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Thorn Mooney

@thornthewitch.bsky.social

4.2K followers 210 following 1.4K posts

Religious Studies PhD student: the paranormal, secularism, magic, spiritualism, ethnography. Lit MA. Publishing production day job. Witch author, Gard priestess, guitarist, fountain pen person, Swiftie, probably a werewolf. https://linktr.ee/thornthewitch

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · Nov 15

Hello new platform! I’m Thorn. I’m a religious studies PhD student thinking about magic, modernity, and the paranormal. I publish trade books about witchcraft, and am usually online talking about fountain pens and books. Every now and then, guitars.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 5h

WE ARE FRIENDS, BLUESKY

Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 6h

Can you imagine me getting on YouTube and being like, “Witches believe…”

I’d end up in a jar somewhere.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 7h

Every time I post videos or am interviewed about witchcraft, people comment that I didn‘t do enough to explain what witches *believe.* Good thing I wrote a short, accessible book all about why that’s sort of a weird question: bookshop.org/p/books/witc...

Witches Among Us: Understanding Contemporary Witchcraft and Wicca

Understanding Contemporary Witchcraft and Wicca

bookshop.org

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Reposted by Thorn Mooney

Andrew Mark Henry @andrewmarkhenry.bsky.social · 9h

We are offering Coptic again!

Lydia Bremer-McCollum @lcbmphd.bsky.social · 1d

Come learn Coptic! In partnership with the Religion Department, I developed a two-part introduction to Coptic via close study of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas. Come learn about ancient languages and sayings of Jesus!

Part 1: Starts Oct. 27 | Part 2: Jan. 5

www.religiondepartment.com/learning-cop...

Learning Coptic Through the Gospel of Thomas (Level 1)

www.religiondepartment.com

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 1d

The fact that so many scholars are also seemingly unable to fathom *writing* while not getting some longterm company-sanctioned sabbatical is also wild. “How will you write you dissertation?” The way people who want to write have been doing it for ages: in between shifts.

Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 1d

Me screaming about the wealth and out-of-touchness in academic spaces is the closest I ever get to sounding like my dad, and that just makes me angrier.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 1d

Also, the amount of labor you have to do for these $1000 one-time stipends is bananas. I could just be working a straight job (and am!), and have the exact same amount of time to research and write, but more money. What I wouldn’t have is the pReStIgE of recognition for aCaDeMiC eXcElLeNcE.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 1d

The students “living” on these paltry fellowships are getting their rent paid by parents, or they have spouses with money, etc etc. Meanwhile nobody seems to be able to fathom how someone works AND does grad school. I assure you—it can be done, and is done by many of us.

Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 1d

The fact that fellowships always have some stipulation about not having other income is so out of touch. Like, just say you only want scholars who have family wealth or other kinds of financial support. Some of us have to work through school, and it’s wild how that disqualifies us from so much.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 2d

And I bet admin still really appreciates the answer, "My why is I have bills and need groceries." 🥲

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 2d

Oh god teacher flashbacks 😭😭😭

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 2d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story only someone in your profession would understand:

spiritual but not religious

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 3d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

Archives banned making copies.

Natasha Simonova @philistella.bsky.social · 3d

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New library catalogue website.

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Reposted by Thorn Mooney

womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 3d

Australian printmaker Rachel Newling is inspired by the floral and fauna of her homeland.
'Grey Headed Flying Fox', hand coloured linocut #ReframjngWomenPrintmakers

Print featuring three bats hanging upside-down in branches of a tree with green leaves and orange blossoms

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Reposted by Thorn Mooney

Amy J. Rutenberg @amyjay401.bsky.social · 4d

This should be required reading in every historical methods and social studies classroom. Something very important is being lost. 🗃️🗺️

Laura Belin @laurarbelin.bsky.social · 4d

Marian Wilson Kimber: It’s painful to realize the people in charge of Iowa’s history apparently have no idea how history works. If they did, they'd know there is no way to predict what parts of the collection will be of interest 5, 20, or 100 years from now. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/10/10/t...

The theft of history

Marian Wilson Kimber: I have wondered if the box of women’s club programs that changed my life will end up in the dumpster.

www.bleedingheartland.com

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 5d

This feels like when younger people will say “You know who is underrated?” And then will name someone widely acclaimed.

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Reposted by Thorn Mooney

Maevius Lynn @maeviuslynn.bsky.social · 6d

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲!

I spent years researching, writing, and combing through archives and private libraries to put together a gem of a book about the holy days of Thelema.

Available for pre-order now at @llewellynbooks.bsky.social #magick #occult

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 6d

I am exactly like this. I’m genuinely terrified that when I’m elderly I’ll be agoraphobic. So I make myself travel and go out and interact. And I’m great once I’m there. But I hate it. It is so difficult to explain to other people.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 7d

Oh my god I would never recover 😭

Reposted by Thorn Mooney

Bookshop.org @bookshop.org · 8d

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 8d

I’m a fan of the music. As a woman playing music who has worked in teaching women and girls to play, I can tell you Taylor changed the scene, for the better. I can equally tell you that billionaires shouldn’t exist and celebrity obsession is toxic. I don’t have inner turmoil about any of that.

Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 8d

A whole lot of people, apparently.

Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 8d

We have Big Feelings about Taylor Swift—fans and haters and in between—and it feels disingenuous to frame it in these anti-sex, her-lyrics-aren’t-Shakespeare ways. When we could easily just talk about the really important and totally valid problems around capitalism. Who cares if she says “dick.”

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 8d

It’s been weird watching us collectively frame these feelings as somehow being about the music itself, when to me it so clearly isn’t. If it were, we’d have had these same reactions to Sabrina, who to me is sonically similar to what Taylor just released. The difference is Taylor isn’t Sabrina.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 8d

But there’s also the boring run of the mill misogyny that‘s existed around Taylor Swift since at least Fearless. And the fact that people are still uncomfortable about sex, especially when it’s women talking. I‘m still not sure why Taylor’s sexuality in particular affects people so widely.

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Thorn Mooney @thornthewitch.bsky.social · 8d

Like I really just had a conversation with a classic rock fan who told me this album was ”too crass.” Compared to…what? My NIN-obsessed buddy just told me “Wood” was inappropriate. Um. There are valid critiques we need to make about Swift. Billionaires should not exist, etc.

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