The Spell Ring & The Wicked Witch of the World Wide Web
In april 2025, I wrote a parody of J.R. Carpenter's The Handmade Web.
This became the fertile soil of my research. By interpreting Carpenter's text as an actual invocation spell[link::handmade parody], I dove into the biggest rabbit hole[1] of my life: the magic of the Web.
So I went and wandered through the Web and its enchanted corners.
First, I observed, analysed the enchanted corners of the web and the leverage they offer against fascism and automation. I detail this in The Wicked Witch of the World Wide Web (2026). Read it here
Simultaneously, I started The Spell Ring, an experimentation around intimate, pointless, creative Web practices, gathered in a webring[2].
Here is the archived ring, as it was on its last update in january 2026. ⤸
The Web is <y>ours
After finishing my thesis, my wandering kept going, like an instinct. Through it, I reinforced my initial hunch about the magic of the Web, and webrings have become a playground that simply makes sense:
I find them similar to magic circles.
Going from one rabbit hole to another, I found my direction.
The web artifact you are now exploring started as a webring spell ring and evolved gracefully into what I call a webmaze.
There is no "right way" to experience this webmaze, I wish for you to visit it as you see fit.
Whether it be by hyper-focusing and reaching the 100% completion of the visit, or by opening it, forgetting about it and diving back in again later – the Web is yours, you are its shaper.
1. Here we are not talking about holes rabbits make in the ground, but more of a metaphor directly inspired by Carroll's Alice's adventures in Wonderland. Indeed, when Alice falls into the rabbit hole, a whole new worls uncovers before her eyes. This is exactly the spirit of this web-oriented expression: by navigating hyperlinks you can fall deep into the web and uncover some fantastic places.
2. Webrings are a relic of the early web. When search engines weren't the big data collection we now deal with, people relied on direct link loops to connect their websites together. Usually, a webring appears as a button on one's website, inviting to navigate in the loop. Nowadays, webrings are being re-explored for their community and creative outcomes.