The State of Male Witchcraft: The Online Witch

Despite what pop-culture lore may have taught you, the majority of men who practice witchcraft do, indeed, refer to themselves as witches. But though they may share a universal name, exactly what that practice looks like varies from witch to witch, so ahead of Halloween, I’ll be speaking to three male witches about their craft and how they came to understand it.

First up is Enrique, a young witch living in Louisiana, for whom an online community of LGBTQ witches is essential to his practice. In contrast to the historical stereotype of witches as hermits in the woods, Enrique’s identity as a witch is front and center in his tweets: For him, the craft is communicated just as much through GIFs of Mariah Carey as it is through the Creole traditions of his ancestors. 

Name: Enrique
Age: 21
Location: Rural Louisiana
Witch Type: Gay Creole Witch

Embracing His Inner Witch

Witchcraft is something that was always a part of me. I’m from New Orleans and I’m Creole, and Creole Voodoo is a very prominent piece of New Orleans culture and the spirituality of the place. In a way, it’s always been in me, and I’ve decided to embrace it. 

Embracing it means allowing my inner power that’s been passed down to me through generations to shine through. My ancestors passed it to me, and it plays a major role in my everyday life — I have a knack for being able to help people with it. Some are skeptical until you do something that isn’t coincidental, then it’s either going to amaze or frighten them. 

The Ancestral Tradition

Culture and ancestry make it genuine to me, as in, it’s in my veins. I feel many look at witchcraft as a costume or some cute trend to jump on, and have a total disregard for those who’ve originated it. Witchcraft is heavily whitewashed — just look at the subculture on Tumblr! People get rose quartz and a white sage bundle and say they’re witches and smudging [burning bundles of sage throughout a space in order to clear negative energy], which is extremely offensive to Native Americans, as it’s a sacred ritual in their culture. 

‘Cleansing’ would be the correct term, but they don’t use it. This is just a surface level of the issue, but I guess a way to wrap it all up would be that people look at Voodoo, Hoodoo, Santeria, Brujeria and Native American spirituality as a fun trend, and that leads to appropriation.

Creole voodoo is what’s natural to me. The title “witch” is up to the practitioner — some voodoo practitioners don’t call themselves witches, but practitioners or rootworkers. If someone wants to get involved in it, I recommend they speak and interact with those who are a part of it first, and to respect everything that person tells them. 

The Daily Witch Routine

My daily witchcraft routine is waking up and speaking my words into existence –– words are extremely powerful. I love burning incense and candle magic. I speak with my crystals, but the most important thing with craft is that you also work with it, not just speak it and wait for it to happen — you work and will it to happen. I practice crystal, candle, incense and slight divination.

I currently work for myself, creating jewelry, unique apparel and more at Dark Crystal Moon, my small business. It’s very inspired by my witchcraft and astrology — the designs, the styles, the symbolism. I’m a Cancer, which is ruled by the Moon. Cancer is also a water sign, and it can get very complex on what each piece means to me.

Other People’s Expectations

Many expect witches to be very dark, gothic and secluded when not every witch is the same. I, for one, love things that aren’t gothic in nature or aesthetic — I do appreciate black, mostly because it goes with everything, but I’m far from the stereotypical witch. It kind of goes back to the appropriation part — many think wearing all black and carrying a rose quartz make them a witch or witchy; it’s very comical but sadly it happens a lot. 

My style is a little bit of everything. I like glam, preppy, streetwear, formal. Jewelry-wise, I love glamorous icons such as Mariah Carey. She inspires my jewelry a good bit. I think of what would look good on her and when I see photos of her, I think, Wow, a necklace I’ve made would look perfect on her! My aesthetic changes so often depending on my mood — some days I feel like wearing all black, some days I love floral prints. 

Being Extremely Online

I currently live in a tiny rural Louisiana town — not the most welcoming of my kind. New Orleans is very full of Creole witches, so I do have more of a community there, but since I don’t live in New Orleans anymore, being online helps me with reaching others, learning from others and teaching others. The majority of those whom I interact with online are LGBTQ witches. 

Those who accept the fact that both natural masculine and feminine energy exists within us already open a lot of doors, spiritually. More often, LGBTQ men are more open to their feminine side, which unlocks more possibilities. For one, you have more magical abilities — unlocking the emotions to be more attuned to feelings, divination, tarot and readings. How you feel is a big part of your understanding, as are empathy and sympathy.

I think a man would already be in touch with his emotions before he decided to pursue witchcraft. From my experience, men who aren’t in touch with their emotions usually wouldn’t look into the craft.

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Magdalene Taylor

Magdalene Taylor is a staff writer at MEL. She covers internet culture, sex and the online adult industry. She lives in Brooklyn but is from God's Country, Western Massachusetts.