CAMEROON — In early January, Chiefs from the Eastern regions of Cameroon requested permission to use Witchcraft against the terrorist group Boko Haram. The news came through a tweet by respected investigative journalist and Chief Bisong Etahoben on Feb. 1. Shortly after, President Paul Biya responded back welcoming the assistance and use of Witchcraft in the fight to protect the nation and its people. In response to this news, Witches outside of the country are looking to help and add their magic to the protection of the region and the eradication of terrorism.

Cameroon is located in the central west portion of Africa, just south of Nigeria, where Boko Haram was originally founded. The terrorist organization is believed to have formed around 2003 in the northeastern region of Nigeria. Its earliest members were the followers of a “young, charismatic preacher named Mohammed Yusuf.” The name Boko Haram is typically translated as “Western education is forbidden” or “Western Fraud.” In 2009, the group first clashed openly with authorities; Yusuf and hundreds of others, including innocent people, were killed. After that uprising, Boko Haram slowly regrouped and began again in 2010. But its actions didn’t attract intentional attention until, in 2014, members kidnapped 276 girls from the town of Chibok

But the ongoing crisis is not limited to the borders of Nigeria. Cameroon has also been under attack. As noted in a BBC article, Amnesty International reports that Boko Haram has killed over 17,000 people since 2009. Cameroon has been increasingly engaged in the military actions against the group, entering into a anti-terrorist coalition with Chad, Niger, Benin and Nigeria. In recent months, the Cameroon military was able to release a reported 900 hostages who were being held by Boko Haram in its northeastern region, and there has been some hope.

However, the continued violence is unsettling for the locals in those northeastern villages. And, therefore, regional Chiefs have stepped up to offer their own communities’ services for the cause. Journalist Bisong Etahoben reported:

Far North Governor Miyazawa calls for a resort to witchcraft to combat Boko Haram. — ChiefBisong Etahoben (@ChiefBisongEta1) January 31, 2016

According to reports, the Chiefs along with regional Governor Miyazawa recently contacted Cameroon President Paul Biya for permission to use Witchcraft, which he allegedly granted. Etahoben reports,”The head of state has demanded that an aspect of witchcraft be integrated into the fight against Boko Haram, Far North Governor Midjiyawa.” In response, a local Christian from Nigeria tweeted back, “Nigerians are with you on this, wipe out those blood thirsty sect and send your armies of witches to Nigeria.”

The call for the use of Witchcraft is an interesting turn of events considering the complicated position that Witches and Witchcraft have in sub-Saharan Africa. This is an area of the world in which people can be ostracized, beaten, killed and jailed for the alleged practice of Witchcraft. In other cases, people have been dismembered and killed by those who reportedly practice Witchcraft. It is a extremely complicated culturally, politically and religiously embedded situation that many of the governments, as we have recently reported, are trying desperately to negotiate.

In the wake of the most recent Boko Haram attacks on a group of Nigerian children , several U.S. Witches have now joined the efforts to use Witchcraft to help stop this terrorist group. Calling themselves the Social Justice Witches Working, these women are asking Witches and other magical workers from around the world to come together on Feb. 13 to stop the violence perpetrated by the Nigerian-based terrorist organization.

One of the organizers, Boneweaver, more commonly known as Pamela V Jones, told The Wild Hunt, “There was little to no coverage of the children being burnt. The people in Nigeria have been forgotten. The Dead are being forgotten. We are heavy on working with the Beloved Dead, and heavy hearted about the continued slaughtering of innocents while the world turns away, while this country focused on the Super Bowl in the media.”

Boneweaver is a “a Reclaiming and Feri initiated Witch of the Victor Anderson path through the Starhawk line. [She is] a member of Spiralheart, the mid-Atlantic Reclaiming cell.” She lives in the Pittsburgh area where she and a friend teach and have recently started Reclaiming Pittsburgh. Boneweaver said, “I didn’t realize there was a Boko Haram Witchcraft call [from Cameroon], though I am not surprised there is one. A friend here on FB, after we’d participated in a similar working last week against Roosh, the Return of the Kings guy who was pro-rape, asked were we […] ready to do one against Boko Haram.”

Organized by herself and another, the ritual action date was set for Feb. 13 and the group Social Justice Witches Working was born. As Jones noted, the organizers had no idea that the Chiefs, the Cameroon Governor or allegedly the President had even called for Witchcraft help. On the surface, it would appear to be a complete coincidence.

When asked if she or the other organizers had any connection to Cameroon or Nigeria, she said, “I don’t have personal ties with the region. I’m coming at it from the perspective that collective magic is a force for change. We shake the Web, push the energies, and create potential for things to shift. Everything and everyone is connected energetically.”

The date was chosen specifically for its astrological readings, which are explained in detail on Boneweaver’s blog post. She wrote, in part:

The moon is waxing, we can’t help that, but she’s void of course and her last aspect before that is a bad one, so she won’t give any succor to the enemy. Saturday is Saturn’s and working in Saturn’s hour will give it extra oomph: as the founder’s Saturn (great malefic) is in his eighth house (the house of death), we like the reminder of that bit of harrowing doom in the chart. Mars is in Scorpio; invite him to invite more snakes and stingy bugs to the party.

Boneweaver admits that she is not the astrologer in the organizing efforts; her role was to do the setup of the Facebook event page and any research or further organization. She also wrote a poem to be used by anyone who needs some inspiration. It begins, “We see you, Boko Haram.”

Social Justice Witches Working (SJWW) has planned this action for Feb. 13 and invites people from around the world to join. Boneweaver added that this will not be the last planned event for the new activist group. The name itself is meant to be very general so that it can be applied to any future actions and calls for global magic. When ask if there is anything else planned now, she said not specifically. However, Boneweaver did say that she “wouldn’t rule out a public [ritual against Daesh] in the future.” But this one was chosen specifically “because it has slipped from the media’s attention.”

If the reports from journalist Etahoben are accurate, Boneweaver and the magical practitioners who do join the SJWW Feb 13 action may find themselves sharing magical space with the Cameroon and maybe even Nigerian Witches and Wizards, as they are locally known, in a true global effort to end Boko Haram’s reign of terror in the eastern regions of those two African nations.