Self-identified witches and practitioners of magic from around the world will cast a spell on United States President Donald Trump at midnight on Friday outside Trump Tower in New York. According to an official Facebook page for the event, the spell is a “mass binding ritual to be performed at midnight on every waning crescent moon until Donald Trump is removed from office”.

Self-identified magician Michael Hughes said the “binding spell” is meant to “use your personal energy to restrain Trump’s power without causing any harm”. “The analogy I use is, it’s not punching a Nazi in the face, it’s tying a Nazi up, taking his bullhorn away, and smashing his phone so he can’t tweet,” Hughes said, according to BuzzFeed News.

The main ritual will be held in New York, while smaller and simultaneous rituals will take place in other countries all over the world, including Portugal and South Africa.

The magical ritual requires those participating in it to burn an “unflattering” photo of the US president on a “stumpy, orange candle while chanting ‘You’re fired!”. “After you’ve visualised Trump’s energy dissipating, gaze at the white candle flame for a few moments, close your eyes, and imagine a bright light emerging from the darkness,” part of the spell’s closing ritual says. The Facebook page also suggests variants to the spell and says it is okay for those practising different styles to “invoke the blessing of your preferred deity(s)“.

Hughes said magic was “one tool among many” to resist Trump and his government’s policies. “So many of us just feel overwhelmed and beat down by the barrage of assaults on civil liberties, on immigrants, on the environment.” However, some radical Christian groups including the Christian Nationalist Alliance are planning a counter-prayer to resist the spell’s effects.

While it remains to be seen if the magical ritual will have its intended (or unintended) effect, protests against many of Trump’s policies continue. On Wednesday, the president’s administration rescinded federal guidelines put in place by former President Barrack Obama that had allowed transgender students in the United States to access the bathrooms that matched the gender they identity with. Trump’s Republican Party has been opposing such a right by claiming it threatens other students’ privacy and safety.

The administration is also pushing forward with its drive against immigration and undocumented migrants.