Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1121563
What's your story? I grew up in a home in Arizona that was very spiritual. My mom was reading [tarot] cards and making tinctures and teaching me how to harvest herbs on the new moon. It was a very witchy household, but we never called it witchcraft. But, in hindsight, it's all a form of witchcraft. One of my first moneymaking gigs was reading cards for people, like $25 a reading, at 11 years old. This has always been part of my life. It's all about energy and vibrations. And then I got into publishing, and I kind of drifted away from it. You left Arizona and went to New York? Yeah. I worked freelance, and I worked on staff at a magazine for a few years as a writer. And I don't want to put down the fashion industry … Oh, we can put it down. I'm a person of size — and I embrace that. But, I was surrounded by negative energies and people who put their values in the wrong places. There's nothing wrong with having an appreciation of fashion — that doesn't give you bad vibes. But I was surrounded by bad energy. And I couldn't light up a smudge stick [a wand of dried herbs, used to cleanse energy with its smoke] and blow it on a PR person's face during a desk-side. Some things you can't smudge away. Condé Nast would not be down with that. The fire alarm! So you started Smokeless Smudge. You can't just light up anywhere. So, I created this spray, Smokeless Smudge. It's everything I would smudge — but it's a potion. I felt like I was being attacked. So I was using the smudge spray everywhere — in cabs, after meetings. And that was the beginning of Sage & Salt? I started making the spray in 2010. And then I started Sage & Salt officially in 2014. But the professional witch stuff has been there forever. I remember sitting with my mom at the dinner table, and people would be, like: "How do I provoke my fertility?" "How am I going to get pregnant?" And I remember my mom talking about moon cycles and herbs. It was really like Practical Magic. The crazy aunts were like my mom. No disrespect. So, she was this amazing single mom who had this innate tune-in to energy. She learned it from her mom, and my grandma learned it from her mom. My great grandma lived in New Mexico, and she had a gift where she could feel water under the ground. The farmers or people buying houses would go to her and commission her to feel the water so they could dig the well. Using crystals and energy and smudging, to me, it's a spiritual practice. I think, really, either you're energetically aware, or you're not. That's what it comes down to. People are very gun-shy of the word "witch." But, if you're smudging, if you're minding your energy and who you're with, if you're looking at the moon, if you say you're affected by the moon … then you might as well be a full-on witch. Everyone's a little bit of a witch. Do you think you were born with something special? My view is that this isn't our first time around the sun. We've been here many times before. I believe that souls have ages — and the older souls have reconnected with these energetic beliefs and connections. I do think that 90 percent of the population has these gifts that they are able to tap into. And I think that some people are just so cut off from it. Most people are born with a gift. And for myself, it's a case of nurturing it. I've read that older souls have lived more lives and so they come with this evolved psyche. Younger souls … They have to go through the rough stuff. They have to live those lives that aren't grounded and energetically aware. They have to kind of be beat up a little bit to learn those lessons, but as you progress and as your soul gets older, you realize things like hanging out with toxic people is not for me; it's not good for me. You're just more aware. Do you put what you do under the categories of wellness or spirituality? I'm straight-up witchcraft. I don't want to dance around it. I am of the belief that there's a collective conscience, and people are more interested in smudging and tarot and crystals for a reason. I think the universe is pushing people in a direction to combat some very toxic macho negative beliefs that were held in the past. So, I don't think it's a coincidence or some kind of trend that people are becoming more aware of the energy around them and trying to change it. It's comparable to the pushback that alternative medicine or holistic medicine gets. In 2012, I was very sick for two years. The doctor said: "Here's your diagnosis. Here's a pill. Good luck." And so, 18 months ago, I made a cognizant decision: I didn't want to be on a pill for the rest of my life, so I cleaned up my diet. I started certain spiritual practices. It changed my life. That is magic. The magic is active manifestation. Spells are active prayers. You went through your own ritual to cast this spell in your life for change — and that's what happened. You call it a diet change, a mind reset. But, you did a spell — indirectly, if you knew it or not — and you put it out in the universe. Is that part of the idea that energy can neither be created or destroyed ? Yeah. Welcome to the coven. You did it. That's what it is. You have to battle and combat yourself about what you think about. You can't say negative things and then expect your life to be this flawless storybook. You have to guard your thoughts. You have to guard what you say, because when you speak you're putting out spells. You're putting it out in the universe. I love the F word — I would never say it on the record — because it's that cathartic word for me. But I'm very mindful about saying "This is the worst effing day." I'm always on my clients about it. Watch what you say. You're putting spells out there, and it's rebounding, and it's changing your reality. Do you think people who carry a very weighted, negative energy are able to evolve if they seek someone like you? People attract what they put out there. Sure, there is beauty in death; there is beauty in the dark morbid things of life; not everybody (continued on page 38) Corbin Chamberlin