A Real-Life Witch Answers Our Questions & Debunks Common Myths

Remember Sabrina, the Teenage Witch? She made being a witch seem so cool and effortless. If the popular girl said something mean to you, you could snap your fingers and turn her into a pineapple. But offscreen, witches do a lot more than use their powers to navigate high school social hierarchies and hang out with talking cats. To get a better sense of what witches really do, we chatted with real-life witch Melissa Madara, owner of Catland, a metaphysical boutique in Brooklyn, to clear up a few myths about witchcraft. Turns out, IRL witches set specific spiritual intentions and claim to see real results. They invoke deities (of which there are very, very many) through incantations, anointments, tarot card readings, and other forms of witchcraft. Some treat their practice like a form of faith, while others consider it a very practical activity. But no matter how contemporary witches choose to contact spirits, their goal often remains the same: to effect change in their own lives. Watch as we chat with Madara about witchcraft, its modern uses, and why it's more personal than Sabrina led us to believe.