Silliness as Spiritual Practice: Resisting through Laughter & Joy
An excerpt from Disabled Witchcraft...
There’s an old cliché: laughter is the best medicine. But if you’re disabled or otherwise marginalized, a saying like this might feel really unhelpful, just like all the other unhelpful things people say when they just don’t get it:
• “Well, just smile more and you’ll feel better.”
• “This disabled person is so joyful. Why can’t you be inspiring like them?”
• “Oh, look how happy you are today. You’re an inspiration. No accommodations for you because you clearly don’t need them.”
It’s maddening. But what if we reclaimed laughter in the witchy way only we can?
If humor is about subverting expectations, what if we embraced the things that make each of us weird and silly and unique? What magick might ensue?
For this ritual, consider the things that make you laugh and the things that make you feel like yourself.
Gather things that represent humor to you (or simply visualize them). Think about what it is about them that makes you laugh. What does it feel like? Channel that silly energy into the items and the space around you. Then, repeat the following words:
I laugh in the face of attempts to crush me and my community. I laugh, not because there is no injustice or because I am callous, but because laughter says I am worthy of joy and that that joy is enough on its own. I invoke this power against unjust and ableist systems. This laughter is a spell, magick from my very self.
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Today’s post is an excerpt from my book, ritual # 82, “Spell of Sillies.” Since laughter so often happens in relationship, in it, I see something spiritual,1 divine,2 and magickal.3 Here’s a collage of some things that have made me laugh over the past year.
Let me know in the comments. What are your favorite ways to heal through silliness?
In Wonder,
Ivy Zeller (she/they)
Thanks for reading! I’m a queer, disabled writer/editor, and what I do is made possible by readers like you. You can support me in this journey in a number of ways:
When I describe or experience any tool/practices as spiritual, I want to acknowledge that that is not everyone’s experience. Any practice/tool I share is meant for all, regardless of spiritual label (or lack of label) or whether you experience these tools as spiritual or as some other adjective(s). Labels, while helpful in describing our experiences, are ultimately insufficient, so I want to hold space for that tension here.
My understanding of how god expresses godself is expansive. Basically, I conceive of spirituality as our experience with divine love and connection. But even that feels a little religious-y. Put another way, I believe spirituality is the place where we as individuals and communities connect with the “force of love that holds up the universe” (in words sometimes attributed to Julian of Norwich), whether we conceive of that love as divine or as the love shared between fellow humans/other creatures or some combination of both loves. It is the place within our bodies and our communities where we find love and connection with all who have come before and who will come after.
I consider witchcraft to be “spicy placebo,” and my practice is very secular. I love the definition of magick laid out in this article: “action taken to bring about internal transformation or external change.”