Our Home: A Sanctuary of Whimsy and Magic

As we step into our home, it's hard not to notice the abundance of Sasha and Shoshana representations, as well as black cats Heidi and Helga. The aesthetic of humans being gone and plants reclaiming seems to be a theme throughout our space, with vines growing wild and free. We've let them climb and grow, creating a sense of natural beauty in our home.

One of the most striking features is the Bird of Paradise Plant, named Kirsten after Queen Kirsten Dunst because we definitely did a whole film festival of Kirsten Dunst movies. She's amazing, and we highly recommend watching every one of her films in a row. We've also got a beautifully macrame piece made by a friend, Marissa Curran, for our wedding, which now hangs over our bed. It's a very magically charged object, and we love having it as a reminder of our special day.

Our bedroom is a peaceful retreat, with the aura photo from our honeymoon as one of the centerpieces. The woman who wrote on it said "Soul connection, Don't screw it up." We kept that in the frame when we had it re-done, and it's a constant reminder to appreciate the beauty of our relationship.

Downstairs, we have our love altar, which is adorned with a geode containing a tiny us and two white cats. It was a Valentine's Day present for Melissa, maybe our second Valentine's together. The geode was chosen because Erica wouldn't guess what gift she'd get. We also have a triangle window that fills with rainbows from the suncatcher during certain times of day, which is pretty cool.

We've got a special spot in our home dedicated to Cinnamon Roll, who's been by my side since I was 23 years old. He might be a 500-year-old magician in a cat's body – we think so! We also have a star map of the sky from the day Melissa and I met, which is a lovely reminder of how far our relationship has come.

Our built-in bookcases were made with love by my dad, who based them on Erica's spell kits. He spent a year making it, and it was a big surprise for us when he presented it as a gift. Melissa's logo is on the back, and it has little drawers and everything – we love having this piece of furniture in our home.

We've tried to make the most of our 45ft² oasis, which gets full sun all day long and offers stunning moonrises over the porch. We feel like we're on vacation just being here! While our backyard is our pride and joy, we also appreciate the bonus space behind us – especially when it comes to displaying our prized possessions, including a pair of Pink Flamingos.

When it comes to witchcraft, I believe that there's no one "right" way to do it. We've tried to create a space that feels empowering to us, full of color and whimsy. Magic is magic, and everyone has their own unique energy inside them. It's about expressing that in our own way – whether through our decor, our rituals, or simply being true to ourselves.

So, thank you for visiting our home and exploring the magic within it. We'd love to have you come back when you're in Salem and visit House Witches Home and Healing. Until then, we'll keep spreading love and positivity from our little corner of the world. Big Boppity Boo! Abracadabra, indeed!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enHi, I'm Erica.And I'm Melissa.Welcome to our handmade home in Salem,Massachusetts.My name is Erica Feldman and I own House,Home and Healing in Salem, Massachusetts.My name is Melissa Nierman and I have a tourcompany called Now Age Travel.And I run Personal Rainbow or a photographyout of housewares.So I'm a Scorpio rising.So I pretty much came out of the womb intowitchcraft.But, you know, in my family, we were reallyable to just kind of like explore ourspiritualities. And when the craft came outwhen I was 14 and I saw it on opening nightand I just was like, Yeah, that is for me.Like, I loved the girl gang aspect of it.I loved the aesthetics of that movie.But unfortunately, a lot of the practices oflike Wicca, which was sort of what was likeavailable to learn about at Barnes and Noblein Downers Grove, Illinois.I kind of was turned off by that brand ofmagic, actually, and I fell away fromwitchcraft for about ten years.And then I did a study abroad at CambridgeUniversity in England, and I took a classcalled Witchcraft in Early Modern History.And I realized that that was totally thenexus of like, everything I've beeninterested in, like my whole life.So witchcraft and feminism and history.So I studied witches from a bunch ofdifferent angles media studies, history,gender studies.And that's when I moved to Salem.It's interesting because I'm actually fromMassachusetts.I never thought that I would move back here.That was actually like being just kind oflike drawn by love and I think magic.My first job was actually a ghost tourguide, and I started to learn about thehistory, Like I honestly didn't really knowabout it.And I just love like, Place and I loveadventures.And as time went on, I decided that I reallywanted to be able to share a different sideof Salem that I think wasn't necessarilybeing presented.And so people come for Coven bacheloretteparties.Some people are here because they believethey had a past life in Salem and they'lltalk about their family members, you know,warning them like, be careful when you go toSalem, Like make sure like nobody cursesyou.And I'm like, I don't know why anyone wouldwant to curse you.I have always been interested in interiorsjust as a sensitive person.It was a way for me to control myenvironment and help with my kind of likeanxiety. And so alongside my interest inwitchcraft, my interest in interiors kind ofgrew. And that's how Housewhich started.I started making spell kits, so that I couldgive the experience of like having me comeover to your house.And those resonated really well.And so I opened the store seven, eightmonths after I started the spell in.Erika created this really amazing kind offoundation for a lot of people to a lot ofweirdos will say to kind of like Shine inthe world and to really kind of bring a voiceto people that might not be heard.This building is really interesting.So originally it was built as Salem's firsttheater, and the people of Salem, who werekind of the descendants of like thePuritans, were not thrilled to have atheater. They literally were like, This isSatan's work.Like, I mean, I don't know why.Like, God wouldn't like all.This time here.That's when we learned about ElizabethInchbald, an out lesbian writing a gendersatire, and that being the first play put onhere.As far as our home, I mean, everything isvery intentional.Using vintage and secondhand furniture isdefinitely like part of my witchcraftpractice, which is like to do no harm to theearth as much as possible.So yeah, over here we have our big greenvelvet couch.This is a pull out sofa.And we've had some very powerful witches.Yeah. On the sleeper sofa.So it's charged.This is one of my favorite pieces in thehouse, The bean coffee table.And it ends up being kind of a work altarfor me because I do work in this space a lot.So there's a lot of books and differentcrystals and objects that I find inspiring onthe table. This is one of my favoritevintage finds.I needed it to be such a specific shape andsize, and how could I have imagined thatthere was going to be a white perfectcondition like 80s bean shaped table with agold? Like disco bass.I could have never imagined that piece offurniture in my wildest dreams.And there it was, vintage.I do think it's like one of your superpowers,though.Like, I feel like Erika manifested whatever.Erika, like is thinking about it alwaysappears and it can be so specific.It's like the wildest thing.I do feel like people can feel the energy ofthings, even if they're not aware thatthey're feeling the energy of things.We love our cheetah chair.We love it so much. We have two We.Have a lot of like big cat energy in thehouse.And I just like furniture you can pet.So it's a good magical practice too, if youare in a couple to have pairs of things.And so we definitely have a lot of pairs ofcats.The white fluffy cats.Yeah, I.Think they might be future cats or guardiancats, but we've named them Sasha andShoshana.So you'll see around the place.We have lots of representations of Sasha andShoshana.We also have some black cats too, which areHeidi and Helga.We kind of love the aesthetic of like humansare gone and plants are reclaiming.I don't know if you've noticed all the vineslike going.We really let our vines like climb and gowild.And the Bird of Paradise Plant is namedKirsten after Queen Kirsten Dunst because wedefinitely did a whole like film festival ofKirsten Dunst.She's amazing. She's played every type ofblonde ever.I really recommend just watching every oneof Kirsten Dunst movies like In a row.She's amazing.So let's head upstairs.Good idea.So this is our bedroom, right over our bed.This beautiful macrame piece was made by afriend of mine, Marissa Curran, for ourwedding, actually. So we stood in front ofthat during our wedding ceremony, and we lovehaving it over the bed.A very magically charged object.I would say over here.This is our love altar.The aura photo from our honeymoon is one ofthe centerpieces, I would say the woman wroteon it. Soul connection, Don't screw it up.So when I had it framed, I made sure that Ikept that in there.Really good advice.Yeah, I definitely look at it every day andI'm like, Don't screw it up.Don't screw it up. Soul Connection.So this was a Valentine's Day present forMelissa, Maybe like our second Valentine'stogether. It's actually a geode with a teenytiny us and teeny tiny white cat's in it.Yeah, it's funny because Erica was like,You'll never guess the Valentine's Daypresent that I got you.And I'm like, I literally never would haveguessed that it would be tiny in a geode withtwo white cats.Triangle window that we love.We have a little suncatcher in it.This is every queer is magic.And so at a certain time, probably aroundlike 3 or 4 in the afternoon, this whole roomfills with rainbows from the Suncatcher It'spretty cool.There is cinnamon roll.Cinnamon roll is 17 years old.He's been with me since I was 23 and wethink that he might be a 500 year oldmagician in a cat's body.This is a star map of the sky the dayMelissa and I met.So that's cute.October 12th, 2015.These are built in bookcases that came withthe joint.This is a really sentimental shelf for mewith pictures of my family and my ancestorsand then this Felix toy that I actually havehad since I was like, you know, two.So this is a box that my dad actually builtfor us.He based it on Erica's spell kits.Yeah, And he put the old house witch logo onit.He spent, like, a year making this, and itwas like, a big surprise.And Melissa's logo is on the back.And it has little drawers and everything.Yeah. So this is our 45ft² of oasis, I guessyou could say out here.We've really tried to make the most of it.Yeah, it really. It feels like vacation,which we both really like.Vacation?Yeah. It gets full sun all day long, and weget a lot of really amazing moonrises overthis porch as well.No, totally. I mean, we literally moved herefor this 45ft², so the rest of the place isreally a bonus, I think behind you.I don't know if you all want to get the PinkFlamingos.They're definitely a prized possession.So I do think that the idea that witchcrafthas to look a particular way or that it hasto be like black velvet or like all thepower to you if you like black velvet andlike, that's that's your vibe.And that like, feels empowering.But I think it really is about finding whatfeels empowering to you, you know?And I think for us, it's a lot of color,it's a lot of whimsy.You know, it's being surrounded by thingsthat our friends made to be a magical person.It's like you don't have to look aparticular way or act a particular way.Like magic is magic.And I think everybody has their own magicinside of them.And it's about expressing that.In your own way.So thanks for visiting and you can come andsee us when you're in Salem at HousewhichHome and healing.I don't know. I know.Big Boppity.Boo. Let me do it again. Abracadabra.Abracadabra.\n"