Sam Wise

I’ve been using “The Mystic Bitch” as my online persona since I first started blogging about spirituality and witchcraft in the fall of 2018. Later, I also made it the name of my YouTube channel. It’s a name that had and still has a lot of meaning to me, and it’s something that I think captures the essence of what I try to do with my content.

So why did I change it?

The biggest reason is that having the word “bitch” in my blog name/channel name was starting to attract the wrong kind of attention from the wrong kind of people. These people were making assumptions about me based on that name without ever bothering to watch or read any of my content. And, quite frankly, I got tired of dealing with those inappropriate comments.

Another reason I think it’s time for a name change is because I have changed.

When I started this blog in 2018, I was a freshman in college. At that time I still identified as a Christian, albeit with strong pagan influences. I had realized at that point that there were major issues within modern Christianity that I might never be able to reconcile with my own experience of God, but I was desperately trying to find a way to hold onto the religion I was raised in. I became very interested in Christian mysticism and especially in the Coptic/Gnostic tradition. If you go back and look at the earliest posts on my blog, you’ll find content that reflects that stage in my spiritual journey. Even the name “The Mystic Bitch” is inspired by the Christian Mystic tradition.

I’m just not that person anymore.

As I write this post, I am weeks away from completing my third year of college. Although I choose not to put a label my spirituality, I think it’s safe to say that my spiritual beliefs and practice have grown and evolved into something that is no longer compatible with even the most mystic version of Christianity. The focus of my spiritual path has shifted from mysticism (unification or absorption into the Divine through self-surrender) to acknowledgement of the fact that I was never separate from the Divine in the first place. These days, my focus is on connecting with the spiritual through the mundane, the ordinary, and the everyday, not in a way that dissolves my individual identity, but in a way that reinforces it.

When I chose the name “The Mystic Bitch,” I felt like it expressed what I hope is the core message of all of my content: that spirituality doesn’t have to look a certain way or fit a certain stereotype.

I tried to keep that same core meaning in mind when I picked my new blog name: The Illuminated Witch.

“Witch,” much like “bitch,” is a word that has historically been used to demonize women who did not behave the way they were expected to. It’s also a word that has been reclaimed by modern pagans, magical practitioners, and even a certain subset of feminists. To be a witch is to take upon yourself a certain degree of spiritual power, and to embrace the ability to influence your reality through that power. It’s one label that I wholeheartedly resonate and identify with.

To be illuminated is to be lit up — to be made shining. It’s that lit-from-within glow that comes when you embrace the divine truth of who you are. An Illuminated Witch is someone who finds deep, ancient, life-changing power in her own authentic, spiritual self — and that’s the kind of person I want to be.

P.S. This new blog name comes with a new logo drawn by the incredibly talented @thenameisjoules on Instagram! When I saw their beautiful stained-glass style, I knew I had to commission them for my new logo. They did an incredible job, and I am beyond thrilled with the result! They were also wonderful about keeping me updated and making me feel like part of the creative process. As of this post they are taking commissions, so definitely check them out! (Not sponsored, but they did such a fantastic job I had to give them a shoutout.)