I am delighted to be in conversation with two organizers from the Critical Thinking Witch Collective, Alex Wrekk and Maya Amatvult.
(You can stream our chat via the embed here or pretty much anywhere else you source your podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.)
Alex and Maya were kind enough to join me in my digital studio to talk about the work they’re doing with the Crit Witches, specifically in the lead-up to the annual Con that’ll be happening this September 27th, 28th, and 29th.
The Critical Thinking Witch Collective officially formed in 2021 to make a space for witches who research, who apply scientific reasoning, who learn from history, and who question assumptions and biases. Their mission is to bring together a community of critical-thinking witches and seekers who respect reason, logic, and science while also acknowledging the genuine beauty and meaning in the mysterious. You can find them online at https://criticalthinkingwitches.com/.
Alex Wrekk (she/they) is an animist and agnostic secular witch who has been building a DIY practice since 2005. They have also been creating the zine Brainscan since the ‘90s, and their day job is a combination of making custom buttons for Portland Button Works and selling books, zines, and other things at Spiral House Shop. Alex is an organizer for the Midwest Perzine Fest as well as the CritWitchCon. She enjoys gardening and getting to know plants, is a friend to her neighborhood crows and an altar building enthusiast, and they enjoy drinking, eating, and making fermented things.
Maya Amatvult (she/her) is an agnostic, skeptical, analytical, science-minded, logic-based kitchen / garden / hearth / water witch who calls the universe “mamma,” is happily neurodivergent, joyously queer, and big-emotional about space robots. She is an event manager by trade and is a writing professional by passion. Currently in an MBA program, she is a low-to-no accessory witch who believes in community building and supporting small businesses as a way of waving a middle finger at late-stage capitalism. She shares the occasional online thought on the Crit Witch Patreon.
The upcoming Con is entitled “Perception (and Perspective) Check! Life Through a Seeker’s Len.” Tickets are on sale now.
SHOW NOTES
Find the Critical Thinking Witch Collective online:
- Main site: https://criticalthinkingwitches.com/
- Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=101072682
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AwitchCon/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/criticalthinkingwitches
- 2024 Con tickets: https://criticalthinkingwitches.com/Eventtickets/
Maya describes herself as a “lana” witch = “low accessory / no accessory.”
The CTWC’s Cons are big events (half way between a “convention” and a “conference”). Their Brews are little events (one-day themed events that give participants a way to get an idea of what the collective is doing without too much commitment).
According to the Memory Alpha wiki for Star Trek, the term IDIC is “an acronym for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, the basis of Vulcan philosophy, celebrating the vast array of variables in the universe. The philosophy, as well as the Vulcan people, were often represented by a triangle-over-circle insignia, referred to as an ‘IDIC.’”
Grovedaughter Witchery by Bree NicGarran
Queen of Peaches 