Kari Giavedoni is a practising witch, a wife and a mother of three. She runs MommaBatWitchery, where she gives tarot and astrology readings. Giavedoni, 34, also runs Wicked Bazaar, a witches market featuring a variety of alternative makers. She posts market dates regularly on her socials @thewickedbazaar and @mommabatwitchery.

Magic is anywhere and everywhere …

… it’s in the little things. It’s the big things. It’s the power of our thoughts and intentions. It’s in our emotions. I could go on and on about what magic means to me.

I was raised Roman Catholic …

… I went to Sunday school for 13 years, was baptized and confirmed. I am not anti-religion; I prefer more freedom to my spirituality. There are a lot of parts in religion that have been taken from paganism. Catholicism and Christianity are a rip-off of so many religions.

I am not a Wiccan …

… I am a practising witch. A lot of people have this perception that because you are a witch you must be Wiccan or pagan, and you might not necessarily be either. I try to steer clear of the terms, because I might do things a Wiccan or pagan would definitely never do.

I know dozens of witches …

… but I am much more solitary with my practice, mostly due to my stage of life with being at home with my kids while they are young. As I get older, I imagine I’ll branch out much more. But the Wicked Bazaar and MommaBatWitchery have opened me up to such an amazing community of witches, spiritualists and healers.

Most people are practising witchcraft …

… without even knowing they are. Blowing out candles on your birthday cake and making a wish, having your family gather and sing. Using holistic or herbal healing methods. Using crystals. Lighting candles, incense and doing a smoke cleanse. Throwing salt over your shoulder. Blowing a puffy dandelion or an eyelash off your face. All of these things stem from witchcraft and paganism.

I get notes on my doorstep …

… saying things like “I’ll be praying for you.” It has to do with religion — that’s what it stems from. Religion attaching a negative connotation to the old ways.

The stigma attached to witches …

… comes from being afraid of feminine energy. I want to preface this: feminine energy has nothing to do with gender and sexuality. Anyone can embody it. I think people are afraid of it because they just don’t understand it.

Witches are very …

… in tune with the seasons, with nature, with energy, honouring nature, honouring our seasons and cycles, and what’s happening astrologically. A lot of the work that I do is in tandem with what is happening astrologically.

I cast spells …

… for myself and for others. I make them in little jars and people can keep it and carry it with them.

Some spells use specific times to make their effects more potent …

… but any time can be incorporated into your magical practice. At 3 a.m. we have the witching hour, where the veil is very thin. This is why people see spirits at night, in their subconscious dreams or may deal with sleep paralysis.

Most witches, particularly ones that are Wicca …

… follow a lot of laws to not do anything that is going to put out bad energy into the universe. It’s called the threefold law in Wiccan practice. Basically, whatever you put out is going to come back to you times three, so that’s why you want to do good and only good. I am not necessarily in agreement with that because that’s not life. You have to take the good with the bad; that is just what it is.

Am I intentionally harmful to anyone …

… in a malicious way? No, absolutely not.

There is something called baneful magic …

… which refers to hexes and curses. And yes, I do practise baneful magic on occasion. There’s every other colour of magic as well. Most of my spells are focused on love, luck and money, in which case we have red, pink, yellow and green magic.

I am much more drawn to green witchery …

… I am very much a green witch. Gardening, growing my own herbs and vegetables and fruits, canning, herbalism, being in and surrounded by nature, daily nature walks, incorporating the elements into my practice, which then leads into kitchen witchery — making homemade meals, baking, using food and herbs, particularly ones I’ve grown to heal and grow.

One of my favourite things to do in my craft is a new moon ritual …

… I use it for manifesting. You set up your little altar, you will write down some things that you want to manifest. If you can relate it to something that is happening astrologically, then it’s more wonderful. For instance if it’s a new moon in Pisces — Pisces is very much the psychic of the zodiac and has a lot of intuition — I would say “I want to grow my intuition.”

Spirits used to scare me when I was a kid …

… but I am not scared any more. I have always dealt with spirits since I was a child.

I am not a love and light girlie …

… I am absolutely not. I think it’s really important to acknowledge our darkness, our shadow side, and put in the work towards actually becoming a better person.

There is a misconception on what darkness is …

… There is so much beauty and healing in darkness. Light is equally as important. There has to be a balance between the two. But darkness is everything — that’s where we heal ourselves, that’s where we do a lot of work to better ourselves as people and help others to better themselves as people. I am really attracted to the intensity of the darkness.

The spring equinox coming up …

… is a significant time. It is very much about new beginnings, fertility, new energy, vitality and life. The veil is thin at all points. Spirits are very present, so it’s a very good time to honour loved ones who have passed and, if you want to, a good time to try to connect with your spirit guides.

Ostara, the Wiccan pagan celebration …

… is pretty synonymous with Easter. The best ways to celebrate Ostara are spring cleaning, baking either fresh loaves or some cakes, or starting your seeds for your garden in the summer. You should spend some time in nature if the weather allows; it doesn’t need to be anything fancy.

All the solstices and equinoxes are significant …

… they all represent a shift in energy and nature. I love summer solstice, midsummer, Beltane as well and I really love Samhain (a pagan festival marking the end of harvest that starts Oct. 31). I live for October and Halloween.

Tarot can predict how things will play out for you in the future …

… It is a wonderful tool to help guide you. It can let you know what you’re holding onto from the past and give insight into things you need to work through and heal from. It is a skill, a gift I was born with and comes naturally to me. It’s an inner intuition that not everyone has.

“I can absolutely make predictions in what is going to happen to you in your future. I can see it, but having said that, the future is never set in stone.”– Kari Giavedoni

People have misperceptions when it comes to tarot …

… I can absolutely make predictions in what is going to happen to you in your future. I can see it, but having said that, the future is never set in stone. There are multiple factors that play into why things veer and shift.

Eclipses are very intense …

… it changes the energy completely, especially for those whose signs it is. There are two eclipses that are happening at the end of March and the beginning of April. They are Libra and Aries eclipses. People go through very transformational energy; there’s a lot of growth and evolution when an eclipse is happening.

For my business …

… I do astrology readings, tarot readings, I sell crystals, I sell spells. People come to me and tell me, “I need a spell for this” and I either give them the spells or I give them the tools they need to make their own spell. I make crystal jewelry and things such as spell jars, or herbs, which I grow here at my home in the summer.

A lot of people come to me for cord-cuttings …

… it’s an energetic cord-cutting between two people and it involves candles. You have two tapered candles and you tie a rope or string around the tops and you light them both; as the fire goes down it ultimately ends up severing the energetic tie that’s between two people.

A natal chart …

… is a birth chart based on your zodiac signs. All the planets are in different positions — Mars and Venus were in different signs at the time of your birth, the moon was in a sign — and there were lots of things happening astrologically at the time of your birth.

Your natal chart …

… encompasses your personality, and it encompasses things that might happen to you over your lifetime and gives you a good direction in what you need to work on as a person, and what will really help you to thrive.

Astrology is a really great tool …

… but you have to take it with a grain of salt. Don’t put everything into this because nothing is ever certain.

My husband is my biggest support …

… I find a lot of men are closed off to this type of energy and very much play “devil’s advocate” to my lifestyle. But he has never doubted me. A witch for a wife will be sure to bring great success and abundance.

A lot of what my witchcraft is …

… mostly just a mom raising her kids with respect and honour for nature, taking care of our home, creating homemade meals and growing our own food. Of course there’s also massive bonfires, full moon rituals, using and manipulating energy to get everything I could possibly want, pretty crystals and psychic feelings. But my most powerful magic is in the small and simple things.

Answers have been edited for length and clarity.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca