Aalt, of the prominent Dutch family the Voorhies, was banished early in his life because of the strange occurrences that would often happen in his presence. Being the first in the family to have magical powers, he soon moved into the shadows. With some difficulty, he finally stumbled upon others of his kind and eventually married a witch named Femke. They soon gave birth to a little girl which they named Zandra.

Her childhood was as normal as any magical family. Very bright and ambitious, she was apprenticing with some of the best wandmakers of Europe by the age of 9. At age 23 she felt she had learned all she could and decided to move to the New World.

She boarded the French ship L’Hermione and put a charm on herself to appear as one of the crew members, as women were not allowed on the ship. Landing in Boston, Massachusetts in 1780, she gathered supplies and moved inland to start her trade. She had brought wand core supplies with her but soon discovered many new magical creatures existed here in the New World, and after procuring a broom spent much time scouring the countryside, finding and collecting new core materials. After some trial and error, she had made a name for herself among the witches of Salem.