27/04/2026
I feel like our house is mad at me. It feels betrayed. Strange thoughts, but not for a witch.
We have lived here for over fifteen years. It has been our haven. Mrs Jones is the resident pigeon, a blue tongue lives in the garden. Our son would wait for friends in the gum tree outside, sitting on a branch an hour before they were due to arrive. Our beautiful dog passed away here, we held my mother’s funeral in the living room, we have had winter solstice gatherings, family Christmases. At Halloween it becomes a ghost house.
Now a new beginning calls, sadly an ending comes first.
We are going to sell. But that is not the betrayal, worse than deciding to sell the house is that we agreed to have it ‘styled’ after the agent said it was too ‘unusual’ and ‘wouldn’t appeal to most buyers’. The stars on the blue ceiling of my magick room were painted out. The busy stylist piled beds and couches high with cushions and throws. She told us, ‘All magical things should be packed away. They can put people off’. Lanterns were taken down and Ikea shades put in their place.
Why did we agree to her ‘wicked’ plan?
When we bought the property, it was all beige and pale pink inside. The family who lived here had three daughters, lots of pool parties, an ironing board that screwed onto the wall to face the television, plastic covers over their good furniture. They welcomed us kindly to the house they loved and were proud of. The interior wasn’t our aesthetics but it was true to them and some of the stories they told us about the house have stayed with us.
When we moved in, we changed every room, painted, embellished, lit candles, burnt incense. The kitchen floor has the moon phases, a pentagram and a compass designed into it. My art director husband inlaid a new fireplace with symbols. We had the exterior painted yellow in contrast to the grey and white houses in the suburb.
Now I hope the house will forgive us for the recent ‘make over’ that was pointless on many levels. Our house didn’t sell in the time expected. The stylist took her rented furniture away. We sighed with relief.
The house is still on the market. The online photos still show the ‘catalogue’ version. Now the actual interior is another picture altogether, we have moved a lot of our furniture back, rehung art on the walls, we are even doing a little repainting to bring the magick back. It is indeed de-cluttered, no photos or poppets or sorcery on display, too big a job to repaint the stars on the ceiling of my magick room but the house now happier in a better authentic state.
We hope a new family will feel the warmth of the house. We hope they put water out for Mrs. Jones, the pigeon, feel the spirit of our dog, my mother’s laughter, the energy of the moon above. We hope the walls speak to them of others who have loved the house. We hope will become their haven.
Written by Danae Moon, the SpellBox Witch
