Across Denver, families are decorating their homes, stockpiling sweet treats and preparing their costumes for a fun night out amidst the throngs of ghosts, ghouls, and witches. However, to practicing witches like Medicine Mama Kia, witchcraft isn’t just a holiday trend but rather a way of life.
Kia Jones, who goes by Medicine Mama Kia, is the owner of The Witch Wellness Shop. She is a queer, BIPOC witch based in Denver, as well as an activist, medicine woman and holistic healer. Her journey as a witch began in her high school years.
“I started off as a young girl who was raised in a Christian belief system,” Mama Kia said. “My father believed in UFOs, and my mom was always into Celtic magic … My belief system originated from Earth medicine when I was in high school, going into my personal belief [that] Western medicine isn’t everything.”
Faced with the shortcomings of Western medicine, Mama Kia began studying alternative means of healing: herbs, crystals, chanting and more. “I started to research what was outside my house in terms of flowers, petals and roots, and how I could use those to heal my body … rather than popping pills,” Mama Kia said.
For Mama Kia, witchcraft is much more than a pursuit of personal healing. Historically, witchcraft has always been a deeply feminine practice, and Mama Kia agrees.
“The medicine of a strong woman who is independent and aware of herself and [who] doesn’t ask a man’s permission to learn or speak up,” Mama Kia said. “I would say that femininity has such a purpose on witchcraft, because when you look back to the Salem Witch Trials, [women] were deemed a devil worshipper if [they] spoke back, if [they] were deemed ill and doctors couldn’t solve [their] illness, and if [they] were someone who had a connection to herbs or spirits or the unknown.”
Modern-day witchcraft is a highly independent practice, with practitioners choosing the rituals and means most effective in their own lives. Mama Kia defines this as daily rituals, a personal commitment to Earth healing, and monthly safe spaces for the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. Another important aspect of witchcraft, according to Mama Kia, is the pentacle, which represents the elements of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit.
“[The pentacle] brings together different forms of magic,” Mama Kia said. “Earth represents the body. Air represents the thoughts. Fire represents action. Water represents emotion. Spirit represents the totality of the body, mind and spirit. We use different forms of these elements to heal imbalances in our lives, whether that’s mental illnesses or physical diseases.”
As a practicing witch in Denver, there are struggles that Mama Kia faces daily. “I identify as a BIPOC, queer witch, and I don’t feel like there are enough safe spaces or people that represent or look like me,” Mama Kia said. “People [assume] I practice dark magic, that I’m a devil worshipper … They see the sign ‘witch’ and that immediately turns them off.”
Another struggle is a lack of community. While there are online witch communities, Mama Kia noted that Denver does not have many physical covens (groups of witches who meet regularly). “It’s upsetting because I feel like there are closeted witches,” Mama Kia said. “We’re out here; people are very interested.”
To combat some of these struggles and assumptions, Mama Kia makes a point of being out and visible “to share that magic and make that space known and very visible.”
Tabling frequently at MSU Denver’s main campus, she greets every curious passerby with a friendly smile. “My business, Witch Wellness, welcomes everyone of all belief systems,” Mama Kia said. “If you’re interested in becoming a witch, a beginner witch or learning spells and magic, we welcome you.”
Mama Kia’s welcoming approach reflects her perspective on what a witch is: “someone who is open-minded, accepts all traditions, beliefs and cultures, as we want to be accepted by all traditions, beliefs and cultures.”
On Halloween, witches are more present in the minds of Denverites than perhaps any other time of the year. Despite the general stigma surrounding witchcraft, hundreds, if not thousands, of people will be dressing up as witches to celebrate the holiday.
“Everyone thinks it’s cool to be a witch when it’s in season,” Mama Kia said. “Personally, I’m a witch all year round […] and I feel like it’s only cool and acceptable when people need a love spell, or for their boyfriend not to cheat on them, or they want to play the part or dress up as the costume, but [they don’t] actually take on the physical role that a witch plays.”
Despite Mama Kia’s dissatisfaction with the American holiday of Halloween, she still values it—or, as Mama Kia and other witches call it, the Samhain Sabbat. Samhain has its roots in ancient Celtic traditions, commemorating the end of the summer harvest season and the start of winter, which was associated with death.
“I think it’s a beautiful time to connect with the dead, the ancestors, and to give thanks to those who were here before you, and to help remove blockages and obstacles that are in your personal path with those offerings to the ancestors,” Mama Kia said.
As a practicing witch, Mama Kia celebrates Halloween, or Samhain, by building an altar and cleansing it, then by offering water, fresh tobacco, pound cakes and other foods her ancestors used to eat, as well as consuming them herself as an offering.
“I believe, as a witch, it’s important to spell cast, to give offerings and to light a candle outside in your pumpkin to really draw your ancestors into your doorstep,” Mama Kia said.
Witchcraft is much more than a seasonal trend for practicing witches; it has profound and personal implications.
“Being a witch has made me a brighter person, a more multifaceted individual,” Mama Kia said. “I have the ability to use the tools that are provided to me and make magic out of them … I’m always making something out of nothing. I believe that’s what witches do.”
