Britain’s first official witch claims expenses on spells and potions

Meet Britain’s first official witch, who has been given unique permission to declare the job on her tax forms.

Cassandra Latham-Jones, 71, is the first person allowed to use the term ‘village witch’ when filing her returns with Inland Revenue.

The self-employed sorceress can even write off ingredients for her magical potions as tax deductible.

Cassandra has been a witch and official wise-woman for the village of St Buryan in Cornwall for over 30 years.

She offers traditional witching services such as tarot card reading, rituals, sea magic, dark arts, spells – and wart charming.

But Cassandra, a trained nurse and qualified counsellor, also carries out other ‘witching’ duties such as counselling and community services.

She says she is ‘no different from anyone else in the service industry – but my expenses are slightly unusual’.

Cassandra said it became official work with the authorities when she became the first person who registered her occupation as village witch in 1996.

She said: ‘It was as simple as walking into the office one day, asking for a form, and in the occupation box just writing “Village Witch” – and no one has ever said anything.

‘If you put aside all the propaganda and the glitz and the glamour, and other paraphernalia that surrounds it, bottom line is – you’re there to help people and aid your community.

‘You can’t get NVQs in it, or GCSEs or even work experience to a certain degree because it’s not recognised as a valid profession by the powers that be.’

Cassandra did not become Britain’s first and only official witch until later on in her 50s.

After having a car crash she was unable to return to nursing due to back injury so had to look for a new way to earn a living and decided to make a go of witching full-time.

‘I’m the same as a counsellor or a healer, and I’m qualified to do it,’ she added. ‘They told me I needed to register with the Inland Revenue – so that’s what I did. It turns out I was a bit of a pioneer because no one has done it before.’

‘One thing I will say is that if you’re going to become a village witch, don’t expect to make a lot of money – it’s not a good career move if you want to be well-off.

‘People like myself were in the community hundreds of years ago, certainly down in West Cornwall, it’s a principle that has never really gone away – they have always believed in folk magic, folk law and people like myself.

‘This role is sometimes called a cunning woman – not because they’re nasty, suspicious people but you have to use a certain cunning sometimes to help people.

‘A spell is a kind of kickstart that gets the unconscious’ attention – things like archetypes, symbolism, candles, incense – they provoke an emotional response.’

Cassandra is now officially retired but helps her partner, Laetitia, who hosts practical workshops to help people learn folk magic and wisewoman skills.

She describes her full story in her book ‘Village Witch – Life as a village Wisewoman in the wilds of West Cornwall’.

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