The Witch Wave

Natasha Khan AKA Bat for Lashes is known for her critically-acclaimed songs about otherworldly love and witchy revelations. She has released five studio albums starting in 2006 with Fur and Gold, followed by Two Suns (2009), The Haunted Man (2012), The Bride (2016), and her most recent, 2019’s Lost Girls - and she has been nominated for the Mercury Prize three times. Natasha also released an album under the moniker Sexwitch in 2015, which is a collection of reinterpreted psychedelic 1970s folk songs from around the world, and is a collaboration between herself and the band Toy. She also has composed the soundtrack for the television show Requiem. In addition to her mythic and supernatural symphonics, she is also a filmmaker, fashion and costume designer, and visual artist, who brings her unbridled imagination to her videos and shorts, and has been brewing some feature-length projects as well. Be sure to check out the brand new Bat For Lashes Patreon where you can get all kinds of bonus materials and magic direct from Natasha herself. On this episode, Natasha discusses the importance of staying connected to childhood fascinations, the powerful pull of witches, and other inspirations for her sonic spells.Pam also talks about maintaining the wonder of witchcraft, and answers a listener question about how to complete a working of maternal magic.Our sponsors for this episode are Temperance Home and Bar, The Four Elements of the Wise book by Ivo Dominguez, Mithras Candle, Tarot for the Wild Soul, BetterHelp, Luna Lux Botanicals, and Seraphina Capranos

Elissa Washuta, Native American nonfiction writer, discusses her examination of Native American and white culture in her work, magical practice, and the writing process. The podcast also explores synchronicity, the journey into witchcraft, frustrations with writing, Lewis and Clark's history, and reflections on sobriety and commitment.

Dori Midnight is a Jewish mystic, herbalist, artist, and teacher of magic. She also practices intuitive healing, weaves collaborative, liberatory ritual spaces, makes potions, and writes liturgy, spells, prayers, and poems. For over 20 years, Dori has been teaching workshops on ritual and remedies for unraveling times, Jewish Plant Magic, community care work, and queer magic and healing.Dori’s work is supported and inspired by a web of teachers, dreamers, and co-conspirators in Disability and Healing Justice work, queer liberation, and earth based, multi-rooted/diasporic Judaism and is in service to more love, more healing, and more freedom for every body.  On this episode, Dori discusses the witchcraft of Judaism, ways to reconnect the seemingly broken links of diasporic traditions, and Jewish protection magic against demons of all kinds.Pam also discusses her journey of weaving together her Paganism with her family’s Judaism, and answers a listener question about Jewish folk magic resources.Our sponsors for this episode are The Spiral Bookcase, BetterHelp, and Maude’s Paperwing Gallery

Liza Fenster is a life long Witch who works as Reiki Master Teacher, tarot educator and reader, and ordained minister. She combines her intuitive gifts with 20 years of extensive spiritual and metaphysical practice and study from places including the Morris Pratt Institute, Southeastern School of Neuromuscular Massage, and more.As a Reiki Master Teacher, she offers attunement classes as well as individual healing sessions. Her background in neuromuscular massage therapy also provides comprehensive knowledge of anatomy and physiology – and lend itself to her integrated approach to gentle somatic therapy and healing in both the physical and spiritual realms. She’s also an ordained minister who sacred life events and sits for spiritual counseling sessions.Acting in this way as community servant, she is committed to both ecological and community healing on local and global levels - and with that, deeply committed to social justice and the healing and reparation of BIPOC communities and to the decolonization of wellness. She works in service of the Crow Mother Kachina.On this episode, Liza discusses how to combine divination practices of the body and the spirit, recent magical messages from the tarot, and her journey to reconnect with her Indigenous roots. Pam also talks about witchcraft and the body, and answers a listener question about rituals for transitioning out of an old home and into a new one.Our sponsors for this episode are Lindsay Mack’s Rewilding the Tarot workshop, Mithras Candle, Luna Lux Botanicals, BetterHelp, and the Magic Monday podcast.

Dylan Thuras is the cofounder and creative director of Atlas Obscura, an online and in-person portal to over 20,000 of the world’s most weird and wonderful places and experiences. He is co-author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders and the New York Times bestselling kids book The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid. He is also the host of the fabulous new Atlas Obscura podcast. Dylan has appeared as a host on NPR’s All Things Considered and a guest on Science Friday, and CBS Sunday Morning, and has been featured in the New York Times and The New Yorker, among others.On this episode, Dylan discusses his favorite witchy travel destinations, the ethics of visiting sacred sites, and how to cultivate more wonder whether journeying far away or in your own neighborhood.Pam also talks about balancing wanderlust with domestic magic, and answers a listener question about connecting with deities.Our sponsors for this episode are Lindsay Mack’s Rewilding the Tarot workshop, BetterHelp, Marvel + Moon, and Seasonal Steep

Taisia Kitaiskaia is a Russian-American poet and writer of witchly words. She is the author of two books of experimental, enchanting advice from the infamous Slavic witch, Ask Baba Yaga: Otherworldly Advice for Everyday Troubles and its follow-up, Poetic Remedies for Troubled Times from Ask Baba Yaga. She has also written The Nightgown and Other Poems and Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers, the latter of which is a collaboration with artist (and former Witch Wave guest) Katy Horan that celebrates magical women writers - and was an NPR Best Book of 2017. Together they also released a divination deck, The Literary Witches Oracle. Taisia has received fellowships from Yaddo and the James A. Michener Center for Writers, and her work has been published in journals such as A Public Space, Gulf Coast, Los Angeles Review of Books, StoryQuarterly, Fence, Guernica and more. She has written for The Hairpin, Electric Literature, Jezebel, and Bitch Media, and her work has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize. On this episode, Taisia discusses her favorite witchly writers, the fairy tale aspects of her Russian childhood, and the wild wisdom of Baba Yaga.Pam also discusses the crone archetype, and answers a listener question about changing direction in her academic study of death.Our sponsors for this episode are Temperance Home and Bar, Mithras Candle, Seasonal Steep, BetterHelp, Hag Swag, and Sarah Faith Gottesdiener’s Moonbeaming online course

The Brujas of Brooklyn are Griselda Rodriguez-Solomon and Miguelina Rodriguez. They are identical twin PhDs who are professors of the Social Sciences within the City College of New York (CUNY). These brujas merge the magic of ancestral medicine with sharp intellect, combining the physical, the mental, and the spiritual to help people become more fully integrated beings. Their platform provides the balm to help folks heal from internalized oppression, particularly women. As certified kundalini and hatha yogis, these Black Dominican sisters design multi-sensory workshops that provide sacred space for women of color to heal from womb imbalances. They’ve both authored academic pieces on the effects of racialized oppression on communities of color, Dominicans in particular. And their work has granted them has been featured in such places as Univision, Google, Buzz Feed’s Pero Like, and Facebook to name a few. And they say that “Joy is their ultimate form of resistance.”On this episode, the Brujas of Brooklyn discuss their modern spin on brujeria, the importance of feminine bodily healing, and why the spiritual and political are intertwined. Pam also discusses the misogynist history of the witch hunts, and answers a listener question about magic and pregnancy.Our sponsors for this episode are The Flower Essences Deck, Witchy Washy Bath, The Spiral Bookcase, BetterHelp, and the Magic Monday podcast.

Douglas Little is a natural perfumer, creative director, product designer, and artist. He is the founding director of Heretic, a natural, artisanal fragrance brand that develops scents based on the mysterious, sensual and feral aspects of nature. He has collaborated with the likes of Lady Gaga, Dita Von Teese, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Alexander McQueen, and has also specialized in installation work, creating provocative window displays and other artful branded environments for luxury clientele like Van Cleef & Arpels, Bergdorf Goodman, Maxfield Los Angeles, Jim Thompson and the immersive dinner-theater experience Queen of the Night. Douglas’s prior namesake brand, D. L. & Co.: Modern Alchemists and Purveyors of Curious Goods, made a splash in the marketplace by infusing visions of antique luxury with a fresh, modern spirit, combining of botany, Edwardian decadence, and dark beauty to a range of products beginning with artisanal perfumed candles and extending to home goods and accessories. A California native, Douglas studied marketing and product development at UCLA and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, as well as at the Syndicat National des Fabricants de Produits Aromatiques in Grasse, France. On this special Valentine’s Day episode, Douglas discusses how he’s blended his lifelong fascinations with fragrance and the occult, the magic of “dirty rose,” and how scent can make us more in touch with our sensual side.Pam also discusses her V-Day (and B-Day) rituals, and answers a listener question about a witchy connection at work.Our sponsors for this episode are Temperance Home and Bar Botanica, Mithras Candle, Hag Swag, BetterHelp, and Zouz Incense.

Leila Taylor is the author of Darkly: Black History and America’s Gothic Soul. She is a writer and designer whose work focuses on the gothic in Black culture, horror, and the aesthetics of melancholy. She’s been published in The Journal of Horror Studies, The New Urban Gothic: Global Gothic in the Age of the Anthropocene, Dispatches from the Institute of Incoherent Geography, and The Repeater Book of the Occult. She has given talks for the International Gothic Association in Mexico and the U.K. and at Morbid Anatomy in New York. Leila received a Masters in Fine Arts from Yale University and an MA in Liberal Studies at The New School for Social Research. She is also Creative Director for the Brooklyn Public Library.On this episode, Leila discusses the intersections of gothic culture and Black America, the history of goth music and the ghosts of history, and why dark art can help us find joy.Pam also talks about the Full Wolf Moon, and answers a listener question about leaning into Lilith.Our sponsors for this episode are Amanda Bienko, Witch Baby Soap, BetterHelp and Zouz Incense.

Jeanna Kadlec is a writer and astrologer whose work has been featured in such places as O Magazine, Allure, and Autostraddle. She is a culture columnist at Longreads and the author of the forthcoming memoir HERETIC. Jeanna describes herself as “native Midwesterner, ex-evangelical, recovering academic,” and she is also the founder of the now-closed Bluestockings Boutique, the first-ever lingerie boutique geared to the LGBTQ+ community. She now creates the Astrology for Writers newsletter and teaches her workshop, Astrology for Writers: How to Make Your Writing Work for You. On this episode, Jeanna speaks about radical astrology, her cosmic writing career, and the revolutionary energy we can expect in 2021.Pam also talks about the need to stay present for this moment of transformative upheaval, and answers a listener question about troubling anti-science sentiments in the occult community. Our sponsors for this episode are The Pretty Cult, BetterHelp, and Zouz Incense