The Oracle of Luna with Bridget Engels presents: Lorraine Monteagut PhD - Latine Witch- Author of: BRUJAS: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color

Join us, for an illuminating conversation with Lorraine Monteagut! Lorraine Monteagut, Ph.D., is a queer Latine Witch and author of BRUJAS: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color. Lorraine's scholarship in occult ancestral spiritualities traces the diverse traditions of contemporary magical practices. Lorraine's second book, Modern Witchcraft for Dummies is forthcoming in April 2025. She is the creator of Witchy Heights, a community space for practical magic and spiritual activism. *Stay tuned until the end when Lorraine gives us a short sacred ancestor invocation ** 

Lorraine chats about her early Witchcraft beginnings and being influenced by her great grandmother who was a spirit medium in Cuba who helped people connect with their lost loved ones who passed over. Lorraine speaks as a millennial being influenced by the pop cultural moments that were available to her with such TV shows as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”  and movies like :”The Craft”. As a young 12 year old she identified as a Witch. 

Lorraine talks about how now in the modern moment there is a reclaiming of the word : Bruja. Bruja is the Spanish word for Witch. Its an identity that continues to evolve just like the word Witch does to encompass all the new things we are doing.  And with all gendered versions of the word. While reclaiming the past. She sees Brujas emerging within the intersectional feminism where Witches of color are taking the lead. And bringing their own cultural mythologies and touchstones to the larger Witchcraft movement. Brujas are also creating communities centered around activism. She sees  the Bruja as a nexus of all of the new pathways away from Witchcraft that was centered around European traditions or Greco- Roman mythologies.

Learning about the folk magic , customs and the rituals of indigenous folks who lived on the land that you or your family came from in different parts of the world is  valuable investigative work that can enriches you as a Bruja or Witch.  In her book BRUJAS: The Magic and Power of Witches of Color she also includes cultural ancestors in addition to blood ancestors that we can incorporate into our magic. 

Also Lorraine suggests we can create a personal ancestor altar that can help us speak and connect with our ancestors even if they are land spirits, community elders, spiritual teachers, or cultural icons and remind us that we are not alone.

We also chat about magical activism and creating spiritual communities that can help each other. By centering our values, lifting each other up and try to make the world a better place for all especially during the tense political landscape we are in now. We are all complex and come from different perspectives. and there is no simple narrative and Witchcraft needs to reflect this. This is the power of Brujas and the modern Witchcraft moment.  To learn more about Lorraine visit: witchyheights.com. Tune in and be enlightened!