The Modern World of Witchcraft

    

     Mere hours after I wrote my previous post I immediately began to think about what, exactly, I should write about next. "I have a list of like, 600 different things that I want to discuss so this should be easy" I thought to myself. Well, as it turns out things are never that simple. After some time I realized, I couldn't simply force myself to just... choose one. Something about it didn't feel right. Somehow, it didn't feel genuine.

    At first I thought about being an absolute nerd and putting all 600+ topics into an Excel spreadsheet, assigning descending number values to each individual topic, randomizing those values, and then just choosing a topic that way, absolutely free of my own subconscious bias but I mean, who has the time for that? Finally though, it dawned on me in perhaps the dumbest and most random way imaginable. 

    Like anyone else, sometimes I still feel, within this never-ending slump we've come to know as quarantine, that it's still somehow March of 2020. In other words, I watch a lot of TV these days. One of the shows that I've recently come to love, along with, it seems, the rest of the world, is WandaVision. 

    I'm not going to explain the premise of the show here if you haven't seen it (that is after all what Google is for) but while watching the most recent episode it dawned on me that the show might be drawing on one topic in particular that I had wanted to dive into for a long time. Given the show's relative popularity paired with its highly anticipated finale coming out very soon (either tomorrow, today, or yesterday depending on when I decide to post this) I ultimately decided that now was the best time to discuss the topic of witchcraft. Specifically, that of its rapid resurgence in recent years and how some of its more layered and cited rituals work in the modern age.

    Admittedly, my knowledge about the vast world of witchcraft was scant coming into this. All I knew was that I wanted to cover the topic. However, as I would soon come to find out through my research, it is much, much more massive than I had originally imagined. The intricacies and interconnectedness of the subject is far too much to cover in detail in a singular blog post. As such I've decided to focus more on a few of the aspects of modern witchcraft that I found the most interesting while looking into the practice. But first, thanks to that interconnectedness I mentioned just a few moments ago, a precursory history is required.

A Brief Introduction to the Witchy World of Wicca (albeit VERY simplified)

    When most people think of witchcraft there's often a few things that come to mind and they usually occur in this particular order; Salem Witch Trials, Harry Potter, and then, depending on your age, either Sabrina the Teenage Witch or, Bewitched. Ironically, none of these portray a proper or accurate depiction of witchcraft in the slightest. Even the Salem Witch Trials, although a documented historic event, does little but to inform us on a base level of the portrayals of witchcraft at the time from the perspective of those who understood little about it. 

    Perhaps due to its popularity, it seems that a great deal of people see the Salem Witch Trials as THE first instance of witchcraft, at least in America. In reality, the appearance of witches extends so much further than 1690s Massachusetts. Witchcraft, or at least concepts very similar in practice, exist in practically every culture across the globe. Some of the earliest written mentions of witches go as far back as the 8th century BCE in Ancient Greece. Witches exist in Norse legend, the Indian dayans, and even in certain African cultures. Simply put, witches are everywhere.

A classic depiction of the witch, common across many societies

    However, the more modern interpretation of witchcraft that has come to be popularized by Western media, no doubt thanks, in part, to the Salem Witch Trials, has most if not all of its roots in pre-Christian pagan traditions present across much of Europe. The evolution of these rites and rituals, which were heavily centered around the personification of the Earth, nature, and an overall sense of pantheism that stressed a belief in gods and goddesses of fertility among other things (think Midsommar without the horror aspect), would eventually result in what has come to be known as Wicca. 

     Wicca was first introduced to the world in the earlier half of the 20th century and due to its immediate association with western esotericism and the rise of occult beliefs at the time, faced the same scrutinies that its predecessors had. You see, while witchcraft has existed for thousands of years its only other constant has been the general public's often misguided perception of and distaste for it. In very few cultures up until very recently have self-proclaimed witches been met with warmth and acceptance from their fellow humans. In fact, quite the opposite is often true, thus the whole "burning at the stake" ordeal.  

    Thankfully, this is now illegal (at least in most places). Instead, across the United States and much of the Western world, practitioners of witchcraft have begun to experience some level of comfort in practicing their beliefs in the open without fear of being ridiculed or discriminated against. This is in large part due to an overall increasing tolerance for other beliefs but also thanks to growth in the knowledge of what exactly Wicca, and its associated forms of witchcraft, fully entail.

Sigils, Chaos Magic, and Online Covens

    One of the biggest ways in which individuals have come to learn about Wiccan practices in recent years is thanks, oddly enough, to social media. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook and others have allowed witches to broadcast their beliefs to a much wider audience than was previously available. This, in fact, is where I was able to get a lot of the information I'm using in this post including several of the concepts I'm about to dive into.

    Nowadays, instead of having to meet in a secluded spot deep in the woods on a cold winter's night, huddled around dimly lit corners in the dusty cellar of an old, abandoned farmhouse, modern day witches have the convenience of the internet and the cozy warmth of private chat rooms. Specifically, today's witchcraft practitioners have the opportunity to expand their beliefs beyond their local communities.

    While researching this topic, and when first coming across the discussion of modern witchcraft, I was initially skeptical of the amount of online covens active on the web. After all, I had read in several places that individuals purporting to be followers of Wicca and related magicks were close to outnumbering the number of people reporting as Unitarians but surely THAT couldn't be accurate. However, when I looked more into the subject I quickly discovered that the amount and popularity of such groups greatly exceeded my expectations. Just a quick Google search for the term "online covens" amounts to hundreds if not thousands of Facebook groups, Pinterest pages, and WeChat circles open to anyone seeking knowledge of the arcane.

    In many ways, witchcraft has transformed from a taboo, fringe, occult art into a mainstream activity that some people have come to base their entire lives, and in some cases, livelihood around. That's right, there's now even influencer witches advertising spells, hexes, and aura cleansing soaps to their followers. This commercialization and commodification of witchcraft is not coincidental. Instead, this is thanks to a relatively new perspective on Wicca and magick as a whole that has transformed how the world sees the practice (also probably because of capitalism, but I'll save that for another day).

    Known as Chaos Magick, this branch off of the traditional Wiccan canon was developed in 1950s England by renowned occultist, Austin Osman Spare. Spare believed that the discourse and methods by which to practice Wicca had become far too convoluted, elaborate, and confusing over the thousands of years in which they had developed. As such, Spare instead began to postulate that the actions and results of a spell were far more important than the extensive and unnecessary knowledge of its origins and meaning. Belief and the individual power of the unconscious mind in this case should be treated as the driving force behind a spell's power as opposed to some powerful supernatural being.

    In other words this "results-based magic" almost entirely separated itself from the gnostic and pagan religions to which it had been so desperately attached for thousands of years. The idea that the power of a spell, hex, charm, or cleanse could come entirely from the mind of the individual was a fascinating idea and as such the notion quickly caught on. Today, most modern practitioners of the craft at least partially base their belief systems off of this idea of Chaos Magick. Thanks to its newfound popularity in recent years and especially in the past few months, we have now begun to see some of the craft's practices slowly weaving their way into the various corners of our society. The whole idea of "manifestation" is a prime example of this and is something which most people have no idea has direct ties to witchcraft. However, there are other more fascinating practices that have begun to gain a lot of traction; namely the more commonplace use of sigils.

    By definition, a sigil is essentially a type of pictorial signature that is used to invoke a specific desire. Sigils are created by writing down the intended outcome of the spell followed by condensing the individual characters of this statement into a singular, highly stylized, monogram-esque glyph. This glyph is then charged or imbued with intent through a state of unconscious meditation knowns as gnosis. The sigil can then be used time and again by the witch to achieve specific goals or outcomes.  

    Sigils however, are not exclusive to Chaos Magick and have instead been around for at least as long as witchcraft began to draw from religions like Christianity and Judaism. Historically, sigils worked more closely in alignment with gnostic beliefs, wherein certain angels or demons were summoned for the purpose of drawing from their power. In the process, the invoked entity was thereby bound to the will of the witch. The more powerful the entity, the more powerful the witch and similarly, the required strength of the sigil. 

Traditional set of sigils

    In terms of Chaos Magick, and in line with its reversal of religious ties, practitioners instead see the demons and angels to which sigils were intended as mere representations of the desired outcome. The power of the spell then comes not from an outside entity but from within. Despite the seeming omnipotent position of the practitioner in this situation, the individual actually has little to do with the effectiveness or end result of the sigil after it has been cast. In order to work properly, the original intent or desired outcome must be forgotten entirely, relegated to the unconscious mind wherein this desire is communicated with an all-powerful universal mind known as the Kia. This is why the sigil is so important. By condensing the characters of the desired outcome into a single stylized glyph it becomes much easier to remove from the conscious mind and therefore far more powerful and effective. 

    As I stated earlier, belief plays a very important role in this. Aside from the formation of the sigil and the relegation of its true meaning to the unconscious mind, the most vital part of the entire process is sheer belief on the part of the practitioner. This is the biggest key to the success of any given spell and its effects on its intended target. However, by following this logic a very dire question is posed that has recently become a center for contention amongst the community. If the belief of one individual can be powerful enough to enact change on a small scale what happens when ten, twenty, or even a hundred people share a strong sense of belief in the power of a given sigil? The result is what has very recently come to be known as a hypersigil.

    Hypersigils are most commonly known within the witching community as "intent disguised as art". While the overall goal of a hypersigil is the same in that it acts on unconscious desire, the similarities end there. These highly adapted sigils are an immediate response to the digital information era that we currently live in and as such are designed in such a way as to draw an immense amount of power not from a sole individual, but a mass group of people. This can be anywhere from a small coven seeking to enact change within their own community or, according to some witches, entire populations of people who are otherwise unaware of their involvement.

    While traditional sigils draw upon the unconscious yet consenting minds of practitioners, some witches argue that hypersigils can be used to draw upon belief within the unconscious minds of the general public. This can be done in a variety of ways but the idea of "intent disguised as art" hints at the general processes by which this is most often carried out. The generally accepted definition of a hypersigil is this; an extended work of art with magical meaning and willpower. This can be in the form of stories, poetry, lyrics, videos and paintings amongst other things but the one thing that makes a hypersigil unique is its existence within a four dimensional space. 

The additional manipulation of our physical world gives the hypersigil a massive advantage over its two-dimensional counterpart by allowing it to interact with reality on both the physical and metaphysical planes.The sheer power of a hypersigil cannot then be understated, especially when received by a significant audience. Some argue that hypersigils, with enough reach, can eventually even become powerful enough to physically alter reality. Although there are no examples of this this isn't to say that hypersigils aren't right in front of us all the time. In fact, one of the most recent and fascinating uses of hypersigils involves, oddly enough, emojis. 

     Yes, that's right, the ever increasing library of pictograms for any given person, place, thing, or emotion present in some capacity on nearly all of our devices is now being adapted to cast spells and hexes the world over. Although it seems absurd at first, upon closer inspection the use of emojis as modern-day hypersigils makes perfect sense. By definition, the two are incredibly similar. After all, what better way to represent unconscious intent than a pre-manufactured arbitrary image of the laughing-crying emoji.

   

    The idea of hypersigils and sigils as a whole is still a hotly debated topic amongst many practitioners of witchcraft. Some covens devote their entire practice to hexes, curses and spells built entirely around these ideas. Others reject the idea of sigils all together, instead deciding to devote themselves to other forms of esotericism such as astrology, tarot, crystals or potions.  

    Sigils, Chaos Magick and the prevalence of online covens are such new emergences on the scene that it's hard to say for how long they'll stick around. While it's almost certain that the degree of popularity which they currently enjoy will fade with time, there will certainly still be individuals who will practice these beliefs even after they have fallen to the wayside. Despite this, there is no doubt that these current trends will leave an impact on the ways in which the practice of witchcraft evolves moving forward as well as how it is perceived and treated by outsiders.

   

 Sidenote

    I had a lot of fun looking into this topic and ended up finding out a lot more info than what I ended up including here. The broad category of witchcraft truly is a rabbit hole in every sense of the word. If you found what I talked about here interesting and you want to know more I highly recommend doing your own research into some of its further intricacies. I may end up covering some of those finer details at some point in the near future but first I would love to hear back from some of you all. 

    In the sidebar of this page I've included a section for my readers to send in requests for topics you think I should cover or just overall suggestions and feedback. There's also the opportunity to comment on each of my posts if you have a blogspot account. While I know this page is going to be more centered around mysteries and unexplained phenomena I just couldn't miss out on the opportunity to cover this topic (especially in light of WandaVision) which has fascinated me for over a week now. As such, I DO want to hear your feedback. Did you like this kind of content? Should I do more like this? 

    Anyways, I've decided that I'm going to try and write a new post for this blog at least once every week. Hopefully, going forward these will go up sometime near each weekend. Thanks for reading and see you all next week!