Witchy Enamel Pins by The Pickety Witch

Pin photos:
Jaime Fellis @ofpagesandpinecones

You may recognize her sweet, witchy designs from Instagram or our own enchanted shop: baby goats flying on broomsticks or learning to summon; witch boots bursting with mushrooms and flora; all manner of witch hats decorated with sunflowers and peonies and pumpkins and apples and leaves; jack-o’-lantern teapots; ravens with autumnal headdresses; kitties in garden hats; starlit fawns and owls and rabbits; and much more. There are also cute enamel pins to add a witchy touch to your ensemble, not to mention T-shirts (your editor in chief is prone to wearing a learning-to-fly baby-goat one), plushies, poppets, and other goodies, all conjured by one lady witch from her lair in North Carolina. Below, we ask her some nosy questions.

Enchanted Living: So tell us who you are and how you became the Pickety Witch.
Rachel: I’m Rachel, a twenty-nine-year-old artist, practicing witch, and huge animal lover. The Pickety Witch embodies my love for goats—as you can tell from my work!—and folklore, witchcraft, nature, and the occult. I love to create “spooky cute” designs, juxtaposing cute baby goats and kittens with occultism and folklore.

I grew up in a small farming town in New England, and I was obsessed with everything spooky and magical from a young age. My dad got me my first tarot deck when I was twelve, and I still use it today.

My college years were crazy as I tried to navigate what I wanted to do in my adult life. I went from studying filmmaking in Boston to a semester abroad painting in the south of France to finishing school at a community college while working as a barista.

In 2017, I started my business on Kickstarter with a small enamel pin of a witch’s hand called Evil Eye, and by 2020 I had gone full-time as the Pickety Witch. Business boomed, and by 2022, I realized I’d grown too big for just lil’ old me and my garage. This year, I made the exciting transition to a new warehouse and fulfillment center.

EL: What does being a witch mean to you?
R: You know that feeling when everything just sort of makes sense and you feel like your most authentic, comfortable self ? That’s what being a witch is to me. Maybe it’s being introduced to witchcraft by my family when I was so little, or maybe it’s my Welsh and Scottish ancestry, but it’s always been a part of me that I’ve never questioned. It’s funny trying to explain it, because things like celebrating the winter solstice with bonfires and going to Salem, Massachusetts, every autumn were just things we always did as a family. Throughout the years, I’ve learned to appreciate witchcraft as a celebration of nature and the old ways, as well as a form of individual empowerment and strength. I’m grateful to be able to express witchcraft through my designs and that I’ve been able to connect with such a wonderful community of witches through my business!

EL: Can you tell us about your Midsommar collection?
R: This collection has cute products to welcome spring, but with a folklore flair. I love folk horror movies, and the film Midsommar was such a beautiful tribute to older films like Wicker Man—the 1973 version—that I was instantly in love with its imagery. These designs adopt parts of that film and mesh them together with more inspiration from Beltane celebrations, with symbols like goats, flowers, runes, and the Midsommarstång, or maypole. It’s a fun blend of colorful, spooky, witchy, and cute that I love to use to express the different traditions of witchcraft around the world.

EL: Please tell me about your goats.
R: If it wasn’t obvious already, I really love goats! I owe a lot of inspiration to the film The Witch and its infamous goat Black Phillip. I like to joke with people that that movie changed my life because it introduced me to the world of goats. Since I saw it, I’ve volunteered and worked at a couple goat farms nearby. The best part, of course, was baby-goat season, and I’ve definitely shared a handful of videos online of baby goats falling asleep on me! I even “adopted” my own baby goat that I named Winnie. I’ve taken so much inspiration from the goats I’ve worked with over the years, and you can see their fun antics in all the mischief my drawn goats get up to. It’s my dream to one day have two adorable black pygmy goats of my own.

EL: How do you hope people wear your pins?
R: This is me getting a little sentimental, but my absolute favorite thing to hear from my customers is when they use one of my pins as a talisman. My husband’s uncle pinned my little flying goat in his car as a protection charm. I’ve gotten messages from folks saying they wear their Brigid’s cross pins to honor Brigid with pride. I’ve had customers purchase my bunny pin as a tribute to a lost pet. It’s fulfilling to hear how much each design means to every individual. But ultimately I love when folks buy and wear my products because they make them happy and give them the ability to express themselves.

EL: Any advice for summer witches?
R: My advice would be to try to get outside as much as possible. The magic of summer is in nature: the vegetables and herbs you grow, the water in the ocean’s waves, the birdsong, and the frogs and toads that visit your back porch at night. Try to take a step back and breathe. Go strawberry picking and bake a pie from scratch with intention. Tend a garden or a plant with love as if you were tending and taking care of yourself for a little self-love magic. Witchcraft honors the old ways, and summer tells us to get outside and off our phones to soak in the wonderful little things nature provides. And don’t forget to look up at the moon and stars on these warm summer nights!

EL: How do you stay enchanted?
R: My favorite types of magic are plant and kitchen magic, so I try to work little things into my life like growing vegetables from seeds and baking pie from scratch. I also love growing herbs and using them in cooking, drinks, and simmer pots. They’re simple but little magical methods to manifest and stay enchanted.

See more of Rachel’s work at thepicketywitch.com and find her on Instagram @thepicketywitch.