The wandering witches market returned to the Westlock Memorial Hall on May 17 with various vendors and spiritualists promoting their creations and businesses.
This was the third year the market had come to Westlock, having been in Edmonton for 16 years before. Event organizer AD Richardson was enthusiastic on the market’s draw for people living an alternative lifestyle in the community.
“People think it's all fire and brimstone, death, blood and stuff like that. It's not. It's more just an alternative market,” said Richardson. “It’s not religious at all. We do have people that practice witchcraft or identify as pagan or Wiccan, but we also have vendors that just love horror and gothic kinds of things. There’s people that live an alternative lifestyle, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's an evil witchy lifestyle.”
Among the more spiritual practitioners was vendor Lee Thompson.
“It's a metaphysical, spiritual belief. It’s a very nature-based release,” said Thompson. “We do a lot of work with spirit guides who do work with gods and goddesses.”
Several other vendors also promoted more spiritual practices including Intuitive Pathways, a mediumship course about “connecting to the other side.”
Another big spiritual and artistic influence for several of the vendors was ancient Norse mythology. These included Viking inspired blacksmithing from Briar Dumouchel and Norse rune reading by Natasha Ravensdaughter.
“I do Norse mythology inspired artwork and market wears. I've got a rune set that I made and a book that I've published because I've done rune reading since I was a teenager,” said Ravensdaughter. “This is less about religion and more about communication. The mythology is storytelling. Historical stories are ways of learning things no different than Aesop's Fables or parables or any of the different stories that humankind has come up with.”
The market also featured a vendor from the Body Garage, a Westlock-based osteopathic massage clinic located at the Westlock Spirit Centre as well as several artists inspired by witchcraft and horror imagery.
This included glasswork done by Allison Paul and artwork created with ethically sourced dead animal bones by the Cryptic Cauldron.
“The first time we did it, I was really worried something was gonna happen coming to rural Alberta, but we haven't had any problems,” said Richardson. “We're not scary. We're just people and artists that are trying to make a living in the world are just a little bit weird.”
