Bewitched Banter

Amy's Tarot reading by Krista [ya know, the one where Krista doesn't fall asleep in the midst of it]. See what the cards had in story for Amy this summer at the time of the reading. 

Our OG inaugural episode of Bewitched Banter where Amy and Krista cover two psychics that don’t always use their powers for good. 

Krista educates us on the difference between psychic and medium. Yes, there’s a difference! Do you know what it is? Amy then reveals the malicious nature in which self-proclaimed psychic, Sylvia Brown, gave false hope to not just one, but many families. The Bewitches declare Brown as the lowest bar to hit as far as “shitty people.” Then, Krista covers Phoenix-based celeb psychic or self proclaimed “medium profiler,” Allison Dubois. While Krista never met Dubois, she was upset to learn that Dubois’ purported abilities to solve crimes in both Texas and Arizona may have been straight up spoofs after all. 

See full ep notes and sources at bewitchedbanter.com/episodes. 

Today the Bewitches cover yoga with a spiritual twist. Krista sets the record straight on the Yogi Maharishi Mahesh, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation Movement Movement (TMM). Once a confidant to the Beatles the yogi was criticized for only befriending The Beatles for fame. However, the band’s time in India and practice of TMM may have given creative birth to their acclaimed White Album.

Did you know humans didn’t always bury the dead? Krista takes us through the history of cemeteries, while Amy shares her “scientific” view on why she and others don’t believe in ghosts. Then Amy gives us a “tour” of the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, Calif., one of the most haunted places in America. Krista wraps with another hometown story, the Dudley Curse which is said to haunt anyone from the lineage of Edmund Dudley. Now an overgrown ruin in the thick forest of Cornwall, Conn., Dudleytown is on private land. Do you dare to visit the Dark Entry Forest? See for yourself on this episode of Bewitched Banter.

Amy travels back to her time in Eswatini and shares how African witchcraft differs from Westernized witches’ beliefs and practices. Krista breaks down the difference between “religious” and “spiritual” and why millennials are turning to Wicca in favor of “DIY spiritual” practices over other traditional religions. Similarly, covens are on the rise among young black women who find refuge, sisterhood, and solidarity in digital covens and practices that embrace their West African roots via Voodoo, Santeria and other African-based witchcraft. Amy calls out Michael Jackson for calling in a witch doctor to cast a spell on a very famous director and several other Hollywood figures. Find out who the famous/infamous artist had it out for on this episode of Bewitched Banter!

Krista takes us back to her New England roots with the dark history of the Salem Witch Trials. While the trials only lasted just one year (1692-1693), they are unquestionably a dark spot on Massachusetts’ past, leaving 20 dead and dozens of accused innocent women [and yes some men] in its wake.

Amy schools us on the definition of witches from around the world and the history behind the classic halloween costume. Krista then takes us to Florida, where a “Florida man” who practiced Wicca murdered his mother and two half brothers. This triple homicide became known as the Blue Moon Murders. Was witchcraft really to blame? Amy wraps up our first episode with the vicious hustlin’ business witch, Catherine Montvoison, who poisoned more than 2,500 people in France during the 1600s.

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