I see no-one has bought me the traditional offering of a baby today,” jokes Stacey Demarco, addressing a packed conference room in a hotel on Sydney’s leafy north shore. The crowd, nearly exclusively women, giggle at her quip. I’m here, like everyone else, to learn how to become a witch. Demarco, who bills herself as ‘The Modern Witch’, is about as far from a child-eating crone as you can imagine. Stylish and charismatic, she was a PR high-flyer before throwing it all in to become a (very successful) professional witch.
If it weren’t for the towering piles of oracle cards, lunar diaries and evil-eye bracelets for sale, the event could be any old corporate strategy day – 80 women ranging from late teens to their 60s are crammed around tables,…