Alyssa Wade scooped a spoonful of tea from a small vial labeled “Aphrodite’s Return.” She
poured the spoonful into her moon-shaped mug and the sweet scent of raspberry and
pomegranate filled the air as she poured boiling water over the blend; the water became a bright
blue. She squeezed a drop of lemon juice over the mug and the tea transformed into a deep,
mystical purple — her favorite color.
“There is no right or wrong way to be a witch,” Wade said. “It starts with believing that you are
magic.”
Tight-knit communities and markets in and around Austin bring witches into a modern light. The
Austin Witches Market is one of those communities, a vendors market occurring on every new
and full moon across the city. Witches gather at the market to trade, shop and sell their goods and
services and share their magic with other like-minded people. Three Austin-area witches
frequently attend the market and stay closely connected to the community: Alyssa Wade,
Elizabeth Martin and Devon Moon. They remind Austin and the world that witches have and still
exist in the modern day.
Alyssa Wade was a high school math school teacher before hitting a low point in her mental
health and turning to tarot cards for guidance and support. She ended up quitting her teaching job
and starting her tarot reading and crystal business, Magical Muses.
Wade said she has practiced witchcraft for as long as she can remember. She collects crystals and
herbs and reads tarot cards and came out of what she called the “witch’s closet” a couple years
ago to work as an intuitive tarot reader and crystal seller.
“It was like taking off a mask, which was scary but liberating,” Wade said. “I was stepping into
who I was meant to be.”
Another local witch, Elizabeth Martin is a clinical herbalist and green witch who runs a small
business selling teas, tinctures and herbs. She explored herbalism after her daughter developed
PANDAS, a neuropsychiatric disorder that heightens her anxiety and causes episodes of
psychosis.
Martin’s daughter was prescribed copious amounts of medications and met with doctors
bimonthly for treatments with little to no results. Martin said she knew there had to be a better
way.

“I read that passionflower worked similarly to her medication but without the side effects, so I
tried it and it was a game changer,” Martin said. “We’ve been in and out of the hospital for 4
years. Within one year of using herbs, she was off all her meds and in full remission.”
Martin has been selling herbs and teas in her shop for 9 years at low and no-cost options for
those in need. She said she is not anti-medication but sees benefits in herbalism and provides
alternative options to those who cannot afford traditional medicine or are not seeing results.
“I still see doctors out in public and I’m sobbing because I’m like, ‘Thank you for helping my
daughter,’ because I do think it’s a team effort,” Martin said. “But I could reach for an herb first,
and sharing the magic of plants not just medicinally but also magically is so important to me.”
While seen as holistic and pure, witchcraft and its branches has had to evolved along with
societal norms. Devon Moon, a transgender, queer and disabled witch, has studied astrology and
witchcraft for 18 years, working with herbs, star charts and tarot cards.
“Being a trans woman, I have strived to take modern astrology in a more gender-neutral
direction,” Moon said. “In classical, traditional astrology there’s a very gendered quality. Mars is
the man, Venus is the woman, the sun is the father, the moon is the mother … I really try to break
all of that and just create a way for people to find themselves in their charts regardless of what
traditional rules are.”
Moon owns a business reading tarot cards and analyzing astral charts and horoscopes. She also
sells spell sachets at local markets, sachets filled with herbs, flowers and incense made to use
during spell work. Moon says her identity is a significant aspect of her craft and even offers
“rainbow” readings that connect astrological charts with queer identities.
“Astrology is there to explain what exists and queer and trans people exist, so we can find
ourselves in astrology,” Moon said.
Wade, Moon and Martin see magic not only in the objects and tools they use but also everywhere
around them, with the goal of sharing their magical expertise with others.
However, Wade said magic and witchcraft is more than just pretty crystals and colorful candles.
“It’s so much more about the mind and intention that creates the magic than what you’re doing in
front of you,” Wade said. “At the end of the day, we are the magic.”