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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

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