When Lilith Wildwood’s only child left home at 18, the moment was bittersweet.
Yes, as a single parent, she would miss the close bond with Nathan – but it would certainly take some pressure off the finances.
Having only been able to juggle part-time work with her parenting commitments, by the time Nathan left for university in 2011, Lilith was £15,000 in debt and at the mercy of rental landlords.
But now, just 15 years on, Lilith, 56, is debt-free, a homeowner, and earning a comfortable salary of around £44,000 a year.
It’s quite the transformation – and, she claims, it’s all down to ‘magick’.
Suspend your disbelief for a minute, because while you might not believe in the ‘spells’ that Lilith says helped bring about her financial stability, what does irrefutably pay her bills is giving lessons in mysticism.
A qualified psychotherapist, today she runs a practice from her home in Nottinghamshire, where she instructs women in how to harness their mystical powers to help them run successful businesses.
Her online ‘web coven’ – an internet community where she teaches ‘feminist spirituality’ and shares lessons of witchy empowerment over a weekly Zoom meeting – is flourishing, too.
It’s all a far cry from her years as a single mum struggling to make ends meet.
Money was always tight when Lilith was growing up in a single-parent family with mum Roz in West Yorkshire.
She recalls occasions when she and her sister had to share a boiled egg for their dinner. ‘We were on the breadline,’ she says, ‘but we just got on with it.’
Lilith Woodward, 56, is debt-free, a homeowner in Nottinghamshire and earning a comfortable salary of around £44,000 a year
It was a near-death experience as a toddler, after she accidentally swallowed a nappy pin, that first sparked her interest in all things mystical.
‘Everything in my life always felt magical,’ Lilith says. As a child, she found she could predict who was on the phone before they called, shared a deep connection with animals and was even ‘visited’ by her dead grandmother. From her early teens, she studied tarot and the power of symbolism.
At university she met her partner, moving to London together after graduating. Lilith started an MA in psychotherapy, but fell pregnant at the end of her first year, aged just 24. ‘We shared the care, but I was breastfeeding. What was meant to be a two-year master’s turned into five years.’
They split when she was 27, and Lilith found herself a single parent. With the responsibility of looking after her toddler she was unable to work full time, turning to benefits to support them. Debts started to rise, and for a time they were homeless, having to stay in a friend’s living room.
They moved to Brighton in 1999 when Nathan was four, where Lilith began teaching groups in the art of mysticism from her home three times a week to top up her finances.
However, as she was homeschooling Nathan, there was only so much time she could spend working. As each year passed she would fall another £1,000 into debt – until, when Nathan was 18, she found herself £15,000 in the red.
When Nathan left home to study midwifery, Lilith realised it was an opportunity for change.
‘I was really proud of him, but it meant I was able to concentrate more on my work.’
And Lilith had another reason to be optimistic about the future: her belief in the power of ‘money spells’.
‘It’s not about making money instantly or conjuring £50 notes from the sky,’ she explains. ‘It’s about setting the unconscious belief that money flows to me freely and carrying out rituals, like chanting or meditation, to set that belief.’
‘I’ve often done money spells. It is hard work and it takes time, but it can help make a difference in your life.’
And, she claims, it did. With more time on her hands – and her spells set – she ramped up her business activities, and within three years had paid off her debts, and even saved up £3,000 to go travelling.
‘So many witches and magical women are struggling. They are stuck in jobs which they hate but don’t understand how to turn their skills into businesses,’ says Lilith
She spent two years on the road, before settling back in the UK in 2016, having built up the same amount in savings she’d left with, having taught online courses in magical skills throughout her travels.
But £3,000 doesn’t get you a long way, and soon she found herself living in a van and sofa-surfing before renting a flat, which her landlord then sold, forcing her to move again.
So again, she cast a money spell. Within two years, she’d saved £20,000, enough for the deposit on her bungalow, moving in in 2023 at the age of 23
‘It feels brilliant to be able to pay for a home and not be reliant on a landlord. I’ve never owned a home before and my mum never did either.
‘I have the money now to make my home a safe place, which I have never had before. I’ve got to the perfect place for me, where I won’t have to move and I can decorate and plant things, it’s just taken me 56 years.’
Now, she is determined to help other women who harbour dreams of a more magical way of life fulfil their potential too.
‘So many witches and magical women are struggling. They are stuck in jobs which they hate but don’t understand how to turn their skills into businesses.
‘Magick at its essence is a type of self-hypnosis, so as a practitioner, it feels great to be able to help them take these steps so they feel good about themselves.
‘Even though it makes it harder for me to be taken seriously, I make a point of reclaiming the word “witch”. I have the skills and I’m going to use them to help people,’ she says.
To cast a simple money spell to increase your abundance, you must first set a mental intention to do so. The second step would be to find all sorts of symbols, photos and objects which make you feel like you have financial abundance and thirdly, having set the spell, be guided by your intuition.
Regardless of your views on the power of money spells, it’s quite a journey from homeless to homeowner.
Whether it’s due to ‘magick’, grit, or sheer self-belief, perhaps there are lessons to be learned.
