Sophie Saint Thomas, a witch, journalist and author based in New York City, believes there are a multitude of ways to experience love.
Growing up in the Caribbean, Thomas said she was surrounded by hoodoo, voodoo and occult traditions. Now, she is a beauty magazine resident astrologer who writes about sexuality, love and astrology for Allure.
The Charlatan sat down with Thomas to learn more about witchcraft, self-care, manifestation and attracting love in everyday life.
The Charlatan (TC): What does it mean to be a witch?
Sophie Saint Thomas (SST): I like to say a witch is just someone aware of their power and not afraid to use it.
TC: Love spells are commonly talked about online. What are love spells and how do they work?
SST: There’s so many love spells to work from and it depends on what you like. Whenever I think about colour magick, I think in terms of red and pink. If we look at red, it represents the fiery sex, passionate, lustful, hot aspect of love. Then there’s pink, which is more the friendly part of love — the platonic.
It’s so outdated, but there’s a phrase that says ‘Men are from Mars, women are from Venus.’ Obviously that sounds really gendered and binary, but we all have Mars and Venus energies in us. Mars is a warrior planet, the planet of aggression and correlates with the color red, whereas Venus is the planet of love and beauty. That’s the kind of the Ying and the Yang to love magick that my thoughts usually turn to.
TC: Do you have any advice for someone trying to attract love into their life, either platonic or romantic?
SST: There’s a lot of talk about, ‘Oh, you have to really love yourself before anyone else can love you.’ I guess there’s some truth to that, but you can also grow — self love is a lifelong process. Love in my experience finds you out of nowhere and in unexpected places and unexpected people. I would say, be open to surprises and to falling in love with perhaps someone who you wouldn’t expect.
In life, we make plans and set intentions but the universe rarely responds exactly how we would picture it. I would say the worst thing you can do is to be close-minded — really just open your heart to opportunity.
TC: Moving into the realm of self-love and self-acceptance, what practices would you recommend for self care?
SST: I think that’s really individualized. For me, it’s just simple things like turning my phone on ‘do not disturb’ after a certain hour and minimizing social media time. I’m an author, so I read a ton of books and I like baths, aromatherapy, teas, meditation, tarot cards and cooking. But for other people, it could look totally different. Self-care is a personalized term but really just whatever connects you with yourself and helps bring upon peace, calm and helps you get enough sleep at night constitutes self-care.
TC: Right now, manifestation is a buzzword on social media. How does manifestation work?
SST: I think it’s really just about believing in yourself. No one is ever going to fight for you and make things happen the way you make things happen for yourself.
I’ve also seen on social media the phrase, ‘It’s delulu!’ Being delusional is totally real. Whether it’s love or in your career you just have to be completely delusional. I don’t think it’s really delusional that you deserve to be loved, that you deserve to get what you want in life and in your career. You have to also ask for what you want. You have to be willing to shoot your shot, to apply for jobs, to ask potential connections out for lunch.
TC: With the pandemic, witchcraft has become trendy through TikTok and #WitchTok. How is social media helping to bring witchcraft to a new audience?
SST: There seems to be a rediscovery of the old ways. I think social media has been amazing for that. I think people are realizing that their manifestation practice, their spiritual practice, their magickal practice, whatever speaks most to them, they have a lot of say and a lot of control over that.
A few generations ago, people necessarily didn’t have this knowledge unless they had a mentor or they lived in a city where there was a shop or a library of books. I think we often forget how astonishing it is that you can learn spellwork and these ancient rituals within less than five seconds by clicking on a hashtag. That certainly was not always the case. The technology and the availability of information is new, but I would say that these practices are in fact, quite old. So it’s kind of invoking modern technology for a return and that’s quite beautiful.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image provided by Sophie Saint Thomas.
