The Wild Hunt

In the era of erasure, we may have fortune as material wealth remains valued in the year 2026 over the richness that maintaining the honesty and ethical standards that have governed the past. We also have music. Regardless of the patchwork of our nation’s haves and have nots, we have a varied musical legacy that entertains us, teaches us, and reminds us of our values.

The real Witchcraft, in my humble experience, is making the packets of ramen noodles stretch to the end of the month. I’m a practitioner who has never had an easy time separating being a Witch from a job. Maybe it’s the capricorn stellium, maybe it’s my long lineage of crafters, makers, farmers, and factory workers – but for me magic has always been a labor. The magic of the common people has always been used around work.

Retired Captain Hung Cao nominated for  Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, Under Secretary of the Navy [public domain] WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has nominated acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao to permanently lead the Navy and Marine Corps, potentially elevating an official whose previous comments included concerns about Witches and Wiccans taking over American communities.

CALONGE I SANT ANTONI, Spain — An obscure mystery cult may have had a much wider network than its sparse archaeological footprint suggests. New archaeological research from north-eastern Spain may provide some of the earliest evidence that the mystery cult of the Thracian and Phrygian god Sabazios reached rural communities on the western edge of the Roman world.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers have approved legislation establishing new protections for the religious and spiritual practices of California Native American tribes on state-owned lands. Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-San Bernardino), the first and only California Native American currently serving in the state Legislature, introduced Assembly Bill 1881, the California Indian Freedom Act of 2026. He joined tribal leaders and supporters at an Aug.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — A Jewish couple who say they were denied the opportunity to foster a child because of their religion are asking a Tennessee court to rule that the state’s funding of religiously affiliated foster-care agencies violates protections for religious freedom and equal treatment. The case could have broad implications for foster parents of minority religions.

Editor’s note: This column contains references to rape and sexual assault. There are also spoilers for the ending of Obsession. There is a moment early in Curry Baker’s Obsession when Bear stands in a metaphysical shop, a box no larger than a tube of toothpaste in his hand. White card, fire-engine red ink, a cartoon boy and a cartoon girl beaming from a spray of stars, a wand caught mid-snap with CRACK! printed beside it.

What is America, really? Are these United States really 50 states united around a common purpose and striving for the common good? Increasingly, it seems like we’re a fractured mirror reflecting conflicting self-mythologizing as the old understandings and agreements are revealed as fictions and phantasms. Norms that we took for granted are casually violated as the whims of the powerful brush laws and regulations aside like gossamer webs. The Justice Bell [Photo by Karl E. H.

Our friend M. Belanger shared this tribute to Dolly Parton with The Wild Hunt. Belanger (he/they) is a prolific author, performer, creator, and game designer. Since the 1990s, you’ve seen their work through Marvel AR, the History Channel, Wizards of the Coast, Paizo, Onyx Path, Nox Arcana, Osbourne Media, Llewellyn Books, Crossed Crow, Tenebrous Press, and their own imprints. The founder of House Kheperu, they have served the Pagan and vampire communities as clergy for over thirty years.

The Season of the Witch? TWH — Earlier this summer, The Wild Hunt noted that two major witch-themed films, Practical Magic 2 and Disney’s Hexed, were headed to screens this fall. As it turns out, they will have plenty of company. Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman return as the Owens sisters in Practical Magic 2, the long-awaited sequel to the 1998 film.