Life's a witch: how magical thinking became a multibillion-dollar wellness movement

For as long as humans have wandered this good green earth, there have been healers among us. Call them shamans, medicine men, alchemists or witches, those chosen few with the wisdom to fix our corporeal bodies have played a vital role in civilizations from the stone age to the space age. But despite the scientific advances we enjoy today, there is something that the healers of yore would find sadly missing from modern medicine. Tapping the powers of the spiritual self was once the cornerstone of a healer’s arsenal. Fortunately, rather than losing this magical thinking to the mists of time, there is still a thriving community of those who reap the rewards of witchcraft.

And no, we’re not talking about green-skinned, hook-nosed hags, huddled around a cauldron or flying around on broomsticks. Today, being a witch is less about pointy hats and eye of newt and more about embracing a holistic philosophy for the body and soul that is rooted in our relationships with nature. So how did this modern witchy woman enter the zeitgeist, and more pressingly, how do we be her? The answer lies, unsurprisingly, in the age of the hippie.

In parallel with the Free Love movement, the New Age movement gained momentum back in the 1970s, when folks were free to cherry-pick their personal expression of spirituality. Thanks to the likes of pop culture icons Stevie Nicks, Yoko Ono, and famed occultist and gender bender, David Bowie, witchcraft began percolating through the mainstream. Decades later, while it remains a relative niche interest, the art of spell casting, the setting of intentions, crystals and altars are still honoured by those who see it as vital to their wellbeing. But there’s also been strides towards making some of the core tenets of witchcraft more accessible to the everyday person. 

Alternative, holistic and complementary medicines now generate a whopping $3.5 billion dollars in Australia every year

Naturopathy, compounding chemistry, reiki healing and kinesiology (a form of biofeedback that helps determine the cause of illness in the body) barely raise an eyebrow today. Nurtured by enclaves of social media – Instagram pages, podcasts, private Facebook groups and the very scrollable WitchTok niche on TikTok – there are growing communities, largely made up of women and marginalised folks in search of control, peace, spirituality, and connection with others and with the natural (or supernatural) world, that are exploring witchcraft on the web. And thanks to the hilarious and hyperbolic cast of Byron Baes, crystals have never been more in vogue. In fact, the witchy wellbeing movement has become so popular, the alternative, holistic and complementary medicine industry now generates a whopping $3.5 billion dollars in Australia every year.

And the inroads to this New Age realm of health and wellness are many. For modern witch and student of kinesiology, Virginia Glass, her journey into witchcraft began with debilitating food intolerances. After exhausting every possible allergy test and a misdiagnosis of bowel cancer, she turned to the muscle testing assessment technique, kinesiology, as a last resort. There she found healing, a significantly better quality of life, and in turn has devoted her professional life to helping others facing the same challenges. In the same realm, one might find respite in the administering of Bach flowers, distilled flower essences that harnesses both the inherent medicinal properties found in nature's prettiest plants and the setting of intentions to the liquid itself. You may have even taken these yourself, the Bach flower Rescue Remedy has been available in chemists since 1930.

Now turn for a moment to consider another ancient practice that has also been more recently commodified, at times to its own detriment: mindfulness. There are many ways to centre the psyche, but for some people, fostering rituals or attunement with nature or applying a crystal-infused essential oil mixture they bought off a hippie lady at Sydney Vegan Markets to their chakra points, are grounding practices that bring some regulation and comfort in uncertain times.

_{Photograph: Joanna Kosinska/Unsplash}

Mindfulness is equally compatible with astrology, which if you’re a member of the queer community almost feels compulsory to engage in at this point. Tarot and affirmation cards can provide a tool for introspection, whether or not you take it very seriously. While some practices of the occult may invite uneasiness when it comes to crystals, a friend born to two ‘witchy, hippie’ parents once told me she considers them the most inoffensive of spiritual play – there’s no harm in placing some rose quartz in the garden to help the plants grow or a palm stone in your pocket to calm one’s nerves.

But beyond the crystals, the chants, the tinctures and herbal infusions, there is an inner, more psychological world that this idea of modern witchcraft empowers.

Much like feminism, a movement the witch wave intimately intersects with, ‘witchiness’ is not monolithic, but rather a tapestry of different identities and self-determinations. Depending on where you are in the world or indeed where you are in history, witches and their magic are either a sign of hope and healing, or of evil and danger. It’s all a matter of perspective. Some people are dabblers, others devotees. On one end of the spectrum, you might pull a daily affirmation card on your way out the door. On the other end, you may be casting full-on spells and attempting to heal your body and spirit (or take vengeance on that dude who ghosted you).

...this othering of wild women is what gives the modern witch movement its power

Yes, there is definitely an undercurrent of ‘fuck the patriarchy’ everpresent, but the book Becoming Dangerous: Witchy Femmes, Queer Conjurers, and Magical Rebels edited by Katie West and Jasmine Elliott, reveals many shades of witchy thinking through the spectrum of personal rituals that bring its collection of essayists power. Some identify as witches, others identify as writers, musicians, game developers, or artists. Their practices stray into collection, affirmation, beauty rituals and even BDSM, and empower them to resist sexism, self-doubt, racism, transphobia, ableism and other forces that might oppress them. 

While we don’t have the space to get too far into it here, it’s also worth noting that it is impossible to disentangle modern witchcraft with its colonial history. Many modern magick practices have their roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hispanic Brujería, as well as Louisiana Voodoo, Haitian Vodou, and Celtic Paganism. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot consciously and respectfully forge your own practice with rituals that resonate with you but it’s wise to keep cultural sensitivities in the peripheral.

It’s hardly a surprise that the historically maligned lens resonates primarily with women. After all, bar a handful of men, it has largely been women who have been accused of witchcraft, and suffered the consequences. Literal and metaphorical witchhunts have almost always been used as a means of controlling those that society ‘others’, though it could be argued that this othering of wild women is what gives the modern witch movement its power. After all, without a machine to rage against, there would be no power to take back.