The Witch Economy Is Booming

0:05My favorite witch, don't we all have one, is probably Hermione from Harry Potter. It's Leviosa, not Leviosa. But there is a witch for every personality. There's the kooky sisters of Hocus Pocus. I put a spell on you. And now you're mine. Or for our more sophisticated listeners, how about the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth? Fair is foul and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air. For the most part, witches are known to be scary, nightmarish. And this has had some very real consequences throughout history. Tens of thousands of people, mostly women, have been burned at the stake or otherwise executed for being accused of witchcraft.

0:58But today, in this economy, witchcraft is back. It seems like the business of witchcraft is pretty mainstream at this point. I think people are really interested in magic as a whole. My colleague Javi Lieber recently wrote about witches. And she says that these days, you don't need to go into the deep, dark woods or to Hogwarts to find one. Just like everyone else, they're online. They are on Instagram or Shopify or TikTok. But I think Etsy is really the go-to. I hired an Etsy witch and it 100 % worked. And here is my true story. Yesterday morning at 8 a.m., I paid an Etsy witch. She casted four spells for me.

1:43If I could have someone cast a spell to hopefully speed my manifestations and my wishes and my dreams along, I'm here for it. I paid$14, and it was the best$14 I've spent.

1:59Hashtag Etsy witch has become a viral trend. These online witches are making their magical services available to anyone willing to pay for them. Want a boyfriend? Or a job? Or a clear sky on your wedding day? There's a spell for that. If you go on to Etsy, you will just find like thousands and thousands of witches or people who say that they're witches. And they are selling all sorts of like spells, enchantments, good luck charms, etc. For all sorts of prices. It looks like it's a witch's market.

2:38Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power. I'm Jessica Mendoza. It's Friday, October 31st.

2:52Coming up on the show, why it pays to be a witch.

3:12In thinking about the business of witchcraft, one of my first questions was, who is actually paying for these spells? So I talked to Tatiana Fernandez. She's 33, lives in Los Angeles, and works in social media. And for a long time, she, like me, was witch curious. I was raised in the era of, like, the craft and teen witch and, like, I've always wanted to be a witch. Same. I'm also scared. Everyone's like, whatever you do comes back to you in threes. And I'm like, okay, yeah, I'm not going to do any of it. Well, can you tell us what led you to buy your first spell? I started a job last year in like the middle of summer, so 2024.

3:52And then I got laid off from it in March of 2025. I'm sorry. I was so confident just because I've always gotten so many replies from any job applications that I put out. Recruiters have always been hitting me up. I've never struggled to get a job ever in my career. But to her surprise and disappointment, the weeks became months. And still, no jobs were coming through. It was really, it was tough putting out so many applications out there, endlessly fixing my resume, just not getting any replies back. After two months or so is like when I started kind of getting really antsy and anxious about it.

4:35Yeah. In this country, we only get unemployment for like X amount of months. So I'm like, the time is ticking for sure. Tatiana was getting desperate. Finally, she thought, why not? She gave in to her witch curiosity and bought a spell, paying a witch$4.95 on the online marketplace Etsy. So I was like, you know what? I've been already praying about it. Like, what would some, you know, a little bit of reinforcement? That wouldn't hurt. And so I was like, you know what? It's$5. I can spare the five bucks. I know I'm broke, but not that broke yet. Okay, so in your head, you're like, well, why not get a little reinforcement?

5:13How did you decide which spell, who to reach out to, which, which, which? It's funny because for this, I kind of was just like, whatever. I'm just going to go on Etsy and whoever's really winning the SEO ranks here is going to get my five bucks. And so I think I clicked probably the first one and I was like, okay, he's got good reviews. And like, it was specifically a career spell because he had different offerings at the time. And I was like, all right, let's give it a go. Here's what Tatiana's five bucks got her. First, a message from the witch saying he had cast an initial career and job success spell for her and that he'd recast it every night for 30 days.

5:55He also gave her some homework. He told her to write down on a piece of paper some symbols, which he called a sigil, and to keep it with her at all times. Tatiana did that and slipped the paper into her cell phone case. The witch also told her to get into a meditative state before she fell asleep that first night, which she did while thinking positive things about her job search. Okay, I can do this. Like, okay, I'm going to have a job. And like, I'm inviting this opportunity in. And that's exactly what I did that night. Reciting affirmations, meditating, positive thinking. These are pretty standard practices in the spellwork marketplace these days.

6:32Here's my colleague Javi again. A lot of the people that I interviewed for my story were equating witchcraft with this concept of manifesting. You know, you envision a positive outcome or something that you want to happen, and then you just like march to it. So you are reciting, you know, these affirmations, and you're doing things that sort of like get you to your goal. The rise of modern witchcraft coincides with a broader cultural interest in tarot, crystals, astrology, or what skeptics might call woo-woo. Javi says today's witchcraft is not all about positivity, though. You can also buy curses or hexes, though they're often more expensive.

7:13And some witches say they won't dabble in the dark arts for a client for ethical reasons. But it isn't necessarily the practice of black magic that can get a witch in double-double toil and trouble. It's website user policies. Etsy, where a lot of witches set up shop, technically doesn't allow the selling of spells. Etsy has a page of house rules where they say that they don't allow metaphysical services. So they don't allow spellcasting or something that will advertise a metaphysical outcome. And they specifically list attracting wealth, love, luck, more business, employment, relationship situations.

7:55So Etsy says outright that this stuff is not allowed. So how do all these thousands of witches, how do they get away with that? Yeah. So important to know, Etsy declined to comment for my story. But the witches that I spoke to did tell me that they all tell their customers that they can never promise an outcome. So just because you're buying a love spell does not mean you're actually going to get love. Kavi also says that some witches will include a photo or a physical gift when customers buy a spell. They'll get a picture of like candles and crystals and like, you know, sometimes like a little poem.

8:34Even though they're not really paying for the item, they're paying for the spell. If you're not happy with the outcome of your spell, can you get a refund? No refunds, no exchanges. Ha, interesting. However, some witches will offer to recast a spell if the buyer feels like it hasn't worked after a period of time. How big has this industry gotten? Honestly, it's impossible to tell. Like I said, Etsy doesn't really condone this market. And so, you know, they aren't really aggregating data about it. So getting an exact figure on this would be a little bit of magic. And there's certainly a lot of paying customers out there who want to believe in magic.

9:21Many of them are Gen Z or millennial women, like the spell buyer we talked to, Tatiana Fernandez. Tatiana says things started to change in her job search after she bought the spell from her witch. Did it work? Oh, yeah. It was wild. It was day and night. He told me, he's like, be patient. It takes about two weeks to kick in. And like literally two weeks after I started getting requests to interview and I was kind of like, I have good jobs that I would like to take if any of these would be like a blessing. And I landed one of them. I actually had to like project the other two kind of like process.

10:00Yeah. What made you feel like it was the spell and not something that you did or even coincidence? I honestly think it was the timing. And like the fact that kind of to the T of like when he told me things would start working, they did. I have nothing but great things to say about it. After the break. Hi, my name is Carissa and I'm 23. I am a witch. Welcome to my home.

10:33We go to meet a witch.

10:48Carissa Perez doesn't live in a gingerbread house in the woods. She lives in an apartment in Fremont, California. And she doesn't own a black cat or a magic wand, but she does have a business card. It says she's a witch. It says Bay Area Witch, spell work, products, readings, and it has my Instagram name so that people can find me. Carissa says she got into witchcraft because she was close to a pagan family growing up. But she's mostly a self-made witch. She's been reading spell books since high school. And she started her witch business four years ago. It's like basil is really good for luck.

11:27Stinging needle, you can use that for cleansing, banishing. Roses, good for love, self-love, things like that. Everything has its purposes. Carissa has another job. She also works at a pizza restaurant. But she says she can make up to$3 ,000 a month on witchcraft, and that's helped her afford to live by herself for the first time.

11:50Her new apartment is where she practices her spell work. She gave one of her producers a tour of it. I need to start. This is one of my altars, first altars. I like to have it out here in front of the house. I do have a bunch of my products here. Carissa has three of what she calls altars in her home. Small tables filled with candles, shells, crystals, and herbs. Carissa offers spells for things like seduction and glamour, reconciliation and new opportunities. And she charges between$35 and$120 for her spell work. So for this one, I am using as an example. With the candle, I always like to have the person's name on their written...

12:31Carissa sits at one of her altars, where she starts to cast her most in-demand enchantment, which she calls Under My Spell. It's basically a love spell, meant to make her client more alluring to those around them. We're opening that one up. Just spreading it right on the candle. Perfect. Carissa lights a homemade candle in the shape of a woman's figure, which she douses in oils and herbs. And what I like to say is now we are in session. Carissa reads off the words of the spell. Their energy flows like water, clear, calm, and irresistible. They are a mirror of beauty and enchantment. Then she concentrates on the candle's flame.

13:16It's just having truly that patience with it and just genuinely being present with it the whole time. When the candle is burned all the way through, the ritual is over. To end it, I just kind of, like I said, cleanse again and allow the wax to dry up. And then it's complete. Carissa updates her clients to let them know that the spell has been cast. She does not offer refunds. But she says her clients keep coming back. She says she's heard criticisms of witchcraft before. And she's aware that some people call what she does a scam or even devil's work. Everyone has their own opinions, own religions, and I respect that.

13:59And I am open to all of that. But I am a witch, and this is just what I practice. And I've financially blossomed. And, you know, it's funny enough because that's not, like, the most important thing to me here. It's what I do for my clients. But it definitely has brought me to where I am now, and that's what I'm very grateful of. Still, lots of folks don't think anyone should pay for so-called magic. People who see the rise of online witches as more of a trick than a treat. So I hired a witch, and she was supposed to help with our infertility. And, spoiler alert, it didn't work, okay? If you can order a spell through a website, there's an issue going on.

14:40Because I'm abracadabra and not impressed. My colleague Javi, like any good reporter, is a bit of a skeptic herself. Do you believe in magic, Javi? Ooh. I'm a religious person, so I don't believe in witchcraft. But, you know, at the same time, like, if somebody wants to put their belief in another being, like, you know, I shouldn't judge.

15:07What sticks out to you about, you know, this industry and how all of that relates to the economy? Yeah, I think my answer is a little bleak, but I feel like it points to desperation. I think it sort of indicates the moment that we're in in terms of our economy and all of the, you know, current factors that young people are facing. You know, it seems like for a lot of the sources that I talk to, they are trying all of the regular avenues and that doesn't work. So if the job market or the dating apps or the rising rents are not working in their favor, then maybe, you know, why not swing the other way and try something just completely abstract?

15:58Javi says that a lot of the people buying spells aren't the type to go into a psychic or palm reading store. But the anonymity and convenience of online shopping lowers the barrier to entry. And the magic of technology doesn't hurt either. I think the algorithms are totally responsible for fueling a lot of this. When your favorite influencer is posting on TikTok that they are hiring a witch, and then you have all these people commenting like, hey, I tried it, or like, you know, why not? Then it sort of like fuels the fire and becomes trendy. You've covered a lot of trends in the reporting that you've done over the years.

16:40Is this trend going away? Hmm. I feel like it's not going to go away because, you know, right now it's Etsy. And like in a couple of years, who knows what it will be. But like, you know, witchcraft is centuries old. It's always been here. And I feel like it will probably never disappear.

17:03Thank you.

17:33Alan Rodriguez Espinosa, Heather Rogers, Pierce Singhi, Jivika Verma, Lisa Wang, Catherine Whalen, Tatiana Zamis, and me, Jessica Mendoza. Our engineers are Griffin Tanner, Nathan Singapak, and Peter Leonard. Our theme music is by So Wiley, remixed for today's episode by Peter Leonard. Additional music this week from Catherine Anderson, Peter Leonard, Billy Libby, Bobby Lord, Emma Munger, Nathan Singapak, Griffin Tanner, So Wiley, and Blue Dot Sessions. Fact-checking this week by Mary Mathis.

18:06Thanks for listening and happy Halloween. See you on Monday.