This past weekend at the Detroit Conjure and Folk Magic Festival, I had one of those moments where the world seems to pause just long enough for you to realize you’re standing in the middle of something bigger than yourself.
At my booth, copies of The Sober Witch Life sat in neat stacks, the pink of my hair flashing in more than one camera lens, the hum of voices rising like a current. People stopped, pointed, leaned in with curiosity. Some came to buy a book for themselves. Others picked one up with a kind of quiet reverence, saying, “I have a friend who needs this,” or, “This is exactly what I’ve been waiting for.”
By the end of the weekend, I realized I had crossed a milestone: over 100 copies of my book now live out in the world. Some were bought at metaphysical shops, some at other pagan gatherings, but many left my hands in Detroit that day. And while the number itself matters to me as an independent author, what mattered more was the feeling in the room. This was not just about sales. It was about recognition. About resonance. About a movement that is waking up and finding its voice.
A Festival Turning Point
One of the most vivid moments came when someone handed me cash for the book and, when I reached to give them change, they stopped me: “No, keep it. What you’re doing matters.”
It wasn’t about the money. It was about affirmation. That small exchange carried weight I can still feel in my chest. I’ve done plenty of book signings, but that day in Detroit was different. Each signature I scrawled into a book felt like more than ink on paper. It felt like binding my story to theirs, stitching together a collective altar of recovery and magick.
People lined up not only to buy a copy, but to talk. To share their own stories. To stand in the relief of being seen. One woman recognized me instantly, exclaiming, “Oh my god, you’re the pink-haired sober witch!” before sharing the story of how they had already grabbed a copy for a friend who was struggling to reconcile their sobriety with their witchcraft practice.
That phrase, sober witch, kept echoing through the day, passed between people like a spell of belonging.
Why This Book Exists
When I first began writing The Sober Witch Life, I wasn’t thinking about milestones or festivals. I was thinking about survival. About how, in my own recovery, I kept translating the 12 steps into the language of witchcraft without even realizing it. I had already been making ritual out of sobriety, already weaving intention into each day, already calling on the elements to hold me accountable.
I didn’t see myself reflected in the traditional recovery texts. I needed words that honored my magick. I needed a framework that didn’t ask me to abandon witchcraft at the door of recovery but invited me to bring it fully in.
So I wrote. I wrote rituals that helped me when cravings hit. I wrote prompts that made me face my shadow. I wrote reflections that reminded me that recovery is not punishment but sacred choice.
And then I waited. For years, Spirit nudged me to be patient. At five years sober, I got the message: it’s time. That’s when this book finally moved from manuscript to offering.
How Witches Respond
What I’ve discovered since is that the book isn’t just mine anymore. It belongs to the community.
Readers send me photos of The Sober Witch Life resting on their altars. One wrote, “I’ve pulled this book open more than once just to sit with the rituals. It lives on my altar now.” Another said, “This feels like the first time I’ve seen my full self, witch and sober, honored on the page.”
Others call the exercises “gold.” Some come back to the same prompts again and again, like touching a familiar stone in their pocket. For many, it isn’t even about finishing the book cover-to-cover. It’s about knowing it exists. Knowing that there’s finally a space in recovery literature where witchcraft is not erased or marginalized, but centered.
Every time someone tells me, “This was so needed” or “This is long overdue,” I feel that spark of recognition. Not just mine, ours.
A Symbol Beyond Numbers
Selling 100 copies might not sound like much in a world of bestsellers and book tours. But for me, it is deeply symbolic.
It means witches in recovery are finding one another. It means that sobriety and magick are not opposites but allies. It means that what began as my private survival tool has become part of a collective movement.
And here’s the truth: this milestone isn’t just mine. It belongs to everyone who has ever tried to heal while also trying to stay true to their spiritual path. It belongs to those who have felt split in half by mainstream recovery spaces that didn’t understand their witchcraft. It belongs to the friends who quietly whispered, “I needed this,” as they bought the book and walked away with tears in their eyes.
The Larger Movement
Because The Sober Witch Life is not just a book. It’s part of something larger.
It’s the mobile app. It’s the podcast. It’s the radio show. It’s the rituals where we gather not only for our own healing but for the healing of the world. Together, these offerings create an ecosystem, a movement, where witches can recover without abandoning their magick.
That’s also why I’m building The Sovereign Phoenix, a nonprofit that will provide religious protection for witches in recovery. Because if our spirituality is ever threatened, our recovery could be threatened too. We need infrastructure. We need recognition. We need to be able to say, “This is sacred,” and know that the law honors it.
This work is not about me. It’s about us.
Why Detroit Matters
There’s a reason this milestone happened in Detroit.
Detroit’s pagan community has always been fierce, creative, and resilient. This city has long been a gathering place for witches, heathens, and seekers who understand what it means to build something from the ashes. To claim space where others have tried to silence you. To craft rituals in basements, bookstores, and backyards when no one else would give you a temple.
To sell my hundredth copy in this city, at this festival, surrounded by this community, it feels like a blessing. Like the ancestors themselves nodded and said, “Yes. Keep going.”
Looking Ahead
So where do we go from here?
I have new goals: 500 copies by the end of 2026. A second print run. A companion workbook for those who want to go deeper. More rituals, more gatherings, more chances for witches in recovery to know they are not alone.
But more than any number, what I want is this: for the phrase “sober witch” to no longer feel like a contradiction. For it to feel normal, natural, powerful. For every witch in recovery to know they have a place to belong.
Because this is just the beginning.
We are not only reading a book together. We are building a movement.
Love and magick in recovery,
Sunshine
About Sunshine
Sunshine is a Psychic Medium, Soul Healer, Reiki Master, High Priestess and the pink-haired trailblazer behind The Sober Witch Life movement. As a recovering alcoholic and spiritual mentor, she helps witches in recovery rediscover their magick and align with their highest purpose.
✨ Explore her transformative work at IlluminateUnschool.com
📱 Download the Sober Witch Life mobile app for free tools & weekly recovery circles available on both iOS and Android
🌙 Join the Free Weekly Recovery Circle for support and a community of sober witches
📖 Get her book Sober Witch Life: A Magickal Guide to Recovery
