Kaminsky incorporates Jewish prayers into their spellwork, like reciting the Psalms of David when doing candle spells and the B’sheim Hashem as a magical invocation. Kaminsky, who uses the pronouns they/them, does spiritual readings for clients that draw upon Kabbalah, Tarot and the Akashic records - a reference library of everything that has ever happened, which spiritual mediums believe resides in another dimension. Illustrative: Performers dressed as devils, goats, witches and others fill the streets to chase winter away during celebrations in Lithuania, March 2, 2019. “We protect ourselves because, historically, a huge part of our oppression has been because we’re magical.” This traumatic history, the Jewitches say, is often papered over or dismissed as “myths” and “superstitions.” “Saying ‘superstition’ is a way that we downplay our magic,” Kaminsky said. Ashkenazi Jews routinely tried to debate with their oppressors in the hopes that they could out-logic antisemitism.” “Instead of the supernatural reasons, they tried to give rational reasons for what they were doing. Some of that came at the expense of some of these practices,” Jacobi said. “Jewish communities did what they thought would protect them from literal certain death. Jacobi believes that many folkloric practices died out following the 13th-18th centuries because, at the time, Jews were viewed as demonic witches. The goal of many “Jewitch” educators and practitioners, they say, is to shine a light on rituals that have been forgotten or buried for self-preservation. They also do spellwork, creating spells for new love, pregnancy protection and social justice on their blog, they shared an incantation designed to bring more awareness to Indigenous Land Back movements. “Sometimes contracting inward can give us space to emerge and create.” The cinnamon folds in, and the bark contracts in on itself,” Erev said. Connecting with a cinnamon stick is a simple ritual.
“There’s a Kabbalistic idea of making oneself smaller for creation to emerge. Much of magic is about reminding ourselves that we’re all connected and that everything is alive and animate.” “I consider it to be a reminder of the presence of spirit, of goddess, of shechinah. “The mezuzah is absolutely an amulet,” said Rebekah Erev, a Jewish feminist artist, activist and kohenet (Hebrew priestexx, a gender-neutral term for “priest” or “priestess”) who uses the pronouns they/them and teaches online courses on Jewish magic. Likewise, ancient Jews believed that the mezuzah - a small box affixed to the doorpost containing biblical verses on parchment - protected them from messengers of evil, a function parallel to that of an amulet or good-luck charm. When we break glass at a wedding, scholars say, we’re not just remembering the destruction of the Temple we’re also scaring off evil spirits that may want to hurt the bride and groom. Many Jewish rituals today have their roots in warding off demons, ghosts and other mythological creatures.
Illustrative: Volunteers dressed to depict Pagan-style white witches at the Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival in London, July 1, 2019. Far from having an uneasy relationship with magic practitioners, Judaism - or at least Kabbalistic strands of it - has long embraced them.
Jacobi and her peers are revitalizing ancient Jewish practices of witchcraft, which have been seeing something of a revival as of late. The sage-related ritual of “smudging,” an Indigenous ceremony popular among modern witches for cleansing a person or place of negative energy, “is not a Jewish practice,” she said. “I do not burn sage,” said Zo Jacobi, who runs Jewitches, a popular blog and podcast that deep dives into ancient Jewish myths and folkloric practices. But the spooky supernatural world also has a long history in Judaism, and modern “Jewitches” are encouraging the connection - though their practices often slightly differ from their non-Jewish contemporaries. JTA - Occult practices and totems are a mainstay of Halloween season, and sage bundles, altars and crystals are an increasingly trendy way to dabble in divination and witchcraft.