Modern Witches Share the Powerful Link Between Makeup and Magic

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Believe it oregon not, quality products person the powerfulness to formed rather the spell.

Makeup, astatine its foundation, is simply meant for altering oregon enhancing your appearance. But immoderate quality devotee knows that it holds a overmuch deeper meaning than its intended purpose, arsenic it not lone has the powerfulness to alteration your mood but unleash an unexplainable unit wrong of you.

The aforesaid tin beryllium said astir witchcraft.

And if that sounds similar hocus pocus, it's really rather the contrary, as a fewer modern-day witches explained to E! News conscionable however intimately the trade is connected to cosmetics. From glamour spells to modern beauty routines acting as rituals, the 2 practices complement each different similar a sharp helping and bold reddish lip.

"Makeup and magick are meant to transform," Sacred Sex author Gabriela Herstik exclusively told E! News, noting the spelling of 'magick' was popularized by Aleister Crowley and is utilized to differentiate signifier magic from the spiritual practice. "Magick transforms you from the wrong retired and constitution transforms you from the extracurricular in."

Herstik, who began practicing witchcraft aft receiving a platform of Faery oracle cards successful the sixth grade, further explained the similarities betwixt the trade and cosmetics. 

"Magick is each astir power, bending reality, perceiving and being perceived successful a definite way," she continued. "This is existent of makeup."

The Love Witch, 2016

For Bri Luna of The Hoodwitch, there's a forceful quality to look painting.

"The exertion of constitution is simply a signifier of creativity and creativity is simply a people occurring process successful the brain," the erstwhile nonrecreational constitution artist told E!. "You are transforming yourself, you are elevating your consciousness—Why shouldn't you consciousness happy, confident or afloat embodied successful your vessel? That is magic!"

It's a signifier she preaches: "Self-love and assurance are the instauration of my magical practice. All acts of emotion and pleasance are my rituals."

Luna, who is known for tarot paper readings and sharing her mystical contented connected societal media, said some acts tin let you to go "whatever and whoever you privation to be."

"Magic is infused into my quality rituals with intention," she said. "I emotion taking agelong baths with candles oregon sitting successful beforehand of my full-length mirror, playing euphony that helps maine transmission my vigor into the look I'm creating."

She continued, "I person a ample lucite statue of the goddess Venus connected my vanity, and she reminds maine that determination is powerfulness successful self-love, adornment and self-worship. It's precise empowering."

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Herstik's beauty practices are also riddled with meaning, sharing that she'll use roses, crystals and tarot cards to animate her routine.

"I enactment alongside the lunar calendar and holidays of the witch to scope retired an aligned look," she explained, "or enactment with colour to assistance embody a temper oregon vigor I'm going for. But much than anything, I usage constitution intuitively and to assistance maine align my volition of the day."

For the days the Inner Witch writer wants to consciousness similar a enactment goddess, she'll stone reddish lipstick and a bold oculus "to transmission my interior succubus oregon to grant the Goddess Babalon, who I'm devoted to."

Other times, she continued, "I privation to consciousness saccharine and Venusian, truthful I'll deterioration agleam pinkish lipstick and pinkish eyeshadow with a bosom nether my oculus and nary eyeliner. Sometimes, I'll conscionable deterioration my hairsbreadth up and large achromatic glasses erstwhile I privation to beryllium protected and unseen."

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And portion the creation of makeup and magic can boost your temper for the better, it wasn't always seen arsenic a positive.

Both practices—which date backmost to past Egypt when the goddess Isis was worshipped for magic and healing—have had a tumultuous history, with Herstik noting that astatine times, "Women successful powerfulness person been a menace to the patriarchy."

"The connection 'glamour' has its roots successful witchcraft and mysticism," she said, adding that by explanation the enactment itself, "is thing that veils what lies beneath."

"It could person easy been construed arsenic witchcraft to the uncanny," Herstik continued. "Anything idiosyncratic doesn't recognize oregon that's labeled arsenic 'other' has the imaginable to beryllium demonized—and this is particularly existent of thing that women worth oregon attraction about."

As she reminded, "Makeup is besides a precise sensual experience."

"The witch hunts and the fearfulness of pistillate sexuality are profoundly linked," she said, "and this is reflected successful makeup, successful women taking power of however they're perceived."

Luna, whose grandmother was a traditional Mexican spiritual healer, provided much penetration arsenic well, pointing out that "cosmetics were seen arsenic a signifier of 'trickery' to entice men into 'sin.'"

"Red lipstick specifically was 'evil' arsenic this shadiness was exclusively reserved for enactment workers," she added. "Prostitution was straight associated with devil worship, which we each cognize is wholly ridiculous. This is wherefore I consciousness adjacent much almighty whenever I use my favourite shadiness of blood-red lipstick."

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Basic Witches co-author, Jaya Saxena, whose been drawn to witchcraft for years and feels portion of a longer tradition, told E! News astir the superior consequences women faced if they were recovered blameworthy of altering their appearance.

"In the 1700s successful America, a antheral could person his matrimony annulled if his woman had worn cosmetics during courtship," she emphasized of the repercussions. "There's a patriarchal thread done the past of radical reasoning constitution was a disguise, that you were changing the look God gave you and that meant you were up to nary good."

Whether oregon not you usage constitution arsenic a signifier of magic, it's undeniably linked to the past practice.

"Beauty is a way for america to determination person to the divine," Herstik suggested. "Humans person ever been fascinated by beauty—whether it's successful nature, cosmetics, places of worship, oregon art."

So, the adjacent clip you use your favourite articulator rouge and draw your feline eye, cognize it's a bewitching act and 1 that possesses large power.

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