Inside the life of a modern-day witch
There’s a chill in the air, the trees are putting on their annual display of golds and reds, and it won’t be long before kids are donning spooky costumes after dark to pester their neighbours for sweets.
But for Rebecca Beattie, a modern-day witch, this time of year means something quite different. "I’ll be getting together with my coven in Dartmoor to celebrate the autumn equinox with dancing, feasting and rituals soon," she explains. "And at Samhain [Halloween], we work with tarot cards to see what might be coming up over the winter months."
If you walked past Rebecca in the supermarket, you wouldn’t think she was a witch – there’s no pointy hat or broom tucked under her arm. Living in Devon with her partner John, a witchcraft historian, and their spaniel, Scout, by day the 51-year-old works for a drug and alcohol counselling charity. But about 20 years ago, Rebecca began exploring witchcraft.
“When I was approaching 30, I went through several big life events. I lost my mum, I had a major relationship breakdown, and my career as an actor was making me miserable.”
A friend introduced Rebecca to oracle cards, designed for divination and fortune-telling, as well as crystals, and one day she wandered into a bookshop in London that hosted witchcraft classes. "It was here that it all started to crystalise for me," she says. "When I realised Pagans believe in a connection to nature, that really spoke to me. Living in central London, I was pining for the natural beauty of Dartmoor where I grew up. I was surprised by how natural it all felt."
There are several different types of witchcraft and paganism, but Rebecca felt drawn towards Wicca, a modern pagan practice that evolved in the 1950s. "Wiccans operate in covens, and I liked the idea of being part of a group."
Anyone can call themselves a witch at any time, Rebecca tells me, but to be Wiccan requires a lot of dedicated study. "There was a whole syllabus I had to learn about witchcraft history and various energies. A lot of Wiccan knowledge isn’t written down, but passed through oral tradition, so I had a teacher I worked with closely. At the end you undergo an initiation into Wicca, which not everyone achieves, but I did and I was accepted into a coven."
While Rebecca generally refers to herself as a witch, she identifies mostly with green witchcraft. "As a green witch, my connection to any sense of the divine is through nature. Just as a Christian might go to church, I go outside to the fields, woods and shorelines." She also works with herbs and plants to harness their magical properties. "I work with a system called pre-modern planetary magic, an ancient practice in which certain herbs are ruled by the different planetary bodies."
For example, a spell for self-care might involve rose oil or rose geranium – "rose is associated with the planet Venus, which looks after all loving thoughts."
To banish the sniffles I’m suffering with today, Rebecca suggests that rather than thinking about ‘banishing’ the cold, I could do a ritual that brings in the positive element of health. "For this we can use candle magic. We’d use a yellow candle which represents the sun, and solar herbs like oranges and lemons."
Do spells ever go wrong? "Yes, always!" she laughs. "One of the things I love about life as a witch is that magic, when it does work, can be unexpected, unpredictable and often comes with a dollop of humour."
Having studied and been initiated into a Wiccan coven, and now the high priestess of her own coven, Rebecca teaches magic to others. "Just before the Covid pandemic, I wanted to start teaching internationally, so I did a spell using sigil magic. I designed a symbol that to me represented teaching internationally, and carved that into a candle, before anointing it with the appropriate planetary herbs and oils. Burning the candle releases the spell into the atmosphere."
It wasn’t until she was teaching witchcraft classes over Zoom from her kitchen table in the middle of lockdown that she realised the spell had worked – just not in the way she’d imagined. "I realised with a jolt that people were dialling into my classes from all over the world – I was working internationally, but I hadn’t specified in the spell that I wanted to travel as part of that!"
Can anyone perform spells? "Yes. But you need an open mind," she says. "You must allow yourself permission to the possibility that magic might exist. I know I’m happier living in a world where I believe that’s the case. As a witch, even making a cup of tea or running a bath can become a sacred act, by stirring my intention into the tea or adding magical bath salts I’ve made into the bath. It brings an element of ritual to the everyday. It’s very mindful."
Rebecca is keen to emphasise the 'normal' side of magic to me. "There are a lot of misconceptions around witches: that we worship the devil or that men can’t be witches. Another is that we’re looking to do harm to people, but witchcraft is a very benevolent life path – most of the witches I know have a strong sense of service to their community."
I wonder what she thinks of Hollywood’s representation of witches, especially with a new Marvel series, Agatha All Along, coming to Disney+ this month. It stars Katherine Hahn as the infamous centuries-old witch Agatha Harkness who on a quest to regain her magical powers.
"Fictional representation is generally so important for humans to understand the world around us," says Rebecca. "Shows like Agatha All Along are great because they show that the world isn’t binary, where you’re either good or evil. I think Agatha probably has questionable values, but if you look at the group of witches she’s gathering – different personalities, genders, ethnicities and belief systems – that’s very representative of the witch community I know."
While Rebecca proudly calls herself a witch (her friends, family and co-workers are fully aware that she practices witchcraft), she says that not all witches feel confident enough to be so open. "I come from a very accepting family, and while I have some friends who might side-eye it a bit, they embrace me as I am. But not all witches are out of the broom cupboard, as there’s still quite a bit of prejudice out there."
However, Rebecca describes the witchcraft community as very welcoming and accepting. "Witchcraft and paganism as a whole is a counter-culture, so you find it attracts a lot of people who feel like they don’t fit in anywhere else."
Many midlife women are turning to magic these days, a trend that Rebecca isn’t surprised by. "Being able to harness magic is incredibly empowering. I think women want to have more of a say in how they’re living their lives, and Wicca is a matriarchal religion – covens are led by high priestesses who have the final say in how things are done."
For Rebecca, her favourite part of being a witch is "finding the sacred in everywhere I go," she says. "We live in quite a hard world, with a lot of harsh things we have to deal with, but knowing there are possibilities of benevolent energies out there makes life much less scary."
Watch Agatha All Along on Disney+ from 19 September.
The Way Through The Woods: The Green Witch’s Guide To Navigating Life’s Ups And Downs by Rebecca Beattie is out now.
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