I recently started a budget-friendly witch tip series on my social media. When I started to do this I didn’t realize at the time that showing that witchcraft can be financially accessible to people would become such a hot take-to a point of controversy. I’ve received comments and messages that go anywhere from stating that you have to use expensive stuff, all the way to tell me that if it’s not from a Botanica it’s invalid. And although I’m not gonna call anyone out on any of those I’d like to take a moment to talk about the truth of the matter. Although all paths are different, and no two witches will practice magic them the same way, folk magic has always been based around utilizing what you have available to you at that time.
While I am a firm believer that you should always shop small if possible, the reality is it’s simply not possible for everyone. So should witchcraft then be gatekept behind some kind of paywall, excluding everyone who can’t afford 15 dollars on a prayer candle? I had a comment (that the user deleted quickly, I hope because they thought better of their words) that if the ingredient is cheap, it feels less than to them.
Historically speaking, when it comes to folk magick, the witches who came before us did not have supermarkets, boutique magick items, or even botanicas. These are all relatively modern concepts. As a small business owner myself, I have course implore people to purchase things from small businesses, Botanicas, and really anything that they can to support small businesses thriving. However, if we look at things in a historical context our ancestors and the witches who came before us use basically everything that they could access for a little to no money. Remember that the spice and herb trade for example was incredibly limited and something just for the elite, until pretty modern years. In fact, our modern understanding of the spice trade wasn’t even around until the late 1800s.
American magick such as American Hoodoo and Appalachian magic, both utilize what as available to them, in plain sight. Both practices, although vastly different from different cultural backgrounds, utilizing the land around them, to create magick in their lives. I implore you to read this incredible article by Shoppe Black. Although not entirely on topic with what we are speaking about today, it touches on inclusivity and some history on American hoodoo.
Although I am sure that a lot of these comments are well intended, the idea that your magick is any more or less valid based on how much money you spend on your ingredients is ridiculous. First and foremost this ideology is inherently capitalist in nature. We as a culture (witchcraft) historically did things so hidden, that we didn’t pop down to the botanica and grab some prayer candles. So the idea that you *must* adhere to this idea of needing to buy the “proper tools,” is a capitalist mindset, that tells us we have more value, based on how much you’ve spent instead of the energy you’ve put into it. As witchcraft is all about energy, intention often partnered with tools, its easy to quickly associate more money=more better. But that simply is not the case. The average chime candle costs about a dollar. Is that of more value than a 50 dollar candle of the same color? Of course not. Does that mean that if you want to buy the 50 dollar candle, you shouldn’t? Of course not. But witchcraft is not a buy your way to success community.
