While Dark Habits' notable-queer-people-with-star-signs is rather behind, this episode comes just in time for Spooky Season! Megan is once again joined by Thomas from their other podcast about queer history, These Old Queers, to talk about lesbian literary pioneer, paranormal investigator and (disappointingly) fascist sympathizer - Radclyffe Hall.
Sources:
Matsuo, Alex. Women of the Paranormal Volume 1: A Brief History. Independently published. 10 June 2023.
Anderson, Hephzibah. “The Well of Loneliness: The book that could corrupt a nation.” www.bbc.com. 22 November 2022.https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20221121-the-well-of-loneliness-the-most-corrosive-book-ever
Goodreads. “Radclyffe Hall”. www.goodreads.com.https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/74248.Radclyffe_Hall
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Radclyffe Hall.” www.britannica.com. 8 August 2025, 2025.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Radclyffe-Hall
The National Archives. “The Story of Radclyffe Hall.” www.beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk.https://beta.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/stories/radclyffe-hall/
Megan is joined by Thomas from their other podcast about queer history, These Old Queers, to talk about the life and times of queer Panamanian boxer, Panama Al Brown.
Sources:
Corpus, Jose. Black Ink. Iowa City, Iowa. Win By Ko Publications. 1 August 2016.
El Tecolote Staff. “Black, Gay and Undocumented: The story of boxing’s first Latino Champion.” El Tecolote. 11 March 2021. https://eltecolote.org/content/en/black-gay-and-undocumented-the-story-of-boxings-first-latino-champion/
Frantzen, Allen. “The Gay Boxer in History: Al Panama Brown.” allenfrantzen.substack.com. 7 April 2023.
https://allenfrantzen.substack.com/p/the-gay-boxer-in-history-al-panama
In the latest episode of talking-about-queer-people-with-sun-signs, Megan and Ryen talk about pioneering Black lesbian feminist, Margaret Sloan-Hunter, as well as intersectionality, the personal as the political, and the stark contrast between the information we have about queer male lives versus those of the lives of queer women.
...there is also talk of Dyke Tights...but you're going to have to listen to find out more!
Sources:
African American Registry. “Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Feminist, and Publisher born”. African American Registry. People, Locations, Episodes. Viewed 16 July 2025. https://aaregistry.org/story/margaret-sloan-hunter-born/
Feminist Majority Foundation. “Margaret Sloan-Hunter, Former Editor of Ms Magazine, Dies at 57”. Feminist Majority Foundation.15 October 2004.https://feminist.org/news/margaret-sloan-hunter-former-editor-of-ms-magazine-dies-at-57/
“Margaret Sloan on Black Sisterhood | Woman.” Youtube. Uploaded by Buffalo Toronto Public Media. 12 March 2025. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyICE2Ob_ns
“Lesbians: The Invisible Minority.” Youtube. Uploaded by San Francisco Public Library. 24 November 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgfjIMAAwvQ
Houston LGBT History. “Double Trouble” Interview with Margaret Sloan in Lesbian Tide.” KykyArchives. July 1974. Viewed 20 July 2025. https://www.kykyarchives.com/archive/margaret-sloan-lesbian-tide-1974
In the final episode of our 3 part series on pioneering sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, we delve into his life and times leading up to the decision to leave Germany for what would become an extended global lecture tour as his country and Berlin - the city he loved - falls into the clutches of totalitarianism and Nazi takeover.
CW: this episode mentions things some listeners might find upsetting. Please take care while listening.
Sources:
Beachy, Robert. Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity. Vintage. 13 October 2015.
Brook, Daniel. The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin. W.W. Norton & Company. 13 May 2025.
Cantu, Benjamin, Kriegsheim, Felix. Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate. Cantu, Benjamin. Narrated by: Robert Beachy, Katrin Himmler, Ben Miller, Klaus Mueller, Zavier Nunn, Morgan M. Page. Film Base Berlin, Netflix Studios, The Thursday Company. 28 June 2023.
In the second part of our 3 part episode on groundbreaking pioneer sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, we talk about his influence on German gender identity and sexual politics up through World War One and his instrumental influence on Weimar Era culture! Cabaret Clothes! Divine Decadence! Gender Euphoria! Hurrah!
CW: this episode mentions things some listeners might find upsetting. Please take care while listening.
Sources:
Beachy, Robert. Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity. Vintage. 13 October 2015.
Brook, Daniel. The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin. W.W. Norton & Company. 13 May 2025.
Cantu, Benjamin, Kriegsheim, Felix. Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate. Cantu, Benjamin. Narrated by: Robert Beachy, Katrin Himmler, Ben Miller, Klaus Mueller, Zavier Nunn, Morgan M. Page. Film Base Berlin, Netflix Studios, The Thursday Company. 28 June 2023.
In our latest episode, Ryen and Megan talk about queer rights pioneer - Magnus Hirschfeld and his ground-breaking research and advocacy. In this first of three parts, we learn about Magnus's beginnings, his studies, travels and his beginnings as Germany's foremost sexologist in pre-Weimar Germany. CW: contains mention of suicide, sexual assault, sexual abuse, and fascism - please take care while listening
Sources:
Beachy, Robert. Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity. Vintage. 13 October 2015.
Brook, Daniel. The Einstein of Sex: Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, Visionary of Weimar Berlin. W.W. Norton & Company. 13 May 2025.
Cantu, Benjamin, Kriegsheim, Felix. Eldorado: Everything the Nazis Hate. Cantu, Benjamin. Narrated by: Robert Beachy, Katrin Himmler, Ben Miller, Klaus Mueller, Zavier Nunn, Morgan M. Page. Film Base Berlin, Netflix Studios, The Thursday Company. 28 June 2023.
Back with more stories of queer ancestors, in this episode Ryen and Megan talk about Aries sun sign feminist, science fiction author, teacher and political activist Sally Miller Gearhart!
Sources:
https://sallymillergearhart.net/in-memoriam/
https://afterellen.com/the-wild-ride-remembering-sally-miller-gearhart
Sally Miller Gearhart: Coming Out in 1970 – Carla Blumberg - Youtube
Megan and Ryen get together to talk about the Tarot Card of 2025: The Hermit. Tune in to learn how to make the most out of this year as the Hermit guides us along our path.
Sources:
Esselmont, Brigit. “Biddy Tarot.” Biddy Tarot,www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/hermit. Accessed 16 January 2025.
Gong, Tina. “Labyrinthos.”Labyrinthos, https://labyrinthos.co/blogs/tarot-card-meanings-list/the-hermit-meaning-major-arcana-tarot-card-meanings?srsltid=AfmBOoocHCN-uNFyL2387j59uR4baSK_5CgeQYdQ5EXK2JOyWW-bbEuh.Accessed 12 January 2025.
Hanley, Alexandra. “Grace Through Gravity.” Grace Through Gravity, https://gracethroughgravity.com/the-hermit/ . Accessed 14 February 2025.
Luna, Bri. “The Hoodwitch.” The Hoodwitch, https://www.thehoodwitch.com/blog/2025/1/3/embracing-2025-the-year-of-the-hermit-in-tarot . Accessed 14 January 2025.
Miro, Shaheen. Reed, Theresa. Tarot For Troubled Times. Newburyport. Red Wheel/Weiser. 2019.
Pollack, Rachel. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot. London. Thorsons. 1997.
Reed, Theresa. “The Tarot Lady.” The Tarot Lady, https://www.thetarotlady.com/the-tarot-card-of-the-year-for-2025/. Accessed 2 January 2025.
Tea, Michelle. Modern Tarot. New York. Harper. 2017.
Waite, Arthur Edward. Instructions excerpted from The Key to the Tarot. U.S. Games Systems Inc. 1991.
Vasquez, Zach. “Bright Wall Dark Room.” Bright Wall Dark Room, https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2017/09/25/fix-heart-die-startling-empathy-david-lynch/ . Accessed 4 February 2025.
The history of Samhain: the most liminal time of the year + a ritual a ritual and tarot spread to send you on your way!
CW: pet death; abusive/strained relationship with parent
find me online:
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/darkhabitsmag/
Mastodon:
https://mastodon.social/@darkhabits
contact me here or via email:
darkhabitsmag@gmail.com
article:
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/samhain
ritual:
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/simple-samhain-ritual
tarot spread:
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/samhain-tarot-spread
playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4vzFYMQHEVX1idkc6erf5i?si=68a1a45871d14352
sources:
https://thebusypagan.com/pagan-holidays/samhain/
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/voodoouniverse/2013/10/appetite-for-ancestors-samhain-the-voodoo-way/
https://bradesacre.co.uk/a-guide-to-the-wheel-of-year/
Cunningham, Scott. Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. St. Paul, Minnesota USA. Llewellyn. 1995
How to make Autumn Equinox (Mabon) as personalized as possible in order to celebrate all that you have harvested as well as to let go of that which no longer serves you.
link to Autumn Equinox ritual + tarot spread:
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/mabon-ritual-tarot-spread/
Autumn Equinox Playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6eWzgYfcUAOcvitZfLZN90?si=6ce131ca23b84f5b
Megan and Ryen meet up to discuss trans feminist pioneer and activist, Sylvia Rivera.
Sources:
Season 1: Episode 1: Sylvia Rivera – Part 1, Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories, Episode first published October 13, 2016.
Season 3: Episode 1: Sylvia Rivera – Part 2, Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive, Episode first published October 22, 2017.
Bonus: From the Vault: Sylvia Rivera & Marsha P. Johnson, 1970, Making Gay History | LGBTQ Oral Histories from the Archive, Episode first published December 27, 2019.
Dunlap, David W. (February 20, 2002). "Sylvia Rivera, 50, Figure in Birth of the Gay Liberation Movement". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on March 24, 2019. Retrieved June 1, 2018.
We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics edited by Andrea Abi-Karam and Kay Gabriel (Nightboat Books, November 2020). Reprinted with permission from the publisher.
https://lambdaliteraryreview.org/2021/01/bitch-on-wheels/
In this episode, Megan talks about the first harvest festival: Lughnasadh that is part of the eight sabbats in the pagan Wheel of the Year, when we gather together and give thanks for what we have in abundance.
In the latest episode of Dark Habits, Megan gets together with Ryen to share the story of the life and times of queer rights pioneer, Harvey Milk.
Also discussed: how unlike the Bluth family's banana stand, there was never money in Dan White's potato stand, and why street potatoes need to become a global thing. Conspiracy theory: is Harvey Milk's ghost watching over the best bahn mi shop in San Francisco - which is in close proximity to City Hall.
... and why we need hope now more than ever.
Sources:
Shilts, Randy. The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. St. Martin's Press. 1982
The Times of Harvey Milk. Rob Epstein. 1984
Hard-Fried, Ep 89 - Harvey Milk
Megan and Gudrun talk about the summer solstice, its origins, different ways of honoring the solstice around the world...and a possible ghost in a tea kettle situation.
Sources:
https://www.chichenitza.com/blog/solstice-in-chichen-itza
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/voodoouniverse/2015/06/st-johns-eve-the-darker-side-of-solstice/
https://www.outdoorapothecary.com/summer-solstice/
Cunningham, Scott. 1993. Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner. Woodbury, Minnesota USA. Llewellyn Worldwide.
Dorsey, Lilith. DATE. Orishas, Goddesses, and Voodoo Queens: The Divine Feminine in the African Religious Traditions. Red Wheel/Weiser. Newburyport, Massachusetts USA.
Megan tells Ryen all about the life and times of trans femme singer and activist, Jackie Shane.
Sources:
Sources:
Iannacci, Elio, 2017, Jackie Shane’s coming home, The Globe and Mail, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/music/jackie-shanes-coming-home/article36599423/
Corp, Isabel, 2021, Any Other Way: The Life & Times of Jackie Shane | Have You Seen Her, A Grrrl’s Two Cents,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdekGMlY8Fs
Fensterstock, Alison, 2017, Jackie Shane, A Force Of Nature Who Disappeared, Has A Story All Her Own,
NPR,
Historica Canada, November 2, 2022, Heritage
Minute: Jackie Shane,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRUjX3_f22k
Megan and Gudrun get together to talk about Beltane, the first day of spring. Listen in (along with Gudrun's familiar, Pan) as they discuss how to make this holiday meaningful for you.
Join Ryen and Megan to learn about Aries season, Aries sun signs and our featured queer Aries: Anne Lister - as some historians have called "the first modern lesbian".
Also discussed will be the conspiracy theories that lesbians invented goth as well as Facebook relationship status.
Sources:
Whitbread, Helena. I Know My Own Heart: The Diaries of Anne Lister 1791 - 1840. Virago. 1988
"The Anne Lister Story by Helena Whitbread." Youtube, uploaded by Calderdale Council, 2 May 2019,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWMMdnz0jbY
Megan and Ryen come together to celebrate Trans Day of Visibility and discuss the life and times of civil rights pioneer, Bayard Rustin.
This is a long one, so feel free to treat it like a two-parter! Get up, stretch your legs, play some pickleball and come back when you need to.
*Content Warming* this episode contains racial slurs in context of the era and situation. Please take care while listening.
Sources:
image: Selma March, 1965. Photograph by Steve Schapiro
D'Emilio, John. Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin. New York City, New York. Free Press. 2003
Kates, Nancy, Singer, Bennett. Question Why Films. Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin. [film]. 2003.
National Museum of African American History & Culture. Bayard Rustin | National Museum of African American History & Culture. accessed 31/03/2024. (https://nmaahc.si.edu/bayard-rustin)
Wolfe, George C. Higher Ground/Bold Choices. Rustin. [film], 2023.
Megan tells us about the history of Spring Equinox, discusses their approach god and goddess worship from a non-binary perspective - and different ways fertility can be interpreted, as well as shares a ritual and tarot spread to mark the holiday.
Sources:
Spring Equinox - Ostara
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/spring-equinox-ostara
Spring Equinox Tarot Spread
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/spring-equinox-tarot-spread-2022
Simple Spring Equinox Ritual
https://www.darkhabits.net/post/simple-spring-equinox-ritual
music:
"Spellbound" courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed Under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Megan and Ryen are back to talk about Aquarius Sun signs as well as notable queer Aquarius: Pamela Colman Smith, the woman who created what we think of when we think of tarot today.
Sources:
Decker, Ronald; Dummett, Michael (2019). A History of the Occult Tarot. London: Duckworth
Giles, Cynthia (1994). The Tarot: History, Mystery, and Lore. New York: Simon & Schuster
Kaplan, Stuart R. (2018). Pamela Colman Smith: The Untold Story. Stamford, Connecticut: U.S. Game Systems
Maiden, Beth (3 December 2014). "Fool’s Journey: The Fascinating Life of Pamela Colman Smith”. Autostraddle
Pyne, Kathleen (2007). Modernism and the feminine voice: O’Keeffe and the women of the Stieglitz circle. Berkeley: University of California Press
Ray, Sharmistha (23 March 2019). “Reviving a Forgotten Artist of the Occult”. Hyperallergic. Retrieved 14 March 2021
Tea, Michelle (2017). “The Divine Mystery of Pamela Colman Smith.” Enchanted Living Magazine.