on goddess worship & the full-time writing life: gabriela herstik in conversation with jeanna kadlec

If you’ve read about the occult online anytime in the last five years, you probably recognize Gabriela (“Gaby”) Herstik, she of the Venus devotion and kink- and lingerie-themed super-spiritual photo shoots. Her formerly viral Ask a Witch column at NYLON was a guidepost. When it comes to anything remotely related to witchcraft, Goddess, and sex magic, Gaby is one of most prolific writers on Beyoncé’s internet — with the Google rankings to prove it. She’s also the real deal.

photo by alexandra herstick

Gaby has since taken her wealth of knowledge and experience and translated it to books. She’s the author of Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft, Bewitching the Elements: A Guide to Empowering Yourself Through Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Spirit, and Embody Your Magick: A Guided Journal for the Modern Witch, with two exciting new projects on Goddess devotion and sacred sex forthcoming.

Gaby joined me over Zoom from her home in Los Angeles to talk about how she worships the Divine Feminine — and the practical magic of making a living as a writer.

This interview has been edited for clarity & length

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Jeanna Kadlec: Obviously I am a huge fan of your work and also of you. If you could introduce yourself to the Astrology for Writers readers?

Gabriela Herstik: I am an author, fashion alchemist, and witch living in Los Angeles. My work really revolves around exploring and unraveling and dissecting the ways that witchcraft, magic, the Divine Feminine, sexuality, and glamour all coexist. 

I do that work through my books. I'm the author of Inner Witch: A Modern Guide to the Ancient Craft, Bewitching the Elements: A Guide to Empowering Yourself Through Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Spirit, and Embody Your Magick: A Guided Journal for the Modern Witch. My background is in journalism, specifically fashion journalism. I don't really write on that beat anymore, but I've written for Vogue International, Nylon, I-D, Glamour, Allure, a lot of other places. I also write ritual guides inspired by the full moons, new moons, and the holidays of the witch for my Patreon. 

I'm currently working on a book on sacred sexuality, which will be out in summer of 2022. I also have a book on the Divine Feminine and Goddesses coming out in the fall of 2022. So that's what I'm working on right now! My work has definitely evolved since I started writing my books, and it's just getting a little bit trickier and more glamorous, which is very fun to me.

JK: I feel like so much of what folks know you for is for the glamour and aesthetic. I'd love it if you could say a little bit more about where that came from, because I know that writing about fashion is where so much of this started. 

GH: Thank you for seeing me! I initially really began exploring fashion when I was probably thirteen or fourteen. I can trace it back to America’s Next Top Model, honestly, because I wanted to be a model. And I always loved writing, even when I was little. But when I was in middle school, I realized I was too short to be a model. So for some reason I was like, Oh, I'll just be a fashion writer. I started a fashion blog not long after that. It’s what I went to college for.

I really consider the point of shaving off the left side of my hair when I was 17 as my initiation into glamour magic. I’m just a Libra rising. I've always been very drawn to beauty and to glamour — I have a mother and a grandmother who are both fabulous, who wear red lipstick every day.

I definitely feel more confident and more embodied in my self-expression and my aesthetic than I ever have. A big part of my work with glamour is in devotion to Venus, one of the Goddesses I'm devoted to. It’s also part of my erotic self, to express that physically as a kind of devotion to the Divine Feminine outside of me.

JK: I love all of that. You mentioned how goddess devotion is a part of your ritual practice, but I’d also love to hear about how she shows up or manifests in your writing. 

GH: That’s a good question. Obviously, I do a lot of devotional work, which for me means ritual and daily prayer and lighting candles and connection. A lot of that is also through writing. On one hand, whenever I'm done meditating on Goddess, I'll write about it, and that's a very basic form of that connection, so I can look back and see where I was or what She taught me. 

But a lot of the work that I do, especially as I'm writing both the Goddess book and the sacred sex book, I see as offerings to the Divine Feminine. So when I'm writing these books, I see it as not only conjuring that archetypal connection to Goddess within me, whether that's through working with Venus or Babalon or Isis, but I also see my practice in these two books. More than any of my other work, I see [the books] as a tool of devotion and offering to carry forth the current of Goddess energy through the Divine Feminine, through Her expression and also through sexuality, which to me as a devotee specifically goddesses of love is very, very connected. 

Writing, for me, is kind of a form of prayer. It is a way for me to connect with these energies that I really am in service to. 

JK: What is your daily writing routine like?

GH: Since I write ritual guides, those come out on the full moon, the new moon, whatever holidays. But I usually plan to do ritual guides on Wednesdays, so, on Mercury day. [Mercury is the planet that rules communication]

But during my morning practice, I do a bunch of different things, but a big part of that is journaling. So I'll meditate, and I'll pull tarot cards. Then I sit down and journal my experience like a cosmic brain dump, just taking notes. One day I'll probably write some kind of memoir.

It feels so cathartic to be able to spew all my worries or anxieties or thoughts onto the page, like it really is just such an alchemical process for me. Especially [as] somebody with a Pisces Mercury, I need to be able to express those feelings in a tangible way and then I'll make my coffee.

And I'm only checking social media twice a day right now.

JK: So smart. I need to do that.

GH: I enlisted my Dom to help me. I definitely recommend it. Getting somebody to help you, even a friend — it has helped. It has reduced my anxiety so much. 

But then I plan out chapter by chapter, day by day, what I have to work on with my book. I'm very organized with that. So I'll sit down and I'll do my writing for my book and I take breaks and stuff. But that's like a good chunk of my day.

JK: What is spirituality to you? We’ve sort of touched on it, and I know your dad's a rabbi. But I wanted to ask about your attitudes toward spirituality these days, and how it is structured for you.

GH: One of my teachers, Alexandra Roxo, wrote the foreword to Bewitching the Elements. I really love what she said about spirituality — that it is a way of living with and recognizing that spirit or the divine permeates everything. So to me, I really define spirituality as living in resonance with something that is greater than you are, something unseen. Everything has a spirit. I think it's more of a perspective and a way of embodying that than it is doing certain things, because you can do yoga and have a horrible personality and not be spiritual. It’s about leading from the heart. To me, that means living in deep reverence to the other, whether it's a family member or a stranger, a bird that I see in the coffee shop parking lot, the trees. 

I'm also pagan. I believe in different Gods and Goddesses. I have very, very strong religious beliefs. I do consider myself religious — not Christian, not Jewish, but a follower of Goddess religion. I pray multiple times a day; I meditate multiple times a day. I bless my food before I eat it. I’m religious.

I think initiations are powerful, and I go to a school in LA where we do a lot of ritual training that includes initiations. But it’s not hierarchical. For me, that feels important because as soon as there’s a hierarchy, ego gets involved. There’s a power dynamic where you have to go through [a person] to get [spiritual access], and there are rules that you have to do things in certain ways. 

What’s so powerful about witchcraft and working with the Divine Feminine is that it's embodied, that it's coming at it from the heart, it's coming at [life] from a place of expression and feeling and it’s not the only way to get there. There are infinite ways of getting there. You listen to whatever is calling you and drawing you.

I'm too fucking Aquarius to want to do something the way that I'm told to do it. 

JK: I think that speaks to the nature of your work though, because your work specifically is about offering like resources to people in order to decide whether or not something is for them, and if it is for them, in order to be able to deepen their relationship with something. Your books are incredibly well done and are resources that I always recommend to people. Your work is really predicated on inclusivity.

GH: That’s so important for me. I don't ever want it to be prescriptive. I don't ever want it to be like, this is the only way you can do this thing. To me, that's the opposite of a magical practice. It shouldn't be something out of your power. It should be something that makes you feel connected to that and grounded in that and capable and, like I said, it’s so important for my work to be accessible. You have all the tools. I don't care if you even use the words I say. I just want to guide people back into their magic because nobody knows you better than you know you. At the end of the day, I think that's so important. There's a lot of work that goes into knowing that aspect of yourself. Like that is the Great Work.

JK: The attitude that there’s only one way or that someone knows better than you always feels very sky god-Christian to me — and very capitalist. 

GH: Exactly. That’s what I’m trying not to do. 

JK: This does lead into another question I have though, which is around these three books that you have out so far and then the two that are forthcoming. These are, for lack of a better word, general nonfiction. I'm curious, what has the process of blending art and commerce and spirit been like for you? 

GH: It’s definitely been a journey since. I was approached to write my first book (Inner Witch) when I had just started working full time at Hello Giggles as a staff writer, and it was not easy, but I was so excited to write it. Every single day I get to wake up and write about magic and goddesses and sex. I'm just like, this is the best. I feel so, so deeply soul level, grateful to be doing this work. It's not something I ever take for granted. 

So for that first book, I was working full time, and I had like five months to write the book on deadline. But then Hello Giggles said they just wanted astrology stuff, and the pay wasn’t there. And I was like, this wasn't a choice was it. But from there, I had to figure out how to make an income.

I started writing ritual guides, and they just took off. And it's been something that I've done every month for over two and a half years. The fixed energy in my chart really pays off sometimes when it comes to commitment. But I had to figure out how to support myself because, like, now I'm getting paid more for my books, but I don't think people realize how little authors get paid. It’s not nearly as much as people think. Having multiple streams of income is really helpful, between Patreon and the ritual guides. 

I don't think I'll ever work for anybody else ever again, and that feels really resonant with what I need to do to be able to write these books. I need to fucking meditate twice a day. I need to be able to stop in the middle of the day and do my prayers. It’s not just writing — I also have a whole practice that goes into helping me explore these things and dive deeper. 

JK: The business part of being a writer is perhaps the more steep learning curve. Nobody teaches you how to do it. And I think particularly as someone who, like you said — you're writing your fifth book. You are so high profile within the [occult] community. You are one of the most recognizable figures. But like you said, your books alone do not pay your bills. Could you say more about that?

GH: Of course. Up until I started writing my books — up until really last year — I was also doing a lot of freelance writing for a long time. That was how I was trying to really pay my bills. But I absolutely detest pitching. It was really, really draining. When I made that decision last year to really just stop freelancing, it allowed me the space and the time to really figure out other avenues of making money. 

So first off: knowing that pitching is difficult and time consuming and that it's not a magical process of getting constant yeses — you have to be realistic. It is hard to be a full time freelance writer. It is not easy. And it is something that I couldn't do. It was not good for me mentally. But I think now, too, there's so many options — I’m really thankful for Patreon and Squarespace for making it so easy to sell stuff.

If you want to be a full time author, know that you're probably going to have to have another job, at least for a while. Books don't pay as much as you think. Like, I'm finally kind of getting to the point where I'm making more money on them, but I still like my ritual guides! I would not be living the life that I'm living without them. Finding other ways to supplement is so helpful, and I feel lucky that I was able to find those things that are staples of my income. 

But again, having a job to support your writing practice does not make you any less of a writer. There’s nothing wrong with needing to pay your bills. And in fact, having something consistent that you know is going to happen every month allows you to write without that worry or fear. It’s just so important, having that self compassion, especially when it comes to the unrealistic expectations that we put on ourselves with writing. 

We do not talk about what we make. I could probably tell you a couple of people, because they shared it on Twitter. But I still really don't have a big idea of what normal is, because some people are getting paid less than ten thousand for a book and some people are getting paid one hundred thousand for a book. There’s such a wide range. 

JK: The business stuff is just really opaque a lot of the time.

GH: Oh also! Get a good tax person.

JK: So important!

GH: If you're an independent contractor, don't try to do taxes on your own. Show yourself that somebody can help you — and write shit off! 

JK: Yes! So my last question for you, my dear. Have you had any particularly, like, magical creative moments this year?

GH: There have been so many times I feel like I've been hermetically sealed this past year. I've been able to go very deep into my own magical practice and study, with my Goddesses especially, it's been really beautiful. It's been a really, really tough year. I mean, who hasn't had a tough year? 

The highlights were these two books. The Goddess book is a dream come true. And same thing at the sacred sex book; I feel so inspired and I feel so much more in my power and in myself in a way that I've never felt. I think the inner work that I've been doing, the devotionals I've been doing with my Goddesses, and then using that energy, channeling that energy, into these books is what sticks out to me. I can't believe that I'm getting paid to write this, that I get to talk about the divine erotic and sexuality as a path to like gnosis and Goddesses. 

Outside of work, creating Kink Coven with my co-conspirators has been one of the most exciting things I've done in a while. We meet every month under the full moon and cast a spell of protection on sex workers based on whatever is happening with the nation. We've been calling in different goddesses lately, and then we have a little play party on Zoom. People tie themselves up and spank themselves and can have cameras on or off to raise the energy for the spell, and then we send out the energy. It’s donation based, so all the donations go to different organizations. I'm looking forward to eventually doing that in real life and making it even bigger. But that's something I'm really, really thankful for and really proud of.

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You can find Gaby Herstick on Instagram and Twitter. Also check out her Patreon and collaborative work at Kink Coven!