DIY Witchery

Brainscan #33

by Alex Wrekk

An exploration of secular witchcraft

Zine

About the author

Alex Wrekk (born June 19, 1977) is the pen-name for a Portland, Oregon, DIY, feminist, zinester and author. The self-published writer is most commonly known for her book, Stolen Sharpie Revolution, and her ongoing zine, Brainscan.

Alex Wrekk’s life revolves around making things; primarily zines, custom pinback buttons (badges), vegan food, travel plans, and space for a cat in her bed. Alex Wrekk has lived in Portland, Oregon since 1999 and has been creating the zine Brainscan since 1997. Alex Wrekk is actively involved in zine culture by updating the zine event listings on StolenSharpieRevolution.org, organizing the Portland Zine Symposium, established July as International Zine Month, hosts the podcast Nobody Cares About Your Stupid Zine Podcast, attends zine events, and sings in a zine themed pop-punk band called The Copy Scams. She also runs the online & brick and mortar Portland Button Works and Zine Distro shops.

Reviews

[Adriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This isn't really a rating/review since I feel like perzines aren't really meant to be looked at in that way or anything, especially not this one, I don't think. I just want to say that I resonated with it, finding it wholesome and sensible that secular witchcraft would be personal and everyday accessible (I guess that's how I'd put it, limited as I am). I have often felt like a lot of what I do in my home (especially being a homebody hermit) could be compared to a kind of secular cottage witchcraft in a way, and this zine encourages me to look into it more. I was into learning about witchcraft a few years ago, but was discouraged from it for various reasons (mostly people being insensitive within it or mocking outside it), but reading this was nice. I could go on but I feel like I'd be ranting about personal stuff and random occurrences in my life, but my point is that I'm glad to have come across this zine and that there's more books I want to read now. Also, I really appreciated the clarifications about what has been culturally appropriated and what is offensive; I feel like that doesn't get spoken about enough so it was great to read about.
(The star rating doesn't mean much here really but I guess if I had to put stars to it Id give it 4 since at times I didn't personally like the tone, finding it a bit maybe contemptuous? But again the star rating doesn't mean much here and this is just my subjective impressions of a perzine on a topic I'm not well-read in and which is also very personal to the author!)
Anyways, yes, I liked this zine and I'm keeping it on my zine shelf. Reading the next Brainscan shortly.