Meet Trailblazer Gabriela Herstik

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriela Herstik.

Gabriela, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’ve always been deeply interested in the esoteric, the unknown and the occult. I grew up on The Twilight Zone and Harry Potter and my mom has been into different spiritual modalities like yoga and meditation for decades. I was exposed to that at a young age. My father is a rabbi, so I also grew up talking to him about religion, the divine, death, and all that stuff. My mom caught me at age three, holding a crystal pyramid telling myself to “breathe in, breathe out” because I was upset with my twin sister. I’m also the one who told her what god was around that age – apparently, I said something like how all the souls came together to create a god and that’s where we go when we die, which is actually not so far off from what I believe now. I got a deck of faery oracle illustrated by Brian Froud when I was 11 and I was obsessed with them and all things faery. I ended up getting a book called A Witch’s Guide to Faery Folk that introduced me to witchcraft and Wicca. I had gone to Salem three years prior, on Halloween with my aunt, grandma, and sister, for my aunt’s birthday on Halloween. Halloween is the witch’s New Year (something I didn’t know at the time) and one of the most important days of the year. I went to the witch museum and saw these wax figures explain witchcraft. I watched a ritual and ate pomegranate seeds and went to Laurie Cabot’s store. When I found this book on witchcraft three years later, all of this hit me and it was like coming home. By the time, I was going through my Bat Mitzvah the following year, I already identified as a pagan witch, and at the time, I identified as Wiccan (but I no longer identify as that). I practiced witchcraft throughout high school and when I got to college, I started writing about being a witch and my practice on my then fashion blog. I also started freelancing, writing about how the death card in tarot inspired my outfit for The Numinous, and then eventually about witchcraft for NYLON and Broadly. I continued writing about witchcraft and fashion for many different outlets online and then got approached to write my book, which came out last September in the states with Penguin Random House/TarcherPerigee as “Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft.”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been an unexpected road and there have been major hills, but I think that when you’re doing what you’re meant to do you know it. I went to college for fashion writing and was convinced I was going to be a fashion editor up until the time I wrote my book. At the end of 2016, I was thinking about how I should stop writing about witchcraft because so many other people were doing that, and how I should just start writing about menswear. Then, I got approached to write my book! So I think keeping an open mind is really important. Imposter syndrome has been huge for me and receiving love and praise (and receiving in general) has been a big struggle. It still feels surreal that people want to hear *my voice* with this work- but doing this work feels so in alignment with who I am, it just makes sense.

So many of us downplay our accomplishments and feel like we aren’t worthy of our success. It’s hard! My advice to other women is to take time to own your accomplishments. And for any writers who are starting out, it’s to make a site and create your own content. Make a blog, and commit to writing. Then, find the sort of places you want to write for and pitch! Use the links from your site as part of your portfolio until you get some bylines. And follow up! I got an internship with Vivienne Westwood in LA because I followed up with the person literally nine times before he replied. You have to be persistent. Dedication and knowing your worth are all super important too!

Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I’m a full-time writer, witch, and fashion alchemist. My work dissects the intersection of witchcraft, glamour, and sexuality, and my first book “Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft” was published this past September by Penguin Random House. I write a column called “Ask A Witch” for NYLON, a column called, “The High Priestess” for High Times, and a column on working with goddesses for Chakrubs. I also write for sites like Allure, Glamour, i-D, Girlboss, HelloGiggles and more about witchcraft, consciousness, sexuality, and magick. I write monthly ritual guides for the Full Moons, New Moons and Holidays of the witch and my goal with all my work is to make spirituality accessible and to help women feel empowered. I write a lot about sex magick and glamour (or fashion magick) because these are all intricately tied to my own practice and self. I come from a fashion writing background and I think beauty and style are so transformative, and a lot of my work weaves this together with the power of witchcraft. I lead workshops around LA and am going to be offering online workshops this Spring. I’m working on my second book as well, which is on elemental witchcraft!

So much of the media coverage is focused on the challenges facing women today, but what about the opportunities? Do you feel there are any opportunities that women are particularly well positioned for?
Something I have been so spoiled with is that I haven’t worked with any male editors since I’ve started getting paid to write. My book was originally published in the UK and everyone that worked on my book on that team was a woman. My publisher in the US is TarcherPerigee and everyone in that division is a woman. When I was working at HelloGiggles as a staff writer, everyone there was a woman. I think media and publishing are unusual in this way, and I think my niche is so niched that it just happens that I’m in contact with a woman. I love it. I mean, it’s definitely harder to be taken seriously in a lot of ways. And so many big names in fashion are men, even though it’s mostly women consumers. I think women are particularly well suited for everything- we just don’t get the leg up to attain those positions that men do.

Pricing:

• “Inner Witch: A Modern Guide To The Ancient Craft” – $15

Contact Info:

• Website: www.gabrielaherstik.com
• Email: gabriela.herstik@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabyherstik/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GabrielaHerstik/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/gabyherstik
• Other: https://payhip.com/gabyherstik

Image Credit:
Alexandra Herstik

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