The Good Witch
Corbin Randall is a witch, but you won’t find him riding to brunch on a broom or stirring up sludge in a cauldron. He’s more likely to be tooling around the Valley in a Lexus or making green chile in a Le Creuset. “Witch is a word that has been literally demonized,” Randall says. “Anyone can be a witch, from the lady that owns the bakery who puts love into everything she makes to the person that cuts hair. It’s just about being sensitive to energies and knowing how to manipulate them to better serve yourself.” The Gilbert-based luxury journalist has written for Teen Vogue, The New York Times and New York Magazine and now writes for Condé Nast Traveler when he’s not running Sage & Salt (sageandsalt.com), his empire of witchy goods which this year expanded into crystal curation and fine jewelry – and retailers in Europe and Asia.
How’d you become a witch?
I’d been reading tarot cards and playing with rocks and all those things since my early teens. I’m not saying, “Oh, I was ahead of the curve,” but before you could go to Urban Outfitters and buy a smudge stick, I was burning sage. It really wasn’t until I was working in fashion and working in media that I realized how important good vibes are because those two sectors are full of the most narcissistic, self-serving b*****s that you could ever imagine. As a bigger person working in fashion, I was just inundated with bad vibes, bad looks, and that’s really when I got back to my roots.
You launched Sage & Salt with Smokeless Smudge.
I created the Smokeless Smudge because when I was in cabs or hotels or any office, I couldn’t light up a massive sage stick and smoke everyone out. So I created this spray, and I always had it with me. It was never for sale. But then Sage & Salt was born after I got married and I had kids and I was like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to pay my bills and send these two kids to law school.”
Now you make candles and fun stuff like Lust Dust.
The idea is that you have this pink [bath] salt that has been sitting under a blood moon… the idea is it helps you manifest love and lust in your life. This is just a vehicle for your own manifestations. We’re not promising Frederico will jump through the roof… The truth of the matter is you don’t need anything for that, but it helps so many people to have a physical thing that they can hold, that they can light, that they can spray.
You offer readings, too?
I’ve always read tarot and stuff on the side, just for fun. But it wasn’t until I started Sage & Salt that people were asking for these services… We really have a huge celebrity client list now. I can’t say names, but I can say that some of our best clients and fans, they have a show on E!
You grow sage on your grandparents’ land and you charge crystals with energy under the moon and in vortexes in Sedona.
As a little boy, my mom would take me to Sedona and we would go on hikes and meditate near the vortexes. It’s always been such an intimate, private, magical memory of mine… Arizona’s full of mystical people that feel all of that. There’s a big portion of people that are sensitive and aware of these things.
