Season of the Witch
What do you want to be
When You Grow Up?
Someone asked me recently what was it, as a child, that I always said wanted to be when I grew up. At a bit of a loss, I tentatively answered that I had always supposed I would become a teacher. Even as I said it I knew it wasn’t entirely true*.
It only took me half a beat to realize the actual answer to this question. As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted more than anything to become a witch.
*Yes, there is still a part of me that assumes I will age into a white-haired English professor, tweed and all. In this vision I am also an old Scottish man [but that’s a story for another time].
Early 90’s pop-culture was rife with stories of regular suburban girls magically discovering that they were…well, magic.
I could not wait to become one of them—the sisterhood, the closeness to nature, the powers, the antique-filled manors, the amulets, the robes…
I wanted it all.
I would watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed, looking for clues about how it could happen to me. I’d watch BeWitched on Nick at Night and petition my mom to change my name to Tabitha. After watching Practical Magic I decided I should grow my hair long just in case. Then came The Craft, and I started keeping my eyes peeled for a Coven.
Never mind the fact that nothing in my largely traditional and somewhat conservative Christian upbringing scarcely pointed to supernatural roots; I held out hope.
Twenty years later and I’m still holding out hope.
I’ve done as much as I can to create a magical life for myself while I wait for my powers to kick in. I’ve built strong friendships with inspiring women. I’ve leaned on naturopathy and listened to my body’s rhythms to take care of myself and support others. I surround myself with talismans from my ancestors, and my robe collection is borderline out of control.
So what am I missing??
I’m primed for if—ahem…when—it does happen. While I wait, I console myself with the idea that maybe the real power in this life comes from leaning on my own inner strength to manifest the person I’ve always wished I were. I can’t think of any better way to honor my [probably 100% muggle] ancestors than to become a being who is in charge of herself, who looks out for others, and who operates from a place of love and integrity.
[Okay, and who also looks good doing it.]
That brings me to what I’m actually doing now that I’ve “grown up”…this.
Since I was young I’ve been interested in clothing; how it makes you feel, what it can be, and the love that can go into making a piece of wearable art. My mom put me in sewing lessons early, and I loved it. I graduated from mastering scrunchies and culottes in elementary school to modifying thrift shop finds and making tee-shirt quilts as a quirky teen. My wardrobe was adventurous, even while I stayed relatively shy. It was my escape and my expression.
Though when the time came to choose a post-high-school path, I shied away from fashion design as a career. I worried that turning a hobby that I enjoyed into a job I had to do might also turn it into something I dreaded. I also had a hard time ethically justifying a career based on materialism, consumerism, and vanity.
But it’s kept me coming back. Being from a long line of collectors, it’s in my blood to hoard thrift store finds alongside all my inherited pieces. Couple this with medium-grade anxiety about rising textile waste and there was no denying my path.
My motto las long been that everything I need already exists. All I have to do is find it. This theory makes shopping both more interesting & more complicated—everything I buy, I can’t help but consider its entire life cycle; not just its life with me and what happened before it got to me, but what will happen to it after I don’t need it anymore? Where will it go then? Will it still be useful anymore? And to whom?
There’s a lot of people who don’t think like this and that’s okay.
It’s A LOT to think about.
I recognize convenience is king when considering a purchase. We all wish we could blink and have everything we need magically appear out of thin air. [As it stands with Amazon, we’re not far off.] Here’s where I come in—I love doing the work to get these unique and surprisingly practical pieces into the hands of those who need and will use them. Thrift shopping is not for everyone. Hell, shopping is not for everyone.
The question is: if I can cut out the inconvenience of scavenging for everyday treasures, will they be treasured once I make then readily available?
Here’s to finding out.
