Manifestation Myths, (Blood, Sex) Magic, and Misconceptions with The Hoodwitch

Mystery schools were great mystic institutions, revealed to a select few throughout civilization, for connecting humans to their higher consciousness. The ancient Egyptian mystery schools were idolized by the Greeks, and the Greek mysteries were worshipped by the Romans. You're invited to bring those mysteries into the modern day. Welcome to Mystery School. Today we are stepping into one of the most talked about and misunderstood spiritual concepts We've seen it turned into vision boards and viral quotes. We've heard it framed as magic, as mindset, as delusion even. But what if manifestation isn't about getting what you want, and is actually about becoming aligned with what and who you already are, and what you're already capable of? To help us untangle the hype, I'm joined by someone who has brought ritual, astrology, and spiritual practice into modern culture in a way that feels grounded, accessible, deeply rooted, and wildly stylish. Bree Luna, known as The Hoodwitch, is a writer, cultural mystic, and teacher whose work bridges ancestral wisdom with contemporary life. Today we're exploring what manifestation actually is, what it is not, and how you can practice it at home, in ways that are practical and powerful. Let's begin. So hi Bree. Hi, how are you Jess? Welcome to Mystery School. Yay. Will you tell us a little bit about yourself for those that don't know The Hoodwitch, the coolest on the internet? My god, and in real life. Thank you. Hi, my name is Bree Luna. I am the owner and creator of The Hoodwitch, thehoodwitch.com. Many of you probably have known me over the past decade. I have been providing everyday magic for the modern mystic, sharing ritual. Oh yeah, I'm also an author. Yeah. I am an author of the book titled Blood Sex Magic. It came out with Harper Collins. But yeah, I provide astrology, daily rituals, daily astrology, just my commentary on, you So I've been doing this for, I mean, honestly, like, in within the space of social media over a decade now. So you're an OG. I am an OG. I mean, I'm sure you all have seen now that there's so many different accounts. And I have to say, yes, I am at the forefront of the modern witch renaissance. Like, I really did pave the way for a lot of baby witches and, you know, magical practitioners, and even people who have been practicing for a long time. I really did create my own lane within the realms of social media and using technology and, you know, things like that. So tell us a little bit about when you started, because even 10 years ago, people really weren't using social as much as they are now to tell their story. And you were existing, I'm sure, as a witch before your social media brand took off, if you will. So tell us about how that happened and how you came into being a witch and then your transition into it coming online and being this beautiful digital brand. So if people, I mean, obviously, who are not familiar with my work, I didn't just become a witch. It's something that I was born into. So both of my grandmothers, my paternal and my maternal grandmother, are practitioners of magic. I guess that's what we're... I'm just loosely giving the umbrella up, like magic. My dad's mother is from Louisiana, and my mom's mother is Mexican-American, like she's Mexican. So yeah, like I have two very rich cultural practices. My grandmother is from the South, obviously. So being that she is African-American, you know, hoodoo and, you know, hoodoo from the South, for those who are not familiar, it's a very Black Southern style form of traditional folk magic. Also entails herbalism, sympathetic magic. And my grandmother, you know, we had like Santaria, we went to the Botanica. So like there's just so many, it's just such a meshing. So for me, I've always been very naturally gifted in mediumship. I was born a baby psychic. I mean, that's just who I was. I've always been able to connect with death energy. That was something that I knew already, like off the top as a child. I was very gifted in that. And being like, when I say death energy, I mean like being in spaces and physically feeling and seeing the imprints of people who have passed away. And at the time when I was much younger, I was really terrified of that. And even it's still scary now, like as an adult. However, I've learned practices of how to maintain boundaries and energetic boundaries, spiritual boundaries. So anyway, enough of that. But like essentially on social media, you know, about well over a decade ago, because I started Hoodwitch, I want to say in like 2013, like 20. Yeah, it was like maybe 2012, 2013. Oh, yeah. It was a really long time ago. So it was like, no, it was like 2013, 2014. I can't honestly, it was like over a decade. But I remember I wanted to create a space for witches and for people of color like me, where it's like, I'm black and I'm Mexican. And at the time, you know, social media, the landscape, we had like Tumblr, we were seeing a lot of what we call the black and silver witchcraft, very like Kagan, very Eurocentric focus. And that did not resonate with me. That was not my culture. They're not my cultural practices. I would go to different moon circles that were very like Gwyneth Paltrow, very goop, very green juice. And like, we're gonna do yoga. And I'm like, I don't ******* do yoga. I mean, I like yoga. Don't get me wrong. But it's like, I'm a ******* witch. Like I'm not sitting around in Lululemon drinking juice. Like I like drinking like I want to drink champagne. I want to be decadent. I love sex magic. I love glamour. I had nails. And so one of the staples of my business, I think for a lot of people who don't know and who are not familiar with my branding, with my marketing at that time, you know, most of the witches and the way that it was branded to us, I think that you've seen, you know, you'll go into different witchcraft stores. And, you know, you see very like, like, I don't know, just like the typical like pagan things. But for me, I added my like, you know, my cultural flair. I had like really long acrylic stiletto nails, very colorful. And so that became like my trademark, like my staple, my signature. And most people would see I would have photos with my hands holding like beautiful crystals. And that just became very synonymous with my marketing, with my branding. And it kind of was accidental, mostly because I was really scared to be the face of a brand. And I didn't want to become almost like this character, you know, like I don't, I just didn't want to become like a social media, like influencer, which even though like, despite owning a business and running a business and being an author and being an artist, I still somehow got put into this box of like, you're an influencer. And I'm like, I'm not a ******* influencer, but I guess I am. You weave your magic, you're a creator, you're a content creator, and your content happens to be this gorgeous, glamorous magic. And I mean, I honestly like cringed at that word when it became a thing where it was like, I'm a influencer, like I'm a witch influencer. And it's like, I've never seen myself as that. I've always just seen myself as being a writer and like an artist and people, I don't know, I just always had like a good visual aesthetic. So I knew what I like, and I just put it into the world. But I guess that's what kind of become diluted into this thing. But anyway, well, whatever you've become, I really appreciate that you bring style and glamour to it, because I'm a glamour girl. And I just love how beautifully sensual, sexual, feminine, divine, you make your images and your content. So thank you. I am a fan. And I appreciate your artistic and creative point of view and how you tell the story of your witchcraft through your imaging. So thank you. So today we're going to talk about manifestation. Because yes, we could talk about the witch. Yes, we could talk about the astrology. But the thing that really is out there that most people when they're sort of metaphysical curious is, can I manifest? Where's my vision board? Where's this thing that I want? So can we talk a little bit about what manifestation being a ritual? What would you say the definition of manifestation is? So manifestation is the act of bringing a concept or an idea, how, you know, we think of these things in such a like, I almost want to say it's like a very abstract way where we feel like I want to manifest money. And I mean, I'm sure everyone's familiar with seeing like Oprah and all this, like the secret and you can manifest the life that you want. And to some degree, it does feel almost like very like, it's like a very privileged perspective where it's like you create your own reality. And it's like, well, if I'm ******* poor and living in poverty, you mean to tell me if I pay for a $500 course, I can change my reality. You know what I mean? So I do think that to some degree, how this like manifestation trend has like taken off. It's just kind of like, it's kind of fluffy, you know. But I do think that a huge part of magic is the belief within being able to take an idea and to bring it into fruition into life. So yes, manifestation is not just sitting around with like thousands of dollars worth of crystals or, you know, paying for a fancy life coach. Manifestation is really about you taking the idea, taking the concept from your mind and turning it into the material, into the physical world. And how you go about doing that, you do that with spell work, you know, sex magic, you can do that with like meditation. There's just so many different things. Some people, depending on religious practice, you know, they call it prayer. I think those are all acts of manifestations. The manifesting is literally, you're taking an abstract concept, you're taking just a thought or an idea and you're birthing it, you're creating it into the world, into a physical object, into a, you know what I mean, like into a thing, you're birthing a thing, the creation of it. So that's really what, it's like, it's very simple. Do you think that there is science involved? Like, are we activating our quantum energy? I definitely, I'm not a scientist, obviously, but I do have an interest in learning about like quantum, like physics and the idea of like how we are co-creating with the universe. And, you know, I wish that I were like, you know, obviously like more knowledgeable in that, but I'm not. So like, I don't want to embarrass myself and be like, yes, like, let me tell you all about, let me tell you all about this, like, you know, the subject that people spend their entire life studying that like, I don't know about. I think that when we talk about manifestation and having a thought that we then bring into the material, like that, I also am not a scientist and don't understand what like the energetic shift of the thought to the thing is. But that's clearly something that happens because like, I'm on a computer right now that was the idea in someone's brain and now I'm talking on it. And, you know, sitting in your apartment that someone architected and every single thing that we have see, touch, feel, do is a result of someone's thought and then action and then materialized or actualized thought. Yeah. I think a lot about that as far as like, what is the scientific formula of manifestation? Because like, we have a scientific formula of gravity. So like, where's the manifestation formula? And I hope we get there really soon because then people will be able to, you know, like it won't be so, hey, I'm doing a spell. It'll be like, I need a coconut for this recipe. Let me go ahead and, you know, manifest that like the coconut man is walking down the block and I get to buy one from him right now. I feel like right now there is this merging where we are seeing more people who have an interest, not just in the spirit, but also in the science of things. And we're seeing more and more that there is so much that is interconnected and you don't have to, you know, because a lot of the times, you know, you hear people who are like atheists or they're like only believing in science and they're like, science is the can, you know, we can produce the same result over and over and over again. And like, it's a fact like that is a scientific fact. However, we are seeing more people who are opening their minds and I think expanding their ideas and like, oh, well, the spiritual and scientific ideas can coexist together. And I do think that they do. They work in tandem together. So you don't have to have just like one belief without the other. I think that they work, you know, work together. And there is an author who I love and I know that like I'm probably going to butcher his name. Okay. His name is Michio Kaku and he's an American. He's a theoretical physicist and he's a science writer and he's amazing and I really love his book. And he has this one about like the string theory and it's like really cool. So if you guys are listening and you want to like find like, you know, listen to how we're kind of talking about like the magic and like the quantum physics of it, this guy is like really wild. So Michio, Michio Kaku. I'll drop the link below so you can, so people could just find it easily. Michio Kaku. He's amazing. I'm sorry. I love Michio. If you're out there, if you're out there, I'm sorry if I butcher your name, but you are magical and I really love your book. So thank you. So has there been a moment in your life that you've been like, dang, that was like a major manifestation for me. Do you have? Yes. Tell me about it. Tell us about it. My entire brand, my website. Okay. So I'm not joking. I have, so as a creative, as a very hyper visual person, I see things in my mind. I can see it all the way through. I'm not joking. So like when it came to launching Hoodwitch, I was like, I want to do this in Scorpio season. Every major project that I've ever had, my website, my book, everything always comes out during Scorpio season. And I love that for me. Are you a Scorpio? I love that for you too. I am a Taurus with Scorpio placements, but I will never tell anyone what my whole entire chart is, but my sun sign is Taurus and the rest is very Scorpio heavy. Okay. So I'm Libra sun, Taurus rising, Scorpio moon. Oh my God. See, we are like the Venusians. We are. That's why we're like, we're vibing. We got matching hoops, everything. We've got all the hair. We have very big boobs. What's so interesting about that, you saying that you can see the vision through. So I've never spoken to anybody who could do that because I do that too. And I'll have it immediately in my head and I can see the whole thing through and I just work backwards. Yes. And when people ask for help or ask for a solution for something, it's immediate in my head. And I, and, and I forget that it's not immediate in other people's heads. Do you do that? Like you'll have your own skill or talent and you'll, and you'll forget that other people can't see your point of view because you see the whole picture. I don't even know what to call it. Well, yeah. So that's why I'm saying like, I'm a very visual, I call it visual storytelling. So the way that I work with Instagram, for example, a lot of the photos and the art, I love art in every form. I love visual art. I love contemporary art. I love avant-garde, just strange, surreal. I mean, I just, I love art in general. So for me, in order to give someone the idea, I will usually come with the visual first. So for me, it's like, I see it in my mind and then I write it out on a notebook because I am a firm believer and this is something I love because one of the women who I really love, Erykah Badu, she made a tweet many years ago that was like, write it down and watch ---- get real. Like write it down with a real piece of, like with a real notebook and a pen and you write it out and watch ---- get real. And it does get real. Everything that I have written down, and I'm not joking you, in my journal, in my notebook, I know that as soon as I write it down and it hits paper and I'm really focused on that, it's coming, it's going to come into fruition. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I don't care if it happens. I'm like, you know, we're about to go into Mercury Retrograde. So right now, I went digging through my closet and I found a bunch of my old journals from where, when I launched Hoodwitch and it had all of my notes from when I was like, I want to make a tarot deck. I want to write a book. I want to do that. I want a studio that looks exactly like this. I'm not joking you. Every single thing on that list, I've done already. With the exception of create my tarot deck, and that's what I've come back to now. So I really, and I reached out to an artist who I love, and she's also Venusian. She's a Libra. And I was like, I really want to work with her. And so we're now in this process of trying to figure out what that looks like. But I already have it written down because I know what it looks like. I've already have the photo shoot. I already know what the, I already know what the marketing materials look like. Do you work with a, so let's, I'm so excited for this. It's already happened. It's already in front of us. It's already available. I can't wait to see it. I see it in my head. Do you work with your own astrology and with astrology to figure out what you want that time, like, you know what it's going to be. Like, do you work with astrology to figure out what the time.