Season 1, Episode 1
Seeking American Magic
The origin stories of a Rootworker and a Witch.
October 24th, 2023
In this episode, we’ll meet two fascinating people who are remixing beliefs, spirituality, and religion every day. Dr. Rev. Aaron Davis is a minister and hospice worker. He is also a practitioner of Lucumi, Espiritismo, and a Rootworker. Thorn Mooney is a religious studies scholar and academic. She is also a Wiccan High Priestess. They share a distinctly American story of seeking one’s religious and spiritual identity – a story that’s more common than most of us realize.
FEATURING
Minister, Santero, and Rootworker
The Reverend Dr. Aaron Davis is a native son of upstate New York. He has been engaged in Christian ministry since 1996, and it was also during this time that he recognized the call from his ancestors growing louder. This led to discovering his ancestral home in the African-derived tradition of Lucumi and the related practice of Espiritismo. These traditions established the ancestral connection and also taught a healthy reverence for all the forces of nature known as Orisha for The Reverend Dr. Aaron Davis. Life took on a new meaning, as he learned about his ancestors and spiritual birthright. Hoodoo is in his blood. For over 16 years, Aaron has found joyful fulfillment in working the roots while helping others. By prayer, laying on of hands, and calling the Holy Spirit, The Reverend Dr. Aaron Davis was made a Bishop of The Renewal Church (TRC). He is also a passionate student of the Solomonic and Greek Magical Papryi traditions. The Reverend Dr. Aaron Davis has developed curriculum and teaches on rootworking through The Blackthorne School, and mentors practitioners via the White Witch Grimoire Mighty Networks platform.
Professor of Religious Studies, The University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Prof. Sean McCloud teaches, researches, and writes about American religions and religion and culture. He is the author of Making the American Religious Fringe: Exotics, Subversives, and Journalists, 1955- 93 (2004), Divine Hierarchies: Class in American Religion and Religious Studies (2007), American Possessions: Fighting Demons in the Contemporary United States (2015), and co-editor of Religion and Class in America: Culture, History, and Politics (2009) He is primarily interested in examining how religion in different contexts creates, maintains, or tears down boundaries and identities; how religion both enables and constrains our conceptions of the world; and how religion itself is defined—by academics, journalists, and practitioners—and how such definitions work in social and cultural arenas to “mark” the status of different individuals and groups.
Author and Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill
Thorn Mooney is globally known through her publications and YouTube channel, and her book Traditional Wicca: A Seekers Guide (Llewellyn Worldwide) which is an essential text for contemporary practitioners of initiatory Wicca. As an academic scholar of religious studies, she has presented at the American Academy of Religion, possesses a Masters in Religious Studies, and is initiating her doctoral research in Religious Studies at UNC Chapel Hill this Fall.
CREDITS
Host: Heather Freeman; Producer: Amber Walker; Editor: Lucy Perkins; Associate Producer: Noor Gill; Sound Design: Jennie Cataldo; Fact Checker: Dania Suleman; Executive Producer for PRX Productions: Jocelyn Gonzales; Music: APM Music and Epidemic Sound; Project Managers: Edwin Ochoa and Morgan Church; Advisors: Danielle Boaz, Sean McCloud, Thorn Mooney, Cory Hutchison, and Meg Whalen; Guests: Rev. Aaron Davis, Sean McCloud, and Thorn Mooney; Funding and Support: The National Endowment for the Humanities and The University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
TRANSCRIPT
LEARN MORE
Gallagher, E. V., & Maguire, J. (2018). The Religious Studies Skills Book: Close Reading, Critical Thinking, and Comparison. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Otto, B. (2002). Magic. In the Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Religious Studies Project (Podcast)
Religion for Breakfast (YouTube Channel)