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(JTA)-Mysterious customs and totems are the backbone of Halloween. Sage bags, altars and crystals are an increasingly popular way to get involved in divination and witchcraft. But the ghostly supernatural world also has a long history in Judaism, and modern "Jews" are encouraging this connection-although their practices are often slightly different from those of their non-Jewish contemporaries. 

"I don't burn sage," said Zo Jacobi, who runs Jewitches, a popular blog and podcast that delves into ancient Jewish myths and folk customs. She said that the "smearing" ritual associated with saints is a popular indigenous ritual among modern witches to purify the negative energy of a person or a place, "not a Jewish custom." "But Jews have crystals. In fact, they are called'jewels'."

Jacobi and her peers are reviving the ancient Jewish practice of witchcraft, which has recently been revived. Judaism-or at least the Kabbalistic sect among them-has not had a disturbing relationship with magic practitioners and has embraced them for a long time.

Jacobi in Los Angeles studies the role of these gems in Jewish rituals and the connection between various other magical artifacts and Judaism. The eight bookshelves in her house are filled with books on Judaism, Jewish magic, witchcraft, and folklore. 

Her research reveals the historical ways of using gems and other objects in Jewish magic communications. According to Midrash, like healing crystals, gems are designed to protect and heal according to their properties (Laba 2:7). For example, sapphire is believed to enhance vision.

"It appears in a medieval text called'Sefer Ha-Gematriaot'," Jacobi said. "But even if we go to the Torah, we will see crystals on the breastplate of kohanim (the high priest of Israel)."

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Many Jewish rituals today have their roots in driving away demons, ghosts, and other mythological creatures. Scholars say that when we break the glass at the wedding, we not only remember the destruction of the temple; we are also scaring away evil spirits that might want to harm the bride and groom. Similarly, the ancient Jews believed that mezuzah protected them from evil messengers—a function similar to that of amulets or good luck charms.

"Mezuzah is definitely a talisman," said Rebekah Erev, a Jewish feminist artist, activist, and kohenet (hebrew priest xx, a neutral term for "priest" or "priestess"), and she uses them / Their pronouns and teach Jewish magic courses online. "I think it reminds people of the existence of spirit, goddess, shechinah [God’s divine presence or settlement]. A lot of magic is to remind ourselves that we are all connected and everything is alive and alive. ." 

The nickname "Jewitch" itself can be seen as causing controversy within the group. Erev heard this term for the first time while attending the "Jewish Collective" retreat in the Bay Area in 2014.

"I think any word that identifies someone as a witch is essentially controversial, because society, including Jewish society, demonizes witches, leading to violence and rejection," Eref said. "Whether becoming a Jew or becoming a witch will have a serious impact. I hope that the recent popularity of the word'Jew' will bring more people's acceptance and understanding of these two identities, and help us Practice is more widely accepted."

Priestexx Rebekah Erev calls mezuzah an amulet. (Vito Valera)

"I think any word that identifies someone as a witch is inherently controversial, because society, including Jewish society, how demonizing witches leads to violence and rejection," they said, although they do think witchcraft and Judaism are both Mainly their creed of life. 

Cooper Kaminsky is an intuitive artist and therapist in Denver. He agrees that this compound term is "revisionist" for some people, but adds: "Many people, including me, get it by identifying themselves as Jewish. Power."

Historically, as Jewish customs became more patriarchal, women were exempted from learning the Talmud and the Torah. They knew little about Hebrew, so they created their own prayers in Yiddish, used herbs, and concentrated their religious activities around the earth.

Erev reflected these customs by creating magical rituals, such as meditating on cinnamon sticks in the month of Shvat and reminiscing how the cinnamon trees in Jerusalem exude the aroma of the land during the harvest.

"There is a Kabbalistic idea of ​​making yourself smaller to create creation. Connecting with cinnamon sticks is a simple ritual. The cinnamon folds up and the bark shrinks on its own," Eref said. "Sometimes shrinking inward can give us space to appear and create."

They also make spells, creating spells for new love, pregnancy protection, and social justice; on their blog, they shared a spell designed to raise awareness of the indigenous land return movement.

They say that the goal of many "Judaism" educators and practitioners is to make people aware of rituals that have been forgotten or buried for self-protection. Jacobi believes that many folk customs disappeared after the 13th to 18th centuries, because the Jews were regarded as demonic witches.

"The Jewish community did what they thought would protect them from real death. Some of them came at the expense of some of these practices," Jacobi said. "Rather than supernatural reasons, they try to give reasonable reasons for what they do. Ashkenazi Jews often try to argue with their oppressors in the hope that they can get rid of logical anti-Semitism."

The Jews say that this traumatic history is often covered up or regarded as "myth" and "superstition." "Say'superstition' is a way for us to downplay our magic," Kaminsky said. "We protect ourselves because historically, a large part of our oppression is because we have magical powers." 

"Almost all of our Jewish spells are for healing," Cooper Kaminsky said. (Colin Lloyd)

Kaminsky uses their/their pronouns to perform spiritual interpretations for clients. These materials draw on the records of Kabbalah, Tarot and Akashic-a reference library that records everything that has happened. Psychic believes these Data exists in another dimension. Kaminsky incorporated Jewish prayers into their mantras, such as reciting David's chants when making candle spells, and B'sheim Hashem as a magical prayer. 

Kaminsky used their/their pronouns, grew up in a conservative Jewish family, and learned the basic concepts of Kabbalah at a Jewish day school. 

Kaminsky said: "Kabbalah sees Judaism through a cosmic, mysterious lens, which is much more to me than watching the stories in the Torah." "When I read more Kabbalah, I started to feel more connected with my Judaism."

Various scholars and rabbis have associated Kabbalah with tarot cards. Tarot cards were originally used as a deck of cards to play games in the mid-15th century, and later evolved into a practice of divination in the 18th century (although Jacobi refuted this An idea that claims to exist) has never been confirmed). The great arcana of the tarot-the trump card of a deck that details the evolution of a person's soul-usually consists of 22 cards in any given package, a meaningful Jewish number: with aleph -The number of letters in the bet is the same, and the number of paths on the tree of life in Kabbalah.

For their energy work, Kaminsky compared the chakras, body energy points discussed in Hinduism, and the Kabbalah tree of life.

"The tree of life is an energy network," they said. "With energy meridians, the chakra is like the central pillar."

Mystical practice is part of Jacobi's growth experience. Her parents studied Kabbalah, metaphysics, folklore and folk mythology. They have participated in the same local Chabad since Jacoby was three years old.

Because of these experiences, Jacobi lives comfortably outside the (broom) closet—some modern witches use this semi-joking term to refer to public practice of witchcraft. She grew up in astrology, used tarot cards on the Sabbath and played with her mother's rose quartz crystal ball when her father led Havdala in prayer. Jewitches blogs and podcasts are full of mythological creatures that originated in the Jewish faith, such as evil spirits, werewolves, dragons, and vampires.

Some creatures are unique in Jewish legends: the vampire Alukah, the vampire witch mentioned in Proverbs 30, turned out to be the daughter of Lilith, and Broxa originated from a bird in medieval Portugal at night.

"Whenever there are terrible moments in history, people turn to mysticism; this is how Kabbalah appeared," Elev said. "We need to seek guidance from our ancestors. There are many tools in our human community to heal and re-dream and create a world that is safe and beneficial for all life."

Kaminsky believes that magic has the power to repair the world: "Almost all of our Jewish spells are for healing. Tikkun olam, using our magic to repair the world, is beautiful."

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