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25 Best Buys for Witchcore Aesthetic Vibes

Has WitchTok had you dreaming of reading tarot in a softly lit room surrounded by crystals, dried herbs, and incense? We got you. These are the best buys to get that coveted witchcore aesthetic–curated by an initiated witch.

Price: $ – $
25 Listed Items

What Is Witchcore? 

Have you ever walked into a pagan shop and looked around and thought, "I want to live here,"?

Well, you can. Sort of. You can recreate the feeling and that's the vibe we're talking about.

It's an aesthetic embracing all things witchy and throwing out the old rules that say pentacles and crystals the size of cats aren't appropriate decor. 

I grew up around Salem, MA, home of the Salem Witch Trials, which has ironically turned into one of the country's most popular destinations for modern witches. I spent my childhood wandering in and out of pagan shops and became obsessed with the smells, the statues, the walls of Tarot cards, and shop keepers dripping with pagan jewelry. 

 Now you can make your house and yourself have that same vibe.

What Is the Difference Between Witchcore and Cottagecore?

There's a fair amount of overlap here. Cottagecore is referring to a more idyllic calling back to pastoral times. 

Things the two aesthetics share:

  • Mushrooms
  • Wildflowers and herbs
  • The forest
  • Corsets and flowing skirts
  • Fairies
  • Cottages in the woods

Things that are more exclusively Cottagecore:

  • High Tea style teacups
  • Fancy picnics
  • Wide, floppy brim hats
  • Farming/Gardening
  • Baking

Is that to say that Witches can't bake or farm? Absolutely not. All of these things can be witchcraft-related but as far as an aesthetic, cottagecore is basically more cows, less pentacles. More handspinning yarn, less spiderwebs.

Here's a good example: Tiered skirts. 

This tiered skirt is witch aesthetic and this tiered skirt is cottagecore.

What Are the Different Vibes of Witchy?

Saying something is "witchy" isn't as specific as you'd think. Witchy could mean a calming sprig of lavender beside a selenite crystal or it could mean a taxidermied crow's heart. There's a wide range of vibes just like there's a wide range of witchcraft--and, frankly speaking, a wide range of people. 

I'm breaking it down into just a couple of different sub-aesthetics to help you decide which feels right for you so you can narrow in on exactly what you want.

Green/Garden Witch

Green witches are the plant-obsessed witches. Think indoor and outdoor gardens, hanging drying herbs, mortar and pestles, mushrooms, pretty crystals and the like. The popularity of hydroponic technology's more compact indoor herb gardens has allowed even apartment-dwellers the ability to garden.

Hedge Witch

If the Green Witch aesthetic is the witch who lives in town and grows healing herbs for their neighbors, the Hedge Witch lives just outside of town in a small hut and villagers only come to them in secret to obtain darker, wilder spells. 

The Hedge Witch aesthetic is wild herb foraging, poisonous plants, animal bones, insect wings, and rocks that might not look Instagram-worthy but carry deep power.

Embracing-the-Stereotype Witch

Think The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. Think modern media witches. Think The Craft. There's nothing wrong with a little buy-in if you love the look of it.

This is the gothic occult: tarot cards with elaborate reading cloths, black clothes, Ouija everything, ravens, spiders, crystal balls, black cauldrons, fake human skull candle holders, and black cats.  

The sort of thing you would buy at a Halloween Store or from Target's Halloween Collection but keep in the house or on your altar all year long. (We absolutely do this in our house.)

How Do I Witchify My Wardrobe?

Black and dark grey are your new best friends. So are lace and more retro cuts. 

A pleated tiered skirt and a corset belt will never steer you wrong. Platform punk boots are popular but I'm more of a heeled combat boots gurl. 

For masc folks, think black linen henleys, hippy pants,or black lace.

Don't forget to accessorize with jewelry.

What Is the Broom Closet?

This aesthetic is about smashing the Broom Closet and burning it at the stake if you will, but that doesn't mean you have to share it with every single person you interact with.

The Broom Closet refers to being in the closet as a witch because there are a fair amount of people who would discriminate and even be scared of someone they found out was a witch. Sometimes you want or have to hide that stuff from your nine-to-five job or your grandparents or your medical providers just for convenience and safety's sake. I've had uninformed people assume we sacrifice neighbor's cats.

Should we have to hide? Of course not, but it's the state of the Christian-centric country we live in.

Needing to staying the closet to a point doesn't mean you can't indulge in raven decor and candles. Your boss doesn't have to see your apartment. Zoom backgrounds exist for a reason. 

Keep it contained to one room if that works for you. We have a slight pagan flavor to our mid-century modern decor house and one room dedicated for practicing that's full-on witch. Does that make us a bit nervous when we've got repair folks walking through the house? Absolutely, but they don't often need to go into this room so we feel safer.

Do You Have to Be a Witch to Enjoy the Aesthetic?

Not in my opinion, but if you use Tarot cards, collect crystals, wear pentacles, and hang up images of the Goddess--are you really not a witch?

There's no real litmus test or single initiation rite that makes someone a witch. Some people self-initiate themselves into the craft. Others (like myself) go on to go through an initiation into a more formal witchcraft tradition but that's not a necessity.

And some just dabble. If you feel you are a witch then it's not my or anyone else's place to say you're not. 

The other thing is that there are varying levels of practicing and that's okay. There's some shade thrown around in the community at so-called "armchair witchcraft" or witches who people judge aren't super active in their craft (that other people can see), but everyone has different circumstances and needs. My partner has a very active engagement with students and daily rituals. Mine is quieter and more in the way that it's infused into my gardening, my cooking, and the way I care for things and people. Both are valid. 

If you definitely aren't looking for pagan spirituality, it's not a hard no. For me, would it be weird to walk into an atheist's house and find a big shrine to the Triple Goddess? Sure, that'd be a tidge strange. But if they love the imagery and the energy it brings to be around--that's magic, baby. 

Is there the possibility for it to leak over into appropriation if it isn't respectful? Also sure. That said, witches can also be appropriative too, and need to be cognizant of our own actions. Witchcraft is a wide web and comes from practices across the globe, but maybe don't flood your space with Buddha statues because you like how they look even though you're not Buddhist or from an Asian culture. 

Be respectful, be informed, be open to calling-ins, and you should be okay.

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