About Jeff
I’m Jeff — pentester, auditor, and lifelong tinkerer who spent years chasing ghosts through silicon before returning to something older and greener. I burned out in cybersecurity like many do, trying to secure systems that didn’t want to be saved. Somewhere between running scans and dropping shells, I realized I had spent most of my life surviving, not living.
During the pandemic, like a lot of us, I slowed down. I picked up a plant and put it in a jar. Then another. Then a dozen more. I remembered what it felt like to be curious again. Now, I build terrariums and teach others to do the same. I run Szandor’s Phytomancy, where I sell kits, share tips, and explore the magic of closed ecosystems and open-ended creativity.
I’m neurodivergent and proud of it. I parent a wild and wonderful kid with a head full of questions and a heart full of moss. I live in Olympia, Washington with my wife, a warlock in disguise, and together we’re building something weird and beautiful out of soil, light, and the belief that small acts of care still matter.
About Szandor
Oh, you’d like to know more about me? Well, it’s a somewhat long story, but I’ll do my very best to be brief.
I hail from a lineage steeped in arcane traditions—Magyar bloodline on my father’s side, Black Forest druidry on my mother’s. My ancestors once stood firm against the gnarled forces of Vlad Tepes himself, shielding Europe with little more than valor and stubborn roots. The Roman legions fled from my Germanic ancestors in such haste that even the color drained from their banners. I would of not liked to have been in the black forest that day.
For much of my life, I walked the path of technomancy, bending electrons and conjuring meaning from code. But eventually, the circuits dimmed. During the great stillness of the pandemic, I heard a different call—an ancestral echo that led me back to earth magic, phytomancy, and the quiet rituals of care.
A demon—yes, an actual one—emerged via FaceTime one liminal afternoon and initiated my trial. I passed, barely. Since then, I’ve devoted myself to closed ecosystems, aquamagic, the curious arts of herbcraft, alchemy, and sporadic research into the unspeakable mystery of mushrooms.
I live with a fellow warlock and our apprentice witch, whose power over dirt, frogs, and mood swings cannot be overstated. We are a small coven, a fragile ecology, and we record our findings as best we can.
