By Rachel Devenish
According to the Pew Research Center, social media usage has gone up a total of 67% since 2005, with 72% of American adults using at least one social media platform in 2021—compared to just 5% in 2005.[1] This drastic change in social interaction has made significant impacts on relationships and communities in a variety of ways. The internet has provided countless communities with an alternate and unique platform to gather to discuss shared values and interests. Even before the current pandemic, the easily accessible and shareable nature of the content on these platforms allowed for the development, discussion, and spread of shared values and interests and the creation of communities that previously would have been separate. Fans of cult classic TV shows and movies gather on forums and blogging websites to discuss favourite characters and theories, workplaces use sites to manage and share information as well as recruit employees, and families, friends and strangers around the globe can connect via social media and online games.
The internet’s impact on religious and spiritual organizations and individuals is no different. Particularly since the pandemic began, many religious organizations have an online presence that nearly rivals their in-person attendance.[2] Services are constantly being livestreamed around the globe,[3] and religious resources are easier to access than ever. Despite trends that suggest that religiosity is on the decline, possibly helped along by exposure to different perspectives via the internet,[4] communities have also grown and diversified greatly due to the help of the internet over the past few decades. Many of these communities have benefited from the anonymity afforded to individuals online, the lack or softening of hierarchy as seen in “traditional” religious organizations, and the globalization of spiritual practices. As certain social media apps have become more popular during the pandemic, some communities have seized the opportunity to use these newer apps for their benefit. One notable example of this is the use of TikTok by the Witch community and the subsequent development of what is known colloquially as “WitchTok.”
Witchcraft has maintained a rather alternative and counter-cultural position among the milieu of Western religions and spiritualities for many years. However, via the internet, it has increasingly become better known to non-Witches, less esoteric, and more accessible. Witches in recent years have gained much of their knowledge via the internet, whether from articles, ebooks, videos, or forums. As well, though modern Witchcraft is generally a rather solitary tradition and for the most part remains so, Witches have been able to connect to other Witches online and form communities that may not have been possible in-person. As such, modern Witchcraft is heavily influenced by the “culture” of the internet, which includes memes, accessible information, and trends that are quick to live and die but also includes misinformation, cultural globalization, and appropriation.
A few years ago, one of the more popular platforms for young Witches was Tumblr. The structure of the site was such that Witches and other groups could form their own communities of individuals and ideas through tags, suggestions and searches. Inevitably, communities bled into one another, and a diverse array of posts and communities would cross one’s dashboard, or homepage, each day. It became common for someone not involved in a Tumblr Witchcraft community to still come across its information or interact with its users. This person might then become curious enough to learn more or even participate. Witches and other spiritual bloggers could gain huge followings ranging from devoted practitioners to curious passersby, thus inspiring the creation of more young Witches—or even those who wished to dabble in certain aspects of Witchcraft but not others.
Currently, a similar occurrence is happening on the platform TikTok. Communities of spiritual individuals and religious practitioners use the short video format of TikToks to express themselves and reach others similar to themselves. With specific and relevant tags and concise bite-sized video clips, they are able to communicate their values, ideas, and practices in engaging and relatable ways.
This increased accessibility can certainly be a force for good for many people. Without the internet, most of us would not be exposed to the diverse array of human experiences we take for granted these days that allow us to broaden our own horizons and develop as individuals. Personal and spiritual growth is possible for many more people because of the accessible nature of the internet and the relative ease of online research. One is also much more likely to happen upon information on religions online via algorithms than in person just walking down the street.
Unfortunately, there are downsides to sharing information this way. With the easy shareability, it becomes difficult to determine “authenticity” and “ownership” over certain practices, rituals, and rites. The globalization of religions and spiritualities via the internet strips these traditions of locality and context. Sometimes, this can be helpful and enlightening to individuals looking to broaden their horizons and develop personally and spiritually, as it allows individuals to pick and choose which aspects suit them best without committing to a specific religion.
However, no tradition develops in a vacuum; each has developed in its original context to be culturally specific and sensitive. Selectively ignoring parts of a tradition or its original context can at best be historically inaccurate, and at worst a form of knowledge extraction that continues patterns of colonial violence. Thus, adopting and appropriating aspects from different traditions can be extremely harmful to those who are a part of those religious traditions.
Witches on TikTok often tend to pull from many different religions and spiritualities around the world for their personal practice. As well, the type of Witchcraft one practices might vary depending on one’s location, culture, race, language, or more. Scrolling through the tag #witchtok on the app, one can see a variety of individuals from around the globe performing spells, tarot and astrology readings, using crystals, and discussing everything from reincarnation, to manifestation, to angels, to chakras.
Not all of these practices have been appropriated or flagged as harmful by other religious communities. However, there are a number of Witches who can be found online participating in practices associated with religions that have been and continue to be affected by colonialism, racism, and cultural appropriation. Though increasingly taboo, it’s not uncommon for Witches and other spiritual practitioners to engage in smudging, for example. Smudging and the use of white sage or other herbs in a spiritual or cultural capacity is traditionally a practice among Indigenous peoples around the world. Some Witches and other spiritual practitioners have adopted this practice into their own faith for their own benefit regardless of the original context and despite not being part of these Indigenous cultures, further perpetuating the violence these communities face in the form of cultural genocide and appropriation.
Many of the issues raised in online spiritual communities are complex and uncomfortably nuanced, especially considering the diversity of the cultural and religious traditions many of these spiritual communities are drawing from. One only needs to search a tag or enter the comment section of a TikTok involving a controversial practice like using sage to encounter a myriad of commenters from all sorts of religious traditions debating whether the type of material or tool matters, whether the practice itself should be open or closed, and who gets to determine this. These conversations can be difficult to have in person, never mind online where a limited word count prevents extended discussion, and compassion and understanding are discouraged by the social disconnect afforded to users by interacting through screens.
One TikTok user and Witch says of this issue, “When looking into more eclectic forms of spirituality that have many cultural implications, it would be best to have an open mind and firmly educate yourself on the real histories of these practices and expose yourself to how these cultures, people and practices are being treated today.”[5] The difficulty in finding a balance between appropriation and appreciation is not a new conversation. This user’s thoughts echo those of many others who are trying to navigate a spiritual movement that has benefited and grown from appropriating practices in often marginalized cultures.
This is not an issue exclusively found among Witches, however. The practices one can see Witches engaging in on TikTok can also be seen under other tags such as #paganism, #spiritualtiktok, #wicca, #healingtiktok and other semi-related but separate communities. As previously said, the nature of information sharing on the internet strips the information of locality and context, allowing consumers to pluck doctrines and practices off the webpage and incorporate it into their in-person and online lives. Unfortunately, the anonymity and disconnect the internet affords its users also affords many the privilege of not acknowledging the consequences of incorporating such aspects of religious traditions that are too often picked apart and harvested for outsiders’ personal benefit while said religious traditions remain socially, economically, and politically persecuted.
We certainly do not need the internet to engage in community building, information sharing, creating cultural trends and even appropriation, but the current nature of the internet facilitates these developments at a progressively fast rate and with a consequence of cultural globalization, to the benefit and detriment of many. Our online lives affect and are affected by our in-person lives, and as such our experiences of religion and spirituality online have influenced how we interact with religion and spirituality in the everyday, and vice versa. As we place a higher emphasis on individuality, authenticity, and personal growth, the boundaries we place around specific religions and spiritualities blur as we attempt to identify which parts of the diverse human experience we personally connect with.
This bleed-through and plurality are never so prominent as when one consumes religious and spiritual information online. Combined with the fast-paced and accessible quality of information on the internet, as well as an increasing cultural proclivity towards spirituality as a form of individual authenticity and self-expression, online spiritual groups such as Witches share many of the same values and practices associated with those who do not consider themselves Witches. As religious studies scholars, it becomes continuously more difficult to categorize and define religious traditions when the boundaries between them blur, since as discussed, spiritual people often borrow and assimilate ideas from a wide variety of traditions for their own personal faith, for good and for bad. This has never been more evident or popular than since began the widespread use of the internet. Therefore, perhaps the way we study religion online will have to become as fluid as the information and individuals we wish to study.
[1] Pew Research Centre, “Social Media Fact Sheet,” 2021, https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/social-media/.
[2] Pew Research Centre, “Americans Oppose Religious Exemptions from Coronavirus-Related Restrictions,” August 7, 2020, https://www.pewforum.org/2020/08/07/americans-oppose-religious-exemptions-from-coronavirus-related-restrictions/.
[3] “Daily Holy Mass Live Online,” Mass-Online.org, accessed December 12, 2021, https://mass-online.org/daily-holy-mass-live-online/; “Virtual Synagogue Services,” UJA Federation New York, accessed December 12, 2021, https://www.ujafedny.org/coronavirus/virtual-synagogue-services; “Live Audio Feed,” Islamic Society of Toronto, accessed December 12, 2021, http://islamicsocietyoftoronto.com/resources/live-audio-feed/.
[4] Emerging Technology from the arXiv, “How the Internet Is Taking Away America’s Religion,” published April 4, 2014, https://www.technologyreview.com/2014/04/04/13684/how-the-internet-is-taking-away-americas-religion/.
[5] Quote from correspondence with anonymous TikTok user, December 12, 2021.
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