What do Elgin’s ‘witchy’ women do behind closed doors?

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘witch’?

You might picture characters from Harry Potter or Hocus Pocus – but Elgin’s Witchy Women’s Institute is something entirely different.

With more than 500 members, the Elgin-based group is dedicated to empowering women through self-healing and transformation.

While the majority of participants hail from Moray, there are also women joining from various parts of the UK and beyond.

Sophie Bonadea, spiritual practitioner and founder of the group, told The Press and Journal she is working hard to break the misconceptions of what it means to be ‘witchy’.

She said: “The Witchy Women’s Institute is an opportunity for us to have a safe space and to really reclaim our voice, magic, truth and light.

“That’s really challenging when, growing up as women, we’ve always been told to be nice.

“We talk about witches but actually it’s women. That’s what they were.

“It was a persecution of women. If you were too loud, too quiet, too pretty, too ugly – it was literally just unsafe to be a woman.

“And those wounds are inherited and we, as women today, still carry these wounds with us.”

Sophie invited the P&J along to a gathering on Friday 13 this year, specialising in healing ‘witch wounds’.

We learned more about the group, including: 

• How they use meditation, crystal healing, caca0 and emotional freedom technique (EFT) healing.
• How the Witchy Women’s Institute was formed and has gathered over 500 members.
• And why Sophie Bonadea, owner, is ready to help people with their own spiritual journeys.

What happens at a ‘ritual’?

Sophie made it clear that I would not be attending the gathering as a journalist.

Instead, I’d be there solely as another woman wanting to explore spirituality.

Entering the home, I was greeted by Sophie who instantly welcomed me to the space.

I sat down on a purple pillow and waited for the other women to arrive while drinking the cup of tea Sophie had offered me.

The gathering – dubbed by women in the space as ‘circle’ – was organised for 13 women to attend due to it being Friday 13th.

As I looked around the circle and people started to arrive, I saw a range of women from across different age groups who all said they were on different parts of their spiritual journey.

As the event started, we were encouraged to join in for meditation.

Sophie said this was an opportunity for us to meditate on the reasons why we attended circle.

After this, each woman took it in turn to introduce themselves and share the reasons why they were there.

Some tears were shed during this, and Sophie then took out a box of tissues.

As we took a break, Sophie handed out cups of cacao.

During this, I was able to talk to the other women there who were all very welcoming and excited to teach me more about spirituality since I said I was a newcomer.

Some told me they had attended many events and one-to-one sessions with Sophie in the past while others were completely new.

As Sophie took us back through the meditation, we were told to drink the cacao.

She explained that the drink helps people to open the heart and have clearer insight into the truth.

We then moved our cups away and began another part of the meditation.

Sophie used the emotional freedom technique, abbreviated to EFT, which is a tapping therapy that offers healing and relief from physical and emotional pain and discomfort.

As the mediation came to an end, Sophie brought us back from our thoughts and the ceremony then concluded.

After attending ‘circle’ myself, I realised that being ‘witchy’ was completely different to what I thought it was before.

Instead of thinking of the classic Halloween witch who is green and rides a broomstick, the word ‘witch’ now brings me back to that welcoming room with women who were mutually working on self-healing.

Sophie Bonadea’s spiritual journey

Sophie first formed the Witchy Women’s Institute in 2017 and has been holding gatherings in Elgin ever since.

However, she actually lived in the area as a teenager and held witch circles at the age of 14.

Later, following a car accident in Berlin, Sophie began her spiritual awakening and was brought back to Moray.

She said: “That’s why I became really dedicated to creating a space for women who are going through traumas themselves and going through an awakening.

“I felt called to return back to the area after 17 years to not only heal my own past but help make right the past of the women here, through my work, by creating the Witchy Women’s Institute.”

She emphasised to me that the monthly events are for everyone, even if you’re not a part of the group, and they aim to be affordable and accessible.

Sophie advertises the Moonphase Journey Sisterhood Membership which she says is a major part of the services she offers for women.

“It’s literally how we are recognising with every moonphase, there is a time to create new visions and manifest,” Sophie explained.

“It’s the same with the seasons, and it’s the same as a woman’s journey through womanhood and their menstrual cycle.

“It can all sound a little woo-woo yet if you were to talk to a doctor about a woman’s phases through her menstrual cycle, they’d say the same thing.

“Or if you asked a farmer when to plant seeds and harvest, they would say the same.”