Witch claims to communicate with ancestors at Halloween through a silent meal, using tarot cards and pendulums

A coven leader who claims to communicate with ancestors at Halloween through a silent meal, using tarot cards and pendulums, says witches are “just normal people” who “believe in spells”.

Julie Aspinall, a 61-year-old security dog trainer living in Coventry, realised her “true identity” of a witch at age 14, after discovering a book on witchcraft and believing she could manifest money for herself.

She practised spells and manifestation in secret, until creating her own online witchcraft community in 2015 and founding an in-person coven in 2018 – the group now share spells on TikTok to more than 845,000 followers.

Each Samhain, at the end of October, when “the veil” between the spirit world and the living is at its “thinnest”, Julie and her coven claim to connect with their ancestors.

Julie said they do so by using tarot cards and a pendulum and hosting a dumb supper – a silent meal to honour deceased ancestors and loved ones.

They also visit a graveyard to place flowers on graves without any, to “show respect” for those who have “passed on”.

Julie told PA Real Life: “Witches do have broomsticks, but we use our broomsticks to sweep our energies out.

“We don’t have pointed hats, we’re not in old clothes.

“We’re just normal people that believe in spells, but people go off what films and the media portray us as, and kids are brought up thinking a witch is some old person that might kidnap you or shove you in an oven like in the fairy tales!”

Around the age of 12, Julie thought she might be a “special child of God” as she believed she could manifest things for herself, such as money around Mother’s Day to buy her mother a gift.

Two years later, she came across a book on witchcraft at her local library and realised her “true identity”.

Julie began practising spells and manifestation techniques in private, continuing even after she married and had two children, into her 20s and 30s.

Looking back, she thinks her husband – who died around 19 years ago – knew something “was going on” but “left (her) to it”.

In 2015, Julie decided to create a Facebook group for witches, and in 2018, she launched an in-person coven called the Coven of Gaia, which now has 19 members.

Julie serves as an elder, supported by a council of five mentors who guide the other witches.

In the summer of 2023, the group launched a TikTok account, under the handle @coven_of_gaia.

They post spells for prosperity, abundance and sleep using herbs and chants, and the account now has more than 845,000 followers.

Julie said: “People love dark spells on our TikTok, they always want to hex somebody!”

One of their most popular spells is designed to give someone nightmares – it involves using a black candle, an ovenproof dish and a piece of paper.

She explained: “You write the person’s name on the paper, think about what they have done to you, and say, ‘Hypnos god of dreams, make them dream of horrible things for one week’  before ripping the paper, burning it with the candle, and placing it in the dish.”

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

They hold an annual Festival for Pagans and Witches every May to teach others about 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 among witches as the time when “the veil” between the spirit world and the living is at its “thinnest”.

“We go into a meditation, and once we’ve put clearly in our minds what we want to release or bring into next year, we write it down and burn it into the cauldron,” Julie said.

They also host a dumb supper – a silent meal to honour deceased ancestors and loved ones.

Julie added: “We will bring something with us that reminds us of our ancestors – it could be a photo or an object.

“We will set them a place opposite us at the table and will serve some food and sit in silence through the whole meal, because we will be conversing with the ancestor that we brought to the meal with us.”

To communicate with their ancestors, they “ask for a message” through tarot cards, or use a pendulum to ask them yes or no questions.

In previous years, Julie claims to have connected with her grandparents, father and brother.

She said: “Normally, when they come through, it’s to tell you that they are with you, that they watch over you, that they love you.

“It does make you feel emotional and like you are connected to them.

“I’m not afraid of death now.”

After the supper, the coven will visit a graveyard to place flowers on graves without any, to “show respect” for those who have “passed over”.

“We think it’s a nice thing for us to do, and to just connect with more people who have passed over – it feels great to add things to the graves that people don’t tend to visit,” Julie said.

To sceptics, Julie said: “There’s so much going on in this world that we don’t understand how it works or why it works, and I think witchcraft is the same as that.

“I truly believe that in the future we’ll have explanations on how witchcraft works … just like how we do with science.”