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