BAD BITCH GOOD WITCH

In this autobiographical work, a real estate broker recounts working in the elite Hamptons market on Long Island and following a path to enlightenment, offering tips to those interested in taking a similar journey.

When she was young, Barbaria dabbled in witchcraft and magic. For years, she chose to follow her dark side to achieve success until she realized she had been accumulating numerous enemies along the way. Combining her personal sense of mysticism with Buddhist teachings, she began tuning in to the more benevolent side of her psyche—her “good witch” persona. “It was not until I got slammed over and over and finally brought to my knees that I realized I was in a partnership with a power way higher than my own earthly self,” she writes. “I call this higher power the Divine Spirit.” The author takes readers down the tumultuous road that ultimately led her to enlightenment by intertwining short vignettes, some of which are quite amusing, with long, philosophical passages. At one point, she wrote the names of each person who had wronged her on individual pieces of paper, putting them in containers filled with water that were then placed in her freezer: “I was freezing bad energy yet still there was always more bad energy arriving as I had not yet frozen my own.” Barbaria is a self-described empath, sensitive to the energy fields around her, whether they emanate from people or places. It is a valuable asset in her real estate business. Houses and buildings, she tells readers, have karma. They carry energy that must be respected or trouble will ensue. Writing with a love for linguistic musicality, the author frequently composes lengthy, intricate sentences, and there is often a beauty in their flow. But she also has a fondness for cryptic constructions that seem to be crafted more for style than elucidation: “My out-of-bounds consciousness harmonizes me with rituals around letting down and perusing what my psyche needs to thrive on.” Nonetheless, Barbaria provides useful suggestions for learning to access one’s kinder, more enlightened nature and to establish balance between the light and dark energies of the psyche.

Complex, mystical, and helpful, if occasionally obscure, musings on spirituality.