The WitchHunt Podcast

Ready to meet a powerful and wise bruja?

Meet Maritza Schafer, a Chilean bruja by descent who defines witches as those who understand the true nature of reality — including the unexplainable, mysterious bits.

We talk about how western society today is set up “contra natura” andhow social conditioning teaches us to mistrust our inner knowing.

Maritza touches on the dangerously thin line between magical thinking and conspiracy theories, colonization and paganism in Latin America. And she offers us a detailed description of what working magic — aka, making shit happen.

I know you’re going to enjoy this refreshing, insightful episode!

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You're invited to join the WITCHHUNT COLLECTIVE: 13 Moons Together

I’m looking for 5 more witchy women to join me, some of our seasoned podcast guest Witches and listeners in the Witchhunt Collective.

The WitchHunt Collective is the coming together of 13 women under every Full Moon, Equinox and Solstice to connect with our souls and the soul mission we’re here to realize. We’ll plug into cosmic, lunar and Earthly energies to support our on-going growth and transformation.

When you join, you’ll get access to 13 Full Moon LIVE Women’s Circles, including 4 Ceremonial Workshops — led by yours truly.

You can join for as little as $37 a month. Or for $400, for the entire year.

Click here for all the details or to reserve your spot. Or email me at [email protected] with any questions. 

>> alexandrahughes.com/witchhuntcollective

Spaces for this year-long experience with me will be available until March 20.

 More about Maritza:

Maritza is a proud bruja (witch), coach, and consultant, heading a global company on transformational practices, the happy holder of 3 passports as evidence that the nation-state is a fantasy, and a hopeless music and dance addict.

She was born and raised a witch in Chile, with strong magical influence from both Indigenous (from Chile) and Italian witch lines.

She was initiated by her grandmother Nora Ilda Chiavegat Núñez, and has practiced her whole life. Since moving to the US when she was 18,  Maritza has studied as a solo practitioner, with a coven in upstate New York in the late 90’s, and with the Reclaiming tradition in the SF Bay Area for over 20 years. She is not currently a member of a coven, but she is the High Priestess for a handful of solo practitioners.

She is a communications expert with 30 years of experience in emotional growth techniques, spiritual development tools, spellcasting, healing, ritual, intuitive readings, Reiki, shamanic work, vision quests, past lives, constellations and the tarot.

The link to her magical offering, Liberation Magic, that you can chat about during the call is https://brujaschool.com/application-magic/.

Welcome to episode 51 of the Witchhunt podcast: Ancient magic in modern times: A paradigm-shifting conversation on the spirituality industry, shadows & shamanic modalities with  psychic medicine woman, shamanic practitioner and spiritual guide, Amber Jane Arquette 

The conversation was so rich, flowing from fascinating topic to fascinating topic. 

We took a critical look at the spirituality industry, highlighting the toxidity of guru culture and the importance of shifting from seeking answers outside of us, to strengthening our internal authority. We talked about how the concept, identity and practice of being a witch goes beyond “love and light”, and helps us to honor both the darkness and light in our lives. We talked shadow works plus the shaman modalities that are common amongst indigenous societies around the world, and how we personally relate to the word “shaman” as well as to our own indigeneity. And so much more.

This is a mind-expanding episode, even for the seasoned practitioner

 Enjoy!

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You're invited to join the WITCHHUNT COLLECTIVE

I’m looking for 20 witchy women to join me, some of our guests and listeners in the Witchhunt Collective.

The WitchHunt Collective is the coming together of 27 women under every Full Moon, Equinox and Solstice to connect with our souls and the soul mission we’re here to realize. We’ll plug into cosmic, lunar and Earthly energies to support our on-going growth and transformation.

When you join, you’ll get access to 13 Full Moon LIVE Women’s Circles, including 4 Ceremonial Workshops — led by yours truly.

You can join for as little as $37 a month. Or for $400, for the entire year.

Click here for all the details or to reserve your spot. Or email me at [email protected] with any questions. 

>> alexandrahughes.com/witchhuntcollective

Spaces for this year-long experience with me will be available until March 20.

We have, at the moment a small group of North American women — some podcast listeners and others guests. It's going to be such a beautiful exchange!

I’d love to have you join.

More About Amber Jane

Amber Jane is a  psychic medicine woman, shamanic practitioner and spiritual teacher who’s helped over a thousand people reclaim their sovereignty. Her clients reunite with parts of themselves they’ve been searching for centuries. Clearing Karmic cycles and healing from stubborn lifetime and lineage patterns. Liberating them to create life from a whole and healed place. She identifies that this time in history is an era of healing and human ascension. As a teacher, her students learn to master their natural gifts, and their energetic boundaries, and deepen their spiritual connection. 

You can find Amber Jane here: https://www.lightsong.net/heart-and-soul/

And the teachers she mentioned: 

Jan Engels Smith https://www.lightsong.net/about/jan-engels-smith/

Karen Heffner https://www.ignitingspirit.com/

Pamela Rico https://www.lightsong.net/heart-and-soul/

As soon as you hear astrologer Eve’s voice, you’ll know you’re in the hands of an old soul. And once you hear your story, you’ll know her wisdom and magic.

Evelyn Mari Crete was born to read the stars in a way that goes beyond one life. In this episode, she talks about the the history, complexity, dynamism and cyclical nature of astrology. She shares how she weaves in the elements of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water into her readings, and tells us how our birth charts can tell the story of our soul’s evolutionary journeys over time immemorial. Evelyn also gives us a super rundown of how to read and understand the basics of your own birth chart.

If you're curious about how astrology can support your karmic journey, this is an episode you aren’t going to want to miss! 

Enjoy!

Alex

You're invited to join the WITCHHUNT COLLECTIVE

I’m looking for 20 witchy women to join me, some of our guests and listeners in the Witchhunt Collective.

The WitchHunt Collective is the coming together of 27 women under every Full Moon, Equinox and Solstice to connect with our souls and the soul mission we’re here to realize. We’ll plug into cosmic, lunar and Earthly energies to support our on-going growth and transformation.

When you join, you’ll get access to 13 Full Moon LIVE Women’s Circles, including 4 Ceremonial Workshops — led by yours truly.

You can join for as little as $37 a month.

Click here for all the details or to reserve your spot. Or email me at [email protected] with any questions. 

>> alexandrahughes.com/witchhuntcollective

Spaces for this year-long experience with me will be available until March 20.

I’d love to have you join.

More About Evelyn

Evelyn, also known as Astrologer Eve, is an evolutionary astrologer, spiritual counsellor and mystic whose guiding light is to help her clients connect to the beauty and magic of their soul’s purpose found encoded in the birth chart. 

Her approach comes from the heart and is spoken in truth and with kindness, creating purposeful readings that support healing, and the type of self understanding that leads to self acceptance, healthier relationships, breakthroughs and inner peace.  

She has been practicing and teaching soul-focused and Jungian astrology for over 20 years across Canada and internationally. Evelyn weaves together many medicines into her practice including herbal medicine, flower remedies, energy healing, mind-body therapies, breath work, and divination. 

You can find her...

https://www.innertemplehealingarts.com/about - website 

https://www.facebook.com/astrologereve/  - facebook

https://www.instagram.com/astrologer.eve/ - instagram

Meet Jessica Medellin — a woman born in Utah, raised to conform to conservative patriarchal values, who faced blatant sexism in the school system as a teacher and who found herself leaning into the rise of the Divine Feminine. This is the story about a  mother who decided that enough was enough. And that she would take her experience and gifts in a way that ensured her daughter wouldn’t have to face what she did. And so the first of sn evolving series of red thread honoring manuals was born — "First Moon Manual: Letters to Our Daughters"/

Here's to the next generation of menstruating humans being liberated from the internal narrative that bleeding makes us dirty and sinful. Here's to our daughters being  able to honor their bodies, their cycles — to find power in the red thread lineage we are all a part of. I am so excited to be sharing with you this conversation and all of Jessica's magic.

Enjoy!
 

**DOORS ARE NOW *OPEN for the beta round of Witchhunt Collective** 

The Witchhunt Collective is about taking this podcast experience to the next level by offering a series of sacred women’s circles — regular opportunities to  remember and embody your power you were born with to honor your soul mission. 

This Collective is something for you to consider, if you desire:

🐌 slowing right down, exhaling and tuning into your wisest self at an auspicious moment in time and space

🕸️ experiencing a true sense of sisterhood and belonging that includes learning from, and sharing with women who get you

꩜ a scheduled sacred space and opportunity to both release what no longer serves you and manifest what does

🌍 connecting more deeply with nature’s cyclical wisdom, including mastering how to work with the energy of the moon, and the Earth’s Seasonal holy days

We’ll gather in circle 13 times over the course of the coming year on (or around) every Full Moon and seasonal Ceremonial gatherings. 

You can join for as little as $37CAD per month or $400CAD for the entire year if you buy before 31 January. (Prices shift into USD on 1 Feb.) Doors are open until March 20, but we start circling next week!  

Email me with your questions at Alex[at]inessencecoaching.com ,

And if you’re a full body yes, save your spot  —> https://www.alexandrahughes.com/witchhuntcollective 

Here's more about Jesica and her magic:

J.M. Medellin is an author and speaker, her superpower is connecting. She is the creative author behind the book "First Moon Manual: Letters to Our Daughters", a compilation of letters, art, and poetry and more advocating for period positivity. 

Medellin has a Master's degree in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction Design from Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. She also has a Bachelor's degree in Communication/Journalism with a minor in Technical Writing from Weber State University. She spent over a decade working in public and charter schools with students who were brilliant and misunderstood. Which led to her passion around helping young women feel informed, empowered, and positive about their menstrual cycles. She believes that menstruation is a natural and beautiful part of being a woman, and she wants to help young women celebrate their bodies and their cycles.

Medellin was a 2023 Utah Humanities Book Festival speaker. She is currently working on the next manual that will encourage and support women as they embrace their sexuality. You can find her and the manual via email  [email protected], through her website JMMedellin.com, or IG @firstmoonmanual

 And if you're interested in cyclical living, please check out The Cycle: Your Guide to Cyclical Living. It's a free download I have to get you started.

Welcome to our first New Moon in 2024, beautiful Witches!

To commemorate new beginnings, this episode of the Witchhunt podcast is different than most.

It's a solo episode where I weave together the power of land acknowledgment, the astrology of the season, Goddess Mythology and Feminine Earth-Centred Ceremony.

It's also an episode where I announce what's to come, including an offering specifically designed for Witchhunt listeners called The Witchhunt Collective.

Here are the deets👇

When you join The Witchhunt Collective you join access to 13 hour-long full moon Women’s circles with me.  

These Full Moon Women’s Circles are a curated, non-judgmental safe space for self-reflection and rest. They’re no-judgement zones where we’ll come together in sisterhood to share our wisdom and experiences. Think guided meditation, tarot card pulls, burning of cleansing herbs,  and exploration of all Witch-related topics. 

When you become a member of The Witchhunt Collective, you also become a Witchhunt podcast patron.

And…as a patron you’ll also get access to my 4 seasonal ceremonial workshops including first dibs to join in person (subject to timely informing, of course).  

These seasonal Ceremonial workshops are POWERFUL — designed as portals to self-discovery and empowerment — a sacred time and space to harness the energetics of Earthly and cosmic cycles, in support of your individual and our collective healing and thriving. 


To join The Witchhunt Collective, you can choose to pay $400 annually, or $37/ month. This offer will be available until March 20 (priced in Canadian dollars until the end of January — a deal for US listeners!). And I’ll be capping our group at somewhere between 30 and 40 women. Drop me an email to join at [email protected] with the words WITCHHUNT COLLECTIVE in the subject line.

Thanks for listening.

Sending winter blessings, 

Alex

Welcome to Episode 47 of the Witchhunt podcast! 

🍂 🐦‍⬛ From Half Lives to Healing, From Trauma to Temple: A deep dark honest dive into feminine power with JewWitch, Shapeshifter & Community Builder, Shoshana Sperling. 

This is a very special episode because I interview Shoshana and her familiar, Rosa, IN PERSON at one of my new very favorite spaces and places, Community OutWitch — a local neighborhood community centre for Witches and friends, in the Toronto area. 

During our conversation, Shoshana shares how she was naturally attracted to spirituality and ritual as a child, sensitive to all sacred spaces. And how she navigated atheism as a child Witch. We talk about her 2020 Witch awakening and experience at Witchschool Canada and she shares how she alchemically birthed Community OutWitch. Goddesses, the JewWitch version of the Origin story, and the importance of honoring the transitional points in the Wheel of the Year all come up in this beautiful conversation.

And cherry 🍒  on top is our invitation to an in person Solstice ceremony AT COMMUNITY OUTWITCH that I’m calling Luz, which you can learn more about at alexandrahughes.com/luz 💃

Shoshana keeps me in stitches and has the warmest, kindest energy ever.

Listen in for a light hearted, yet deep episode where you get to know this wise woman and her magic. 

Enjoy!

xx

Alex

More about Shoshana.

Shoshana Sperling has a repertoire of 1000 voices and has thrilled Toronto-area audiences with her solo monologues for years. Her voice can be heard on many cartoons including Elinor Wonders Why on PBS, Paw Patrol and Charlie Colorforms. She conceived of, co-wrote and performed two CD’s for children with her band The Monkey Bunch entitled “Sho, Mo and the Monkey Bunch” and “Power to the Little People” which was nominated for a Juno.

As a freelance writer, Shoshana has written for the National Post, Now Magazine, Elephant Journal and is a regular contributor to Today’s Parent Magazine and Chatelaine Magazine. Most recently she has produced and performed in a monthly Cabaret at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre called “Feel The Burl” with her writing partner, Lisa Brooke. 

Today she's a Shapeshifting Coach & Mentor who helps women with who hate to be in the limelight (which feels like just about anywhere) find their power and speak their truths. She is also founder of Community OutWitch, a community and events Centre for Witches and friends in the heart of Parkdale, Toronto. 

Email her for Shapeshifting workshop events and private packages, at [email protected].  

 And check out Community OutWitch offerings here.

Both Shoshana and Alex are on borrowed territory of the Mississauga of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.  

Welcome to Episode 46 of the Witchhunt podcast: Unveiling witchy truthbombs in a commodified world —  with truth teller, visibility & money Witch, Danielle Cohen”

In this episode, Danielle and I dive deep into what it really means to be a witch in today’s world. 

We explore the delicate dance of speaking our truth and staying aligned to our value of walking gently on the earth in a world that has managed to commodify just about everything — magic, included. 

We talk about weaving magic and wisdom into our visibility and money healing journeys, and the role that nervous system regulation plays there. 

When I went back to listen to this episode in search of scroll-stopping quotes, it felt as though the entire conversation was one such quote! 

Get ready for some gentle, wisdom-based truth telling in this incredibly thought provoking, heart opening conversation. 

Enjoy!

xx

Alex

*Correction: I mispronounced Karen Keskinen, founder of Witchschool Canada's last name. It's Keskinen and not Kenisken.

And here's the link to the BBC podcast I mentioned, Witch, with presenter India Rakusen. And here's the link to Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés's book Women Who Run With the Wolves, where, Dr. Estés unfolds rich intercultural myths, fairy tales, and stories, many from her own family, in order to help women reconnect with the fierce, healthy, visionary attributes of this instinctual nature. Through the stories and commentaries in this remarkable book, we retrieve, examine, love, and understand the Wild Woman and hold her against our deep psyches as one who is both magic and medicine.

More About Danielle.

Using a range of coaching, consulting, somatic, creative, and spiritual practices Danielle helps forces of good with big dreams birth and sustain their most aligned work (the paid and unpaid kind). Her work is trauma informed, loving, powerful, and rooted in anti-oppressive values.  Website www.danielle-cohen.com

👇 Free download to help you master the Art of Cyclical Living  

For me, the piece of social conditioning that kept me from hearing my intuition FOR DECADES was my addiction to busy doing. And, I’ll be honest, slowing down and resting when my body calls for it is still (and probably forever will be) a growth edge for me.  

This is why I created The Cycle: Your Guide to Cyclical Living is a simple framework and practical tool that will help you harness nature's ancient wisdom in your modern everyday life. It’s a free download that includes: a Cycle Poster Print, a description of the cycle’s 4 phases and some practical start-up tips for those new to cyclical living.

You can check it out alexandrahughes.com/thecycle

Welcome to episode 45: From Earthschool to Bliss (and back again), with Allison Littlefeather Holaday, an indigenous medicine woman, galactic energy master and Earthschool survivor of 3 near-death experiences.

In this episode, Allison non-challantly answers some of those age-old existential questions we all have: Why are we here? What’s the purpose of suffering? What’s on the other side of this life?

Specifically, Allison speaks to the concept and her lived experience in the hardest dimension of all — Earthschool. She talks about suffering and chronic illness, how she’s come to honor her call to be of service through her many gifts, and how she navigates this world as an open channel.

Allison also shares what she saw and felt on the other side, during her near-death experiences, giving us insight into what lies beyond the veil and reminding us of the Mystery we are all here to surrender to.

There is great magic and wisdom in this episode.

Enjoy!

More about Allison and her magic

Allison’s decades-long spiritual journey dramatically intensified after she experienced three near-death experiences in this lifetime, transformative spiritual ascensions which led to a deep and powerful awakening - revealing that she’d been a Medicine Woman and healer in many past lives.
 

Recognizing on a very deep level the power that comes from energy and intention, Allison committed to channeling her spiritual strength toward the exploration of healing modalities and humbly offering her abilities in service to others. Allison has dedicated her life to sharing that power with others suffering from a variety of emotional wounds, physical discomfort, and spiritual pain.
 
As Allison helps others, her gifts continue to expand exponentially. She is the grateful founder of Energy Release Therapy (ERT), a powerful channeled healing modality that allows her to “pull” trapped energy from people using an ancient technique and understanding gathered from centuries of wisdom.

Allison is an intuitive master medicine woman healer with 18,000 years of wisdom to tap into each individual and heal whatever needs to be released. She is also a medium, master channeler, animal communicator/healer, reiki master, spiritual ascension teacher, public speaker, galactic energy master, and past life healer.  Allison’s core belief is that unconditional love is the truth of who and what we are meant to be.

From helping clients break unhealthy habits, repair relationship bonds and experience new levels of personal healing satisfaction, to connecting with a better understanding of the needs of their loving animals, Allison's individualized treatment approach is specifically tailored to each client’s needs. Time and again the incredible transcendent power of her treatments changes lives.

👇 Free download to help you master the Art of Cyclical Living  

For me, the piece of social conditioning that kept me from hearing my intuition FOR DECADES was my addiction to busy doing. And, I’ll be honest, slowing down and resting when my body calls for it is still (and probably forever will be) a growth edge for me.  

The SINGLE BIGGEST THING that took me from getting my to-do's done in a way that was exhausting to one that was (get this) REGENERATIVE, was learning how to match up what I was emotionally, energetically and physiologically best suited to what I was choosing to do. In other words, I was tuning into my body in order to optimize my energy and time.     

This is why I created The Cycle: Your Guide to Cyclical Living is a simple framework and practical tool that will help you harness nature's ancient wisdom in your modern everyday life. It’s a free download that includes: a Cycle Poster Print, a description of the cycle’s 4 phases and some practical start-up tips for those new to cyclical living.

→You can check it out alexandrahughes.com/thecycle

Welcome to episode 44: The magic of money alignment: a radical conversation with accountant, financial strategist, conscious entrepreneurial thought leader & badass witch Amanda Peeler. 

In this candid conversation, Amanda shares how her post-partum anxiety guided her towards taking her power back and embracing her soul calling. We explore the intersections between capitalism, motherhood, entrepreneurship, money, magical forests, and what it means to move through life as conscious women business owners — aligned and in integrity. We talk about how we can contribute to sustainable, regenerative living, conscious marketing. 

 

We get deep and real, and you’re going to love it — and her.

Enjoy!

More About Amanda & Her Magic

Amanda Peeler is the Founder of The Aligned Strategy, an accounting firm that serves small woman owned businesses, with a mission to put more money back into the hands of sacred women and conscious people. After a decade in Corporate Accounting & Finance, Amanda took a hiatus to heal from burnout. What she found was the money was never going to be enough to compensate for the hustle and that alignment was key. Now she spends her time investing deeply in her clients to help them heal their relationship with money, learn to understand what they value, and ultimately help them achieve their dreams by empowering them with their finances. She and her husband have 18 month old identical twin girls, Elizabeth & Emma, who are truly their greatest joy. Amanda loves to spend her time reading, cooking something new for her daughters, and asking endless questions to determine the reason we are all here. 

👇 Free download to help you master the Art of Cyclical Living  

For me, the piece of social conditioning that kept me from hearing my intuition FOR DECADES was my addiction to busy doing. And, I’ll be honest, slowing down and resting when my body calls for it is still (and probably forever will be) a growth edge for me.  

This is why I created The Cycle: Your Guide to Cyclical Living is a simple framework and practical tool that will help you harness nature's ancient wisdom in your modern everyday life. It’s a free download that includes: a Cycle Poster Print, a description of the cycle’s 4 phases and some practical start-up tips for those new to cyclical living.

  You can check it out alexandrahughes.com/thecycle

Welcome to Episode 43 of the Witch Hunt podcast, the episode where Tara Magalski shares magical story after magical story.

Most riveting is how this woman has learned from and transcended her traumas in a way that activates her capacity and wisdom to support the healing and transcendence of trauma in others. Get ready to hear about chilling stories of a child who speaks to the other side, a woman who foresees illness and death in her Beloved's journeys, and wild plant medicine adventures. You're gonna love this episode.

Enjoy!

More About Tara and her magic

As the founder of Divine Lifestyles, Tara is a certified Holistic Health Counselor (CHHC and AADP), a board-certified and accredited member of the American Association of Drugless Practitioners, a breathwork facilitator, sound alchemist, speaker, transformational event producer, and host of the Divine Lifestyles podcast. After years working in ABC Studios, Goldman Sachs, the NFL for SuperBowl 51, and Music Cares, a non-profit arm of the Grammy’s, Tara has been called to launch Divine Lifestyles. For Tara, Divine Lifestyles is neither a job nor a career—it’s a spiritual commitment and a vocation.

Honored to be selected as an ambassador for both Life Act and Girl’s Health Education, Tara represents a rising generation of change-makers who are re-creating the world in line with their values of authenticity and inclusivity. Tara has been invited to speak her truth on FOX 5 LIVE, CNBC, WKYC Channel 3, WED at the United Nations, Fabulous Female Network, Harboring Hearts, and Heels & Helmets. 

Tara is a graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, the world’s largest nutrition school, affiliated with both Columbia University and The State University of New York. 

Divinelifestyles.com

@divinelifestyles