Spell a Little Spirituality

Vogts sprinkled rose petals, incense ash, rose quartz and the ashes of a paper with a self-love symbol drawn on it into a brand-new mini jar she’d ordered off Amazon, and tucked it into the cubby under her window.

She made this spell jar — a physical form of the bond created through a spell — as an embodiment of self-love, something she makes about twice a month, each time trying to implement a new element of positivity into her life like stress relief or new connections.

Recent East graduate Halley Vogts is a witch. No, she doesn’t wear a pointy hat or ride a broom or turn people into frogs — although she’s heard the stereotype. She follows and practices witchcraft and Paganism, which, to her, represent a spirituality that brings powerful Pagan and feminist energy, and it has brought positive change into her life. The spell jars are just one piece of this.

Paganism is a religious movement incorporating beliefs or practices outside of the main world religions, in particular nature worship, and encourages practicers follow their own inspiration and beliefs.

Vogts likes to bring her spirituality into all aspects of her life, and tries to do something relating to it at least once a day. Vogts considers witchcraft and Paganism a spirituality path for herself rather than a religion as she doesn’t follow any set of rules, and her practice can be something as simple as setting the intentions in her mind to feel free in the coming week, lighting incense in her room or opening one of her spell books and doing research. 

“It’s more, at least for me, the sense of putting something out in the universe and striving for it,” Vogts said. “It’s not immediate, it’s not completely structured, but it helps at least with myself to put effort into something and feel like I’m trying to pursue a greater good.”

She sets her own intentions through manifestation and meditation, whether that means telling herself she’ll make more money in the coming week or writing out her hopes for the week, and puts her beliefs of witchcraft’s moral into practice daily.

While Vogts has never been very religious, she has always been a spiritual person, believing people get back what they put into the universe. 

The strong feminist energy coming from the abundance of women identifying with Paganism and pull of being a part of something bigger immediately attracted Vogts to this form of witchcraft. She had understood parts of witchcraft and the spirituality for most of her life, but in seeing the welcoming culture of it through the large representation of the LGBTQ+ community involved, she began doing more research. 

“Anything is possible in the weird, weird universe that we live in,” Vogts said. “And just feeling like I’m part of something bigger, more connected with the universe is an amazing thing for me, and I love having that be a part of my life.” 

Vogts still takes part in the more physical aspects of witchcraft, like collecting crystals and making spell jars. She stops by the top floor of White Light Bookstore often, her favorite spot to shop for crystals. There she looks through crystal digital cards, which show what each crystal represents so you can find one crystal to resonate with and buy — although she also likes to pick some simply because they’re pretty or make her feel good.

This practice isn’t just a hobby. It’s a spirituality that’s changed Vogts life.

“If I can’t look at myself in the mirror that day or whatever’s going on, it helps me kind of think back,” Vogts said. “I’m just a body. It’s doing whatever it’s doing. It almost makes everything seem just a little bit simpler around me. If I’m having a really bad day, I guess it helps me get roots in with my life back again, like, ‘Hey, things will be fine. Mother Nature’s on my side. Everything’s alright.’”

Vogt’s friends have noticed the positive changes spirituality has brought to her life as well.

Barstow junior Christian Aldredge has known Vogts for over four years, and he recognizes that Vogts’ new-found spirituality has clearly been a positive influence on Vogts’ life and confidence, even though they don’t talk about it very often. 

“I remember, years ago, around this time, she would always wear her hair in that huge bun because she hated letting her hair down,” Aldredge said. “And I remember she was just trying all these different things to be like, ‘What do I like?’ ‘What do I like to look like?’ ‘How do I present myself?’ And I think that she definitely found security in that portrayal of a Pagan witchcraft lady.”

The non-specific aspect of the spirituality is part of why she finds comfort in witchcraft. Receiving a very vague description of upcoming change while reading her tarot cards, Vogts knows she could take that in 17 different ways — relationship-wise, health-wise or even mentality-wise. It’s up to her to select how she receives it and what she does with the information.

“There’s this really nice freedom that I feel, like you can get from getting a tarot reading, and it gives you a really vague description of whatever that card means,” Vogts said. “I just really love how silly and how big it can be because it gives me options to think about what is really affecting me and what I can really work on.”

Vogts finds her practice of these spiritual beliefs something of a private and personal place for self-growth. Still though, Vogts loves to talk about it with her friends and family as much as they’ll listen. She celebrates some Pagan holidays with them, such as Yule, a holiday to celebrate the Winter Solstice, and Samhain, a celebration of the end of harvest season and a day when the veil between the dead and living is very thin.

Vogts hasn’t found a large group of people with similar beliefs, but she has connected with junior Aina Lewis over their shared spirituality. Both, regardless of this remaining a more personal matter, found comfort in the close friendship and fostered more personal growth — Lewis can ask Vogts how she’s celebrating Yule, or where she goes to buy her favorite tourmaline crystals.

“I think that helps me, like, I am not alone in my beliefs,” Lewis said. “And that brings some sort of confidence with it.”

Regardless of one’s specific beliefs or path taken in witchcraft and Paganism, Vogts knows one thing — it’s a positive path.

“It’s very easy to be morbid, and think the universe is just a big, vast, endless thing in my life that has no meaning,” Vogts said. “So with witchcraft, I really love how accepting they are and how convenient but it’s almost in the sense of no matter what you come from, no matter what you do, there’s a way for you to be a part of it.”