Witch Bitch: Finding Magic in the Everyday World

I’ve been hearing about the WitchTok community of TikTok for some time now. After the stress of this year, I just want to CHILL. If I have to cast a few spells to do that, then I will. I saw a video not that long ago about using herbs and essential oils for relaxation. I ended up putting some in the bath and marinating for a while like a rotisserie chicken, feeling kinda calm but definitely not ashy. But what even is the witch community? I’m guessing it’s more than scrolling through occultism on an Instagram feed. 

But first, what is witchcraft? It’s definitely gotten a bad rap over the centuries. Not only was it literally demonised, but once you were accused of being a witch, it was all over. Ways of “testing” a witch included throwing people into bodies of water or weighing them against a random number of bibles. While this shittery is in the past, there is still some confusion about magic. What is it? Who are the people who use it? 

Wicca and Paganism, like all religions, see many people finding comfort and meaning in it. Paganism is a pre-Christian religion that is centred around a strong connection to nature. It's a blanket term for many types of spiritualities where people choose different gods and goddesses, depending on what they relate to. Wicca, on the other hand, came around in the 1950s and was made popular by Gerald Brousseau Gardner, a man who looks like he belongs to the woods. Student Rachael, says she is “a Pagan, and that means I observe the life force in all things. It means I hold reverence for the natural cycles of life and death that are being played out around us at all times... I am also a witch, and while some people use the term witch and Pagan interchangeably they are not the same thing. Witches practice witchcraft, whereas a Pagan might not.” 

For some people, like Athena, it was just a way of life. She said, “I come from a Romani background in a family where magic was practiced as a matter-of-fact rather than being something unusual.” Magic combined with everyday family life included “tarot to be laid out on the kitchen table for big life decisions and even to settle family disputes”. Tarot cards are often used for fortune-telling, and something that I dabbled in when I found a pack at a friend’s place. But imagine being ratted out by a deck of cards to your family when they asked why you were out late. Why play cards when they can play you? Athena also said that she was encouraged to find her own path in life and ended up practicing Christianity via Mormonism but ended up finding her way back to Paganism again because it resonated more with her values. 

Others discovered their calling to magic via serendipitous research, like Rachael in the Invercargill Library. There, Rachael stumbled across a dictionary about witchcraft and a couple of books about practicing Wicca when she was fifteen. “Every new page I turned seemed to make me come more and more alive with excitement and a ‘knowing’ I had never experienced before.” Within the diversities of town libraries, there could be a future novelist somewhere or someone changing their whole religion. You never know. Siobhàn also discovered witchcraft through research, about public holidays of all things. It’s ironic how Harry Potter was banned because some parents were afraid of their kids getting into witchcraft - looks like it was the public holidays that they really needed to watch out for. 

The line between science and magic is much thinner than I thought it would be. Athena integrates science into her practice which works with “[her] postgraduate research in Social and Medical Anthropology, and [her] current career in [academia]”. Her work includes “contributing to preventative medicine research and teaching population health and epidemiology to first-year Health Science students”. Athena is also quite open about her practice and often wears crystals, and has visible tattoos of moon and goddess imagery. So, people are not too surprised to find out her alternative spiritual beliefs. Bex also has a background in science as an ecologist, and for her “all the magic is in nature for me. It’s not something that can only be accessed by people who follow certain paths - it’s just everywhere.” Her interest in nature is not only part of her job but played into how she came across witchcraft. In Bex’s case, “It was never called witchcraft - it was nature, natural medicine and an appreciation of flowers… I don’t have a huge desire to call myself a witch (not bothered either way), but under modern and ancient philosophies, I think it may be what it is called.” In the same philosophical vein as Saweetie, Bex added “tap in, or don’t. It’s your decision.” 

Wicca/Paganism is a hands-on type of belief system. People can forge their own connections and modify practices to fit their own lifestyles. Siobhàn has a keen interest in herbal magic and said she loved “making spell bags that have herbs for different situations. Things like mint and fennel make for a great energy spell.” She also recommends chamomile, lavender, rosemary and mugwort if you need some calm and a bit of R&R. The practice can also be eclectic, where you can mix bits and pieces depending on what you relate to, but there is an emphasis on being respectful to other cultures. Rachael said she was “very invested in decolonising [her] practice” which includes being aware of the origins of practices. For example, the much-loved white sage “smudging” you see on TikTok is a closed practice of indigenous Native Americans, meaning only people from a certain heritage can do it. 

Overall, “no thoughts, only vibes” would be how I would describe the energy of the witchcraft community. There’s a true emphasis on being in tune with the world you live in and yourself. The witchcraft community is a truly diverse practice with people from all walks of life taking a part in it. But while the community has grown, the attitudes towards it have remained stagnant. Many people still think of the practice as silly or dangerous. But after practising for 27 years, Rachael says, “not much has changed... so it has become extremely important to me to try and challenge stereotypes surrounding witchcraft and Paganism.” Siobhàn summarises some of the ethics with an old Wiccan saying “if it harms none, do what ye will”. From what I’ve seen of the community, many have found grounding and comfort in these types of practices. It makes people happy, helps them cope with life or find a form of catharsis. The fear of it comes mainly from ignorance because at the end of the day if it harms none, why do ye care about it?