BY KAITLYN MURRAY
“ You are building relationships with the energies around you to connect to the Greater, and in that building you are able to push your energy out in order to have [ energy ] come in.”
— Loren May, co-owner of the Veiled Crow
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Tracey Lawrence and Loren May have co-owned The Veiled Crow since 2011; the shop moved to its current location in Cranston this year; May and Lawrence encourage the curious to stop by and ask questions any time; Looking to make a change? The Veiled Crow can help you with your spellwork; many ingredients are sourced from local businesses like the Providence Tea Company; May and Lawrence make their incense and oils themselves.
with her black heart pendant necklace and curly brown tresses, and the latter with her cropped haircut, septum piercing and tats. They were both dressed all in black.
But then again, what makes a modern-day witch? I was clued in enough to know I wouldn’ t be confronted by the Sanderson sisters and their soul-sucking tendencies or Hermione Granger brandishing a wand. Still, as I quickly learned when we sat down to chat, Hollywood did get one thing right: Witchcraft is, essentially, about magic.
“ And magic is about moving energy in accordance with your will or working with energy for your spiritual path in order to feel connected,” says Lawrence.“ It’ s a really broad term.”
“ For me, witchcraft is about making shit happen,” May adds.“ You are building relationships with the energies around you to connect to the Greater, and in that building you are able to push your energy out in order to have [ energy ] come in. All magic comes from an ebb and a flow, so you are in this dance with the universe to be able to make something happen.” It’ s also a deeply personal practice.“ It is something that both of us have spent the majority of our lives working with, mastering, reworking and remastering,” May says.“ There are aspects to witchcraft where you absolutely can be told what to do, what to think, what to feel and who to worship, but we come from a very different philosophy where every single person on this planet is completely different and perfect, and finding the witchcraft that is organically, authentically you is about tweaking it so that it fits your everyday life.”
A born and bred Rhode Islander, Lawrence’ s interest in the occult began in junior
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