Writer and astrologer Jasmin Alejandrez — known professionally as Esoteric Esa — grew up surrounded by spirituality. “My maternal grandmother has always been a huge influence since childhood,” Alejandrez says in an exclusive interview with Her Campus. “We’d go to farmer’s markets, and she’d set up and just read. So it was always around me as a child, and I found it fascinating.” She also credits her interest in the spiritual world to her Latina culture. “I think as Latinas, because so many of us grow up with religion in the household, primarily Christianity or Catholicism, everything’s already ritual-based for us,” Alejandrez says. “We see our parents do these Catholic rituals: They light the novenas (the candles at the altar), they’re praying the rosary, which is literally a ritual, and prayer is a way of manifesting. I jokingly say that Catholics are the witches of Christianity.”
But Alejandrez didn’t immediately embrace her spirituality as a career path. In fact, she actually started out in corporate America, working as a specialist in PR and social media marketing. But then, an epiphany at around age 27 inspired her to switch gears. “At this time, I was debating with myself internally: Do I label myself as a witch? Do I identify as this, like, spiritual, woo-woo personality?” she recalls. It was a chance encounter while listening to the radio on her lunch break that helped her decide. “The radio station played this promotion where they would play old movie clips, and you had to guess the scene, call in, [and] win a prize. So the clip that came on said, ‘You’re a witch! I think that woman’s a witch!’ and it was just the craziest synchronistic moment, and I said, ‘Got it, thank you.’”
Now, Alejandrez is a self-described “Modern Spiritual Latina Oracle®” — aka an astrologer, spiritualist, tarot reader, reiki practitioner, and psychic. In addition to the readings she provides for clients and events, she’s also a creator on a variety of platforms: She created her own oracle deck called the Modern Spiritual Latina Tarot Oracle. She also has an astrology podcast, Better Work Bitch!®, that discusses astrology, cosmology, and spirituality — topics that were considered taboo when she launched the pod back in 2018 (and sometimes still are). And she’s a published writer, with bylines in major publications like Cosmopolitan and PopSugar. She credits this call to writing to her grandmother. “She always prioritized literature and education,” Alejandrez says. “She encouraged me to be a writer. She really was my biggest advocate. And then in college, I studied journalism because I really wanted to just tell stories.”
If that sounds like a lot on her plate, it’s because it is. But as an Aquairus sun (because of course Alejandrez knows her entire natal chart), that’s to be expected. “The funny thing about Aquarius is we love to do a lot of everything. I’m a writer, I’m a podcaster, I’m a tarot reader, I’m a psychic, I’m an energy worker, I’m certified in Reiki. You know, it’s like, I want to show everything to everyone,” she says. But that doesn’t mean she’s unfocused. “What I’ve learned throughout this process is that, in this work, you have to get really serious about honing in and focusing on your craft. So, I have to make sure I specialize in astrology, and dedicate a lot of my time to getting that really refined and disciplined. I could still love these other things and dabble in them. But as an Aquarius, I’ve had to implement more structure.”
In addition to the stars, Alejandrez also gets guidance from her community. “I have hermanas — sisters who are older than me; they’re not blood sisters; we’re just, like, spiritual sisters. I respect them; they’ve been doing this longer. I check in with them. I ask them for advice. I ask them for accountability,” she says. She also works with a life coach, a relationship coach, and a spiritual therapist. “I really think even if you’re in the spiritual space, you have to tap into the practical, mundane offers and services, because at the end of the day, you’re a human and you’re having a human experience and you need guidance.”
Alejandrez is a huge proponent of building community, especially if you’re witchy and thinking of pursuing a path like hers. “Start investing in going to communal spaces. Go to circles, go to ceremonies, find community, and don’t restrict yourself. Dabble in everything because you’re going to make friends. It’s really important to make friends in this kind of realm,” she says. “This path can be really lonely when you walk it, because there’s always going to be stigma around it, because it doesn’t benefit the patriarchy. So it’s really important that you find elders and mentors.”
Her other piece of advice for budding witches (and anyone who’s chasing their dreams, really): “Follow every curiosity. Every choice takes you to your next step. And it’s just one choice at a time.”