Michelle Tea Is A Witch: TALKTALKTALK On Modern Magic
In conversation with author Michelle Tea on her latest book, Modern Magic: Stories, Rituals, and Spells for Contemporary Witches
Michelle Tea is a witch.
The hardest part of any interview? Writing the introduction—especially when the subject is someone like Michelle Tea, a rare genius who’s managed to pack a dozen lives into one. That’s witchcraft for you.
Already familiar with Michelle? Of course you are. Feel free to jump straight to the conversation. If not, mark the time. You'll want to remember this moment.
Getting to know Michelle Tea is a rite of passage. She’s one of the first people I met when I moved to Los Angeles, and her profound tarot reading is one of the reasons I’m still in LA. Oh, and she’s written over 20 books, including the cult-classic Valencia, Modern Tarot, and essay collection Against Memoir.
Her latest book, Modern Magic: Stories, Rituals, and Spells for Contemporary Witches, is something we truly need right now: a roadmap for creating a practice aligned with our individual spiritual and political values.
Currently, Michelle serves as founding director of Dopamine, a queer literary org committed to uplifting LGBTQI+ writing and writers, by publishing the most boundary-pushing voices. In former lives, she co-founded Sister Spit, an internationally touring artist collective; founded Mutha magazine; and hosted the popular podcast Your Magic. In 2015, Michelle and RADAR Productions started Drag Story Hour, a nonprofit that uses the art of drag to read books to kids in schools, libraries, and bookstores.
There’s a lot I left out! (Accolades, awards, accomplishments.) Like I said, writing the intro is the hardest part.
For more TALKTALKTALK with Michelle, listen to the full podcast recording it HERE.
Vivi Henriette: How do you introduce yourself at parties?
Michelle Tea: As Michelle!
Vh: Have you ever had a magic spell go wrong?
MT: Yes! Three memorable times. Once I did a binding spell on an ex of the person I was in love with. She was, by his account, TORMENTING him! We broke up pretty soon after I did it. Another time, me and a witch co-worker put our urine on the corners of the room a new manager we hated, trying to get him to leave. We both ended up leaving! But my favorite was one of the first big spells I did as a teen witch, to get a boyfriend. Though red is the color of romantic love, it felt too intense for me, so I did pink. I wound up with a great, closeted homosexual boyfriend. It's worth noting that, in a way, everything went according to divine plan, if not my own plan. My relationship with the person I was in love with was hot but toxic; it was time for me to move on from that job; and truthfully, I wanted a gay boyfriend who wouldn't pressure me into sex I wasn't sure I was ready for!
Vh: If you were alone for two days, and could only have the company of one book, what would it be? Why?
MT: I think it would be Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards, but only if I could also have my Marseille deck with me! I would finally have to time to really sit with and work through that dense, incredible book!
Vh: Someone wants to know which book of yours to read. You can only recommend one. What is it?
MT: Black Wave. It's my favorite.
Vh: What’s your favorite time of day to write?
MT: In the late morning, with nothing scheduled for the rest of the day, caffeinated.
Vh: Are you right or left handed?
MT: Right.
Vh: What’s the last thing you wrote? (This interview doesn’t count.)
MT: This morning I wrote a bunch of copy for a chapbook DOPAMINE's limited-edition imprint, DOPAZINE, is publishing: The Slicks by Maggie Nelson, an unpublished essay she wrote about Taylor Swift, Sylvia Plath and the ancient scorn all prolific female artists get, especially when the work is personal and emotiona. We're having a big party for the book at the Poetic Research Bureau in LA on November 18th, and I was writing the copy for that, too.
Vh: If you could snap your fingers and bring back to life one dead writer, who would it be? What would you do with them?
MT: Sylvia Plath. I think she'd be grateful for the second chance in a somewhat evolved culture.
Vh: What do you think happens to us when we die?
MT: I think we merge back into the everything, and gain all the insight and wisdom, have all our cosmic questions answered.
Vh: What’s the last item you thrifted?
MT: Last night I saw the movie We Live in Time, and it was brilliant but very sad also, and I am over a week late for my perimenopause period AND was crashing from a weekend of eating a lot of trash, so I really really needed cheering up and popped into my local Goodwill on the walk home and found this great shapeless dress, sort of crisp and white with a black abstract sort of polka dot pattern all over it, with a weird tie up on ribs to give it a strange shape. It feels like Japanese design and is from some retro looking brand called NOW but best of all it was mistakenly priced as kids clothes and was only $4.99.
Vh: What’s exciting you most right now?
MT: This Maggie Nelson thing we have cooking is super exciting, and that Vera Blossom's book for DOPAMINE, How to Fuck Like a Girl, will be out in less than a month and we're doing an all-trans femme event for it at the ICALA. And I'm working on a book about polyamory and all these polyamorous people have agreed to talk to me and I really can't wait to interview them.
Vh: How can people find you?
MT: Best way is on Instagram @michelleteaz
Vh: What did I miss?
MT: I really think that's everything!
ABOUT MICHELLE
Michelle Tea is the author of over twenty books for grown-ups, teenagers and children.
Her autofiction Valencia is a cult classic that was made into a feature length art film.
Her tarot how-to, Modern Tarot, is a best-seller, and her essay collection Against Memoir was awarded the PEN/American Diamonstein-Spielvogel award for The Art of the Essay.
She is a Guggenheim Fellow. Tea was the founding Executive Director of Bay Area arts organization RADAR Productions for thirteen years; her final act as ED was to create Drag Queen Story Hour, for which she received honors from The California Library Association and Logo Television.
Tea is also the co-founder of the legendary Sister Spit, a performance tour which has been active since its inception in 1997.
(bio taken from Dopamine Books: https://dopaminebooks.org/team)
SUBSCRIBE to Michelle’s Substack, DEAR DIARY.
ABOUT VIVI
Vivi Henriette is an LA-based astrologer and tarot reader whose collaborative approach to divination weaves in storytelling and mythology to create a container for her clients to explore their personal narrative. She’s the host of the Los Angeles Astro Salon at the Philosophical Research Society and the podcast TALKTALKTALK.
SPECIAL THANKS to Raena Zupan for editing this interview.
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