In which the cat speaks to Will and Claire, founders of Wyrd Zine, to discuss how folklore and the occult have influenced their practice — as well as what hopes and dreams the duo has for the legacy of their magickally-inspired zine.
Growing up Wyrd
Launched in 2021 amidst the turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic, Wyrd Zine is a project described by its founders, Claire Wyldheart and Will Wright, as “unlike any other”. With its seventh out of eight planned issues set to be released this May 30th 2025, Wyrd Zine certainly stands out as a publication embracing creativity and lived experience of mysticism as potential catalysts for growth, transformation and societal change. And for these reasons, it has understandably joined the ranks as another one of my Folklore Favourites.
Having contributed to my perception of folklore not just as inherited knowledge, but as a process of continuous creation deeply influenced by imagination, I spoke with Claire and Will to understand how their own journey into folklore developed. And as previously with Dr Sophie Parkes-Nield, researcher for the National Folklore Survey, our conversation delved into the importance of folk and magical thinking in shaping our early identities, as well as its potential as a meaning-making tool well into adulthood – even beyond the all-encompassing claws of academia.
Through this lens, Will shares that “As a small child, I used to make the characters on my wallpaper move, developed rituals for coping with nightmares and used an odd psychological approach when hunting out specific Lego pieces in a huge tin of it. Magick was normal at this age. My love of mythology and fantasy brought me to wargaming and role-playing around twelve years of age — a classic entry point for many occultists. I bought my first tarot deck and set of runes when I moved out of home at eighteen, with the following decades being a patchwork of practice, experiments and mentors, ranging from a local Mayan Mystery School, a wandering guru and a cult centred around a known medium.”
As for academic experience, Will indicates that he “studied film theory and practice for a Masters degree, as well as a PGCE, although this did not directly relate to my practice of magick, there was some crossover regarding how I approached the creative process and subject matter. Because filmmaking is essentially an illusion, an art practice for shifting the consciousness of the viewer, something magicians seek to achieve themselves, my professional and personal directing work is littered with occult references and motifs.” Consequently, “As magick gained greater emphasis in my life, this in turn influenced the content of my art, eventually leading to a transition away from lecturing and film-making to an art-based practice, including performance, painting and photography.”
Image Description: a collection of photography works depicting archetypes transmitted to Claire and Will during their creative practice, including a Mr Punch doll and a decorated horse inspired by the Mari Lwyd. Image Credit: with permission from the copyright owners, Wyldheart and Wright.
Simultaneously, Claire muses how her experience has walked along the same lines, describing an early quest for meaning that has continued into her adult years. For instance, as a child, she shares how she used to “play a game to invoke visions within tightly closed eyes, aided with a cushion to blot off the light.” In addition, she describes how “a burning feeling lived inside me that there was more to this life beyond the mundane material reality I grew up in”, to which I can personally relate. Likewise, she says “Nature and history fascinated me and this was expressed through my own solitary archaeological digs in the nearby wasteland. My Ladybird Books of Well Loved Tales, including Snow White and Rumpelstiltskin were the imaginary realms that I fell into, which led to a desire to write and illustrate my own children’s books.”
Similarly as with Will, this quest continued through her academic path, leading her to study Textiles, Fashion and Embroidery at Manchester University — alongside fulfilling her childhood dream of creating her first children’s book, published in Australia. Having met Will in 2012, Claire reveals how she “dragged him out of an occult hiatus, and through our rapidly growing practice, my art became focused on my visionary encounters and working in 3D.” Thus, setting the stage for the early steps into the development of Wyrd Zine.
Image Description: The cover for the upcoming Issue 7 of Wyrd Zine, depicting a mystical object over a background of marbled green. Image Credit: with permission from the copyright owners, Wyldheart and Wright.
A Higher Purpose and Presence
As the years went by, folklore and the occult continued to be the leading light in Claire and Will’s path towards their emblematic publication, peppered by personal experiences and creativity galore. In attempting to determine that first spark of what later would become Wyrd Zine, Will believes this transformational moment occurred when “I had a vision during the traumatic events of the pandemic that saw me writing at a computer in a much happier and healthier place than the one I found myself in at the time.” Such a vision then evolved into a “burning need to express our magickal knowledge and ideas that seemed to be lacking in contemporary occult culture and which are the foundation for our art.” Additionally, Will explains that “We’d noticed the rise in folklore zines during 2020 and after much research we thought that this was the best approach to publishing.” Though unlike other practitioners, he expresses that they didn’t want “to simply make pretty pictures, but instead an ‘operative’ occult art that works as a ceremonial tool and Wyrd is a way to transmit the instructions.” Launched in early 2021, Claire admits that “This was Will’s idea and I jumped aboard wholeheartedly, not realising how Wyrd would become both a lifestyle and a practice.”
“Wyrd gives new voices a chance to explain their practice to an audience through candidness and plain speaking, as well as a way to dissolve boundaries to access due to language and bias.”
– Will Wright, Wyrd Zine
Asking the duo, in their own words, what Wyrd Zine therefore means to them, at first, Claire and Will jokingly respond that it is “the Viz comic of occult publishing”. Yet, their purpose is evidently much greater. With the motto “We share to encourage others”, the team believes that “magick may well provide the most useful approach to our current issues”, with Will further explaining that: “Wyrd is a spell, consisting of eight issues designed to aid transformation, both personal and global, from the inner cover sigil design to the progression of information and guidance across the issues.” At the same time, Wyrd “gives new voices a chance to explain their practice to an audience through candidness and plain speaking, as well as a way to dissolve boundaries to access due to language and bias.” From Claire’s perspective, she declares that “Wyrd is a medium that allows me to explore my visions as a kind of occult study, researching and writing in great detail about the magickal revelations and the connections between encounters I discover.” About such visions, Claire considers their usefulness, “like raw data, that I then research and unpack as part of my esoteric practice, and I’m regularly amazed by what I discover.”
Image Description: a photo depicting a custom doll from one of Claire’s trance encounters, transmitted in the shape of a white eagle over a background of cosmic skies. Image Credit: with permission from the copyright owners, Wyldheart and Wright.
What We Leave Behind, and What We Build Together
In closing, I asked Claire and Will what they hope the legacy of their work might become, touching on the subject of challenging ‘forced knowledge’, and building more meaningful communities able to look beyond the strict confines of our present, prejudiced society. In agreement, Will proposes that, going forward, a greater commitment from practitioners and academics to develop ways to make knowledge more accessible will be necessary – which, to him, specifically in the case of the occult, means “dragging it out of the goth corner, and creating a more contemporary aesthetic that challenges some of the outdated and bogus notions that occult study has been unwittingly perpetuating.”
Here, he adds the example of one of his personal interests: Heathenry, “a Northern European tradition based around the Eddas”, which he remarks has vexingly “been co-opted by the far right since WW2.” Rejecting this association, Will has therefore been working on the development of a “graffiti-inspired runic futhark, in an attempt to liberate the runes from their n*zi connotations, while presenting radical modern takes on early mythology and occult practices, such as incorporating shamanism and psychology within heathen practice.”
Image Description: a collection of futhark runes depicted in bright, prideful colours. Image Credit: with permission from the copyright owners, Wyldheart and Wright.
As for his work with Wyrd, Will admits that he is quite pleased with the goals his team has achieved with the zine so far, revelling in his happiness at seeing “Issue one on permanent display at The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, alongside other similar publications such as Weird Walk and Hellebore.” Chuffed, he concludes: “It’s really satisfying to have made such an impression on the occult community and we hope that it inspires others.”
Image description: a photo of a display case at the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, Cornwall, containing several artistic zines such as Weird Walk, Wyrd Zine and Hellebore. Image Credit: with permission from the copyright owners, Wyldheart and Wright.
As for Claire, she considers how “On a personal level, working on Wyrd has developed my expertise and authority within occult art, guiding me on an initiatory journey”, highlighting how this process has been “the catalyst of an unfurling of my artistic abilities, skills and techniques I never thought I could master.” Looking beyond, she reveals that “Once Wyrd has run its course, Will and I intend to develop our work into stand-alone books, starting with a 21st century guide to Heathenry, an epic visionary art graphic odyssey, as well as a Mr Punch & Friends photo book.” Once more, with feeling, she grants that “Wyrd has been the catalyst and motivator for developing our esoteric art practice, and so we hope that this will only continue to flourish.”
Inspired by their out-of-the-box vision of folklore and mysticism, I too share in the hope that both Claire and Will’s work will continue to bear fruits, while highlighting the potential of community and creativity to shape a kinder, more accessible world.
To keep up with their work, visit Claire Wyldheart and Will Wright’s website here, or Wyrd Zine here.
You can also follow Wyrd Zine on Instagram, or Claire and Will’s photography work at The Real Mr Punch.
PRE-ORDERS for Wyrd Zine Issue 7 are currently available HERE, with this next issue set to be officially released on May 30th, 2025.
Superstition Sam 
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