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Since the podcast is coming up on two years at the end of this summer, I thought I would try to write a few more blog posts on some "hot takes" that I have. One that I always talk about on the episodes is the dangers of social media witchcraft and specifically TikTok. I don't have the app anymore. But I see a lot of the same stuff eventually make its way over to IG.
Either way, I like to remind my listeners and others online that they really do need to be careful how the take in the information that they learn online, and even in books or from people they know IRL.
Here is a list of reasons I feel that TikTok and other social media platforms have either fed into some pretty dangerous, dramatic, or just straight up toxic and bad information about witchcraft:
1) Short videos really only show you a surface level amount of information you need. Most of what you see isn't even the important details. Yes, you can SEE a spell being done, and kind of explained by seeing the tools, and how to put it in the jar, or how it is burned, but if you haven't studied what the herbs and tools are for, what they mean, how they chose them, and how to protect yourself and use your energy and how to raise a cone of energy... there is a chance of a few things happening. You do the spell and nothing happens. You do the spell and something happens you DIDN'T want. Or you do the spell, were missing some important info the video left out, and you now have some sort of literal mess or a messy situation you need to deal with because you "fucked around and found out" that hard way. Sometimes that's how you learn and maybe people need to do that a few times, but if you do that with the WRONG tools, you can actually physically harm yourself, others, or... worse... So slow down. Do the research after you watch that 30 second video.
2) Some information that is being stated as "fact" is actually someone's UPG (Unverified Personal Gnosis). This is also something that happens ALL of the time. From what I have seen and what other practitioners that I follow have said. Just because YOU have an experience, it DOESN'T MEAN its either; One: correct, Two: everybody else will have the same experience, Three: that you can recreate that experience again. One thing that I try to do, and encourage others is before they decide something was a "sign" they take notes and see if it happens again. If they see patterns. That is one may to really check your UPG and know if something "is" or "isn't" a sign. FYI I am in the camp of "not everything is a sign".
3) A lot of older concepts like "karma", "smudging", and other tools or concepts have been used or explained incorrectly. Many practitioners are trying to correct this. But over the years a lot of terms, concepts, and practices that were borrowed from non-European cultures, religions, or lifestyles have been... "altered", "colonized", or "watered down" to "fit" a modern Western standard or altered by the "new age" movement. I personally have seen this in the use of the term Karma, Reiki, the use of white sage and the use of the term "smudging". Yes, most things in our world are reused, and recycled. It is very hard to have a "new idea", but when you essentially take those form another culture and "appropriate it" to the point it is no longer what it originally was but claim it is, is where many come into the whole deal of cultural appropriation. I have talked more about these topics in depth in various episodes of the podcast if you are interested in hearing more about it.
4) Some of the people may just straight up be scammers and wanting clout. And then there are these people. Sometimes for those who are newer to the witchy or occult communities, find it hard to determine who may or may not be a scammer or grifter. For me, how I identify or convince myself that someone it not someone I want to interact with is:
If they don't actually teach you anything and just string a bunch of fancy words together and it doesn't make sense. Sometimes it SEEMS like it makes sense, but if you ramble on enough with passion, you might convince a few people it make sense eventually.
They say that reading books are dangerous or focus too much on "cancelling" others or saying So-and-so is dangerous because they said that you NEED books, you NEED to do Research. Or focus TOO much on GPG (just my opinion) and think that their UPG is the BEST or CORRECT WAY.
If their social media is new and they are all of a sudden promoting their MASTER CLASS on a topic but don't actually provide any sources of their expertise, connection to the community, and you can't find reviews or any articles or sites to vouch for them.
If every few weeks or months their "beliefs" change SO drastically that they aren't even on the same wave length. I am not saying that you cant change or question you own beliefs. You totally should. That is how we grow. But if you pay enough attention, you may notice on social media, when people don't hit the "target audience" that they want or the quantity, they switch gears to see what sticks.
If they message you directly saying they were "drawn to you", require "donations" for a reading you never asked for, or that you are "cursed" and that they have the CURE randomly and you had NO IDEA THAT YOU WERE CURSED. No legit practitioner or reader will approach you like this.
I do want to point out that there ARE practitioners who might do these things. I can't claim that everybody who does these are NOT witches etc. But just because someone is a witch, does readings, or claims to be a healer, doesn't mean they are GOOD PEOPLE. There ARE bad witches and bad people out there in this community. They are everywhere. So please use caution when speaking and even considering opening up too much to people on the internet.
In the end, there are a lot of things you need to look out for on social media, no matter the topic or community. Hell, I am on the internet, writing this post, making podcasts and social media posts. But I try my best to provide guidance for others to guide their own magical paths and not feel like they need to "worship" to do exactly what others do or say, especially on TikTok and IG. I WANT my listeners and readers to incorporate books, practicing in their home or outside of their home, and being active off of social media to build their craft. Because witchcraft is very much personal, and there really is "no one right way". Are there things you should be cautious about? Should you do a ton of research before you dive too deep into spell work? Defiantly. The good thing about the internet is that it can quickly expose you to new sources, and ideas very quickly. But it isn't good to rely on it for your only source of research and information.
Fawna
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