The Modern Witch Project

Blame pop culture or that president, but whichever way you look at it witchcraft is having a moment. Daniela Elser spells all.

- Daniela Elser

I see no-one has bought me the traditional offering of a baby today,” jokes Stacey Demarco, addressing a packed conference room in a hotel on Sydney’s leafy north shore. The crowd, nearly exclusively women, giggle at her quip. I’m here, like everyone else, to learn how to become a witch. Demarco, who bills herself as ‘The Modern Witch’, is about as far from a child-eating crone as you can imagine. Stylish and charismatic, she was a PR high-flyer before throwing it all in to become a (very successful) professional witch.

If it weren’t for the towering piles of oracle cards, lunar diaries and evil-eye bracelets for sale, the event could be any old corporate strategy day – 80 women ranging from late teens to their 60s are crammed around tables, the requisite whiteboard and data projector at the front of the room.

While I’m hardly BFFs with my broom, an interest in all things witchy has crept up on me lately. I buy crystals and love a smudging stick as much as the next Goop devotee. I start every day with a forecast from astrologer Susan Miller. I adore reiki. Is undertaking the occasional ritual or spell really that much more out-there?