Modern-day witches are empowered, political, stylish—and interested in more than just pretty crystals
A week before Halloween, young women gathered around a table in Toronto at a trendy downtown shop lit with candles and surrounded by crystals and photos of goddesses. The women were in their 20s and 30s, stylish, with a few tattoos poking through their sleeves.
Worth’s magic workshop was part of Witchfest North, an inaugural festival in Toronto celebrating the “sacred feminine in the arts.” So why is this revival of witchcraft—emboldened by fashion, design and American Horror Story: Coven—so attractive to young women? And how do long-practising witches feel about glossy magazines and lifestyle stores co-opting their spiritual practice?
“[Witchcraft] places power firmly in the hands of young women who want to see positive change for the future and feel empowered,” says Bodirsky. “[Witchcraft] is a space where you have total freedom of expression as far as clothing and practice—you make it want you want. I can see why it’s appealing to young women.”
Worth, now in her 30s, makes a living through her readings and workshops and says most of her clients are ambitious, career-driven women in their 20s and 30s. She can see why witchcraft is liberating for those who feel oppressed. Toronto-based healer Cassandra Thompson’s practice is rooted in Afro-Diasporic folk magic and fully intertwined to her politics. “As a queer Black woman, [witchcraft] allows me to claim control over my body, spirit and emotions,” the 27-year-old says. Although she’s always been a spiritual person, Thompson started practising regularly two years ago while she was involved in frontline organizing for issues around anti-Blackness, Indigenous sovereignty and violence against women and femmes.
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