Melting wax and dropping in dyes, scents, fresh herbs and crystals, non-degree seeking graduate student Anna Eckert is the owner of The Storm Witch, a business that focuses on selling candles and tarot readings to help those around her.
“The Storm Witch is basically my business that I use to share my witchcraft,” Eckert said. “Right now, it’s mostly candles because I just started up, so I’m just getting the candle game under wraps, and then I might go into other stuff. Really it’s just a way for me to share that with other people.”
Witchcraft is different for everyone, Eckert said, and can be a part of religions like Wicca or paganism or a spiritual practice on its own. For Eckert, witchcraft involves using physical objects to help her visualize putting specific intentions into the world.
“For me, witchcraft is a spiritual practice in which I use crystals, herbs, tarot cards and candles to help me better myself and be of benefit to others,” Eckert said. “For example, I may be feeling down about myself, so I sit with a rose quartz or a black tourmaline crystal for a while and imagine my negativity leaving my body. Or say my friend is experiencing something bad in their life, I may light a candle and envision them happy and imagine sending those thoughts to them.”
Eckert got the idea to start The Storm Witch about three-and-a-half months ago because she was bored during quarantine and discovered her desire to open a metaphysical shop. Instead of putting her career on hold to pursue it, she opted to start an online shop to share her work.
Eckert uses different materials in each candle to make the recipient feel specific auras. For her love candle, she uses herbs, scents and crystals that are associated with love.
“The whole thing that makes my product different from a lot of the other candle makers out there is that my candles aren’t advertised based on the scent, they’re advertised based on the intention that I put into them,” Eckert said. “I’ve got some popular candles like [my] love candle. The intention of this candle is that it will bring you love, either from a different person or from yourself. The color is also a big thing. Colors are associated with different intentions, so I just put a different intention into each different candle, and that’s what makes it different.”
The Storm Witch offers candles ranging from six to 16 ounces in size, or custom candles for customers who have a specific idea in mind.
“Custom candles I have [a lot of] fun with because I just ask the person, ‘What do you want the intention for this to be?’ and I usually ask what kind of scents they like, then I can be creative and make a candle that’s perfect for them and for what they need,” Eckert said.
In addition to making candles, Eckert also does tarot readings. She uses a deck of tarot cards and asks the client to send a photo of themselves to get their energy.
“I pick the cards based on instinct of what they want, and it also depends on the spread,” Eckert said. “Today I did a relationship spread, and it was eight cards, and each card has a different meaning, like past, present, future. I read the cards and take videos, [and] I send them to them through Twitter. [I explain] everything like what the card means and specifically what it means for them. Sometimes I’ll get backstory on what their situation is, sometimes not, it depends. With the tarot, it’s a more casual thing.”
The Storm Witch customer and education junior Hallie Podany said she supports Eckert because of the quality products and connections they formed at UNT.
“I feel like there are so many companies out there that make loads of products, but she takes her time and hand makes every single one of them and handwrites letters for every package,” Podany said. “To me, this makes her business so much more personable because you truly feel like she made the candle or spell protection jar just for you.”
Another customer, political science and economics senior Cassidy Wray, said she is in favor of multifunctional, pretty products, so she was drawn to Eckert’s candles.
“The Storm Witch has a locally-run, student-owned independent business, and she is a woman in STEM,” Wray said. “It’s always important to support local businesses, but I think upstarts like hers are especially important to promote.”
Going forward, Eckert plans to continue sharing her witchcraft with others.
“I want to grow my follower base and show people that it’s really easy to be witchy — you don’t have to try that hard,” Eckert said. “Everybody can be witchy, and I just want to share that with people. If people can learn and grow and understand what witchcraft is and also grow their craft, I’m good.”
The Storm Witch can be found on Instagram @The.StormWitch and on her website.
Featured Image: Anna Eckert, The Storm Witch, displays some of her favorite tarot cards at Harvest House on Nov. 11, 2020. Image by Samuel Gomez
Article Originally Published by Maria Lawson on North Texas Daily
Source: North Texas Daily
