Spellbound

Summer 2022
NOUVEAU
WITCH
Controversies & Complications
of Modern Witchcraft
How Mystics
and Witches Found
a New World Online
Struggles of
Being a Witch
of Today

24
NOUVEAU WITCH:
CONTROVERSIES &
COMPLICATIONS OF
MODERN WITCHCRAFT
67
STRUGGLES
OF BEING
A WITCH OF TODAY
92
AN ENTIRE
GENERATION
IS LOSING HOPE.
ENTER THE WITCH
HOW MYSTICS
& WITCHES
FOUND A NEW
WORLD ONLINE
TECHNOLOGY AND
THE WITCH: HOW
THE MODERN WORLD
IS SHAPING OCCULTISM
4 | SPELLBOUND | Summer 2022

7
19
Editor’s Scroll
3 Spells that Really Work
31
10 Things I Wish Everyone Knew
About Modern Witchcraft
Why I NEVER Cleanse Crystals in Water
59
Witchcraft Myths Modern-Day
Witches are Tired of Hearing
78
104
136
20 Life Hacks for the Modern Boss Witch
The Switcharound:
Spell Ingredient Substitution
How to be a Modern Witch:
An Interview with Gabriela Herstik
Summer 2022 | SPELLBOUND | 5

Production Manager
Branwen Le Torneau
Editorial Director
Ashia Maleficum
Creative Director
Gwendolyn Norwood
Research Manager
Filix Wyrm
Editor-in-Chief
Eleanor Anderson
Designer
Amelia Rathmore
Copy Editor
Cordelia Autumn
Photographers
Violet Frost
Morgana Cloven
Isobel Barclay
Contact
contact@spellbound.com
(978) 619-5626
Website
www.spellboundmagazine.com
Address
6 Central Street
Salem, MA 01970
6 | SPELLBOUND | Summer 2022

The practice of witchcraft goes back thousands of years,
stretching across dozens of cultures and generations.
However, a new era is upon us; never has the world been
so connected or moved so quickly, and the contemporary witch
is unlike any other before them. The rapid-fire development of
technology such as the internet has opened a channel of multiple
opportunities, information, and communities for those interested
in witchcraft, and the results are simply magical. This issue
of Spellbound will focus on what it means to be a witch living
in this modern, ever-evolving era.
As technology sped up, so did our daily lives. The rushed franticness
of today can make it difficult to take the time to indulge in those
magic rituals that ground us. But luckily, in this issue we share
twenty very small ways you can incorporate small bits of magic
into your day-to-day, and make a difference in your life.
As with every community, there are internal challenges we must
work to overcome. Our feature story examines the tension
brewing over differing attitudes towards modern witchcraft.
Wrapped up in commercialism and activism, what it means
to be a witch is being reinvented.
We also love reaching out and being able to share the experiences
of practicing witches. For this issue we have an insightful interview
with Gabriela Herstik, the thoughtful author of Craft: How to Be
a Modern Witch. Deeply connected to her ancestry, Gabriela gives
us a thoughtful look at how she lives her spiritually-driven life.
Crystals are a staple in rituals and spells, but are you taking
care of your crystals correctly? Or are you pressed for materials
and can’t find the right ingredients? We also cover proper crystal
cleansing, and what ingredients you can use as substitutes,
so that your spells can manifest how you intend them to.
Please enjoy this enchanting and thought-provoking edition
of Spellbound, and look out for our upcoming winter edition.
Eleanor Anderson
Editor-in-Chief
Summer 2022 | SPELLBOUND | 7

Courtesy of bartelllegacy.com

SPELLS THAT
REALLY WORK
by Jennifer Billock
SPELL FOR
CLEANSING
“A friend of mine recently lost
his two-month-old to SIDS.
He constantly complained about
hearing the child cry, so I asked
if could try to help. As a kitchen witch,
my tools are simple: I cleansed everything
in his house. It took over seven hours,
but then afterward, he stopped hearing
the baby cry all the time and only ever
heard it again when a child was around.
– Luna, 34
Kitchen witches use a variety of tools
to cleanse spaces, from herbal techniques
to good old brooms. If you’d like something
similar, try lighting a bundle of dried sage
until it begins to smoke, then waft the smoke
around the area you’d like cleansed, making
sure to get in all the corners. Another
method is to actually clean — imagine
a white light enveloping your surroundings
as you literally scrub and wash everything.
When you’re finished, sweep all of it in
a counterclockwise direction (also known
as ww) and brush everything out the door.
SPELL FOR
A LUNAR CYCLE
“I cast my most recent
spell to help a friend find
a place to live—not just any
place but one that would
be specifically suited to her lifestyle and that
would allow multiple cats.
It was a two-part spell. The first part was
casting intentions during a full moon
to clear away any obstructions to her
getting a place. The second part was during
the new moon, at which time I infused
a piece of orgonite with the intention
to attract an open-minded landlord.
She is now happily moving into her new
place.” – Tammy, 42
Using the specific powers of the lunar
calendar is a great way to get your spell
to come to fruition. Many witches track
the path of the moon and work their magic
depending on whether it’s full, waxing,
waning, or new. A full moon is perfect for
spells that need a lot of extra energy,
divination, and protection. When the moon
is waxing (or getting larger), you should
do prosperity spells or any type of spellwork
designed to bring something close to you
or increase something. For a waning
moon—one that’s getting smaller—work
spells that get rid of things like bad energy,
illnesses, and detrimental habits. During
the new moon, aim for spells that
promote the newness of things, like
a new job or a new relationship.
SPELL FOR
MANIFESTING
“When my girlfriend
and I decided to move in
together, we began looking
for a home with a yard big
enough for our pets — my cat and her two
dogs. We also wanted something where
we could separate the house in the middle
just in case they didn’t get along, giving
the animals plenty of space while we tried
to get them used to each other.
So, I decided to use blessed moon water
to manifest our perfect home. Every full
moon, I blessed water beneath the moon
and then used that moon water during the
month for various things. For instance,
I would make myself a cup of tea or hot
cocoa with regular water then, as the tea
was steeping, I would say a blessing
and charge the moon water again
before pouring a splash of it into
the cup. Every night during this
ritual, I asked the universe
to give us “everythingwe
need in life to sustain
us and make us
happy.”
– Daena, 25
Summer 2022 | SPELLBOUND | 19

Shine
(New York, NY)
Sallie-Ann
(New Orleans, LA)
Wolf
(Brookyln, NY)
Randy
(Plainfield, VT)

Keavy
(Brookyln, NY)
Luna
(Oakland, CA)
Nouveau
Witch
Controversies &
Complications of
Modern Witchcraft
by Courtney Shea
From @dayanacrunk
on Instagram

Courtesy of fonwall.ru
To begin
her daily
practice,
Liz Worth
goes to the
local gym.
Cardio is probably not the kind
of ritual you’d associate with
magic, but for Worth, it’s about
connecting to her physical being
and balancing her mind and body.
“If you spend too much time in those
higher realms,” she says, “you can
lose touch with your body.” Worth,
who is 36 and works as an astrologer
and tarot reader, says witchcraft has
been part of her spiritual path for
most of her life. (She describes herself
as “not not a witch.”) When Worth gets
back from the gym, she spends a few
minutes at her altar, a crate in the corner
of her bedroom covered in candles,
incense, and a small rotating collection
of personal sacred objects. The time
she devotes there is for setting intentions,
for sometimes it’s things she wants to
accomplish that day, other times it’s making
some space for greater goal-setting, and
then she moves on with her day-to-day life.
Worth’s connection to the craft overlaps
significantly with modern wellness culture:
one part mindfulness, one part personal
empowerment, and just a small dash
of supernatural. Some people
From
@gingersoul
on Instagram
write to-do lists, Worth lights
candles or draws from
tarot cards.
“Maybe there’s something behind that
magical process,” she says, “that gives you
an extra push.” Also similar to wellness
culture, witchcraft — both in its religious
and secular forms — focuses on inherent
individualism. It’s a customizable blend
of various forms of ancient spirituality,
mythology, and folklore, which is why there
are so many different types of witches.
And also why witchcraft has found such
a keen cohort in millennials, a group that
appreciates looseness and lack of real
prescription. Even the Wicca creed,
essentially that if you don’t cause harm,
you can practice in whatever way you
want, smacks of a certain ubiquitous
contemporary mantra: You do you.
And as the age of connectivity and instant
gratification leaves a lot of women yearning
to truly connect with a deeper meaning,
witchcraft has emerged as a popular path
to spirituality. Extremely popular.
ICMYI: Witchcraft is in the midst of
a major cultural moment, having bubbled
up steadily over the last several years and
reached its boiling point this fall — perhaps
not surprising given that witchcraft has
seeped into pop culture throughout history
at times of strife. We see it on TV (new
Sabrina! new Charmed!), in politics where
the #MeToo movement has found a fitting
mascot in the original “nasty woman,”
in the increasing number of quirky occult
boutiques, and in the wide variety of witch
swag for sale at mass retailers like H&M
and Urban Outfitters, where healing
crystals and pentagram dream catchers
mingle with flower crowns and ironic
eyewear. This month, thousands of Toronto
witches eagerly participated in the second
annual WitchFestNorth, a meld of speaker
series and markets, that will close
tonight with a Halloween eve
Witch Walk. On social
media, millions use
the tag
26 | SPELLBOUND | Summer 2022

#WitchesofInstagram, and even Starbucks
has hopped on the broomstick, with an icy
Witches Brew frappuccino released.
Apparently, it tastes like absolute crap,
but hey, it looks great with the Sierra filter.
A $7 drink that puts style over substance
speaks to one of the many issues currently
playing out as part of a larger culture war.
Because if witchcraft has never been more
mainstream, it has also never been more
complicated, fractured, and fraught with
issues like cultural appropriation, blatant
commercialization, racism, and rampant
populism. Most witches will agree that
the new cultural caché has resulted in
an increased level of awareness, which
is a good thing, but from there, consensus
on what it means to be a witch is hard
to come by. I spoke with a number of young
women about their personal relationship
to witchcraft, an experience that felt less like
The Craft and more like an episode of Four
Weddings — where one bride will explain
how she simply couldn’t fathom getting
married without a brass band, and the next
will say that brass bands are the height
of tacky. On TV, this is a way of drumming
up conflict to heighten drama, but in real
life, the real world, the divisiveness doesn’t
wrap up neatly in 60 minutes.
“
People think,
‘Oh, I like
spooky makeup
and pointy nails
and I wear
black,’ so they
must be a witch.
phone and shows me a meme that perfectly
encapsulates her feelings on the status
of modern witchery. It says: Some of y’all
not even witches, just hurt bitches burning
candles.
“People think, ‘Oh, I like spooky makeup
and pointy nails and I wear black,’ so they
must be a witch,” says Scott. The new
trendiness wouldn’t bother her so much,
it’s just that the new “cutesy” version
of witchcraft makes the whole thing feel
toothless. Witchcraft, says Scott, is supposed
to be a little scary. It’s about harnessing
power. Women who want to engage
in “me time” may be better off with salt
baths or adult colouring books. “This
idea of wellness and focusing inward,
that’s actually a very neoliberal thing to do.
Capitalism creates all of this stress and
the solution is self-care, but then we put
that burden onto ourselves rather than
putting our attention on dismantling
the system.” For Scott, dismantling
the system is what witchcraft is all
about. Which explains why
contemporary feminism has
forged a connection
with the dark arts.
“
Continued on
page 34.
Sabrina Scott has been a practicing witch
for 20 years, since she was 8. (Yes, that is her
real name. No, she doesn’t have any interest
in the new Netflix reboot.) And while she’s
not opposed to idea that witches practice
in a way that works for them, she worries
that if everyone is a witch these days
(the yoga witch, the fashion witch,
the political witch), then nobody is.
Barbara
(Oakland, CA)
“I know this is going to sound like a real
old person ‘get off my lawn’ type
of territorialism,” she says,
“but words have meaning.”
She pulls out her
From kawaiibabe.com
From fahadscale.blogspot.com
Summer 2022 | SPELLBOUND | 27

THE SWITCHAROUND:
SPELL SUBSTITUTIONS
by Rose Orriculum
BELLADONNA
COWBANE
ACONITE
SUBSTITUTE: TOBACCO
Tobacco is a good generic substitute for any toxic
plant due to its addictive nature and that it’s easily
acquirable. It also promotes peace, confidence,
personal strength, and can be used for banishing.
CARNATION
JASMINE
LAVENDER
SUBSTITUTE: ROSE
Roses are great substitutes for any kind of flower;
they’re very common and associated with a wide
range of qualities, including love, psychic powers,
healing, divination, luck, and protection.
104 | SPELLBOUND | Summer 2022

Substitutions in magic and spellwork is where you replace an ingredient
for a spell with another due to lack of the listed ingredient. This is often done
when a witch does not have specific plants, herbs or crystals on hand for when
working a spell. This is a very common practice especially when individuals
are on a budget or can’t get specific ingredients. These simple items may not
fit the spell exactly, but will do it in a pinch.
AMETHYST
ROSE QUARTZ
PERIDOT
SUBSTITUTE: QUARTZ
Clear or white quartz acts as a blank slate and can
be substituted for any crystal. Its inherent properties
include Healing, drawing out pain, protection from
negative vibrations, meditation, psychic powers,
balance, and magical strength.
THYME
MINT
BASIL
SUBSTITUTE: ROSEMARY
Like many herbs, rosemary is for for good health,
can worn to improve memory, be used in dream
pillows to prevent nightmares, or burned as incense
forpurification and removing negativity.
Summer 2022 | SPELLBOUND | 105

HOW TO BE A
MODERN WITCHAn Interview
with
Author Gabriela Herstik
by Jessica Golich
Shining a light in the dark and pouring
forth her heart into her life-work, loving,
multifaceted human being, Gabriela
Herstik, has tuned into her intuition and
ignited her mission to spread awareness
of consciousness beyond the physical.
On the edge of the release of her new book,
Craft: How To Be A Modern Witch, I caught
up with the sorceress to discuss her first
experiences with witchcraft, tuning into her
spiritual darkness, her rich ancestral history
and so much more.
Congrats on the upcoming release
of Craft: How To Be A Modern Witch.
What are some of the most potent
discoveries that you have learned
about yourself in the process
of writing the book?
That’s a good question. I was able to see
how big and important this has been within
my life for such a long time. I really do
recognize that I am writing about
things that are unconventional.
I did a lot of research
and recognized that
I was writing
about stuff that hadn’t really been involved
in my practice for awhile because as you
know, your practice evolves along with you.
I learned how deep my practice has been.
I learned how important my spiritual path
has been and how important it has been
for shaping who I am. There really is such
a need for goddesses, spiritual paths,
religion, etc and these are things that are
not necessarily going away any time soon.
Back when I started writing about this stuff
about four or five years ago, it was right
at the height of the fashion/witchy trend
so people really liked looking like a witch,
but there weren’t many people who were
actually familiar with the practice of it. Ever
since then, it has exploded yet now, people
are into the practice. It has made me see
that this is exactly what I am supposed to be
doing. I learned so much about myself and
my own relationship to true witchcraft
throughout the process of writing this book.
It has been very reaffirming of my passions.
I perceive that witchcraft has become
a selfless practice for you. Ultimately,
as you continue to gain ground and
tune into your intuition, you are
serving to aid in others lives through
the medium.
Exactly. Something that I love about
myself is that I very much know
who I am.
I am unapologetic about it. I think that
as you recognize that about yourself, it gives
other people the permission to do the same.
It inspires others to do the same — it goes
hand in hand! If human beings are living
their truth, it reminds others that it is okay
to do so as well. It is okay to do things that
are unconventional, or even go against
societal norms, and a lot of witchy things
do. It’s good to connect to yourself.
Yeah, absolutely. It is so powerful
to embody and embrace exactly
who you presently are. Tell us about
some of your first experiences with
witchcraft and connections beyond
the physical plane.
I am actually really ethnically Jewish.
My father is a rabbi and I grew up with
a mother who was always very spiritual.
For instance, her first memories with me
are breathing with the crystal pyramid
when I was two-years-old. I was always
a very Aquarian, crystal child. I have always
been very interested in consciousness, life
and death and I would also talk to my father
about God, religion and more, but my path
with witchcraft specifically started when
I was around twelve-years-old.
I was gifted a fairy
oracle deck.
136 | SPELLBOUND | Summer 2022
Gabriela Herstik
and her novel.
Photos courtesy of
evolveandascend.com

Courtesy of Yulia Van Doren

For educational
purposes only.
Not for publication.