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Elle
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Elle
The Modern Bride's New Wedding Must-Have? An Etsy Witch
Getty; Design by Leah Romero I've bought spells from witches before. I won't tell this story as if I haven't, so let me get that out of the way. Purchased at my favorite witchy store in the East Village, my spells came in the form of little vials of colored oils and look like roll-on perfumes. One's for health, one's for clarity, and one's for heart healing. What? I grew up on Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Practical Magic . Plus, have you seen the world out there? Can you blame me for indulging in a little mysticism? But even with tendencies such as mine, I had little idea about the online to me was the playful admission that she had hired an 'Etsy witch' to cast a spell for good weather on her wedding day, which did, in fact, come to fruition. Jaz, I soon learned, is far from alone. You'd be surprised by how many brides seek out magical intercession. And, it turns out, In the comments section of Jaz's video, I found numerous users sharing their own testimonials for spells they bought online from other practitioners. 'Marysmagicshop literally work [sic] every time no joke,' wrote one user. 'YUHH MARY ON TOP,' replied another, one of many who seconded the recommendation. Ally Dossick, a 33-year-old occupational therapist from Philadelphia, hired the same witch as Jaz for her own wedding just one week after the influencer's. After seeing the viral clips, Dossick placed the order for a custom spell requesting no rain in Allentown, New Jersey, on Saturday, May 31. It cost her $12. 'Like, why not?' she tells me. 'It worked for [Jaz]. It can't hurt, especially when it's not expensive.' In response, she got a message saying, 'I've successfully completed your order. Please allow 3-4 weeks for the full manifestation.' With a purple crystal ball emoji, naturally. Dossick could only allow two days for full manifestation, but the spell still worked—mostly. That Saturday, it rained a bit, but only at 'good times' like during the ceremony, which was planned for indoors. It cleared up in time for the wedding party to take photos outside. All things considered, she was pleased. When I asked what her friends and family thought about the spell, she tells me that they were just confused. 'They were like, 'What's an Etsy witch?'' Fair enough. Getty + Design by Leah Romero On the very same day, 199 miles away in New Lebanon, New York, Caroline Mullen, a 30-year-old writer based in Jersey City, also got married, except the spell she bought from a different Etsy witch didn't work. (Jaz's witch became so inundated in the aftermath that she removed all her listings.) 'It was really bad,' Mullen says. 'It was torrentially downpouring. Parts of the venue were flooding. The power went out the night before, and they had to turn on the generator.' To her credit, the newlywed isn't mad about the $15 spent on the spell. 'It was a shot in the dark. I just appreciate her energy towards it. Not everything works.' And anyway, it might not have been the hired witch's doing. 'My mother-in-law had her church friends praying for good weather, and I kept joking that them and the Etsy witch were counteracting each other and creating a cyclone. I think next time I'll pick one or the other.' Unlike Dossick, Mullen had the idea long before Jaz posted. 'A friend of a friend had used an Etsy witch for a revenge spell a couple months ago, and [my friend group] thought it was the most amazing thing in the world,' she explains. 'So, I had been waiting for a reason to use one, and this was the perfect time.' 'That's how we manifest: belief. If you focus on something, you put energy into it—it's physics—you're going to change its vibration.' When I ask about what happened with the friend who bought the revenge spell, Mullen says she isn't sure how the story ended. Such ambivalence is a theme here; results are almost irrelevant. The wish will or won't come true, but it's more about the effort, the intention. A handing over of worry and concern, an acknowledgment that something is out your control. That alone, it seems, can be magic. According to 'Say I find someone on the internet who guarantees that for $5 she's going to make some horrible things happen,' Dabrowski poses. 'Do I think it's a real spell? No. But do I think there's some energy that releases from that? I do.' Sometimes, a little directed energy is all it takes. I found 'We usually advise [non-believers] to not get spells, because that kind of negative mindset, that lack of belief, is usually quite detrimental.' While she does work with brides, it's usually for trouble-shooting. To help ease tension between feuding in-laws, she might provide a special sourdough loaf to be shared. Or, for a bride who's worried about fidelity, Dabrowski might make a gris to be sewn into the wedding gown. And, by all standards, business is booming. She says she had to leave her job as a Medicaid fraud investigator just one year after launching her Etsy storefront back in 2020. Now, she's in such high demand that she's recruited her two daughters (seventh generation, no biggie) and two other practitioners to assist. Getty + Design by Leah Romero Searches for 'spell casters' are even up 85 percent compared to this time last year, according to my sources at Yelp. Theia, one of the witches at These Etsy storefronts also aren't just for those looking to summon a sunny day or a dose of revenge, or make a quick buck. At my local mystical shop, the in-house witches tell me that, in fact, it's a useful platform for sourcing rare or exotic herbs, tonics, crystals, or otherwise necessary ingredients. When I started working on this story, I wasn't sure where it would lead. What conclusion would I come to? Are these customers being fooled, or did I just learn about the best life hack of all time? The truth is somewhere in between, I think. Actually, I'm glad some mystery remains. 'Belief is very important,' Theia says, noting that magic is best served to those who trust it. If someone is skeptical or suspicious, they might not be a good candidate. 'We usually advise those people to not get spells, because that kind of negative mindset, that lack of belief, is usually quite detrimental.' So, I think I'll choose to believe. On Sunday, I'll be celebrating my best friend's birthday with a picnic at her favorite park. And if the sun is shining, it'll be the best $12 I've ever spent. Associate Fashion Commerce Editor Cosmopolitan, Town & Country, Harper's Bazaar , and Good Housekeeping , among many other outlets. Her personal passions include travel, buffalo sauce, and gardening. You can find her in New York, where she lives, or on
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Report: NM 2024 election well-run, but overwhelmed by same-day registration
Voters fill out their ballots at the Doña Ana Community College East Mesa Campus in Las Cruces on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source NM) Observe New Mexico Elections on Thursday released a report on its findings from the state's 2024 election that mostly gave high marks after observing operations at a majority of voting sites during early voting and on election day. Specifically, the nonprofit election transparency group dispatched 50 watchers to 91 sites in 24 counties during early voting, and had 160 election site watchers in 29 of New Mexico's 33 counties on election day. 'This important, nonpartisan information-gathering effort — led by and for New Mexicans — found that elections went well, votes were counted, and problems were limited,' ONME co-leader Carmen Lopez said in a statement. 'We are pleased to see that the findings reflect sufficient staffing levels, poll timeliness, proper functioning of tabulators and voter privacy. All of these things in conjunction made it possible to ensure every vote was counted and New Mexicans' voices were heard this election cycle. The findings of our report — showing both successes and room for improvement — will allow us to make the voting process and poll worker training even stronger and more transparent in the years to come.' Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver told Source New Mexico she had not seen the report yet, but had heard about its findings. 'That's what we always shoot for,' she said when Source conveyed the report's overall positive findings. 'So, that's good.' The report did identify a handful of issues, such as same-day registration overwhelming the system, as Source reported last year. The ONME report recommends 'the state ensures robust stress-testing of the bandwidth available to accommodate processing of same-day voter registrations and works closely with county clerks to increase the levels of staffing necessary to process same-day registrations in a timely manner.' Toulouse Oliver said the state suffered server problems during the morning of the Nov. 5, 2025 general election, followed by a large volume of people participating in same-day registration. According to data provided at the time, 52,705 people used same-day voter registration in last year's general election — and approximately half of them did so on election day. County clerks had already fallen behind due to the server issues, Toulouse Oliver said, and the volume of people registering to vote overwhelmed them. 'I'm not criticizing the clerks at all,' she added. 'This is not their fault, but they did not have enough staff to process the amount of registrations that came in through the day and with the backup and everything it did get bogged down.' For the next election, she said, the state will need to ensure the servers are robust enough and clerks will need to have adequate staffing, in so far as the budget allows. That being said, she does not anticipate a repeat of the same-day registration overwhelm from last year's Election Day. 'I really feel like 2024 was an anomaly when it comes to same day registration,' she said, compared with years past. Moreover, starting this summer, the state will have automatic voter registration through the Motor Vehicle Division. 'So I really feel like between just that election being an anomaly and AVR, and now that we know we need more resources on [same day registration], moving forward, just in case, I think it's going to be much better.' The ONME report also identified confusion by some presiding judges at polling places over the use of provisional ballots, which also were used in higher numbers last year, as well as seven locations that lacked sufficient provisional ballots. Toulouse Oliver said she had not heard previously of any locations running out of provisional ballots. She said given the challenges clerks were facing with same-day registration, her office was repeatedly advising the use of provisional ballots. 'That's what they are there for,' she noted. Legislation that would have provided additional training on issues like provisional ballots did not pass the Legislature, Toulouse Oliver said, but nonetheless, her office plans to keep reinforcing 'the provisional process as the option for… if SDR is not working.' ONME also recommended the state and county clerks, during early voting and on election day, use trained translators who are familiar with elections terminology after 'watchers were unable to validate that written and oral translation services into Native languages were provided in all areas of the state covered as minority language jurisdictions under Section 203 of the federal Voting Rights Act.' Toulouse Oliver told Source NM she thinks 'we do a really good job of that in our Native communities, because that's who we hire is people who can speak and interpret.' She said her interpretation of Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act is that clerks need to have people available, but not necessarily physically present, to provide other translation services as needed. 'And I have been under the assumption that every county that falls under that section is doing that, and apparently that's not the case. Apparently we need to do a better job of that,' she said. Toulouse Oliver said while her office already works with academic institutions, including the University of New Mexico, for analyses of elections, she's happy to receive the additional outside observations. 'They make some really good points,' she said. 'And…from our perspective of trying to make the argument to the Legislature,'we need this or we need that,' it's not just coming from me. It's coming from other sources.'
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
New Mexico Supreme Court clarifies 911 dispatcher immunity from lawsuits
A view of the Organ Mountains and surrounding desert in Doña Ana County on Sunday, April 7, 2024. (Photo by Leah Romero for Source NM) New Mexico's highest court on Monday clarified a question posed by a federal court about which law to consider when weighing an emergency dispatcher's legal immunity from allegations of a mishandled 911 call. The ruling stems from the death of a 16-year-old boy who was hiking with his family in July 2020 in the Organ Mountains in Doña Ana County when he started suffering from heat stroke. His mother called 911, which a Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority 911 dispatcher answered and then routed to the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. In a wrongful death lawsuit, the child's estate and family alleged that the Mesilla Valley dispatcher made a series of missteps that delayed the emergency medical response, and that DPS' dispatch center incorrectly noted their location that day. The Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority and DPS each asked the judge to dismiss the case, pointing to a New Mexico law called the Enhanced 911 Act that provides legal immunity to local governments and their contractors who run 911 dispatch systems 'except for intentional acts.' The federal court delayed a decision to dismiss the case and asked the New Mexico Supreme Court to weigh in. In a unanimous decision published on Monday, the New Mexico Supreme Court found that the Enhanced 911 Act, 'has no bearing on the 911 dispatchers' immunity from liability for the allegedly mishandled 911 emergency medical calls.' Instead, the justices wrote, immunity for dispatchers is governed by a law the Legislature passed six years prior to the Enhanced 911 Act: the Enhanced Medical Services Act, which provides immunity for dispatchers except for damages caused by negligence. 'Succinctly stated, important changes in statutory law are not generally made through inconspicuous means,' the justices wrote. 'Applying that principle here, we cannot conclude that the Legislature would announce a new rule more broadly immunizing 911 dispatchers from liability except for intentional acts in the space of one phrase in a statute primarily addressing enhanced 911 infrastructure and funding that makes only isolated and generalized references to 911 dispatchers or their equivalents.' The justices wrote that their ruling is only meant to clarify for the federal court which law to apply; they made no findings as to how it should apply the law to the boy's death. Under a new statewide emergency dispatch system expected to launch in August, dispatchers won't have to rely on callers to determine their location and instead will be able to track the cell phone's location data. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Eye doctors see problems with bill expanding optometry in NM
House Bill 36, would expand the scope of practice for optometrists in New Mexico and awaits action from the governor. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source NM) A proposal to allow optometrists to perform several in-office surgeries passed the Legislature and awaits the governor's possible signature, but the New Mexico Academy of Ophthalmology has raised concerns about 'serious risks' to patients. House Bill 36, sponsored by Majority Whip Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil (D-Albuquerque), would expand the Optometry Act and how the 'practice of optometry' is defined. An optometrist holds a doctorate in optometry, or primary eye care, while an ophthalmologist is a medical doctor with surgical training. Currently, certified ophthalmologists are the only eye professionals who can perform laser procedures in New Mexico. If enacted, the bill would allow licensed optometrists to perform various laser-involved procedures to treat conditions like clouding or glaucoma, and also require the state Board of Optometry to create standards for training in laser procedures before an optometrist could begin performing them on patients. An analysis of the bill notes that expanding optometrists' scope of practice could help address the shortage of healthcare providers in New Mexico qualified to care for patients with such needs. The American Academy of Ophthalmology reported that the number of ophthalmologists in the U.S. is predicted to decrease by 12% between 2020 and 2035, while demand for these medical professionals is expected to increase by 24%. The report notes that rural areas in particular do not have adequate access to ophthalmologist services. Rep. Luis Terrazas (R-Santa Clara), a co-sponsor of the bill, told Source NM he was asked by a local optometrist in his area of rural southwest New Mexico to support the expansions proposed in the bill. Terrazas said he was told that a large number of the optometrist's patients were being referred to care in Tucson due to long wait times. 'Not every family can afford to travel out of town,' Terrazas said. He told Source that he has experienced five eye surgeries himself that required trips to Phoenix. He said as long as the state continues to struggle with access to health care, the longer patients will continue looking for care elsewhere. However, an analysis by the Department of Health reported that the expansion of 'laser authority' for optometrists in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Kentucky has not proven to increase access to procedures in a significant way and actually poses 'serious concerns' for the safety of patients, particularly due to a lack of standardized guidelines for training in laser surgery. The DOH report says, 'there is a risk of inconsistent preparation among providers performing these procedures. This inconsistency could lead to an increase in vision loss, blindness, and negative patient outcomes.' 'Lowering the quality of care is not a valid workforce strategy for rural New Mexico,' Rebecca Leenheer, board president of New Mexico Academy of Ophthalmologists, said in a statement. 'Every New Mexican—regardless of ZIP code—deserves the highest level of health care, including qualified, highly trained medical doctors performing delicate eye surgery.' Terrazas emphasized to Source NM that HB36 does not require optometrists to offer laser procedures, but gives them the choice for what fits best with their practice and their patients' needs. 'I'm not a doctor, but if I was, I would make sure that I had all the proper training that I feel that I need so that I can provide a good service, right, and safe for my patient,' he said. 'I would assume that most doctors are going to do that because they don't want to have any malpractice problems.' Hochman-Vigil told Source NM that if the bill is enacted, New Mexico would be the 13th state to expand the scope of practice for optometrists, and that medical malpractice insurance has not gone up in those states. She added that optometrists are ethically obligated to consult with or refer patients to ophthalmologists in more complicated cases. 'This actually frees up the ophthalmologist to be able to concentrate on those more complicated cases, so that the optometrist can kind of spend more time working on just your more typical patient care,' Hochman-Vigil said. 'I really feel like, especially for how common these types of procedures are, the argument that it's unsafe [is] just not founded because these types of procedures are performed thousands of times daily and some of them usually take no more than two or three minutes.' HB36 passed the Legislature and is waiting for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's signature, but the academy is asking the governor to veto the bill. Jodi McGinnis-Porter, a spokesperson for the governor, told Source that 'the bill will be evaluated in its entirety when it makes it up [to the governor's office] and she has until April 11 to act on the bill.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Statewide single-use plastic bag ban moves forward in the Legislature
House Bill 392, the Single-Use Plastic Bag Act, proposes establishing a statewide ban on the bags, moving the entire state to join Carlsbad, Las Cruces, Silver City, Santa Fe and Taos in reducing plastic waste. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source NM) New Mexicans use at least 330 million single-use plastic bags a year, according to the New Mexico Environment Department and the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. These bags are used for 12 minutes on average, but have a life expectancy of 1,000 years. House Bill 392, the Single-Use Plastic Bag Act, proposes establishing a statewide ban on the bags, moving the entire state to join Carlsbad, Las Cruces, Silver City, Santa Fe and Taos in reducing plastic waste. The bill, carried by Rep. Tara Lujan (D-Santa Fe), passed through the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee Thursday on a party line vote of 7-4. It will head to the House Commerce and Economic Development Committee next. 'This bill would drastically reduce the amount of litter in the Land of Enchantment by banning single-use plastic bags with some common sense exceptions,' Lujan said the first time the bill was discussed by the House Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Committee on Feb. 20. The bill would require stores to charge a 10-cent fee per paper bag, with 3 cents going to the store and the rest going to the municipality or county for litter reduction and outreach. Lujan explained to committee members that municipalities have the choice to 'opt into' the program and adopt an ordinance to do so. If they choose not to join, the seven cents per bag will go to the Environment Department for litter reduction programs. Exceptions to the bag ban include ones used: for takeout food; separating produce for sanitary reasons; prescription drugs; drycleaning and several other situations. HB392 also allows municipalities or the Environment Department to collect fines from a retail establishment if they do not comply. If passed, the bill would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2026. The fiscal impact report notes that in addition to creating microplastics, plastic bags are considered 'contaminants' by materials recovery facilities. They can shut down facility operations for hours if they get wrapped around sorting equipment and it can be dangerous for workers to remove the bags from machinery. The report estimates facilities could save $3.8 million a year if plastic bags were banned. Rep. Jonathan Henry (R-Artesia) asked why the Legislature wouldn't allow municipalities or counties to take the time to make their own decision about adopting a plastic bag ban. 'This has been on the table for quite a while, if you will, and communities have had the opportunity to opt in,' Lujan responded. 'We're at a critical place where we need to take the action and that's what this bill delivers.' Lujan co-sponsored a similar bill in 2023, Senate Bill 243, but it died in committee before it could be discussed on the Senate floor. Albuquerque also established a single-use plastic bag ban in 2020, but the City Council repealed the ban in March 2022, after overriding a veto from Mayor Tim Keller. Danielle Prokop contributed to the reporting and writing of this article. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
