I gotta tell ya, I just groan when I see these people. Honestly, girlfriend, get a stylist. But then, maybe this is what people expect (want) a witch to look like? Would you trust someone to cast out the evil vibes if they showed up wearing Jimmy Choos and a Burberry coat? Seriously, I know a number of practicing witches, and I promise you, none of them look this over-the-top. I’m sure this lady is just a delightful person and knows her stuff, but what’s with the Mr. T jewelry? Carrying 30 pounds of metal around your neck does not make your spells anymore effective. Anyway, I thought it was interesting that at least in Salem witches are now welcomed and sought after.
Need Your New House Blessed? Call A Witch!
fillingspaces.wordpress.com 
Dress for success I guess. People do expect a witch to look a certain way.
I doubt that they’d trust me if I showed up in one of my normal Brooks Brothers or Ralph Lauren suits…
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I guess I’m getting a little out of patience with this stereotype. It makes it harder for pagans in general to be taken seriously when it looks like we all run around playing dress-up as if it’s the Middle Ages. I’m a nice top/jeans type myself, but will err on the side of overdressing in an unfamiliar situation. I don’t think it helps anyone to look like we just fell out of a fairytale. But I guess if it’s working for her, more power to her.
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I figure, religion and all aside since I don’t know her faith, it’s her business and you have to dress and comport yourself as appropriate to that business. For me that means suit and tie, for her it means atrociously stereotypical garb, and for the Kardashians….
Yes though, it makes it harder for the rest of us, but I think that her business does as much harm of that sort as her wardrobe does. I’d rather not delve too deeply into that pet peeve of mine though.
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All due respect, she looks like the sort I’d cast a spell in order to AVOID!. It is not a house’s fault that it was foreclosed upon – if that fact creeps out the new owner,s they should avoid that sort of property, not go trolling for foreclosed properties in the hopes of saving money, and then go looking for some magic spell to bring back the happy energy. IMO, the energy you live with is the energy you yourself bring to the home.
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p.s. I’m with you, DD – when in doubt, it’s better to overdress a bit. Maybe the witch in the video is thinking the same thing, and all that bling is her idea of looking successful?
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Could be. I do think houses can harbor negative energy, though. My own house makes me wonder what sort of things went on here. It has seen more owners than any other house on the street since it was built, several of the families who lived here moved out after divorces or other personal tragedies. I’ve probably lived there longer than anyone, and the house is 50-yrs-old now. Several of the houses on the street that were all built around the same time were still occupied by the original owners/builders when I moved into mine, and my house had already seen 3 0r 4 families (not entirely sure of its history past about 3 families back). I’ve often thought about that over the years.
I can understand how some people don’t like to follow fashion trends, but what makes me suspect cheesy pandering to stereotypes is, why don’t people like this lady ever adopt a fashion style from say, Regency England, or Czarist Russia, or something less predictable? Why do they fall back on the caricature of the medieval witch? I’m all in favor of doing your own thing, but this isn’t original or unique. And the bling is just ludicrous. You can be unconventional without being outlandish. But maybe this works as advertising for her business, as well. And it is Salem, after all, which really hypes and promotes the whole witch thing for tourism.
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For what it’s worth, I’ve seen more jewelry on the matrons my departed mother-in-law hung out with — herself included. Maybe it’s a generational thing more than a witch thing? Even her accent reminded me more of a bubbe than a witch, but then again, why stereotype?
The idea of cleansing a space of bad energy permeates (no pun intended) the lives of even the most secular folks. I worked for a small company owned by a Buddhist couple who used to do a ritual cleansing of our offices at least once a year — they didn’t talk about it — they just waited until we all went home and did their thing. You just kinda noticed it smelled a little differently the next day. The irony is that, despite the karma, the co. did eventually fold. You may/may not be surprised how many companies in the garment center employ a fung shui doc to configure their office space at least once. And these are folks who are decidedly not spiritual.
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Hahaha! 🙂 yeah, she definitely had the bubbe thing going on. Too funny. She must be Italian, though, the narrator said she is Stregha which is an Italian tradition.
For some reason, Feng Shui is considered less ‘alternative’. It seems like anything out of the Asian countries gets a pass, whereas alternative Western spiritual beliefs are immediately written off as kooky, like we’re newcomers to the planet or something. I did wonder later if she was just dressed like that for purposes of the ritual, and maybe she doesn’t run around like that all the time. Seems like a lot of work to put all that regalia on every morning 😉
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I haven’t been to Salem in many years, but I used to go down there every so often. When I did, a lot of store owners tended to “dress up”, so to speak. I’m not sure how it is now. But back then, Laurie Cabot’s style had a large influence on the witch and pagan community there.
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Oh yes, dear Laurie. As outrageous as she was/is, the pagan community owes her a lot for being brave enough to live her life that way. Not many of us would have been bold enough to work that hard to help the pagan community be more accepted. I used to know some people who were friends with her, sadly I’ve lost touch with them all now. It could be a lot of it is just for show with this lady, but maybe not. I’d bet she and Laurie know eachother 😉 There was a wonderful show about her and witches in general on that old “In Search Of…” program that Leonard Nimoy hosted, way back in the 70s. They took a lot of crap from the locals, I’m sure it was tough on her daughters.
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I went to Laurie’s store several times. Then, I think one of her daughter’s took it over, or started one of her own.
I know some in the community thought her too, “commercial”. But I think she was very brave and did a lot to get paganism, witchcraft, and wicca accepted by more of the “regular” folk.
I also recall seeing that episode. They used to show repeats of In Search Of, when I was a kid. Great show. I still recall one they did on Anastasia. 🙂
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There was a lot of criticism of Laurie over the years, and I think eventually she started to believe her own press, but I agree. Her willingness to live so openly as a Witch paved the way for all those who came after. As I recall, the one daughter whose initiation was featured in that “In Search Of…” episode was the only one that followed in her footsteps. I heard another daughter moved to CA and wanted nothing to do with paganism or that whole scene. While I may not choose to live my life in ceremonial robes, I really give her credit for being brave enough to do that. Anyone who is any kind of ‘outsider’ can understand what it means to live differently from the mainstream.
I remember the Anastasia episode, too. Ultimately it was proven through DNA testing that she was not Anastasia, but it might even have been after her death that they found out. I can’t recall the details now.
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What fascinates me the most about that story, is that I believe that woman truly believed she was Anastasia. She wasn’t trying to pull a fast one. I think the most common conclusion was that she had been one of the maids and suffered a rare form of amnesia.
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I think she believed it, too, right to the end. It availed her nothing, but she persisted in the claim. She really did have a resemblance to Anastasia, there was something about her nose that was very distinctive (at least to me). I think they found she had worked as a maid, either in Germany (where she first surfaced, making the claim. Didn’t someone pull her out of a river in Germany?) or Poland.
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According to the Wiki article, she tried to commit suicide in Berlin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Anderson
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Oh oh, that’s what it was. It’s been awhile since I saw the show. I knew she had been fished out of a river somewhere (apparently Berlin), but there was some tie to Poland (they say she was a Polish factory worker). I’m sure she believed to her dying day that she was Anastasia.
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Anastasia’s not an uncommon name in Poland (I had a great-uant by that name) – the poor thing probably was AN Anastasia, and convinced herself that she was THE Anastasia.
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oopsies – now you all know I know how to spell “aunt,” right ? I love me some wordpress, but I wish we were able to edit our own posts.
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I know, I don’t know why WP doesn’t give that option. Lots of other sites give you anywhere from a few seconds to as long as 10 minutes to go back and edit a comment. Hopefully it’s something they’re working on.
According to Wikipedia, her real name was Franziska Schanzkowska. I guess she had no family, or none that was interested in helping her. Another mystery we will probably never really solve. That she managed to convince members of the Romanov family that she was Anastasia, if she wasn’t, is amazing.
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If you can add plugins to your blog, there’s one for that – WP Ajax Edit Comments. I use it on my blog (self-hosted / wordpress.org) and it’s quite nice.
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Thanks, jonolan. I’m not sure I can, since this blog is on WordPress.com. I do have my other blog at ddsyrdal.com that I run WordPress on, but is hosted on Bluehost.com that I could probably use it on. I’ll have to look into it.
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This was interesting, I did not know people still do this. My mother and I bless each home we move into always. Also with a new child we place a red ribbon around their wrist so that the devil do not play with them. When they are a certain age the ribbon is remove. What age and why that age I don’t know to be honest. It is something people in Jamaica and part of the Carribean do.
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Oh that’s interesting, I never knew that! 🙂 I hadn’t heard of people blessing a new house, but I guess here in the U.S. it’s done less openly, people are more likely to be ridiculed for it. And having a witch do it would definitely not go over well in most communities. A priest, a rabbi, fine. People might think it’s silly, but if you tell them you had a witch do it, you might find kindling piled up in your yard.
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That’s really doubtful. I’m quite open about such things – and am polygamous to boot – and have never had any real issues.
Admittedly, there was upon occasion and location a certain ostracism until they realized that just because I was openly Pagan (I actually prefer “Heathen”) didn’t mean my politics were particularly Liberal in most areas.
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It may be different where you live, but in my neighborhood it would be risky. I’ve gotten horrified looks when people found out I read Tarot cards. Not everyone certainly, but there are enough Fundies here who even recoiled at the Harry Potters books, because ya know, they’re about “WITCHES!!“. One co-worker was very proud of her son for refusing to read the books on those grounds. On the train on the way to work this morning, someone was praising Jesus for something or other. Co-workers have crosses and Bible verses on plaques in their cubes. I think I’ll just stay in the broom closet.
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Perhaps; I’ve lived openly Heathen in many areas of the country though, including the rural South (home for me) and even wear, upon occasion, my pentacle tie tack to business meetings w/ various Fortune 1000 firms.
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They probably thought your pentacle was a Star of David 😉
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