I use the term California Witchcraft to describe the spiritual practice I’ve cultivated over a lifetime of researching and practicing magic while living on the California coast. So what is California Witchcraft, exactly?

California Witchcraft is a modern witchcraft practice that mixes meditation and magic to make everyday life feel magical.

It’s casual witchcraft for everyday magic: casting spells, chasing sunsets and living a magical life!

California Witchcraft is a blend of meditation and magical practices inspired by our beautiful golden state. The goal of California Witchcraft is the same as that of living in California: to live a magical life.

Influenced by the magic California has to offer, California Witchcraft emphasizes the power of spending time in and around nature. In addition to modern witchcraft practices, it incorporates other groovy topics beloved in my home state, from wellness and gamification to mindfulness and psychedelia.

As your witchy gal pal, I share my tips and tricks to help you live a magical lifestyle. Just as California’s landscape offers plenty of variety, I discuss a vast array of magical topics with the intention of adding extra layers of enchantment to your everyday life. Importantly, California Witchcraft is practical magic that delivers real-life results and an observable positive impact.

The spells and rituals I offer here are primarily meditations to help you focus your energy, boosted by the power of adding a mystical element to inspire and enhance the experience. Combining meditation and magic has brought me inner peace, healing and happiness since childhood, and it is this lovingly brewed concoction I am offering to you.

My goal in sharing this is to empower others to learn about and seek out the more ethereal aspects of life that can really enrich your experience here on this planet. Opening one’s heart to the current of deep mystery that runs beneath the veil of our everyday routines can allow life to become an ever-evolving adventure filled with infinite possibilities – and much more fun!

How I became a witch: my origin story and lore

Rocking the pointy hat since 1995.

My interest in witchy things began during childhood, when I developed an early fascination with fairies, plants, crystals and mythology. What started as curiosity quickly bloomed into full-blown obsession. When I was gifted my first Tarot deck as a preteen, the cards instantly became a comforting companion to help me reflect on and navigate my life.

I researched, then dabbled in Wiccan and Neopagan practices for a few years before branching off to explore my own independent path. I loved the meditative aspects of Wiccan and Neopagan rituals, and the traditions certainly influenced my practice, but I eventually realized that not all of the associated beliefs resonated with me.

I started using a different term for my practice because I could not find a label that accurately represented my own personal spiritual beliefs. It’s somewhat fair to say I could be described as a “green witch” and “hedge witch” in modern witchcraft terminology, as I’m a nature-centered solo practitioner. Still, I didn’t fit perfectly into any category I could find, and that’s why I made my own.

I have always seen magical practices as a form of meditation, and meditation as a form of magic. Through the lens of modern witchcraft, meditation and magic, I started to explore more and more ways to add magic into daily life.

Just like California, my style of magic tends to look on the bright side. We’re all about a healthy dose of sunshine out here, so all of the spellwork I offer is for the “good witch” focused on positive energy. However, I’m no lightworker, and will not preach perfect positivity. Shadow work is a major part of my practice, though hexes are not (you can read my thoughts on hexes and love spells here).

Witchcraft has become more widely accepted over the years, yet it’s still occasionally perceived as scary, dark or evil by people who don’t understand it. I hope to change this by demystifying magic and making it more accessible to anyone who is interested, without requiring them to subscribe to any particular religion or rigid belief system.

I believe that developing a magical practice is a personal journey unique to every witch, so please know that everything I share is intended to be a gentle suggestion or inspiration rather than a recommendation. I love learning about the many ways people practice magic and I wholeheartedly welcome different perspectives. With that in mind, I invite you to please join the conversation and share your thoughts with me so we can grow on this magical adventure together.

A brief history of California Witchcraft

By “history of California Witchcraft” I mean the history of my blog, book and modern witchcraft style. The history of witchcraft in California is a longer story for another day, and one that started long before I did. I’m adding this to make it clear that I don’t credit myself with starting witchcraft in California, or most of the concepts I mention – I just found a different way to go about it. Here’s how that came to be:

California Witchcraft all started with this blog, which was originally titled “Bewitch Your Life”. It began as an experiment to see if I could “bewitch” my life by using magic to improve it. I’m pleased to report that it worked!

When I first started writing about witchcraft, my life felt anything but magical. I worked at an exhausting minimum wage job and lived in a moldy closet while struggling with severe depression, chronic pain and PTSD. My magical practice was the one thing that kept me connected to a hope that life could be more than my current experience.

In the years that followed, my life went through a series of drastic changes. I changed careers and moved close to the beach, fulfilling a lifelong dream. For the first time, I was finally able to prioritize my physical and mental health. With the help of ketamine therapy, I healed from my chronic pain, depression and PTSD. I began to integrate my magical practice more and more with my daily life until it became completely intertwined, and things started getting better and better. My spirituality kept me grounded and focused on making my intentions a reality.

In 2020 I began to share more of my thoughts on witchcraft with the world through this blog and a book titled California Witchcraft.

Recently, I took a long break from posting to work on my own character development and evaluate my spiritual beliefs again. I’ve gone through a lot of change and growth over the past few years, and I’m back with more clarity and a renewed passion for yapping about what it means to live a magical life. Now I’m stoked to share what I’ve learned with you. Thank you for being here. ❤️

And for the record, this is the OG California Witchcraft! Three years after I published my first book, another author unfortunately used the same title to write about an unrelated Wiccan group from the sixties that used a completely different (and somewhat problematic) name to refer to themselves. Please note that I am not associated in any way with the other book, author or group! If “Unicornface” is not listed as the book’s author, I didn’t write it.

To everyone who has supported my work so far, whether it’s through encouragement, engagement or purchasing my book, THANK YOU! Aside from my books, none of my content is monetized yet. This is truly a passion project, and despite being motivated by inspiration I have to juggle this stuff with working full time. It really inspires me to keep going when I read your comments, and I deeply appreciate you all. Thank you so much for reading, and blessed be!

Note: This article has been updated from a previous version, and will be updated again whenever I think of something to add. So if you got a bit of deja vu while reading this, you’re not tripping.