Notable Works
Michael’s Medium channel hosts much of his work.
Sacred Intentions: Inside the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Studies (City Paper, 2008)
The first in-depth, long-form feature on the pioneering Johns Hopkins research on psilocybin and mystical experiences.
Baltimore’s Cities of the Dead (The Baltimore Banner)
Peter Grinspoon M.D. on how newcomers should approach cannabis—and who should abstain (The Baltimore Banner)
Elias Hocine (Profile of a pediatric cannabis patient)
Maryland Leaf magazine
The One Literary Reference You Must Know to Appreciate True Detective
io9 (Over 1 million views)
A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him
Medium (The spell that created the global magic resistance movement). 445k views.
Books
Magic for the Resistance: Rituals and Spells for Change
Now out of print, but available on the secondary market (get a copy while you can!)
From the author of the A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him―the spell that became a social media phenomenon viewed by millions of people―this book provides spells, rituals, and fascinating historical examples designed to help you put your magical will to work to make the world a better place today.
These magical workings for social justice can be used by activists of any spiritual or religious background. With ideas for altars, meditations, community organizing, self-care, and more, Magic for the Resistance offers a toolkit for magical people or first-time spellcasters who want to manifest justice, equality, and peace.
If you've ever felt disillusioned or burned out because of the slow progress of social change, this magical work can nurture and support you, sharpening your focus and resolve for a more sustained, long-term activism. In addition to influencing the outside world, these rituals bring you in closer alignment with your higher spiritual consciousness―because transforming your society begins with transforming yourself.
Includes spells for:
Racial justice
Women’s rights
LGBTQ rights
Antifascism
Environmentalism
Immigration
Nonviolence
Praise for Magic for the Resistance:
"Magic for the Resistance is a rabble-rousing battle cry for magical thinkers everywhere. As both a practical guide and historical record, Hughes's book does the vital work of inspiring socially conscious magical practitioners to harness the power of our imaginations and collective will, reminding us where true power really resides: in the hands of the people. An ethical, exuberant honoring of magical resistance movements then and now, this book will go down in history as the magical, refreshingly feminist, anti–white supremacist, LGBTQ-friendly equivalent of Saul D. Alinsky's Rules for Radicals."
―Amanda Yates Garcia, the Oracle of Los Angeles
"Magic to the people! This wonderfully engaging guide―one part history, one part grimoire―demonstrates how and why to combine spell work and activism to heal our society and get rid of our heel."
―Mitch Horowitz, PEN Award–winning author of Occult America and The Miracle Club
"This is rare combination of a how-to book that also gives a solid historical and cultural perspective on the uses of magic to resist political oppression. Sound and well-grounded both factually and magically, it's also well written and well informed."
―Sabina Magliocco, Professor of Anthropology, University of British Columbia
"Vote. Organize. March. Protest. Boycott. Resist. Be an activist for your beliefs. Then . . . put your magic where your mouth is! You might want to start by reading Magic for the Resistance."
―Lon Milo DuQuette, author of Homemade Magick and Low Magick
"Magic for the Resistance is a fascinating look at how the occult arts can be used to promote progressive politics and social change. While it has long been associated - often erroneously - solely with the right side of the political divide, magic has more than once come to the aid of ideas and movements rooted firmly in the left. From Victoria Woodhull, the mesmerist, feminist, and free-love advocate who was the first woman to run for president, to the attempt by Allen Ginsberg and Abbie Hoffman to levitate the Pentagon in 1966, Magic for the Resistance shows that throughout history, spells have been cast to help the light contain the darkness."
―Gary Lachman, author of Dark Star Rising: Magick and Power in the Age of Trump
"In Magic for the Resistance, Michael Hughes has written an eminently necessary guidebook for the magic-workers of our time. He has armed readers with the tools needed to speak out and fight back, both at the altar and away from it. In a world that thirsts for magic and justice alike, this book weaves both together in the most practical ways."
David Salisbury, civil rights activist, magic-worker, and author of A Mystic Guide to Cleansing & Clearing
"This book empowers the reader to liberate stagnancy and facilitate positive change, to feel/be heard, and to learn from obstacles and challenges that are encountered. On the surface, mass-market, glitzy media publicity can look worthwhile and even meaningful―but real lasting change/evolution is more than a knee jerk reaction or a fad. It starts at a grassroots level and is perpetual, and this is what Hughes expounds and educates on in this well-written and entertaining book."
―Fiona Horne, author of Witch: A Magickal Journey and The Naked Witch
"Michael Hughes has drawn on his erudition as well as his quarter-century of experience as a practicing magician to offer a complete manual of 'Warrior Magic' in the service of justice. He answers the questions about whether magic is effective and ethical, stokes our motivation to engage, and gives detailed guidance for binding the negative, healing the wounded, and empowering the good."
―Leonard George, PhD, Chair of the School of Social Sciences, Capilano University, and author of Crimes of Perception
"Besides shedding light on certain little-known aspects of our cultural history (the second chapter is a particular revelation), this book provides an excellent and accessible glimpse into the mechanics, philosophy, and, yes, ethics of magical practice. Whether or not you have any intention of utilizing the practical techniques he describes, you'll benefit from learning about those practices that countless individuals throughout history have employed and that continue to be a vital force in the lives of millions around the world."
―Ray Grasse, author of The Waking Dream, Under a Sacred Sky, and An Infinity of Gods
Blackwater Lights Trilogy
Michael M. Hughes’s Blackwater Lights combines the eldritch horror of H. P. Lovecraft with the supernatural thrills of Dean Koontz.
When Ray Simon receives a desperate call from his childhood friend Kevin, begging him to come visit, Ray can’t say no. Kevin promises to clue him in on shocking discoveries he has made about weird, half-forgotten events in their past—events associated with a summer camp near Kevin’s home in the small town of Blackwater, West Virginia.
But when Ray arrives, Kevin is nowhere to be found. So Ray does some investigating of his own, only to find that no records exist of the camp. Yet he is not alone in looking for information. There are Lily, a beautiful redhead with uncanny seductive powers; Crawford, a wealthy collector of art and people; and Micah, the mysterious leader of the Church of the Open Door. All of them are seeking information about the rumored camp. And they are all interested—very interested—in Ray.
Then a midnight encounter with strange floating lights sparks a return of old memories—vivid but fractured images that haunt Ray’s waking hours with intimations of terror and cruelty. Something dreadful happened at that camp long ago. Something was awakened there. Now, with the help of his new friend Ellen, a waitress at the local diner, Ray must navigate a path through madness and murder—a path that leads inexorably to an all-but-forgotten night in his childhood . . . and to a future of unimaginable horror.
Praise for the Blackwater Lights trilogy
“Disturbing, surreal, and spooky as hell, Blackwater Lights is a brilliantly written debut, marking Michael M. Hughes as a talent to watch.”
—Tim Lebbon, author of Coldbrook and the Toxic City trilogy
“Blackwater Lights is a paranoid thrill-ride that deftly combines mystery, sci-fi, and horror elements into a modern-day conspiracy tale. An impressive debut that builds to a satisfying, action-filled conclusion.”
—Cemetery Dance magazine
“Blackwater Lights has action, adventure, sex, love, designer drugs, and violent death, all woven into a globe-spanning paranormal conspiracy. I mean, really, what’s not to like? Consider this my official request for a sequel.”
—F. Paul Wilson, author of the Repairman Jack novels and The Adversary Cycle
“A harrowing and riveting thrill ride. Hughes is a welcome addition to the dark-fiction ranks.”
—Scott Nicholson, author of The Red Church
Witch Lights
Book two of the Blackwater Lights Trilogy
Thrown together in the fight against a deadly supernatural conspiracy, Ray Simon, Ellen Davis, and Ellen’s young son, William, are hiding out in Guatemala—one step ahead of Lily, a beautiful, wealthy sociopath who has become a conduit for bloodthirsty inhuman entities that seek to infiltrate our world. Aiding this unholy plot is Ellen’s own husband, an ex–Special Forces operative hell-bent on reclaiming his family and taking his revenge on Ray.
Long months on the run have taken their toll on Ray and Ellen, whose relationship is starting to fray, and William has lost all hope for a normal childhood. But when they let down their guard for an instant, things turn from bad to worse as Ray is separated from the woman and child he’s sworn to protect.
With nowhere else to turn, Ray calls upon the secretive occult Brotherhood, who have been desperate to recruit him. Help arrives in his old friend Mantu, an ex-comedian turned commando who claims to be on the side of the angels. But this situation is no joke. Ellen and William have been captured by a powerful drug lord—a violent sadist who offers to protect them for a price: Ellen’s body . . . and perhaps her very soul.
Demon Lights
Book three of the Blackwater Lights Trilogy
The world is collapsing. Governments have fallen, and anarchy reigns. Yet a greater danger looms imprisoned in ancient objects from distant space: bodiless aliens with an all-consuming thirst for freedom . . . and human blood.
They have a strong ally in Lily, a powerful sorceress and leader of a globe-spanning cult. In an isolated compound deep in the frozen north, Lily cultivates a group of children whose paranormal abilities can be harnessed to unleash the alien apocalypse. Now she has acquired the final pieces to the puzzle: a gifted young boy named William and his mother, Ellen, whose safety is the bargaining chip Lily needs to compel the child’s obedience.
Once again, William and Ellen’s last hope is Ray Simon. Every time Ray and Lily have crossed paths, she has come out on top, and even now she is one step ahead. But this time Ray is not alone. Accompanied by Claire and Mantu—devotees of the enigmatic Brotherhood of Eleusis, who possess psychic abilities of their own—Ray sets off on a desperate mission of rescue and revenge. Only the fate of humanity itself hangs in the balance.
Short Fiction
A House for the Wee Ones
Shivers VIII (Cemetery Dance Publications)
Achievement Unlocked: A story of mine in an anthology with Stephen King.
The Black Room
The Forsaken: Stories of Abandoned Places (Cemetery Dance Publications)
The Devil
Never Fear the Tarot: Do You Really Want to Know? (13Thirty Books)
The Lost Book of Grimm
A Mythos Grimmly (Wanderer's Haven Publications)
Unwrapped
Canopic Jars: Tales of Mummies and Mummification (Great Old Ones Publishing)
The Blackwater Lights
Legends of the Mountain State: Ghostly Tales from the State of West Virginia (Woodland Press)
Audio: Witch Hunt (Intro)
Articles and Essays
Sacred Intentions: Inside the Johns Hopkins Psilocybin Studies
The first in-depth feature on the pioneering psychedelic research at Johns Hopkins, as featured in the now-defunct Baltimore City Paper
A Spell to Bind Donald Trump and All Those Who Abet Him
Medium (The massively viral spell that created and galvanized the magic resistance movement)
Jack Chick Was Right: How ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Made Me an Occultist
We Are the Mutants
How an Obscure 2nd Century Christian Heresy Influenced Snowpiercer
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