Got skills as a witch? Turn your passion for the Craft into an income with one of these magical side hustles.
The Art of the Magical Side Hustle
With a growing number of people interested in witchcraft and alternative spirituality, the demand for experienced, knowledgeable practitioners continues to increase.
If you pride yourself on strong ethical standards and constantly honing your expertise, consider using your talents as a fun way to boost your income.
Here are some ideas to get you thinking.
1. Read Tarot
If you work fluently with the cards, consider taking the plunge and reading for hire.
Ask around at your local occult shops.
Or, promote your business by offering to give free readings at a a friend’s party. Then pass out your business card.
Tarot reading is a word-of-mouth business. The better you are, the more people refer you.
But before you go too far down this path, check out these things to consider before becoming a professional tarot reader.
2. Become An Officiant
If you like speaking in public and leading rituals, consider becoming an officiant. Specialize in handfastings or pagan ceremonies.
(Or, for a broader market, offer services for interfaith ceremonies).
Bonus? Pagan clergy makes up a very small minority in the wedding business. Sometimes couples cover travel expenses for experienced pagan clergy with large reputations.
Invest in some high quality ritual robes. Prepare to deal with bridezillas and get good at conflict resolution!
3. Teach
Contact your local witchcraft shop and let them know you want to teach a workshop. Start small and teach something you know well.
Herbalism, moon magic and beginning spell craft usually draw decent class sizes.
If your town lacks a witchcraft shop, see if your local Unitarian Universalist church hosts pagan or witchcraft workshops.
And if neither of these options exist where you live, ask your community center about teaching a workshop on something related to your skills. You’ll need to take a more mainstream approach, but can still stay true to your abilities. For example, pitch a foraging class or a guided meditation class.
Surprise yourself with how much you learn by teaching!
4. Open A Witchy Etsy Shop
Do you enjoy working with your hands? Do you tend to make more of the gifts you give than buy them?
Maybe you craft perfect Sabbat candles. Or maybe you design and make fancy ritual clothes.
Etsy is an easy, cheap way to start selling your treasures.
And this one may even turn into a full-time gig! Lots of people move from part-time to full time on Etsy.
5. Start a Blog
Take it from me: blogging is a long game. It takes months, and sometimes years, of dedicated work to start generating a meaningful income with blogging.
But, if you . . .
-like long term projects
-have excellent photography skills
-enjoy writing
-don’t mind social media promotion
. . .then blogging may be a great option for you. Check out these tips for pagan bloggers.
6. Work at a garden center.
Get a part-time gig at a garden center.
Learn the basics of growing herbs and flowers in your region.
Then, bring these skills back to your home to get started as a green witch or beginning herbalist.
Getting to know gardening on a regional level connects you to the seasons and the land around you. It also develops some extremely useful talents that will almost certainly deepen your knowledge of the Craft.
7. Become a doula
A doula supports women before, during and after childbirth.
Many witches find helping women with the special transition of Maid to Mother a very rewarding and life-affirming experience.
Do people say you’re easy to talk to?
Are you comfortable with the process of labor and delivery?
Do you have flexible hours, especially at night?
Check out DONA for more information on becoming a doula and get started serving the women in your area.
Or, if you’re so inclined, consider becoming a death doula. Yes, it’s a thing.
Side Hustles to Avoid!!!!
While there’s certainly nothing wrong with charging for services you’ve worked hard to develop and perfect, certain witch-for-sale hustles are more prone to exploitative practices and are best avoided.
Spells for Sale
There are plenty of ethical ways to monetize your spell crafting skills.
If you love to come up with unique spell ideas, try making handmade spell kits to sell. Design beautiful spell scrolls, create imaginative incense blends or become the go-to mix-master for custom spell oils.
Emphasize the quality and craftsmanship of the item itself.
That is a very different thing from charging to cast spells for people, which, by its very nature, implies something you can’t promise.
You cannot guarantee to get an infertile couple pregnant or turn the head of an unwilling lover.
You know you can’t. I know you can’t. Pretending that you can do those things is blatantly fraudulent.
It’s also a creepy, unsettling way to profit from the desperate emotions of infertile couples, jilted lovers, or people with serious health issues.
Don’t be weird like that.
“Shady Shaman” Services
Please, for the love of all creation, do not put on a bunch of ritual clothes from a tradition you have zero real life experience with and try to pass yourself off as something you’re not.
Don’t put on Native American attire from a tribe you don’t belong to, or dress up as a caricature of a voodoo priestess.
It’s embarrassing, it’s disrespectful, and someone will call you out eventually.
Be honest about who you are and what you know. Period.
Herbalism Services You Are Not Qualified to Offer
Do not play around with the health and wellness of others. Unless you have years of training and knowledge, as well as whatever licensing/certifications/insurance you need to practice herbalism in your jurisdiction, do not attempt to treat medical issues professionally.
It’s dangerous, it’s unethical and it’s a serious liability.
If you want to use your knowledge of herbs for wellness, consider making natural bath products or even start a catering company that specializes in wild crafted foods.
Great article! I believe you should have included Jewelry and rock sales by unqualified individuals.
I am a certified gem professional who caters natural and genuine earth rock supplies to practitioners.
It largely angers me to see practitioners selling lab created as natural stone, or color enhanced without disclosing the treatments, and other items that are just plain Not authentic stone… such as colored glass or resin… Orgone being a good example… lets stick some rocks in fiberglass resin and call it a natural stone!
Here’s some blue glass… we’ll call it blue obsidian for healing…
Just No!!!
This is so bad for the gemstone industry, as well as degenerates any positive credibility that we practitioners have struggled and continue to struggle to build.
It would be wonderful to be able to provide these standards for our community so that we gain credibility rather than the continued accusations of snake oil sellers..
As a newbie Kitchen witch I never thought about making home made bath products, thanks for the great idea!
You’re welcome!