Forget 'American Horror Story', we have witches right here in Mumbai

Witches seem to be coming back into fashion with a bang. Not the pointy hat, mole on the face, making potions in a cauldron kind of witches though. It seems that all over the world and in no small amount in Mumbai itself, people are getting more and more involved in the Wiccan faith.

To those of you who aren't familiar with the term, Wicca is a modern albeit pagan religion. It emerged in the early 20th century and has since developed into a full fledged practice. Gerald Gardner was the first person to start the faith. The religion itself is derived from various theological practices and rituals belonging to ancient religions, but its main premise is love, understanding and the benevolent power of nature.

The number of people involved with this religion today is quite astounding, particularly the number of people in our neighbourhood. In fact, a Mumbai-based Wiccan group, on the 31st of October, conducted a ritual, which took place on a boat that departed from The Gateway Of India.

The ritual on All Hallow's Eve (Witches' New Year), was carried out after the Shakti Mills gang-rape case in Mumbai, and tried to further women empowerment and the all around change in the attitude towards women. 

I attended the ritual to see how it was done. The ritual was complete with robes, pointy hats and wands, primarily for show. But they did have an alter set up, as well as chants ready.

They prayed and chanted to the five Goddesses, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire, and Spirit and used symbolic dust (glitter mostly) as a way of showing the cleansing of one's soul of all negative energy and the acceptance of the Goddesses. They also prayed for the various issues in the world including poverty, women's safety, famine, war and others. The event that was celebrated on the Witches' New Year was quite enlightening, which led me to probe further.

To explore this niche sector (well not so niche sector anymore) further, I decided to get in touch with Swati Prakash, a Mumbai Wiccan, witch and spiritual healer, who has her very own magic shop, right here in Bandra. Swati was also the one who organised the ritual for Women's Safety.

I met up with her at her Magic shop called Magick in Bandra and had an interesting conversation about the aspects of magic, her foray into the art of witchcraft and her views on different matters of the occult.

I first asked Swati the obvious question, when did she get into Wiccan practises and her answer was quite the interesting one. She related to me, "When I was a kid in the fifth standard, I realised I wasn't happy with the marks I was getting in school.

One day I just felt I should go down to the grounds where I was staying in Delhi. When I reached the ground, I picked up a stick and drew a large circle in the mud. No one was around at the time, then I had this intuition I had to divide it into four parts.

And then I just felt the powers coming into me, and I felt like I should go into the centre and make a wish. I asked to get 90 in Math. And I don't know what happened, the stress of exams just went away. I just became more intelligent, I could understand more and I was absorbing everything better. And trust me, I got 89, only one number short of my target. And after that experience, I got more into spells and Wicca itself, even my father used to buy me books on the occult and witchcraft.

Soon, I concentrated more on my spells and my studies. 

As most people would be sceptical about such stories and witchcraft in general, I asked Swati how she deals with people reacting negatively.

She responded by saying that in her time as a Wiccan she didn't really meet people who were sceptical, most people were if not believers, quite open minded. In fact, the only sceptic she found was a spokesperson from the Anti-Superstition Act but even with him, she claims that the scepticism stems from a misunderstanding about the Wiccan faith.

"Wicca is probably the most rational religion out there, it's more science based and believes in love for nature," Swati explained.

I asked her if the Anti-Superstition Act would or could hamper the spread of Wicca as a religion. To which she explained, "No, of course not. They cannot, because they don't understand it, but if they sit down and listen to us and really try to understand Wicca, they will actually support us. And we will support them because we are totally against black magic and superstitions. I think the act should raise awareness about all these religions that follow superstitions not ours, which preaches inner power."

"The key concepts of the Wiccan faith is belief in nature, love for and appreciation of nature. We don't believe that somebody came from outside and made everything. We don't believe in the supernatural, just trust in nature."

"We are also against the fake kind of witches, all fraudulent people. The people making these tall claims of curing cancer and making money, that's not our way, we promote inner healing." 

Swati went on to say that if there was a forum where she could interact with those activists from the Anti-Superstition Act, she could put forth the Wiccan views and "maybe they will see that we're on the same side, against black magic and superstitions, which is not what Wicca is about".

"People who practise black magic are not true witches."

In fact Swati has started the Global Wicca Tradition, which has a code of ethics, explains what Wicca really is and believes that there should not be a long, long gruelling process of studying and initiation to become a Wiccan. 

About the Wiccan religion, Swati says, "As long as you love nature and you belive in it, we welcome you."

Here's some of the stuff you can find at Swati's store, from crystal balls, to talismans, to candles and incense, to sage and medicinal herbs.