The Village Witchery Business Model
Originally published Oct. 7, 2019
I have a really hard time starting something without having a clear idea of where I’m going with it. Not that I don’t believe in shifting and reevaluating and making space for change along the way; but when I commit to a project I always do a lot of visioning about what I expect the end result to be. That way I can aim for it, manifest it, help it into being.
That didn’t work at all when it came to building this practice. In fact it was a block. For the longest time I was stuck because I really believed I needed a space to work out of. I thought I needed the legitimacy of a brick-and-mortar office or studio where I could practice my “business”- where I could invite clients into my “professional” space and separate the messy family life I’m immersed in every day from this clean, spiritual work I wanted to provide. And so I kept from offering my services because I didn’t have this space that I’d envisioned. And the longer that went on, the more unsure of myself I became. Finally one day I was sitting outside and I saw a crow flying out over the lake. In deep frustration (and trust in the Universe) I called out to it: “bird-friend, I need some guidance! Please show me by your flight where I should be looking for a space to build my business!” And the crow soared for awhile longer, then glided over and landed in the tree above me. So I said “thanks a lot crow,” not quite as nicely as I could have and tried to ignore the message.
Because I didn’t know how to make space in my home for a “business”; it’s small, and full of kids and friends and a somewhat curmudgeonly spouse and way, way too much stuff. It’s not really even mine to offer, it’s the space I share with my family. Definitely not “professional”, certainly not a clean separation from my stay-at-home parenting life (which is another block I put up: I couldn’t start my business until I found regular child care. In our family my spouse has the full time job because in the course of our relationship I’d moved across the country twice and been in graduate school and then given birth to our now-3-year-old, so we agreed that I’d stay home and offset the cost of daycare- but that meant that I had no structured time to be “at work” vs “actively parenting”... and my shiny new Master’s degree was jumping up and down yelling at me that “parenting” was a waste of the last 5 years of my life, and I had so much to offer if I could just figure out how to do it.... AAAAARRRRRGGGGG!!!!).
So at first I compromised. I signed up to vend at a local music event featuring womxn and womxn-run enterprises, and asked a dear friend to help me make a witchy tent that could be my “professional space”. Now I was a nomad; I could pop up my tent and sell potions and do readings anywhere. And I could show up at events that overlapped when my spouse could be home, so I had that separation of “mom” and “spiritual professional”. But while that event was super successful, and I have taken my tent a few other places and done well, the reality for me is that I’m not set up to leave my family often enough to make my witchy road-gig full time.
And then I started to get requests for my services from the events that I’d been at, and I suddenly needed to just start somewhere. I had a good long chat with a spiritual companion of mine since childhood, sitting on the floor of my kitchen with a million candles around us, dreaming up what it could look like to run this business out of my home. And the vision came to me of a woman 500 years ago in the British Isles, and how she would have run this operation: out of her home, fully integrated with her responsibilities to her children, surrounded by a community of other (at that time) women who watched each other’s kids and shared their gifts and skills. And that’s what Village Witchery is. It’s serving the community as a spiritual professional, a healer and a priestess, centered firmly in everyday life. It isn’t “professional” because it is separate and commercial, but rather because it is real and meaningful and I’ve trained for it. It isn’t a “business” rooted in capitalism (definitely more on that later) but rather in community.
And it’s not done forming. While this year we stepped into part-time preschool for my littlest little, we also have another kiddo on the way. And I’m still learning what my community needs, and how I can best be of service. But right now, I’m living into this idea of being a Village Witch, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
Thanks so much for reading and supporting me- and reach out with any questions, queries, stories, or if you feel I can support you somehow in your journey.
*Update, August 2022
Sometimes dreams change
I’m reflecting on this today, as the first harvest of Llamas arrives, and I look back on what I’ve built and collaborated on and expected out of this year.
I love the dream I had of fully integrating my family and my work life. Not separating out parts of myself in service to professional expectation and social pressure. And I did it, and I tried that, and I learned.
But my kids are bigger now, and taking up their own spaces. My household is blended, and multi-generational; my sessions with clients are personal and vulnerable; and the ways I imagined my practice integrating with all of my people has….shifted.
So for both the sake of the sacred space I call home, and the sacred space I co-create with clients, I shifted too.
That’s why I moved my practice to its own space. And I’m only getting more excited about it.
Life is change. I’m so grateful for the way I’ve been able to do my work up until now, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be doing it now in a different way.
Come visit me in my new magical workspace! ✨