors the true history of witchcraft. Witchcraft is inherently an adaptive and counter-cultural practice. Embracing disabled practitioners aligns our community with the core values of sovereignty, resilience, and transformation. 

Driving Magical Innovation

Disabled practitioners are the pioneers of accessible magic - practices that prioritize inclusitivioty. Out of necessity, these practitioners have created innovative methods to strip away rigid, expensive, and physically exhausting dogmas, and instead refocus witchcraft towards intent and energy. Their spellwork shows that spells don't require standing for long periods of time or hand-foraged tools, in order for their spellwork to be potent. Their contributions such as digital altars, mental astral projection, and using everyday mundane tasks as acts of devotion, have all helped make witchcraft versatile enough to survive and thrive in our modern world. 

Unique Perspectives

In many mainstream spaces, chronic illness is falsely blamed on "negative thinking" or "bad karma," and the body is treated as a vessel that should be flawless. Disabled practitioners actively dismantle this harmful narrative with radical self-acceptance. They reframe this narrative to viewing the body as inherently sacred and magical, exactly as it is - disabilities and all. Living with chronic pain, sensory or mental health difficulties, or neurodivergence often forces a very hyper-aware relationship with the body and the brain. This awareness allows disabled practitioners to offer profound insights into grounding, energy work, somatic healing, and even mediumship. Often they have insights that able-bodied practitioners commonly overlook.

Honoring Historical Witch Trials

The witchcraft community must acknowledge that disability and the "witch" archetype have always been intertwined, in order to fully understand the history of witchcraft. During historical witch hunts, people with physical deformities, dementia, epilepsy, and mental health conditions were disproportionately targeted, tortured, and executed because their differences were feared or misunderstood. Celebrating disabled practitioners today is a form of active reclamation and historical justice. It honors the memory of those who were marginalized in the past by ensuring they are now centered, protected, and respected in modern magical spaces. 

Magic of Adaption

Magic is the art of shifting reality, overcoming obstacles, and surviving using one's inner power. No group embodies this magical philosophy more consistently than disabled practitioners. They must constantly navigate an inaccessible world through sheer resourcefulness, creativity, and resilience. Celebrating them means recognizing that their ability to bend traditional rules to fit their physical reality is not a compromise, rather it is a profound lesson in personal sovereignty and genuine adaptable willpower. 

Inclusive Community

When a community actively accommodates and celebrates disabled individuals, the entire group benefits. Designing spaces that account for low-energy, sensory sensitivities, and mobility issues, forces the community to slow down, practice deeper empathy, and prioritize the well-being of the collective over a rigid performance. A community that learns to care for its most vulnerable members, builds a much stronger, more resilient magical foundation. 

Accessible Magic

Sometimes referred to as "spoonie magic," it adapts traditional rituals to accommodate chronic pain, limited energy, sensory issues, and more. Accessible magic focuses on low-effort but high-impact practices that empower practitioners without requiring elaborate tools, standing for long periods of time, or excessive physical labor or cleanses. Accessible magic reminds witches that witchcraft is customizable to fit specific physical and mental capacities. 

True accessibility requires a mindset shift away from gatekeeping perfectionism. Move away from the physical performance of rituals, and focus on the internal intention behind them. Reminding practitioners that the universe, deities, and spirits respond to the energy of the mind, and not the cost of tools or duration of stances, reframes intention over action. 

If brain fog, pain flair-ups, or low-energy interrupt a ritual midway through, it shouldn't be seen as a magical failure. Release that guilt. Closing the space with a simple mental "thank you and goodbye" is completely valid. 

Reframe rest, sleep, and taking care of one's body as an act of honoring the sacred vessel of the spirit. Rest is a ritual, and the spirit is whole even if the body is limited. The strength of practices and spellwork does not depend on meeting a specific level of energy. Budget your spoons as needed to ensure that health remains a priority.

Accessible Adjustments

When it comes to adjusting magic in order to make it accessible, there are three key areas to focus on: the physical space of practice, reducing high-energy work and hazardous tools, and practicing low-energy magic.

The Practice Space

The area in which a witch practices their craft is a sacred and functional space. That does not change if a practitioner is disabled. It should still remain functional to the witch. Disabled practitioners may require a more creative way of keeping their space functional for them than the usual altars that require standing or sitting in specific positions for extended periods. 

Mobile or Travel Altars are a great accessible adjustment. They can be set on rolling utility carts, on a decorative tray, or kept in a suitcase or other container. This allows the altar and practice space to be brought directly to the practitioner's bed, sofa, or chair - allowing them a more comfortable environment for their body to rest easily.

Along the same lines, Lap Altars can be used by keeping a tray, cutting board, or other flat surface nearby, so that the altar may sit comfortably on the practitioner's lap and allow them to even recline if need be.

Digital or Virtual Altars serve to aid not just disabled practitioners, but those who are still in the broom closet, or practicing in secrecy. Creating a Pinterest board, picture album on a phone, folder on a computer, or even an interactive app like Notion, allows practitioners to use images of crystals, candles, deities, and other tools to represent physical items in their practice. This is also a great way for online covens to practice together.

Don't be afraid of digital tools. I know there are a lot of mixed feelings on using AI (in general, let alone in witchcraft), but if there is an app or platform that helps make magic more accessible, don't be quick to dismiss it away. Many disabled practitioners use these online tools to help aid them in their practice by organizing notes, assisting in learning, and aiding in visualization and meditation. 

Reduce High-Energy + Hazards

The idea that magic is successful only if performed a certain way, with specific tools, or specific actions, is downright silly if you think about it. Magic has always been adaptive, and practitioners have always adapted their craft to fit their needs - often out of a need for protection and safety. High-energy practices can be adjusted to lower-energy practices by simplifying complexities. 

There is no need to slave away with a mortar and pestle to grind herbs you grew or foraged (unless you really want to). Store bought and pre-ground herbs are just fine. All those spells that require burying remnants or jars of "potions" really don't have to be buried. You can simply throw them in the trash or flush them down a drain, and have the same magical effects. Instead of painstakingly carving sigils or runes into wax or wood, just write them on paper or trace them in condensation, or in lotion on the skin. And who says you can't use battery operated candles if you're worried about the hazards of fire (for those with brain fog, or mobility issues)? Room sprays and essential oil rollers work just fine too. 

Low-Energy Magic

There's no reason to exhaust yourself over complex practices. Witchcraft is to empower you, not drain you. Remember, magical intent will take you further than magical actions. Mundane magical practices are some of the oldest ways of practicing magic. Turn daily required tasks into spellwork. Stir a drink to manifest. Use bathing and showering as cleanses, and let the water simply wash negative energy, pain, and fatigue down the drain. Reframe daily medications and medical treatments into rituals of bodily protection and self-care. That's glamour magic right there!

Can you perform entire magical rituals through mental visualization, while laying in bed with your eyes closed? Yes you can. Don't underestimate the power of manifestation and astral work. In many traditions, a circle cast in the mind is just as powerful as one laid out with physical tools.

Skyclad Dancing

Finally, I want to go a bit more in depth about the practice of skyclad dancing. In many traditions, this is an act of celebration, manifestation, and a magical ritual within itself. In talking with a few fellow disabled witches, this was a practice that seemed to be longed for. Since such deep emotion seems to be tied to this act, I feel it deserves a deeper dive, and special attention when discussed in Accessible Magic.

When people think of skyclad dancing within witchcraft practices, the image of beautiful abled-bodied individuals dancing around a bonfire is usually the first thing that comes to mind. When we make accessible adjustments to this practice, we first need to shift the focus from rigid physical performance, and redefine dancing. Instead of stereotyping dancing to bodies on their feet moving in specific rhythms, define dancing as an act of kinetic energy. That's not limited to abled-bodies on their feet. Instead, it focuses on sensory comfort, psychological safety, and bodily autonomy. It holds space for movement while seated or laying down, micro-movements, and astral dancing. This opens accessibility to practitioners with mobility aids, chronic pain, and various other conditions.

When making the concept of "skyclad" accessible, we have to understand that complete nudity can be physically or emotionally impossible for disabled practitioners. This can be from the use of medical devices, temperature dysregulation, body dysmorphia, or various other factors. Allowing for a broader definition of "skyclad" to include whatever state of dress allows a person to feel most connected to themselves and nature makes this concept more inclusive. We can consider medical equipment like ostomy bags, insulin pumps, ports, braces, and mobility aids as extensions of the practitioner's body, and thus part of their sacred physical self - not something to be shed. 

Sensory adjustments are another thing to consider. These types of rituals can be very overwhelming for those who are neurodivergent, or have chronic migraines or sensory processing disorders. Making environmental adjustments like keeping a scent-free space and adjusting lighting and acoustics, help make the space more inclusive. Also keep in mind that chronically ill bodies often struggle to maintain heat, so the temperature of the space should be properly maintained, or allow for blankets, heating pads, and other tools for temperature regulation.

There is an immense level of vulnerability to skyclad dancing. Creating a trauma-informed space for practice is essential for disabled practitioners who may have experienced medical trauma or societal shame regarding their bodies, or for those with mental illness. Community spaces should operate with an “opt-in” mentality towards both dancing and being skyclad. The option of presence without physical participation validates practices like astral dancing. All practitioners should remain focused on the ritual being done and not on other participants’ bodies, whether clothed or not. 

Remember, the focus is always on the magic. While the physical process of achieving successful magical workings may change and adjust, the act of intentional work will always remain the same. 

Death + Spirituality

In the last entry, I talked about my transition into a caregiver role for my elderly grandmother, who had been existing in the liminal “between worlds” state with her own veil thinning. She completed her journey after 91 days in our care. As my role of caregiver for my grandmother evolved into supportive caregiving for my mother, I found another new role that was interwoven in this process: an emotional anchor in death. 

This is someone who provides a steady, safe, and grounding presence during times of loss, or transition toward death. Hospice care comes to mind most commonly, and we certainly had hospice helping provide care for my grandmother. But what I am talking about is being an emotional anchor for my other family members. Remaining calm and being a solid space where they could stabilize during this process, and validate their emotions and decisions. 

It was natural for my search of solace also transitioned from the spiritual understanding of dementia, to the spiritual understanding of death. It was a natural next step in the cycle. 

Dementia + Spirituality

In March life threw a curve ball, and in an emergency situation, I found myself in the role of caregiver for my 85 year old grandmother. While she wasn’t living with me, she was living with my parents – who happen to live across the street. My grandmother was wheelchair bound and diagnosed with late-stage dementia. Because of the dementia, my grandmother hasn’t recognized me in many years, which has initiated the grieving process pretty early. 

In the process of navigating dementia, I was faced with uncomfortable decisions, like if I should be around at all. I didn’t want to add to my grandmother’s stress that some stranger was in her house, sitting on her couch. But weighing that question with the reality that she may not even be able to see me at all with how bad her cataracts were, often left me in a “six in one, half a dozen in the other” mentality. 

However, with her suddenly moving across the street, I was able to see her more, and while she never recognized me as her granddaughter, she did come to recognize me as one of the people who cared for her. In April, a stroke worsened the dementia. Not only were there now more physical complications in terms of what she could manage to do, but the dementia worsened to the extent of her not knowing when she was born, or even her own name at times. With the addition of a permanent feeding tube, her care demands quickly became too much for our family to manage on our own, and she was sent to a rehab facility for specialized care. 

My role as caregiver to her drastically reduced, however it transferred into providing supportive care to my mother, who chose to be with my grandmother up to 20 hours a day at the rehab facility. My grandmother received top of the line care – its what she deserved and we were blessed to be able to make sure she got it. But my mother wanted to make sure the emotional care was just as top of the line, so she stayed at my grandmother’s side as much as she could, and relied heavily on my father and I to manage the rest of life’s happenings, and bring her food to ensure she still had energy to keep going. 

As things progressed and my grandmother entered the transitional stage between life and death, I turned to something I knew would provide me some comfort. I turned to my craft. It allowed me a sense of stability in a situation what was anything but. And once I managed to regulate my own self, I started to look for a bit more understanding in what was happening. 

Which has led me to this bit of research and understanding that I now share with you.

Dementia and Spirituality

Within most spiritual spaces, dementia is regarded as a profound early thinning of the veil between the physical realm and the spirit realm. We see this veil generally thin around the “witch’s new year” of Samhain, and then personally thin in times of death. However, with dementia, this veil naturally thins and allows the person to transition into a liminal “between worlds” state where their soul is already beginning to untether from the physical body and explore the astral plane. 

The Spiritual Anatomy

• The Wandering Mind – when a person with dementia speaks to people who aren’t there, or relives memories from decades ago, it is believed that their consciousness is actively walking the astral realms and visiting ancestors. 

• The Fragmented Ego – as the physical brain declines the earthly ego dissolves and the person may then alternate between their deepest soul-self (which remains intact and eternal), and their confused physical body.

• Time Dissolution – because the spirit realm is non-linear, a person with dementia may experience the past, present, and future all at once. They exist in Kairos time (sacred unmeasured time), rather than Chronos time (earthly clock time).

Support + Cleansing

A person with dementia can be highly sensitive to unseen energies. Their mental shields are down, so they easily absorb things like stress, fear, and grief. There are a few things that can be done to help:

• Energetic Shielding – visualize a sphere of soft blue and gold light around their resting place, to protect them from chaotic astral noise.

• Aroma Cleansing – avoid heavy smoke cleanses, and instead use a spray bottle with water, lavender, sweet orange, and a pinch of salt. Misting the room will help keep the energy bright and calm.

• Grounding Objects – use smooth smoky quartz, or petrified wood to carry an earthly energy. This will help temporarily tether their awareness and smooth any agitation.

Comfort + Connection

Adapting practices to be simple, tactile, and sensory based will be less confusing or frightening for someone with dementia.

• Sensory Magic – playing soft rhythmic drumming or nature sounds, using familiar comforting scents like rosemary (for memory) or vanilla (for safety).

• Mirroring Ritual – if the person no longer recognizes you, do not force an earthly identity. Instead, speak to their deeper soul-self that is still intact and eternal. Look into their eyes and address their soul with “I see you, eternal spirit, and I honor your journey.” 

• Hand Washing Ritual – gently wash their hands with warm water infused with rose and chamomile. As you dry them, whisper blessings of comfort to the physical body, for all the work it has done in this lifetime. 

The Caregiver’s Health 

Caregiving is an intense form of shadow work, and requires extreme self-preservation. It is one of the hardest roles I have had to navigate and be witness to. It is often a thankless role, but one of the most honorable roles I believe a person can hold – especially in the ending stages of life. What is widely unrecognized is what a toll this role can take on a person, and how drained it can leave one feeling both physically and mentally. 

• The Cauldron of Release – at the end of the day, burn a black candle and write out your frustrations before safely burning them to release them and prevent burn out.

• Pre-Mourning – recognize that grieving happens in stages, as part of the person leaves before the body does, and allow yourself to mourn the micro-endings without guilt.

• Energy Reset Ritual

• Wash your hands under cool running water and sprinkle a small handful of salt into your palms.

• Rub your hands together while visualizing the salt scrubbing away all the emotional weight, anger, and sadness that has been absorbed.

• Rinse your hands thoroughly and say “I return what is not mine to carry. I wash away the exhaustion of this day. My energy is my own.”

• Dry your hands and sit for some time with smoky quarts or black tourmaline to ground awareness back into your own physical body.

Caregiver Tools 

• Black Tourmaline (the shield) – caregivers often absorb the agitation and fear of the person they are caring for. This stone acts as an energetic sponge and absorbs and neutralizes chaotic or heavy emotional currents before they reach the aura.

• Lepidolite (the anxiety balm) – this stone naturally contains high amounts of lithium, and brings a gentle soothing energy that can help quiet anxiety, panic, hyper-vigilance, and an overactive mind.

• Carnelian (the vitality battery) – this stone stimulates the sacral and root chakras, helping stoke the inner fire, boost physical stamina, and combat the deep, heavy lethargy of chronic burn out.

• Rose Quartz (the compassion anchor) – this stone softens the inner critic and feelings of guilt and resentment, while offering a vibration of self-compassion, patience, and emotional gentleness to the self instead.

• Holy Basil/Tulsi (the spirit restorer) – known as “liquid yoga” this herb is an adaptogen that helps the body adapt to chronic stress, lifts heavy spirits, and clears stagnant energy out of the aura, while also protecting personal space. 

• Rosemary (the memory protector) – this herb helps stimulate physical memory and protects the mind. It is used to help “cut away” mental confusion and distress after difficult caregiving shifts.

• Hawthorn Berry (the resilient heart) – for the broken or exhausted heart, this herb offers a protective energy barrier that allows a person to remain open and loving without absorbing the pain of others.

• Oatstraw/Milky Oats (the nervous system blanket) – this is a deeply nourishing herb that feeds an exhausted nervous system and promotes feelings of safety by fighting off feelings of being “fried,” jittery, or emotional fragility.

Caregiving Ethics

While the general ethics of witchcraft are subjective to the individual and their practice, navigating ethics as a caregiver can be extremely challenging. Handling the spiritual ethics of performing magic for someone who cannot consent requires a shift from manifesting specific outcomes, to offering energetic support. Since you cannot ask permission from the earthly mind of a person with dementia, your magic should respect the soul’s sovereignty. Focus on comfort and alignment with the person’s Higher Self and ethical guardrails, to navigate these challenges.

Commanding ---> Offering

When consent is impossible, like with dementia, change the structure of your spell work from an active command to an open offering. Instead of manipulating behavior for your convenience with “make them calm and stop from wandering,” provide an open offering of assistance with “I offer peace, cooling energy, and comfort to them. If their soul wishes to receive it, let it be so.” Think of this as setting a glass of water on the table; you’re not forcing them to drink, you’re simply making the resource available if the spirit needs it.

Petitioning the Higher Self

The Higher Self is the eternal divine part of the soul. It remains intact and aware even when the earthly ego is not. Before spell work, meditate and prepare to speak directly to the person’s Higher Self. State intentions clearly; “I wish to ease the physical agitation this person is experiencing, and I ask permission from their Higher Self to anchor this peace.” Then pay close attention to any immediate internal response. A sudden wave of resistance, anxiety, or a definitive “heavy” feeling means stop. Warmth, expansion, or a sense of relief means you have spiritual clearance to proceed. 

Environmental not Personal

Treat the room, not the individual. You have full sovereignty over the physical environment you are managing. Instead of spell work to change a person’s brain or energy field, cast a circle of protection around the room itself, or enchant the physical space to banish chaotic astral noise, lower spiritual tension, and invite in spirits of comfort. By altering the atmospheric frequency of the room, you will naturally sooth the person within it, without ever imposing magic directly onto the person. 

Sovereign Intentions

Certain baseline energetic states won’t violate a person's free will because they support basic soul sovereignty. Keep intentions to basic limited categories:

• Protection – shielding from negative or frightening external entities/energies

• Pain Relief/Comfort – cooling the fiery, frantic energy of panic or physical distress

• Safe Passage – asking a trusted psychopomp to stand watch and ensure the person’s eventual transition across the veil is smooth and unhindered. 

The Golden Rule

When in doubt, you can always redirect spell work onto yourself. Instead of spells for a person to be less agitated, try spells for you to have extreme patience, a deeply grounded presence, and a fiercely compassionate heart. Your own internal shift into an absolute calm will naturally mirror back to others who have a thinning veil, and help heal the situation completely ethically.

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As dementia is a common side effect of the transition into cronehood, I seek solace from a wise crone herself:

“The aging mind is not a broken machine. It is an unwieldy package of exhilaration, rapaciousness, mischief, and wit. The crone relies on wit to navigate the forest, creating one’s own logic and boundaries in a parallel world. We return to the womb state, transitioning into a fierce, child-like, and wild state of mind.”

- Baba Yaga

-- In dedication to HBA - you have been heavy on my mind as I leave this stage just as you are entering into it. I hope this helps you in all the ways I know it would have helped me.