Witchcraft has long been considered in most countries to be grandmother's tales and a relic of the past. But in some parts of the world, witches and sorceresses still cause respect and fear among others. Romania is one such country. How does the life of modern Romanian witches work?
Witch services are popular
Going to see a witch is not considered a sign of backwardness and superstition in Romania. On the contrary, most of the country's residents prefer to turn to a witch when a Western European goes to a doctor or lawyer. According to statistics, every tenth resident of Romania regularly uses the services of witches.
Romanian witches look like in a fairy tale
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Those who are well acquainted with fairy tales about witches and sorceresses will hardly be surprised by anything during a visit to the Romanian witch. Local sorceresses act in exactly the same way as the heroines of fairy tales: they surround themselves with mysterious and sinister artifacts, love animals like black cats and owls, mutter spells, make potions, dry mysterious herbs … And they even usually look like
Romanian witches cannot predict the future
The Slovak photographer Lucia Sekerkova, who was making a photo reportage about Romanian witches, once decided to test their ability to predict the future, and invited several witches to tell her what awaits her, Lucia, in the future. As a result, the girl was, to put it mildly, disappointed. According to her, most witches were very vague in their predictions, and those who decided on specifics did not even come close to the truth. “One of them told me that in less than a year I will get married,” says Lucia. - Another said that soon one of the people close to me will die. Much time has passed, but none of the predictions came true."
White witches use the cross
Not all witches deny the church and the Christian religion. Witches who call themselves white set as their task the fight against black witchcraft, use the Orthodox cross in their rituals and sincerely consider themselves believers. One of the most famous witches in Romania, Rodica, daughter of the Mother Caterpillar, personal fortuneteller of the former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, calls herself a white witch and a Christian, and does not start work without the cross. “The cross is a symbol of our faith in God,” says Rodica. "Everything I do, I do with faith in God."
Romanian witches practice both black and white magic
Romanian witches are clearly divided into black and white. Black witches do evil - they send damage, conjure to death. White witches fight evil - they heal diseases, remove spells. Their rituals are also different. White witches work during the day using honey, flowers, herbs, and other symbols of life. Black witches get down to business at night, using symbols of death, dead animals, blood. Black witches, however, have one advantage - only they are able to talk to the dead.
Most Romanian witches are gypsies
Almost all Romanian witches are gypsies. In the gypsy community, witchcraft and predicting the future is the only work allowed for a woman and capable of bringing her honor and fearful respect in society. Therefore, almost without exception, girls in gypsy families go to school only until the age of 13-15, after which they completely devote themselves to the study of witchcraft rituals and fortune-telling under the guidance of mothers and aunts. In this photo - young 15-year-old sorceresses studying the first rituals in their lives.
Romanian politicians are afraid of witches
Witchcraft has existed in Romania since ancient times. However, only in 2011, many years after the arrival of capitalism, the services of witches and sorcerers were decided to be taxed. They say that before that, government officials were afraid to impose a tax burden on sorcerers, fearing their curses. Indeed, after the introduction of the tax, the Romanian community of witches collectively imposed a curse on all politicians indiscriminately. The sorceresses even staged a cross between a magical ritual and a demonstration, gathering to protest against the Ngalogs and pouring a poisonous potion into the Danube. However, except for a couple of fish, no one was hurt by the curse.
Romanian witches conjure online
Romanian sorceresses keep up with the times and have been providing their ancient services over the Internet for a dozen years. The white sorceress Rodica was one of the first to launch her own website with a form for ordering online services. “I speak traditional spells and brew potions according to ancient recipes,” she writes on her page. "But the blog helps me to be closer to potential clients and prove to skeptics that witchcraft is a reality."
Two Romanian witches thundered in blackmail and extortion case
The witches Melissa (left) and Vanessa (right) were accused of blackmail and extortion in 2011. Promising the rich and famous citizens of Romania to help in business and love, they took more and more money from clients, threatening them with a curse if they stopped paying for their support. One of the victims, the well-known TV presenter Oana Zaworanu, took several hundred thousand euros to the blackmailers. She asked for help in her relationship with her mother-in-law, but Melissa and Vanessa were never able to smooth out the conflict in the host's family. But they managed to intimidate the client so much that she continued to carry money for them, only to avoid the gypsy curse.
Romanian witches are regularly sued for wrong predictions
After 2011, when witches began to pay taxes, the public increasingly began to perceive them as ordinary representatives of the service sector and even try to sue them for poor-quality work - that is, as a rule, for incorrect predictions of the future. But it turned out to be not so easy to do this. Witches accuse the clients themselves of incorrectly reporting information about themselves, misinterpreting the date, place and exact time of birth. Since few people remember the moment of their own birth up to a minute or its place up to hundredths of a degree, it turns out to be difficult to prove the wrong of the wicked witch.
Romanian witches are aware of the unethical nature of their profession
As already mentioned, almost all gypsy girls from a young age learn fortune telling by the palm, on cards, with the help of a crystal ball, and also other witchcraft tricks. Having received basic knowledge from mothers, grandmothers and aunts, girls must decide for themselves whether they will become witches or prefer the fate of a housewife. At the same time, it is argued, the teachers of witchcraft themselves point out to the ward that, when making a decision, she should also remember about some moral ambiguity of this profession: after all, one way or another, she will have to exploit the naivety of clients. However, for some young witches this is an extra plus in the profession.
Pool of witches
In Romania there is a place where any spell or curse comes true, even if uttered by the most inexperienced witch. This is the so-called Witch's Bath, half an hour's drive from Bucharest. This pond is truly mysterious: animals do not drink from it, and although its measured depth does not exceed a couple of meters, anything can drown in it without a trace. According to rumors, witches gather here on folk holidays to perform witchcraft rituals, since the spells uttered here always come true unmistakably. But ordinary people try not to approach the Witch's bath.
Romanian witches love to show off their wealth
Many Romanian sorceresses are very wealthy, and each of them is not averse to boasting of their wealth. This is evidenced by the Slovak photographer Lucia Sekerkova, who took a lot of photographs of the houses of Romanian witches. According to her, in terms of the amount of gilding, such a house will not be inferior to Versailles, and the interior with frequent interspersed with gold chairs may even surpass it.
Witches keep pace with the times
Romanian sorceresses try to meet the requirements of the era not only by acquiring websites on the Internet. They still use ancient tools - from potions and magical amulets to cards and crystal balls - but they are ready to use them to offer customers something new. So, recently one witch reported that she managed to brew a potion that helps to find happiness in same-sex love. How much the new potion is in demand among customers is not reported.
Romanian sorceresses are excellent businessmen
Romanian witches are gifted ladies in business. They will not miss a single opportunity to make money. For example, the sorceress Margherita, a local celebrity in the town of Targu Jiu in southern Romania, told reporters that she did not have a clear price list, and she sets the price based on the client's wealth, forcing the rich to pay more. According to reports, she is not shy about asking significant amounts for her services, but so far she has never named a price that the client could not pay. This is a business eye!