About Us

Cory – I’ve been interested in magic since I was a child.  I was raised nominally Catholic, with Protestant influences on my father’s side.   I spent a lot of time as a kid trying to find magic that wasn’t just card tricks and handkerchiefs.  I learned a good bit of folk magic before finding Wicca, which I practiced for about 8 years or so (self-taught and self-dedicated).  I went from there to studying with the outer court of a Gardenerian group, which helped me to see there was a lot more to what I was doing than I had previously known.  I decided not to pursue Gardenerian initiation, and instead discovered the work of Robert Cochrane and the magic of British Traditional Witchcraft.

I grew up in the Bible belt, which has been both a blessing and a curse in my magical practice.  On the one hand, it’s not always easy to find or talk to others about magic and witchcraft.  On the other hand, the South is very rich in magical lore and practice.  After studying British Trad Craft for a while, I realized what I wanted most was some kind of traditional witchcraft, but one more relevant to my actual home soil.  Currently, I work with several New World magical systems and I’m trying to understand how to be an American witch in the modern age.  Hopefully this blog and podcast will aid in that endeavor.

I hold a Ph.D. in American Studies with an emphasis in Folklore, Ethnography, and Ethnicity and Religion at Penn State University. If, for some reason, you cannot get enough of me pontificating about North American folk magic and folklore on our show, I’ve also been on a couple of other shows, listed below.

• Infinite Beliefs – Episode 5 [Folk Spirituality]
• Down at the Crossroads – Episode 63 [Witchcraft and Krampus]
• The Witches’ View Podcast – Nov. 2015 [Magical Cleaning]
• Inciting A Riot – Episode 49 [Inciting a Diasporic Riot]
• Inciting A Riot – Episode 87 [Inciting a Contractual Riot]
• Inciting A Riot – Episode 147 and Episode 148 [Inciting a Pandemic Riot, parts I and II]

Laine– I became a practitioner of Wicca when I was 16 years old. As a child, I was raised in the Church of Christ, but religion was never a major factor in my life until I discovered witchcraft. I worked within the framework of Wicca for many years, but as I got older, and learned more and more about various traditions in Paganism, I became more interested in British Traditional Witchcraft. I then met Cory, and we have practiced together for a few years now. While we started with rituals of what I would call “eclectic paganism,” we then progressed to British Trad Craft and then Hoodoo.

Growing up in the south, Southern folklore, myths, and legends have always fascinated me. Since I do not feel a true connection to any ancestral culture, Hoodoo and Appalachian magic seemed like the next logical step on my magical journey. I’m excited to continue on my path with the blog and podcast.