Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenny Calabro.
Hi Jenny, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
The path which led me to launching my small business, Fantasma Witch, is a winding one, but if you were to tell kid Jenny that she would grow up to be a Witch, she would say it’s a dream come true. As a kid, there were two constants in my life: drawing & anything witchy aka living like every day was Halloween. You could often find me making “potions” by dumping anything I found in nature into a large bucket, playing with crystals like they were toys with personalities, reading books on palm reading or astrology, divining the tea leaves at the bottom of my cup and using playing cards to “tell fortunes” to other kids. It wasn’t always magical fun though; there were times where I also sensed spirits or ghosts, which honestly scared me so much that I shut that part of myself off for a very long time. When my mother found out I was using regular playing cards to do fortune telling, she gave me my first tarot deck, a deck she bought when she was younger from her trip to Salem but never used. Since then, tarot became a constant in my life, and while I still enjoyed learning about things like astrology, palm reading & the paranormal, I never went further than tarot. It wasn’t until I met my now husband when he had asked if I had identified as a Witch after learning about my personal practices & beliefs. This one simple question opened the floodgates, sending me on an adventure of studying and self-discovery toward reclaiming the title of Witch.
Though I began to call myself a Witch, being a witch and tarot reader was always extremely personal to me, it was my private life. It was never something I offered outside my small circle of friends or openly spoke about as I considered it a “hobby” based on my spiritual practices. My career was actually as an artist; it started in 2016 within the Animation industry as a Lead Character Designer for major animation studios here in Los Angeles. While working, I started trading tarot readings for coffee or lunch with my coworkers, in which I began opening up more to people about my practice. Eventually, I got brave enough to start offering tarot readings as my “side gig” which blossomed to more offerings. Suddenly, all the things I kept to myself and my friends since childhood, such as tea leaf reading, palm reading & discussing witchy things, became part of my everyday workings. As I opened my offerings up to the public more, I began to dive deeper into areas that I was interested in, such as energy work, eventually becoming a certified Usui Reiki Ryoho Master Teacher in 2023. I even began to open myself back up to spirits, transforming my fear of ghosts, which I often sensed as a child, into one of understanding by standing in my power with compassion. Now, I proudly call myself a medium of communicating with the dead on behalf of my clients. And while it was my intention to continue being an Artist in Animation who was a working Witch on the side, life had other plans. Despite the unforeseen turn of events, I could not be happier to say that my business Fantasma Witch has been my full-time job for a year now as of this October!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As a matter of fact, the way I got into making my business Fantasma Witch a full-time job was actually a very difficult and unexpected one. As I mentioned, I previously worked full-time as an artist starting in 2016. Shortly before that, I had many mysterious chronic health issues that only got worse with time. Things such as GI issues, inflammation with pain, constant migraines, joint pain, etc. All of it would get so bad that on some days I could barely sit at my desk to draw much less get out of my bed in the mornings. No matter how many doctors I saw, no one could tell me what was wrong with me, I had no answers & was often gaslit by fellow students, work as well as doctors.
In 2018, I was rushed to urgent care after an extremely painful scare where I learned that I had an ovarian cyst burst, yet I was still told my issues were “normal”. A year later after that scare, I had another exam, I was told that I had a growing chocolate cyst, and the nurse mentioned looking into “Endometriosis”. Suddenly, it was as if I had a giant missing puzzle piece fall into my lap, sending me on a deep dive of research. In 2021 I was finally officially diagnosed by my specialist surgeon Dr Iris Kerin Orbuch & began my journey towards surgery. While attending weekly physical therapy for the year leading up to my surgery scheduled for 2022, I was told by my Physical Therapist that my body physically could not handle the demands that my job as an artist in animation required. It was with such deep grief that I finally had to accept what I had long been avoiding but always knew.
At the end of 2021, I finally stepped down from my animation career to fully focus on rebalancing my body (as Endo has no cure). I briefly taught at an accredited college at the start of 2022 but found that I still struggled not just with drawing but with the grief around not being able to draw how I once could, freely and whenever I pleased. When it felt like I had nothing but grief to replace the hole in my heart from drawing, I realized my practice as a witch was still there and had always been in my life, just like drawing. I became focused on my witchy studies, growing my practice as well as my skills to expand into new territories such as Reiki, Mediumship, and Animal Communication. My Reiki studies with Toby Ameson are what I partly credit for helping me process my grief around art as well as my fear leading up to my surgery. Toby also helped me to realize that someone like myself, who struggles with PTSD and anxiety from trauma, can still provide for others by doing the beautiful uplifting work that I now do full-time. Shortly after recovering from my surgery, I relaunched my business Fantasma Witch last October with the intent to offer heart-centered trauma-informed care to those who seek it.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My small business, Fantasma Witch, provides heart-centered trauma-informed guidance for others through my creative, intuitive offerings. Thanks to my background as an artist and visual storyteller I am able to incorporate my knowledge of visual symbolism within the work that I currently do. Because I have mentored many artists as well as having taught at an accredited college, I passionately approach my work as a caring educator who wishes to see folks learn and grow. As someone who identifies as fem, queer, Latina with PTSD, anxiety from trauma & an invisible disability that causes chronic illness/ pain; I do my best to provide folks with accessible services in a safe space within my scope of practice.
My offerings are subjects that I have passionately practiced & studied from childhood with over seven years of working experience using tarot, palmistry, Reiki, mediumship, and animal communication just to name a few. While I am a certified Reiki Master Teacher, my preferred title would be Witch, Medium, Animal Communicator or even Oracle. Unlike what most folks believe, I am not a “fortune teller” and I do not predict the future because our fate is truly in our own hands. Instead, I tap into the spirit as well as the energy of my client to provide guidance with the assistance of divination tools, such as tarot. How I like to describe it to folks is that I am an interpreter. I simply provide the guidance that the universe/ spirit (or whatever you want to call it) has for you in the moment. Consider it like asking a loved one who knows you really well for advice; they will tell you what you need to hear but not always what you want to hear. Because of my Reiki Master Teacher experience, no matter what the service is that I am providing, during the session I do energy work on behalf of my client. This means that I set the space with Reiki, transmuting whatever energy comes up for my sitter during our session to promote balance and flow. This also allows my sitters to be vulnerable or have an emotional release while feeling supported, safe & tended to in multiple ways.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
It might seem silly to say, especially for someone who was so scared and actually saw ghosts as a kid, but my favorite childhood memories involve Casper the Friendly Ghost. From the old cartoons to the live-action films, Casper was the spooky friend I so desperately wanted as a child. I had a Casper doll, a tent, and even a mug, which I still use to this day. Every Halloween I would watch the Casper short involving a Fox he named Ferdie, no spoilers but I still cry every single time. And when Casper got a little Witch Friend name Wendy in a follow-up film, I wanted so desperately to be her. A real-life witch who wasn’t afraid of ghosts but instead had a ghost for a friend. I think I can now say that I absolutely have achieved that childhood dream.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://fantasmawitch.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fantasmawitch/
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@fantasmawitch
Image Credits
Kelly Larkin
