Witch, please.

This season, I’m casting off shame, not spells.

Hi there,

Last month, I wrote to you from a warm Roman terrace, somewhere between yet another gelato and a mosaic class, feeling deeply grateful for the pause that September gave me. I talked about returning to my own basics, about rhythms and rituals and what it means to come home to yourself.

A few weeks on and I’m writing this with Halloween around the corner and a rewatch of Practical Magic fresh in my mind. It’s funny, the things that stick with you. I’d recommended the film almost offhand in the September issue but something about it lingered. Maybe it was the small-town coziness. Maybe it was their rose garden. Maybe it was those enticing midnight margaritas…

But no, what really lingered was the idea of the witch.

Not the Hogwarts kind (though let the record show I’m a Ravenclaw) and not the Halloween-costume variety either. I’m talking about the witch as an idea. A woman (typically) who doesn’t shrink herself. A person who lives outside the lines. Someone who threatens simply by existing on their own terms.

It’s easy to think of witches as fictional. But the history is very real and often brutal. People were cast out, criminalised, even executed, simply for being different. Too bold. Too clever. Too old. Too poor. Too sensual. Too free. And while we might not be literally burning people at the stake anymore, we’re still often quick to exile what we don’t understand in others and, even more sadly, in ourselves.

That’s what this month’s newsletter is really about.

Not wands or broomsticks or pentagrams, but the importance of reclaiming the parts of ourselves we’ve been told are too much. Too loud. Too soft. Too weird. Too ambitious. Too sensitive. Too anything. It’s about making peace with your own magic, whatever that looks like.

Self-acceptance gets sold to us in pastel tones and pretty fonts but sometimes it’s shadow work. But sometimes, it’s shadow work. Sometimes it means sitting with the pieces you’ve tried to ignore or edit out. The parts of you that don’t fit neatly into the narrative you’ve built… or the one someone else built for you.

It’s not always gentle work. But it is necessary work.

So as the nights draw in and the season turns inward, I’m choosing to welcome those parts in. To stop ghosting the pieces of me that feel inconvenient or complicated (pun very much intended). To stop asking for permission to be whole.

And maybe, just maybe, to start seeing the things I used to tone down, water down or apologise for as my power. Not because I want to be intimidating, but because I’m tired of being intimidated by my own instincts. And I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

So this October, I’m thinking less about transformation, and more about transfiguration. Not becoming someone new, just allowing more of who I already am to show up, warts and all.

WorkWell Wisdom

“You were wild once. Don’t let them tame you.”

- Isadora Duncan

There’s a lot of pressure to “be your best self”, but what if your best self isn’t shinier or sleeker, just truer?

Here are a few questions to help you reconnect with your inner magic:

• What parts of myself have I been dimming to make others more comfortable?

• Where have I confused being agreeable with being authentic?

• What would it look like to live a little more unapologetically?

You don’t need a coven or crystals. Just a quiet moment, honesty and the courage to keep showing up as all of you.

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WorkWell Recommends

Read: The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West

A sharp, funny, fiery essay collection on modern feminism, internet culture and why anger can be a powerful force for good. Smart enough to make you think, spicy enough to make you cackle.

Watch: Hocus Pocus (1993)

A cult classic for a reason. It’s camp, chaotic and utterly delightful. It’s the kind of film that makes you want to put on a chunky knit, grab your black cat and conjure your way through October. Bonus points if you sing along to I Put A Spell On You.

Do: Reclaim something

A discarded habit, a forgotten hobby, a piece of clothing that makes you feel like you. Especially if it’s something you were told was “too much”. You, and only you, get to decide how you take up space.

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Before you go…

You don’t have to become someone else to be powerful. You don’t have to cast spells to reclaim your story. You don’t have to be liked by everyone to be at peace with yourself. This season, come home to your wholeness, even the weird bits. Especially the weird bits.

Until next time,
Dulcie x

Be gentle with yourself.
Work smart, rest well, play more.
And if it feels like magic, it probably is.