The word “witch” bears an obscure meaning: for centuries, it was used in reference to women who used magic for evil purposes and those who simply lived outside of the social standards of their times. From fairytale antagonists to romanticized goth-clothed characters in Hollywood movies. Are they real? If so, how they go about their business in real life residing in a metropolis like NYC?
There are no sacred groves, no temples and no prayer centers for city witches. They have to make do with by-hour rental Manhattan studios in winter and deal with permit bureaucracy in the city parks. The only space they can come together freely and with no big overhead is cyberspace. And while diversity is already a built-in feature of any metropolis, public rituals in NYC does take it to the next level: pantheons and occult practices get mixed and matched to the point that it becomes a tradition by itself.
I started this project with completely different view on American witchcraft as I have now. At first, eclectic paganism seemed as real as a unicorn to me. I looked at it as a myriad of dress-up conventions, harry potter enactments and “living it” on Instagram. But many rituals, long discussions, and books later, I realized that it’s a totally unique thing. – just like the American culture itself. In times of rapid globalization, you would rarely find a pagan/witch working exclusively with one tradition in any western metropolis.
In order to navigate the subject better, I created a blog to record my thoughts and findings. The aspect of adapting the ancient faiths and lifestyles to city life of modern society interests me in particular. The project is ongoing.