Brooklyn’s home to an ever-growing witch community, with more and more young creatives identifying as witches. For empowerment, education, nature, community, and a dose of aesthetic magic, you’ll want to visit these five Brooklyn hot spots for a witchy night out or day trip.
Catland Books
987 Flushing Ave, Bushwick
Catland Bookstore is Brooklyn’s premiere occult bookshop and spiritual community space. With a dedicated and knowledgeable staff, along with crystals, well-curated books (they also have their own magazine, Venefica), oils, herbs, and loads of educational and inspirational community classes and events, this is your go-to witchy locale.
The Brooklyn Botanic Garden
900 Washington Avenue, Prospect Park
Witchcraft is closely tied to nature and the environment; witches are in tune with the cycle of nature—the seasons’ birth, death, rebirth—and they also commune, heal, and nurture themselves and their communities with herbs and plants. Taking a stroll through the garden is sure to teach you about plants and flowers while grounding you and getting you into a more magical space both in body and mind. As a witch in New York City, nature spaces are so vital! Fridays before noon are FREE, while students 12+ get in at a discount of $8.
Green-Wood Cemetery
500 25th St, Sunset Park
Not every witch works with the dead, of course—but there’s no denying that taking a stroll through a beautiful cemetery is sure to get you into a magical mindset. It’s silent (but for the birds and other creatures), it’s filled with nature and history and memory, and it’s a physical space where the veil between life and death is thinnest. Free to enter.
Brooklyn’s Botanica’s
For natural healing, spiritual objects and aids, books on a whole plethora of spiritual and magical practices, Brooklyn’s many Botanicas are available.
Milk & Roses
1110 Manhattan Ave, Greenpoint
For the witchiest of cocktails (featuring ingredients like dill, mint, parsley, peppercorn, and rose), in a glorious environment of flowers and dim lighting, stop by Milk and Roses. If their normal prices don’t suit your needs, check out their happy hour (4-7pm) for house wine and beers at $6 and $5, respectively.
Bonus: This brand new book, Light Magic for Dark Times, is all about easy-to-do, inexpensive witchery. It can be preordered online—and was written in cafes and pubs across Brooklyn.