Why Bruja? Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Bet on Myself
Growing up, I never missed ABC’s TGIF lineup. I remember eagerly waiting for the weekend, that precious two-day break from going to school, and the chance to sit down with my family and tune in to channel 7 for Friday night family TV. And my favorite show by far was Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Yes, a big part of it was the talking cat, but there was also a part of me that had a little crush on Sabrina Spellman (which, in retrospect, was actually just my desire to be a girl. Whoops.). And for those few glorious years that my family paid for cable television, I would watch (or tape-record on weeknights) reruns of Bewitched on Nick at Nite. Just like with Sabrina, I also pined a little for Samantha Stevens (gender envy strikes again). Both of them were clever, witty, and charming.
Looking back, I see how they inspired my own embrace of femininity and who I wanted to be once I came into my identity as queer and transgender. So maybe it’s no surprise that I chose the image of a “bruja” for the branding of my online retail store.
But there is obviously more to it than two TV shows I loved as a kid.
“Just as I had found power in myself because I had accepted who I was, I saw the bruja as an identity rooted in empowerment, legacy, and creativity. It celebrates the power of the feminine. ”
As I came into my own identity and started looking out upon the landscape of LGBTQ+ culture, I saw how a lot of queer and lesbian folks embrace witchy imagery and aesthetics. It’s a common image and identifier that circulates across queer feminine culture, and many queer and lesbian Latinas and Chicanas embrace the idea of being a “bruja” in a variety of ways. Yes, some lean into practices and cultures associated with what some would consider the occult (many of which are indigenous cultural practices that were stigmatized by conquistadors and the Church), but others take that idea of “bruja” and “brujería” to mean something else. Something much more personal and transformative.
Which raises the original question: why “bruja”? And what exactly does “bruja” mean to me?
It’s about taking a chance on yourself.
Just as I had found power in myself because I had accepted who I was, I saw the bruja as an identity rooted in empowerment, legacy, and creativity. It celebrates the power of the feminine.
Those are the qualities that I wanted to see in myself as a burgeoning entrepreneur and as a person. I really did not have much in the way of knowledge or money to start with, and opening your own business is always a risk. I took the chance anyway.
As I started to walk the path I chose, I realized that I was embodying those qualities every time I took the next step: buying the web address, building the website, finagling the AI robot to build my branding and logos, stocking my storage unit/makeshift warehouse with inventory to sell, learning QuickBooks and spreadsheets on the fly.
A bruja does more than take ingredients for her various potions and concoctions to craft something new and useful. She creates something that is greater than the sum of its parts. I may not know much about potions, but I do know a little something about taking a bunch of random bricks and putting them together to create more than the pile of potential they once were.
To me, a bruja is a woman who is assertive and fearless. She is someone who forges her own path unapologetically, even if it runs contrary to the world around her.
I am the bruja I wanted to be.
-The Brick Bruja