Double, double, toil and trouble.

It reads like a line from the 1996 supernatural horror film The Craft, but this is a real incantation read out by modern-day witches — who are using their so-called mystical powers against Donald Trump and his supporters.

Wiccans have united in the first of three mass rituals planned across the globe to “bind” the President and halt what they see as his administration’s “wicked” agenda.

Among them is singer Lana Del Ray, who issued a rallying cry on Twitter, accompanied by a photograph of herself making a pagan signal by crooking the thumb of her raised left hand.

“At the stroke of midnight Feb 24, March 26, April 24, May 23,” the obscure tweet read. “Ingredients can b found online.”

The tweet let some confused fans wondering is Del Ray was heralding a new string of music releases, but others jumped in to explain that the singer was referring to the mass spell to bind Trump.

“The spell is to be performed at the stroke of midnight on every waning crescent moon until he is removed from office,” the spell instructions read.

As for the required “ingredients”, they include a tiny stub of an orange candle, an unflattering picture of Mr Trump (the website provides one to print and cut out), a pin or small nail to inscribe the candle, a white candle, a bowl of water, a bowl of salt, a feather, matches and an ashtray or dish of sand.

Witches are instructed to print and cut out this image of Donald Trump for the mass ritual.Source:Supplied

Participants are instructed to carve the President’s full name on the orange candle stub and call on their “preferred deity or spirit” before reciting a six-verse incantation.

“I call upon you to bind Donald J Trump so that he may fail utterly, that he may do no harm to any human soul, nor any tree, animal, rock, stream or sea,” the spell says.

“Bind him so that he shall not break our polity, usurp our liberty or fill our minds with hate, confusion, fear, or despair. And bind, too, all those who enable his wickedness, and those whose mouths speak his poisonous lies.”

Participants are advised to “ground” themselves at the end of the ritual by “having a good, hearty laugh, jumping up and down, clapping your hands, stomping your feet, and having a bite to eat.”

“Grounding is very important — don’t neglect it,” the instructions read. “And remember — he hates people laughing at him.”

In true Hollywood movie style, the spell is concluded with the phrase “so mote it be”. Finally, the witches are advised to “bury the orange candle stub or discard it at a crossroads or in running water”.

“So mote it be.” Actor Neve Campbell is pictured in scene from The Craft.Source:News Limited

A video posted to Facebook shows a group of Wiccans carrying out the spell around a crackling open fire on February 24.

Tarot reader Michael M Hughes, who posted the spell instructions on his blog before it went viral, said the document had been “making the rounds in a number of magical groups both secretive and public”.

“It was allegedly created by a member of a private magical order who wishes to remain anonymous,” he wrote.

“I make no claims about its efficacy, and several people have noted it can be viewed as more of a mass art/consciousness-raising project (similar to the 1967 exorcism and levitation of the Pentagon), than an actual magical working. But many are clearly taking it very seriously.”

A ‘MORAL DILEMMA’

People who participated in the first mass event were drawn from “various spiritual and religious affiliations, or even none”, said University of Newcastle Associate Professor Marguerite Johnson.

Assoc Prof Johnson, who teaches Ancient History and Classical Languages, said some experienced witches had warned about “the potential repercussions of amateurs participating without knowing what they were doing”.

She said modern-day witches were divided over whether “binding spells” were ethically defensible, with peace-loving Wiccans following the ethos of “An Ye Harm None, Do What Ye Will” — while followers of the Left-Hand Path tradition endorsed “a more amoral and power-focused magic”.

The 2011 Australian census recorded approximately 40,000 people who identified their religious beliefs as “pagan”, “Wicca” or “witchcraft”, Assoc Prof Johnson said.

The Spell to Bind Donald Trump movement drew 12,900 followers to its original Facebook account, before moving to a new page ahead of the upcoming March 26 event.

dana.mccauley@news.com.au