Los Angeles Times

The working witches of Los Angeles just want you to be your best self

LOS ANGELES - The Oracle of Los Angeles was feeling frazzled.

It was already 2 p.m. and she hadn't had time to prepare lunch, much less wipe the ash from her altar. A tarot card client had just left her yellow Craftsman house in West Adams, evidenced by the smell of incense still lingering in the air. Within an hour, she was scheduled to meet with another client who was struggling to complete a Ph.D. thesis.

In the meantime, she still had to prepare for her weekly podcast, create a purifying ceremony for a new business - and get her nails done for a reality TV appearance. Any downtime would be consumed with writing. The second draft of her memoir was due to her publisher in a week.

The Oracle, who also goes by Amanda Yates Garcia, is a former arts educator with a master of fine arts in writing, film and critical theory from California Institute of the Arts. For the past eight years she has made her living as a professional witch, performing "energetic healings," "intuitive empowerment sessions" and the occasional exorcism, while also teaching workshops on the art of magic online and at her home, independent stores, and sites like the J. Paul Getty Museum.

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times2 min read
Editorial: Biden Expanded Two National Monuments In California. Three More To Go
President Joe Biden’s move Thursday to expand two national monuments in California is unquestionably good news for our climate and environment. One proclamation will increase the size of San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by nearly one third, ad
Los Angeles Times4 min read
Commentary: My Mother Set Herself On Fire. Why Do People Choose To Self-immolate?
Ten years before I was born, at 4:40 on the morning of Nov. 10, 1971, my mother and another woman sat “yogi-style” on the floor of an Ann Arbor, Michigan, kitchen and lit themselves on fire. They were just blocks from the University of Michigan campu
Los Angeles Times3 min readCrime & Violence
UCLA Detectives Use Jan. 6 Tactics To Find Masked Mob Who Attacked Pro-Palestinian Camp
LOS ANGELES — It is shaping up to be perhaps the biggest case in the history of the UCLA Police Department: how to identify dozens of people who attacked a pro-Palestinian camp at the center of campus last week. The mob violence was captured on live

Related Books & Audiobooks