Witchin Wednesday- Being a Witch in the 90s

 


How did we find things before the Internet?

How did we know what was going on? How did we stay connected? Or get connected? I barely remember, yet somehow we did it. 

Newspapers, magazines, bulletin boards...

Baby witches today have no idea how good they have it, with social media they can easily join groups, ask questions, and find meetups and events.

I suffered through high school and college with zero witchy friends. I know there had to be some Witch/Wicca/Pagan people in my area because we had two metaphysical stores. Supply and demand, those didn't stay open if no one was buying. 

I should have asked if there were groups or events in the area but I was so quiet and shy I just browsed, bought my things, and left. 

Most people find their tribe in college. I found a sorority. Basically the antithesis of what I was really looking for. My sisters were great but I never felt like I fit in or belonged there. I was looking for like-minded souls and unfortunately, 95% of those girls were not it.

I worked for the Cultural Liaison at UM-Flint and got to help plan events like the Chinese New Year Celebration, a Latino Dinner, and a Native American Pow Wow but there were no Wicca/Witch/Pagan groups at university, so no solstice events to plan.

The Internet was still new and I didn't learn my way around it until the year 2000. 

So throughout the 90s I was still old school. I picked up a few magazines from the local stores- Circle Sanctuary and Sage Woman was around back then I think.  I would scour the classified sections, look for local events but they were always too far away or too expensive for me to attend. Somehow I ended up with a couple witchy pen pals. And those ladies made all the difference. They helped me feel less alone. Less like an outcast. I finally had people to chat with that were like me. 

In the mid, to late 90s witchy movies and tv shows like The Craft, Practical Magic, and Charmed started popping up. It made being a witch more mainstream- or at least made looking like one more popular. But it didn't help me find my tribe.

90s new-agers filled the metaphysical stores. They were so "out there" they scared me away. I might believe in some woo woo and be a witchy woman but something about 90s new agers was very hippy trippy and didn't vibe with me at all. 

By the late 90s I was a mom with two kids and had pretty much given up on ever finding people like me, finding a place to fit. So I focused on raising my family and finding a career that fulfilled me.

I had no idea that eventually all those places would meet at the tip of a pointy witch hat.

Throughout the beginning of the 21st century, I continued my witchy learnings- thanks to Amazon books were easily accessible and websites were filled with knowledge on everything from astrology to spell casting.

I returned to my first love, books. I began writing professionally in 2005. In December of 2010, I took a leap and opened my own business Bewitching Book Tours. Simply putting Bewitching in the business title opened doors for me and connected me to the Pagan/Witch communities in Michigan. I became a sponsor for the Michigan Witches Ball and started attending every year. But I still didn't fully immerse myself because the ball and the group that planned it are in the Detroit area and I'm in Flint.

In 2018 a friend, Davonna, from high school and college (she is also one of my sorority sisters) launched Witches Tea Flint. It's funny how she was one of my confidants in high school but never really was into the witchy stuff at all. Years later when we reconnected she was all about the witchy world. 

Witches Tea Flint made me realize that witches are all around me. The Tea Talks and events were such a wonderful way to connect with local like-minded people. 

Things were going great when the pandemic hit. Now I miss people. I miss events. I am so over ZOOM. So over it. 

I'm hoping by mid to late 2021 we can get back to meeting up again. 




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