The story is old. Most days, so are we. The Pact is old, and yet brand new. A breath re-breathed, a promise reborn.

My name is Jesse Hathaway Diaz, I am an artist and performer. I have a background in theatre, art, and performance theory. My life has been entwined with magic and witchcraft for over three decades, and rooted in the Chicano Catholicism of my upbringing, with an appreciation for the Land and its mysteries that my family kindled. While I am intiated in several traditions of witchcraft both Old and New World, my practice has writhed and evolved to celebrate Tradition as well as leave room for the Inspiration possible only with genuine contact with Spirit. The focus is thusly on the Land I walk, a dialog with those spirits I know and have known, and in making a difference in my community and for my clients. There is no one way, no singular means by which the Craft should be tended. But a witch recognizes a witch, and what restless beautiful beasts we are… The seen and unseen dance together and exchange breath, bringing a deep respect for the ways we might meet our potentials as humans, despite the limitations of the same.

The Pact is an expression of love and desire, both for the craft of making such things, and for the spirits that empower and guide this work. What began in 2012 as a joint venture called Wolf & Goat, changed the way oils, charms and fetishes were discussed and sold. We offered oils and dusts and one-of-a-kind charms and fetishes all replete with their own lore, a celebration of the art and arte of our Craft. We were one of the first to offer astrologically elected oils and one of the first American stores specializing in Quimbanda in addition to Traditional Witchcraft. What stirred there thrived for nine years, and in 2021, the store dissolved and the wolf and goat respectively went their separate ways.

For myself, the aforementioned Goat, I have spent the last five years on a farm in the Hudson Valley of New York, in the shadows of the Catskill Escarpment. There are chickens, and goats, and bees, and so very many trees. The Hudson River flows nearby, the old ghosts of the mountains whisper at night and the Devils of the cloves talk in dream and vision so easily here. My Craft and practice is intimately rooted in the Land. It is my personal belief that Witchcraft is an expression of a relationship with the Land and its spirits, that beyond the pastoral nostalgia and illusions of fantastical power, a witch lives in concert with the Land, and the House is its Temple.

Some currents are thus named, others only whispered, and still more never will be. Here I do not stand as the representative of any one tradition. I am a witch, an olorisha, a Quimbandeiro–I am grateful to my ancestors of blood and lineage for giving me the ground I walk on. The Pact is informed by these paths and currents, and still more. Perhaps, in this crisp air that flows down from the mountains, we can find steadfast resolve in the pursuit of making the most of this life, with all its tastes and delights, to be in Good Companie with the seen and unseen, to stand strong in the face of opposition, to heed counsel and be grateful for the time we have. Restlessness can be a gift. Each breath is a pact with what-might-be. We sign with presence and witness.

Under a rising Goat Star on Walpurgisnacht, 30 April 2025, the Pact was born. The rough beast slowly slouches towards Bethlehem, and we plan a Grand Opening this Hallowmas, under Spica Rising. Some offerings here will be familiar to those that have known me, or known the Goat. Yet with equal parts poesis and praxis, all offerings are thus born and pacted. It is our hope and sincere wish that our offerings might be of interest, use, and benefit. May the medicine be effective, may the Pact never be signed in vain.

With cunning regards,

the Goat