Book Review: Queer Saints by Antonio Pagliarulo

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I believe readers of Queer Saints: A Radical Guide to Magic, Miracles, and Modern Intercession by Antonio Pagliarulo are going to fall into one of two camps: you are either going to love this book or absolutely hate it. For witches, this book may be polarizing due to its use of Christian saints. I know many modern witchcraft practitioners are adamantly opposed to all things Christian, while forgetting that many magical practices around the world are deeply rooted in it. Practitioners of brujeria, vodou, and conjure do not consider their work witchcraft, and to call them a witch is to potentially endanger their lives. These are Christians, working within the confines of the Christian religion.

Despite not using Christian aspects in my own practice, I do see the value of saint work. It does work, after all. However, Christianity is deeply rooted in misogyny and homophobia, making it difficult to navigate for members of the queer community. Pagliarulo seeks to rectify this by rethinking sainthood and expanding the saints beyond their current confines to include the venerable dead. Pagliarulo argues that canonization by the Church should not prevent practitioners from developing their own working list of saints.

I resonated with Pagliarulo's approach, as much of our modern reconstructions of witchcraft and pagan practices require some guesswork, modifications, and updating. The inclusion of queer saints is a much-needed update for modern times, especially as a form of resistance against an authoritarian government seeking to erase Black and queer history. Pagliarulo includes research, personal experience, and interviews with experts and laymen alike to construct his argument for the use of new queer saints, as well as for the queer-interpretation of existing saints such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Hildegard of Bingen, and Saint Sebastian. Much of the book includes different new and old saints one can work with, whether they be queer themselves or queer allies.

The modern list of queer saints is quite beautiful to behold. While these saints have not been officially canonized by the Church, they are incredibly important figures from queer history. Each entry includes their history, what they are patron of, their feast day (usually the day of their death), corresponding tarot, and sacred offerings, allowing for flawless integration of these new saints into your existing practice. New saints occasionally include a petition, candle spell, or sacred sachet you can use to work with the saint, which is a wonderful inclusion. He even uses the correct honorific based on the person's faith and culture, which is just...fabulous.

Even if you are not interested in working with saints in your own practice, Pagliarulo offers an amazing glimpse into queer history. Many of the figures I knew, such as Alan Turing, David Bowie, Scott Cunningham, and Harvey Milk. Others I was less familiar with, such as Josephine Baker and Simeon Solomon. I was trying my best to hold it together as I read through all the amazing people who paved the way for us, but I lost it when I made it to Keith Haring. Growing up, my mother talked extensively about the AIDs crisis and the impact that it had on the world. She was very close to a gay couple down the street, and when I was born, one of them refused to hold me because he was "sick" and didn't want to pass it on to me. He had AIDs and would later die from the disease, never having held me. It devastated my mother. As an artist, she knew many people in the community who would eventually contract and succumb to AIDS. While my mother did not know Keith Haring personally, he was one of her favorite artists. She has always taught his work, having her students create their own artwork inspired by his style, saying it is the least she can do for a man who had such a profound impact on her life. So thank you, Pagliarulo, for including him.

Apart from discussing the new and old saints, Pagliarulo also breaks down spells versus prayers and the different types of saint magic he practices: petition papers, candle spells, and sacred sachets. These are the same types of spells given for certain saints at the end of the book. He also talks rather extensively about reciprocity, which I absolutely loved. This is something I have been thinking about a lot lately in my own practice (hence it showing up recently in blog posts), and I was thrilled to see another author do the same. Apart from sacred offerings, Pagliarulo also offers a list of potential pilgrimage sites where you can also honor the saints, which is, again, just a great list of queer historical sites.

Overall, I greatly enjoyed reading Queer Saints: A Radical Guide to Magic, Miracles, and Modern Intercession by Antonio Pagliarulo and highly recommend it to anyone interested in saint work or even just interested in queer history. My only complaint was chapter 3, which felt completely out of place. It could have been deleted, and the book would still make sense and be workable. But other than that, excellent book!

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