Bargain Hunt auctioneer becomes a witch and claims to contact dead mother in Halloween ritual with viral TikTok coven

A Bargain Hunt auctioneer has swapped his gavel for crystals after joining a viral TikTok coven, where he claims to communicate with ancestors at Halloween through a silent meal, using tarot cards and pendulums.

Mark Ashley, 65, from Stratford-upon-Avon, grew up watching his mother “conduct rituals” and developed a fascination with “the mystical and magical”.

But he went onto become an auctioneer, eventually appearing on BBC programmes including Antiques Road Trip and Flog It!.

In 2023, Mark attended A Festival for Pagans and Witches in Coventry, where he said it “felt like coming home”, and he was invited to join the Coven of Gaia.

He now shares spells for love and abundance on the coven’s TikTok account, which has amassed more than 840,000 followers.

Each Samhain, celebrated at the end of October, the coven honours deceased loved ones during a ritual marking the time when “the veil” between the spirit world and the living is believed to be at its “thinnest”.

Mark, who is now a semi-retired antiques consultant, claims to have received messages from his late mother during the ceremony, which involves hosting a silent meal for ancestors, before visiting a graveyard.

Mark, a step-father of two and a step-grandfather of three, told PA Real Life: “The portrayal of witches at Halloween has become so distorted, they aren’t anything like the true thing.

“I’m not against the way people celebrate Halloween but us witches aren’t all wearing pointy hats with broomsticks every day!”

Mark said that, when he was growing up, his mother “was probably a witch but would not use that word”, often picking herbs and flowers to make tea.

In his 20s, following his grandfather’s death, he became a “bloodline Freemason” – an inherited member of the world’s oldest and largest secular fraternal organisation – and grew “fascinated” by reading about “esoteric and magical” subjects.

Although he left the Freemasons a few years later, he remained interested in learning about their history.

Mark went on to become an auctioneer, working at various auction houses across the Midlands, including Bigwood Fine Art Auctioneers.

The auction house regularly featured on BBC One’s Bargain Hunt, Flog It! and Antiques Road Trip, and Mark began appearing on the programmes in 2015.

“I loved it, the crew were super, all the television faces like Eric Knowles and Philip Serrell are absolutely lovely,” Mark said.

“It felt like a party, I just imagined the camera wasn’t there, but millions of people watch those programmes.

“I met all sorts of celebrities on the celebrity versions of the shows, and I would value the items – it was fabulous.”

Over the years, Mark continued reading about the “mystical and magical” alongside his job and in 2023, he spotted an advert for A Festival for Pagans and Witches in Coventry and decided to attend.

He said: “The minute I walked on the site it felt like coming home.

“At the opening ceremony, they used some of the words I heard in masonry and I thought it was like it was meant to be.

“It turns out that a lot of people involved in starting the Wicca religion had a masonic background.”

Mark then emailed the event’s organiser, Julie Aspinall, who explained that she led a coven called Coven of Gaia and invited him to join.

He accepted and has since become one of the coven’s council members and an elder.

“We call each other brother and sister, and it’s like being part of a family,” he explained.

Mark said the coven has around 14 other members, including one other man.

“Some covens are strictly just women but there’s always been men involved throughout history,” he said.

Mark has been “open” about being a witch with his loved ones and colleagues, many of whom have been “very interested” and even attended the festival.

He added: “You’re not there to convert anybody, but you’re there to inform and tell them the truth of things, as opposed to fantasy that they might imagine.”

Since joining the coven, Mark has incorporated daily rituals into his life, often manifesting for a “positive day” ahead.

“It’s all about making what’s in your mind come out into the universe,” he explained.

“I can just be stirring a coffee in the morning setting intentions.”

The coven meets in Julie’s garden room, which features several altars dedicated to Mother Earth, Gaia, Odin and Hekate alongside crystals, candles and herbs.

The members also share spell tutorials on TikTok under the handle @coven_of_gaia, and many of their videos have gone viral, such as a hex spell receiving 1.2 million views.

Over the years, they have shared spells for attraction, involving a pink candle, rose quartz and rose petals, as well as a money spell using a tealight, three cloves and a coin.

They have also posted spells relating to revenge and justice.

Mark has featured in videos demonstrating a love spell using a red candle, a protection spell using salt and rosemary, as well as a spell intended to ease anxiety.

The coven continues to host its annual A Festival for Pagans and Witches every May, sharing its knowledge of witchcraft, as well as celebrating Samhain at the end of October.

Samhain, a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter, is recognised by witches as a time when “the veil” between the spirit world and the living is at its “thinnest”.

On October 31, the coven hosts a dumb supper – a silent meal held to honour deceased ancestors and loved ones.

During the meal, members use tarot cards and pendulums to seek messages from those who have died, and sit opposite an empty place setting.

Mark claims to have connected with his late mother, Oldyth, who died in 2016.

He added: “When the meal starts all you can hear is quiet sobbing from people.

“I’ve seen my mother’s smile, she sends messages to me, and I get a sense that she’s happy that I found the coven.”

After the supper, the coven visits a graveyard to place flowers on graves without any, as a way of telling the deceased “they are remembered”.

To sceptics, Mark said: “Everyone is entitled to their own views but I feel sorry for them, they’re missing out.”

To find out more about the visit, covenofgaia.co.uk.