By Rev. (Dr.) Swati Prakash (AltMed) — Wiccan High Priestess and Vegan Mind Body Soul Guide
Magick was the name of a store I once ran in the heart of Mumbai to teach people techniques to banish evil and manifest positive things in life. Sadly, Hollywood and popular culture have reinforced major stereotypes about Magick, all themed around Halloween, Tantrics, Shakespearean Macbeth witches, dark rituals, hexes, spirits, devils, demons, occult practices, and evil magick. Yet beneath this huge fascination with the supernatural lies a question that deserves much more attention:
What kind of consciousness are we cultivating when we use spiritual practices to control, exploit or harm another sentient living being?
For more than two decades, I battled misconceptions about Wicca, magick and spiritual practice. I also received (and of course rejected) requests for spells that I consider deeply unethical, including attempts to control another person’s affections, lure romantic partners, win back an ex, eliminate spouses or family members, break up relationships, or eliminate business rivals. Using animals and animal products such as dairy, beeswax candles, and animal parts was rampant throughout society and most clients, students, and practitioners (including myself) were unaware of Veganism.
Novices and advanced learners approached me frequently to learn magical skills and Wicca. Press approached me often to create ‘eye-catching’ and sadly very misleading headlines.
‘Hex and The City’
During my earlier career in India, I was interviewed by members of the press about Wicca and spiritual practices. Despite my explanations, some headlines used sensationalist language, to sell their newspapers or magazines. Such headlines may attract attention, but they can also leave readers with a misleading an lasting impression of what a person actually teaches or practises. One that I wish to break once and for all.
The problem is not confined to journalism. Social media can reproduce the same pattern. Even recently I have seen several social media posts (often with millions of followers and likes) for evil and stereotype witches in gothic attire, using black nail polish or lipsticks, dark magical spells, and ingredients that are unwholesome. These included animal products to curse others. One demonstrated how to use beef to harm someone with ‘witchcraft’. When people see that type of content they would once again think of magick spells as inherently negative and therefore, I believe it is important to challenge this misconception.
Wicca is a modern Neo-Pagan religion with diverse traditions and practices. It is not simply British witchcraft. Witchcraft itself is about Wit and Wisdom (craft of the wise) just like Wizardry. It is not about ignorance and black-magic which is not wise.
WICCAN REDE: Many Wiccans understand their spirituality through reverence for nature, the sacredness of life, personal responsibility and ethical reflection. The Wiccan Rede, commonly expressed as “An it harm none, do what ye will,” is an important ethical principle for modern ethical Wiccans. This should ideally lead to a more conscious way of living.
‘To Harm None’ or believe in ‘Ahimsa’ – Yet Being Non-Vegan?
Some of my Wiccan teachers were non-vegan and vehemently against Veganism. Also some lacto-vegetarian spiritual healers and gurus seemed so proud of not killing animals that they forgot that exploitation is also equally evil. These people are no longer my friends or role-models because I believe such practitioners deeply harm your soul’s development as a good human being against all exploitation.
Veganism is essential as a moral baseline that needs to be established early on, well before one goes for any spiritual advancement. It is not something you can choose as and when you find convenient on your spiritual path or justify as a personal choice that someone should not ‘push upon’ you. How would you feel if you were the victim being exploited while others justified it as being something they should have the right to continue doing as long as they are comfortable?
Some clients and students were parallelly dabbling with some tantriks and witches who used animal sourced ingredients. One of my suppliers dealt with porcupine quills, turkey feather quills, or bottled seahorse charms, which innocent believers and myself believed to be sourced from nature, simply lying around and picked up as ‘found objects’. This is not true however, and these items are usually quite exploitative and their suppliers unethical.
As a Vegan Mind Body Soul Guide, I invite you to look beyond popular stereotypes and consider what ethical magick, genuine spiritual development and liberation of consciousness might mean.
A Choice Between Fear and Self-Development
Ask yourself:
- What harmful beliefs am I ready to abandon?
- Where am I allowing fear, scarcity, envy or resentment to govern my decisions?
- Am I developing greater self-awareness, or becoming expecting quick answers and solutions delivered for some money, in the name of magick, astrology, or tarot?
- Am I respecting the autonomy and free will of other people? AND ALSO:
- Am I treating sentient beings as individuals or as resources for my own purposes?
These questions take us beyond appearances and towards the real work of spiritual development.
Why Harmful Intentions Undermine Spiritual Development
People sometimes approach magick from a position of desperation. They want a former partner to return. They want a rival to fail. They want a relative’s relationship to end. They want clients to choose them instead of a competitor. They may even want to use supernatural methods to influence another person’s decisions or obtain their money.
- A person who believes there is no possibility of finding another suitable partner may become fixated on controlling a partner or an ex.
- A business owner who believes another person’s success threatens their own may become consumed by rivalry.
- Someone who fears financial insecurity may become willing to exploit others for profit.
- A person who lack a sense of self, might constantly look for company, friends, or people to while away their time with, as they are unable to be happy alone.
- Similarly a person who lacks empathy and ethics towards sentient beings, feels entitled to exploit non-human animal victims for taste pleasure, fun, entertainment or fashion ; and remains non-vegan.
All of these are expressions of perceived scarcity and lack of self-realization.
Abundance is a shift away from the assumption that another being’s loss must become our gain. It is about seeing the infinite possibilities in every moment, and to realize how the universe is within.
True spiritual development should free us from destructive attachments, to other humans, to exploiting animals, to taste pleasure, to habits, to culture and traditions.
Against Use of Animals
One of the most disturbing aspects of certain occult, folk-magic and ritual practices is the use of animal bodies, body parts or animal-derived substances as supposed instruments of supernatural power.
Animals are sentient beings capable of experiencing pain, fear and other forms of subjective experience. They have lives of their own, needs of their own and interests that do not disappear merely because a human being wants to perform a ritual.
Their bodies are not spiritual commodities.
A personal experience involving a pigeon
I have personally experienced an incident that I understood as an attempt to target me through an occult practice.
On that occasion, an employee once found a pigeon tied by a rope to the underside of my car. The bird’s throat had been cut. The circumstances led me to believe that the animal had been deliberately harmed as part of an attempt to curse me as I am aware this is part of a common folk ritual practiced by some tantrics or witches. The suffering of the animal was real and deeply disturbing. And perhaps the intention of such dark practitioners is to disturb the minds of empaths and healers such as myself. Obviously they wanted to transfer negative energy to me – by victimising someone and killing them, they thought they would be able to kill me.
Whatever the perpetrator believed they might achieve against me as their intended victim – the truth remains that the pigeon was definitely their victim.
This experience reinforced my opposition to the use of animals as instruments in rituals directed against other people.
No spiritual objective can justify treating a sentient individual as disposable. If someone claims to possess spiritual power but is willing to inflict suffering on an innocent animal to obtain a personal result, I believe their ethical priorities deserve serious examination. An animal’s exploitation does not become morally acceptable because somebody gives it a religious, magical or supernatural explanation.
A Non-Vegan World is an Evil World
We have been conditioned or brain-washed into accepting non-veganism as a social default, when it is supremely evil.
Remember the movie – The Matrix, in which the main characters battled AI who were exploiting humans, farming them, and using them for energy?
Use of animals and dense negative energy work that exploits or harms other being – human or non-human animals – is a system designed to lure, tempt and hold humans in a dense vibrational state within the 3D universe. This is part of what some of us call ‘The Matrix’ or a ‘simulation’ in which our mind generates a stream of reality based on our conscious, sub-conscious and unconscious energy patterns.
Rejecting Non-Vegan Items on Ethical Grounds
Over the years, I have found spiritual practitioners learning the law of attraction and positive manifestation techniques, as well as continuing use of animals. Exploiting others, using them, and treating them as your slaves or products to buy, sell, or enjoy is definitely evil – regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey or what path you follow or not follow. Your beliefs do not matter – facts do. Animals are individuals like you and me and deserve to be free of exploitation.
1. Animal feet and body parts
I have heard reports from students who had studied with other tantrik teachers about the use of chameleon feet described as hatha jodi. Whatever claims are made about such objects, an animal’s body part should not be treated as a magical commodity without regard for the animal from whom it came. I reject the killing, capture or exploitation of animals to obtain ritual ingredients.
2. Snakeskin
Snakeskin appears in some folk-magic practices and is sometimes sold for ritual or symbolic purposes. A naturally shed snakeskin is not equivalent to a skin obtained by killing a snake. Nevertheless, the source of any material matters, including whether its trade encourages the capture or exploitation of wildlife.
3. Horns, antlers, bones and skulls
I have observed the use of animal remains in ritual and decorative settings while researching spiritual groups in the UK. Horns, antlers, bones and skulls may appear in various Pagan, folk-magic or other ritual contexts, but their presence alone does not establish how the animal died or whether its remains were obtained ethically. Often animals are killed or exploited to obtain them.
4. Honey and other bee products
Honey is frequently marketed as a symbol of sweetness, attraction and prosperity. Yet honey is produced by bees for their own colonies and using honey involves stealing from them and exploiting them. I prefer plant-based alternatives, such as date syrup or maple syrup, when a ritual, wellbeing, or food recipe calls for a sweet ingredient.
5. Dairy milk and other animal milks
Cows are sentient individuals who can form social bonds and experience distress. Cow’s bodies are used and molested to produce milk. Their bodies are not ours to use. I reject the idea that a product becomes ethically acceptable merely because it is considered traditional, auspicious or commonplace.
6. ‘Meat’ and animal sacrifice
I reject killing sentient animals for offerings, feasts or attempts to obtain specific flavours. An animal’s life is not a payment that humans must make to a deity, spirit or supernatural power. Neither it is ours to use for nutrition or taste.
7. Cow dung and cow urine
Cow dung and cow urine besides milk are used in certain traditional practices and are sometimes attributed with purifying or protective properties. These are simply disgusting and not only exploitative but also unhygenic.
8. Leather
Leather may appear in clothing, footwear, ritual clothing, book covers, furniture and other objects used in spiritual settings. These also view animal’s body parts as items for your own use. I prefer vegan alternatives that do not depend on animal skins.
9. Fur
Animal fur is sometimes used in clothing, decorations and ritual objects. Obtaining fur usually involves the killing or confinement of animals for their coats. The animals concerned are not merely sources of material; they are sentient individuals.
10. Feathers
Feathers are used in some ceremonial objects, costumes, decorations and ritual tools. The ethical circumstances vary according to their origin. A feather found naturally on the ground is not the same as one obtained through the killing or exploitation of a bird. I do keep feathers from some turkeys I rescued or looked after in sanctuataries where they were saved from exploitation.
However, commercial demand for feathers can encourage the use of birds as sources of materials and therefore these must be discouraged.
11. Animal skins used in drums and musical instruments
Some traditional drums and other musical instruments use animal skins. Music can be spiritually meaningful without requiring the exploitation of animals. I encourage practitioners to consider instruments made with synthetic drumheads and other non-animal materials, particularly when acquiring new instruments.
12. Ivory and other materials taken from wildlife
Ivory is associated with elephants and has historically been used in ornaments, carvings and ceremonial objects. The ivory trade is particularly concerning because demand for ivory has contributed to elephant poaching and severe harm to elephant populations. I remember one student once offering me a considerable amount of money in return of selling an antique item. This is something I had totally refused as it was unethical.
The same principle applies to animal teeth, claws, shells, pearls, horseshoes, seahorses, and other exploitation-derived materials.
13. Animal eggs, blood, organs, fat and other bodily substances
Some ritual practices use animal eggs, blood, organs, fat or other bodily materials. These substances may be described as powerful offerings or ingredients, but such descriptions do not answer the central ethical question: what happened to the animal whose body supplied them? I reject the deliberate killing or exploitation of animals to obtain these materials.
14. Wool, silk, beeswax and other animal-derived materials
Wool, silk, beeswax, gelatin, animal fats and other animal-derived substances can appear in clothing, candles, cosmetics, crafts and everyday household products. All of these are from exploited animals. We can use soy candles or synthetic ones instead of beeswax.
15. Animal-derived candles, soaps, cosmetics and ritual products
A product marketed as spiritual, natural or handmade is not necessarily vegan. Candles may contain beeswax or animal-derived stearic acid; soaps and cosmetics may contain tallow, lanolin, silk-derived ingredients or other animal-derived substances. Plant-based waxes, vegan soaps and other non-animal alternatives do not reply on animal exploitation or animal testing. Only ‘cruelty free’ labels are not sufficient.
Sentient animals are individuals, not food, ritual ingredients, decorative objects or instruments for fulfilling human desires.
I advocate a vegan approach that excludes animal exploitation from food, clothing, household products, cosmetics, entertainment and spiritual practice.
Veganism: To Reject Exploitation
Veganism as a moral imperative: Not just a Personal Choice
Humans must respect the rights of non-human animals, who are sentient beings, by excluding products, services and activities that use or exploit them.
Veganism is not merely a diet, a health trend or a lifestyle preference. It is a commitment to stop treating other sentient individuals as property, commodities or instruments for our own purposes.
What Should You Not Seek from Me?
I am not your personal genie, medium. or seer. I am not your fortune-teller, psychic or spellcaster. I am a Mind Body Soul Guide. My aim is to help liberate you from lower vibrational energy and help you on the path of positive values, beliefs, thoughts and practices over the long term – a path for life.
Kindly note this is a significant shift in my life and one that I wish to reinforce to everyone who knows me so far.
My Work as a Vegan Mind Body Soul Guide
I would like to make my professional position clear.
I work with people who are prepared to take ethics seriously and also take full responsibility for their own development rather than expecting another person to change their circumstances through a quick supernatural intervention.
Who is suitable for my work?
I welcome people who want to:
- Develop greater self-awareness and a more sensible approach to life instead of focusing on religious and miscellenous spiritual beliefs.
- Examine destructive habits, limiting thoughts and unhealthy attachments.
- Cultivate a healthier lifestyle, with the right species appropriate Sattvik plant-based diet
- Adopt an ethically consistent vegan approach and Take the Vegan Pledge
- Explore meditation, spiritual philosophy and the nature of consciousness.
- Develop healthier relationships based on autonomy and mutual respect and let go of all harm or abuse.
- Build a more constructive relationship with prosperity, personal goals and responsibility.
- Pursue spiritual growth without exploiting or harming other sentient beings.
- Work consistently over time towards meaningful personal change.
Also please note that no matter how close you were to me in the past, or how great a student, client or associate you were – you will not be enabled to remain unethical, non-vegan and exploitative of any animal – human or non-human. It is necessary to both reject human exploitation and abuse, as well as that of non-human animals if you wish to move forward.
I wish you much success and Bright Blessings on your journey with me as a Vegan Mind Body Soul Guide, who is here to help you be liberated from all negative vibrations and embrace your true self.


















