So I spend a lot of time talking with fellow witchy folk, pagans, practitioners of nature spirituality, and the plain old curious, about how we define things like witchcraft. I talk to my college students about this too, as we analyze and deconstruct representations of witchcraft in classic literature, pop culture, and other media.
Like being mestiza, being a bruja means different things to many different practitioners.
As with all communities, witches are not a monolith. There are Wiccans and pagans, natural witches and practitioners whose craft developed out of popular culture representations of powerful women. Then there are those who practice culturally specific forms of their spirituality. It takes all types. Some go deep down the rabbit hole of esoteric occultism, other just hoard too many mason jars and acknowledge the divinity in every living being. Likewise, there are those whom mainstream culture would consider witches, but identify more as folk conjurers. I could go on about all the nuances here but for the sake of brevity (this is only a blog post, after all), I’ll keep it focused on what practicing Brujeria means to me.
First, I specifically use the term bruja here and not witch (although I use that too) because I want to make it clear that my cultural identity as mestiza is an important part of my magical practice. I can’t separate one from the other. And while there are many things I do that are in alignment with general witchy practices (like hoarding all those mason jars), there are some aspects of my bruja identity that are singular to the mestiza culture and my relationship to it (again, we’re not a monolith so I’m not speaking for all mestizx or brujx here).
At the end of the day, being a bruja for me is about celebrating my interconnectedness with the earth, the spirit realm, and those who want to live more soulfully. It’s about reclaiming my right to joy and acknowledging that there is more to this life than we can readily see with the naked eye. It’s about healing generational and ancestral trauma and developing narratives beyond systemic oppression. And it’s about recognizing that I have the power—the magic—to shape my own story. I am a writer as well as a bruja, after all, so I know that there is power in words, that stories are healing spells, and that book magic is the most powerful form of conjuring.
Social Justice & Brujeria
I can’t talk about being a bruja without talking about social justice. The term bruja or witch has been used throughout history to suppress marginalized identities. In New Mexico, Spanish colonizers, aided by the Catholic church, applied the term to shamans, curanderas (folk healers), Indigenous people, midwives…the list goes on and on. Basically, if someone represented a threat to the church, meaning they had access to knowledge beyond the scope of the colonizers, then they were villainized. It was a classic case of silencing any and all voices that challenged authority or posed a threat to white Catholic patriarchy. This lead to white-washing history and ongoing cultural erasure, assimilation, and appropriation. Anyone whose family has been in New Mexico long before it was an official state is a product of that history of colonization. We have two choices when it comes to grappling with that history: We can perpetuate the trauma or we can push back against lateral and systemic oppression.
Enter the bruja. She is an archetype that reclaims the once negative term witch and finds power in her otherness. Brujeria is about taking our power back and honoring our divine right to joy, pleasure, hope, happiness. We refuse to perpetuate those histories of trauma and break the cycle by crafting our own healing journeys that go beyond performing our culture or our violent history for mass consumption. We make marginalized identities more visible and pushing back against white supremacy, toxic patriarchy, and anything that tries to limit our joy. We center the mestizx identity. We reclaim what we can of our folk magic roots and mixed-race heritage, and forge ahead with new stories, new ways of being. Integral to those new stories are a celebration of inclusion, sustainability, equity, and radical self-care. How we go about all this might look a little different for every bruja, but it’s something we all do.
Natural Spirituality & Everyday Magic
Here’s where my bruja practice might different from other witchy practitioners. I’m all about what I call divine receptivity. rather than traditional spell-crafting (the kind of stuff you see in witchy pop culture representations), divine receptivity asks you to reconnect with yourself and the universe, listening to the life signs and synchronicities that will guide you throughout your day. So I’m not trying to force a specific outcome, but rather living more in tune with nature and my own natural rhythms. I set intentions and I work hard to manifest them—but I also listen when the universe tells me something is not meant to be mine. I let go of what I think I should have or what my life should look like and trust the signs that always lead me to something even more abundant and daring than I ever could have dreamed up on my own.
And yeah, there’s some spell work in there too, in the form of tea blending, body butter making, and stew stirring. Every mundane act is a form of intentional conjuring to me as I relearn my profound capacity for joy and fulfillment. I practice what I can of curanderismo. I talk long walks in nature. I read by lamplight. I write and deal the tarot. I plant healing herbs in my garden and cook delicious meals. I enjoy good company and nourishing conversations. All that is magic to me.
Natural spirituality is also about respecting my internal life, my autonomy, and my right to privacy. Healing from colonization is, in part, recognizing that I do not have to share culturally-specific parts of my practice with anyone outside of it. I do not have to perform for a white gaze or always make my magic available to those who want in. There are some things you can share with the world, and some things are just for you. Like any good bruja knows, it is essential to protect your magic and not feeling like you have to give it away. Again, this goes back to the social justice aspect of my craft: I am not required to deplete or exploit my natural resources in order to aid those unwilling to do the hard work of healing for themselves.
Pleasure Magic & the Divine Feminine
Here’s where things get really juicy. Once you’ve come to terms with generation trauma and disrupted the cycle, once you’ve opened yourself to divine receptivity, the world of pleasure magic opens up to you. This is all about sex positivity, body positivity, joy positivity. I know joy positivity might sound redundant, but I’ll tell you a little dark secret about experiencing joy as a marginalized identity: it often leads to guilt. Did you earn that doctorate degree you’ve been working night and day for the past few years? Guilt! Did you get offered that highly competitive job at an inclusive and progressive college based on the years you spent developing your CV for just that? The shame! Oh, you wrote a multi-awarding winning book on ordinary magic? Tragedy! Have a hot date with someone who’s awesome and makes you feel good? Slut!
Except all those things are actually quite wonderful. But what happens is that every time you change the narrative about women of color in this case from oppressed and struggling, to successful and empowered, you feel pangs of guilt and shame. It’s called internalized oppression. And it’s a bitch. There’s also quite a bit of social shaming involved here (aka lateral oppression). People might say you’re getting a little too cocky or that god has blessed you or worse, you got where you are because of affirmative action. In all cases, those statements either intentionally or intentionally disempower you and make you feel as if you don’t deserve the accomplishments you’ve worked hard for. Let’s face it, an empowered woman of color is a threat to the social norm. Throw in some lingering Catholic guilt and pretty soon you start finding ways to make yourself suffer.
That’s where pleasure magic and the divine feminine come in. They push back against internalized oppression. Pleasure magic is the daily invocation of all things sensual and joyful, from the sacred simple pleasure of an afternoon cup of tea to the titillating delights of a good romance novel or the profound ecstasies of an intimate relationship. Of course, we look to the goddess within, the divine feminine in all of us, regardless of our gender orientation, for guidance here. She allows us to value our emotions and instincts, to feel what we need to feel for healing and insight.
Invoking the divine feminine about reclaiming our right to joy and rejecting anything that tries to control how we should feel about our bodies, our sexuality, our accomplishments (our external life), or our magical practice (our internal life). Pleasure magic is all about autonomy—joyfully and rigorously asserting your right to explore and express yourself as you choose free from the pressures to perform your culture, perpetuate oppression, or diminish yourself in order to be more socially acceptable.
In claiming the title of bruja, I reclaim my autonomy. I conjure new narratives for myself and my community. I celebrate and advocate for inclusivity in all that I do. I revel in my pleasure magic practice. And I do not apologize for loudly, joyfully taking up space.
Enchantment Learning & Living is an inspirational blog celebrating life’s simple pleasures, everyday mysticism, and delectable recipes that are guaranteed to stir the kitchen witch in you. If you enjoyed what you just read and believe that true magic is in the everyday, subscribe to my newsletter below for regular doses of enchantment. Want even more inspiration? Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Here’s to a magical life!