Upon Dorothy's arrival in her dreamworld of Oz, the munchkins famously ask her whether she is a good witch or an evil witch. In the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy defends herself, "I'm not a witch at all! Witches are old and ugly." The munchkins laugh. Dorothy doesn't realize that the kind, beautiful Glinda, who stands before her in a princessy pink dress, is herself a witch. Dorothy tells Glinda with great surprise, "I beg your pardon, but I've never heard of a beautiful witch before."

While Dorothy, the munchkins, Glinda, and Oz are fictional, there is – like in many fictional stories – an unrelenting realness to this conversation, in this case, because of the stigma around witches deeply ingrained in society. The film's producers created a distorted modern image of who, or what, a witch is supposed to be. The movie utilizes color as its primary tool in enhancing the evilness or otherworldliness of the witches, as it makes the Wicked Witch's skin bright green and depicts Glinda as a fairy princess. 

The Wizard of Oz is certainly not the only Western media depicting witches as magical and out of this world. During Halloween, a holiday that today celebrates horror and the supernatural, Witches continue to be one of the most popular costumes. Halloween movies – from Hocus Pocus to Halloweentown – are devoted to witches, further instilling a spook around what a witch is. 

Any modern-day discussion of witches in the U.S. would be incomplete without mentioning the Salem witch trials of the 1690s, when at least 19 people were executed for their affiliations with witchcraft, perceived by locals to be motivated by a desire to harm others by summoning evil spirits.

In 2024, many women will participate in traditional "witchy" practices. This includes Linda O'Neil, a former Texas U.S. History teacher who found herself increasingly frustrated with the narrow-minded, one-sided narrative from which her school district taught. Growing up, she learned tarot from her mother and appreciated it for its therapeutic purpose; when she and her mother would make sense of the cards they picked, she noticed how it pushed her to think about them as they relate to her life. "The truth of the matter is, Black history is American history. Mexican American history is U.S. history, and so on," said O'Neil. "I always told my students, we're not going to just teach the winner's side, we're going to teach the people who fought and who are still marginalized." 

Today, O'Neil is a tarot reader and licensed Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP, therapist. Growing up Buddhist, she carries her mindful approach to life into her tarot readings. She believes reading clients' cards allows them to pause, focus, and dissect their current realities by making sense of the tarot cards they choose from the deck and applying them to their lives. Though she angles her practice to allow clients to become present in their lives simply, many people are taken aback by tarot – seeing it as mystical witchcraft.

Linda does not fly on a broom or cackle, but she proudly identifies as a witch. She describes her tarot and spiritual practices as a way to "tap into one's intuition."

"Many women have a problem being called a witch, but I am proud. I don't do black magic, but I firmly believe women – particularly in Texas, where our government has stripped us of agency over something as intimate as our bodies – need agency. This is a way for them to get it."

Witch communities sprawl from coast-to-coast in large cities like New York and Los Angeles. Austin's tight-knit witch community allows women with similar spiritual lifestyles to connect as witches. For this very reason, Emily Flood left her home in Houston, moving to Austin, where a large community of witches hosts events and markets.  

Flood, formerly working as a fitness influencer, was deeply affected by the pressures of perfection in the fitness industry, which created body image issues and disordered eating. Despite preaching healthy habits online, she could not implement them herself. Flood worked as a typical fitness coach – focusing solely on macronutrients and reps in the gym – for over two years before embarking on her spiritual journey. 

Like O'Neil, Flood is also a self-identified witch. Working with her spiritual guides, Flood left an abusive relationship, healed a physical injury, and released anxiety and binge eating disorders. Flood works with her clients to reconnect them with their intuition to better understand their body's needs and healthily reach their desired physique.

Modern-day witches, like O'Neil and Flood, are neither green nor fairies. They do not connect with evil spirits; they connect to their respective God, deity, or source to heal their mental or physical wounds and help others do the same.