Author: Nyx

Postmodern Witchcraft: How to Brew Calm, Hex Stress, And Exorcise Your Social Media
Imogen Dall
https://www.imogendall.com/
https://www.instagram.com/bigfacegoods/

Postmodern Witchcraft is a full-colour A5 zine about “how to brew calm, hex stress, and exorcise your social media”.

It’s a stressful, stressful world, and a little calm can go a long way. From the moment I opened this zine to see a primarily lavender purple table of contents spread, I started to calm down.

Postmodern Witchcraft is comprised of five sections: Magic Potions, Ache Enchantments, Digital Exorcisms, Stress Soaks, and Conjuring Spells. Each section is set up beautifully with easy-to-read fonts, colourful art to accompany the easy-to-read text, and a nice layout overall.

I enjoyed every part of this zine both aesthetically as well as in content. A guest to de-stressing is always welcome and valuable to me. I’m looking forward to trying some of the suggested brews as well as putting some of the digital suggestions into practise.

One thing that played on my mind a little is that I’m not a practising witch. With that said, I think this zine is a ‘lighter on’ take on witchcraft and shouldn’t be approached with the expectations you might have with a zine like Brainscan 35. For example, one of the ‘stress soaks’ involves pouring a glass of wine to drink while taking your bath. But hey, wine in the bath can be its own ritual, and I like some humour in my zines. But I don’t know if a practising witch will take it differently or whether Imogen is a practising witch.

This is a fun zine with a beautiful design and layout. (What can I say? In another life I studied graphic communication.) The suggestions sound good (bring on the comfort brew), sound fun, cover a range of things, and make for a chill reading experience overall. Definitely called for today.

Another one to check out from Imogen and Big Face Goods.

Electron Libre 1
Izalixe Straightheart
https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/IzArt
https://www.youtube.com/user/izalixe

Electron Libre 1 is a black on coloured paper US ½-fold size perzine about a variety of topics as well as various media recommendations.

Full disclosure: My podcast – The Zine Collector – is recommended in this zine. (Thank you!)

Electron Libre 1 opends with a nice inner cover information page (links, socials, etc) before Izalixe shares an introductory piece about the initial shock of – and later, adjustment to – restrictions in a pandemic world. Izalixe’s concepts of home, life, and self took on a new light in a new world.

From there, Izalixe writes about changing the zien series name from ‘The Happy Loner’ to ‘Electron Libre’ as well as the deeper meanings behind both titles. (I love the whole concept behind ‘free electron’.) There are also pieces on getting through the pandemic world a bit better, reviews on various media, how sentiments without action often aren’t enough with the current state of the world, a stack of podcast recommendations, and more.

Toward the beginning of this zine, Izalixe mentions admiring sinemakers who stick to one theme in a zine. There’s even a subtitle to this zine – ‘homecomings’ – that Izalixe ties into the opening pieces. While I admire themed zines as well, I equally enjoy the variety that is in Electron Libre. The zine has serious, thoughtful pieces balanced out by the ‘sharing for the joy of sharing’ reviews and recommendations pieces.

Izalixe has an interesting energy that really comes through in their writing. I quite enjoyed it. Yes, there were a couple of pieces I couldn’t read because I don’t know French. That said, I still felt quite at home and am quite excited to have so many new things to have a look at.

This is definitely a zine to check out.