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Editorial Note: This article follows our earlier report, “Charlie Kirk’s Murder Intersects with Jezebel’s Witchcraft Story, Raising Concerns for Pagans” (September 10, 2025), which examined the fallout after Jezebel, an online magazine, published a satirical piece titled “We Paid Some Etsy Witches to Curse Charlie Kirk.” That story, posted just two days before Kirk’s death, sparked a wave of speculation, outrage, and unease. In the days that followed, conservative commentators and social-media users seized on the event, reigniting anxieties about moral panic and scapegoating.
MIAMI – In the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s murder, Jezebel’s satirical story drew intense attention toward the Witchcraft community. To understand how that spotlight affected those at its center and how the whole incident evolved, The Wild Hunt spoke with High Priestess H.P. Leamashtu of Strix Sisters, one of the Witches featured in the Jezebel article, to share the story from the perspective of Craft practitioners speaking directly to our community.
Leamashtu recalled that when Jezebel first reached out, the journalist identified herself and briefly mentioned that she was writing for the magazine. Still, the sisters had no idea how widely the publication’s content circulated or how it might frame their work. “Yes, we received an order from the journalist,” she said. “They introduced themselves and briefly mentioned they were with Jezebel. Back then, we weren’t really acquainted with the news source, so we agreed to cast the spell for them and answer a few of their questions.”
They treated the request as they would any other small commission on Etsy. “We weren’t really familiar with Jezebel,” she recalled, “so we just did the work and moved on. Ridicule and sometimes fear are to be expected in our line of work, so we were not concerned about it.”
That calm evaporated weeks later. When the Jezebel story went live and- almost 48 hours later – Kirk was killed. The Stris Sisters’ inbox filled within hours.
“My sister was really panicky at first because she got name-dropped,” Leamashtu said. “People started to flood our Etsy inbox both with words of encouragement and death threats. I remember our very first inbox of someone saying we did a good job about Kirk, and she went to me like, ‘huh?’ We totally forgot about the interview back then because a few weeks had passed and we only realised the article was posted after people started tracking us from the article in relation to his passing. Personally, I feel fine because we’ve already doubled down on our wards, etc.”
Strix Sisters logo
Priestess Lilin, identified in Jezebel, received the worst of it.
According to Leamashtu, “She was terrified. The death threats were immediate. Some messages were violent, some were mocking, and others were trying to hire us to do more spells—like they didn’t even understand what they were saying in the context of a murder.”
But none of them asked what they actually do. So here we are, listening as they speak to the Pagan and Witchcraft community, some of whose members may disagree with their particular magical practices, yet all understand how such workings function.
The Strix Sisters describe their craft as rooted in Graeco-Roman magic and demonolatry. “My own tradition gears towards Graeco-Roman magic and, of course, demonolatry,” Leamashtu said. “My sister worships Mother Lilith as well and engages in Draconian Witchcraft. There is little to no religious component in our personal workings, and especially not when it comes to Strix Sisters.”
As a magazine, Jezebel is known for its provocative satire. Unsurprisingly, it portrayed spellcasting somewhere between wishful thinking and mockery.
Leamashtu said she and her sister weren’t offended but wished the distinction between satire and genuine spiritual practice had been clearer. “We definitely take our work seriously,” she explained, “but with mass media we had little to no expectations of how they may portray us. Ridicule and sometimes fear are to be expected in our line of work, so we were not concerned about it.”
That awareness of public skepticism was one reason the sisters decided to work on Etsy despite its reputation for dubious listings. “We understand the controversies and stereotypes about being a spell caster on Etsy,” she said. “In fact, that was one of the main reasons why we had chosen Etsy as our platform. In a sea of ‘witch scammers’ on the platform, we believe that being real about our craft and what we offer allows us to stand out among the rest—which subsequently caught the attention of the journalist.”
She continued, “Most practitioners would shy away from the platform because they are afraid of being labelled as a fraud, or be outcompeted by insanely cheap spells you see offered by clearly AI-generated accounts. But we believe that rather than shying away, we should encourage other real practitioners to come onto the platform to compete with these frauds by providing real services, real results, and deliver a higher standard of what magic can do to the masses.”
Their approach, she explained, emphasizes accessibility and fairness. “The other concern of spellcasters on Etsy is often about how cheap their services are, which can go down to a dollar for a ‘very powerful spell,’” she said. “We priced our spells from $5–$30, which is indeed very affordable but was made possible through using simple ingredients, energy work, Spirit work and sigil crafting. All tools that are accessible and affordable, like how Witchcraft should be.”
Our conversation turned to the ethics of spellwork and spellcasting. Leamashtu then emphasized that ethics remain central to their practice. “They [Jezebel] quoted us word-for-word,” she said. “In terms of ethics we cannot deny that we do offer malefic spells, and we remain impartial, which we feel is an important aspect of offering professional spellwork.”
When Jezebel later removed the article, citing compassion for the victim’s family and fear of misuse, Leamashtu said she supported the decision. But with it, vanished the Sisters’ explanations.
“We weren’t really tracking the article, so we also only knew it was taken down recently,” she said. “We felt that the decision to do so was wise on the part of Jezebel so they can minimize further backlash.”
But the damage on Etsy was done. “We have currently stopped working on Etsy as we got barraged by a mass of hate reports,” she explained. “We already know of Etsy’s profit-first management, so we quickly moved to our own site before it got suspended.”
Despite the turmoil, their work continues. “We are currently neck deep in orders right now, with only two spellcasters (me and Lilin) as well as our cousin, who is on and off helping us,” she said. “He’s a professional astrologer and diviner so he deals with that area of stuff.”
Lilin, she added, is channeling her energy into creative projects. “She’s very excited about creating a digital zine to honor the Infernals who helped us receive this level of ‘success,’” Leamashtu said. “I’m kinda iffy on that idea but we definitely want to do something related to providing resources on our site in relation to the Infernals, where people can learn about the demons, clear misconceptions of these Infernal deities after the dust has settled. Not really related to your question, but we are also looking for practitioners who are artists to commission artworks on the Infernals who have helped us along the way.”
Two witches meeting with a great beast in a woodcut from 1720 [public domain
Even as the immediate furor faded, Leamashtu said the experience exposed deep fears, both in the public and even within the Pagan community. “There’s this very big concern about starting Witch Trials 2.0 and Satanic Panic again after the whole Kirk thing,” she said. “It has led to several practitioners online directly blaming us and saying things like, ‘If they come for us, we will definitely point you out first.’ Which is essentially the same scapegoating dynamic we’ve witnessed in Witch Trials and Satanic Panic.”
Leamashtu said she doesn’t believe widespread persecution is imminent, though she acknowledged how quickly public sentiment can shift. “From a rational standpoint, Witch Trials 2.0 would require the government to first admit that magic is real,” she said. “The current administration is far more pragmatic—if the President truly believed Witchcraft posed a threat, he would have said so by now. Spells, whether for help or for harm, are ultimately expressions of spiritual belief, and in the eyes of the law, that makes persecution unlikely.”
Still, she understands the anxiety many feel. “Practitioners who are trying to scapegoat and dogpile on us—I’m gonna be honest, having fears is valid, and we have our concerns too,” she said. “But projecting this fear onto us and saying they’ll ‘point us out’ is such a clear psychological tactic to make themselves feel safer about this whole situation.”
Her takeaway is both sobering and hopeful. “If we keep trying to persecute our fellow witches instead of banding together, our perception by the masses will never change, and we will simply repeat this cycle of judgment,” she said.
For the Strix Sisters, the episode was both harrowing and illuminating, a lesson in how swiftly satire can ignite suspicion, and how fragile the line remains between fascination and fear when Witchcraft enters mainstream headlines. “We were caught in a storm we didn’t see coming,” Leamashtu said. “All we can do now is keep practicing, keep teaching, and keep protecting ourselves. That’s what Witches have always done.”
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