Witchtok: Inside the Spellbinding side of TikTok

We now live in the digital age where everything is shared on social media. And if you thought that customs, systems or traditions of previous centuries do not fit in this new age, then you are wrong! Because it seems that the practical magic of the 16th century but esoteric practices from before are reviving and growing in popularity on platforms like Tiktok.

There has developed and continues to develop a large community of young "occultists", let's call them that because they like esotericism they use the platform to show their practices and abilities.

Tiktok is now a huge platform that mainly appeals to a young audience, although lately it has been growing in popularity among much older people as well. There we find short videos of all kinds but recently the category or hashtag #witchtok has so far 18.7 billion views. In the short witchtok videos, the creators upload occult practices and mention that through the supernatural life will become a little better.

TikTok mainly has short and quick videos and thus has shaped the magic presented on Witchtok. Spells with the use of candles, tutorials for the energy use of crystals and herbs, and the extensive use of the Tarot deck are some of the things that one will encounter in Witchtok's content. In essence we are talking about the old practical magic which is experiencing a digital revival.

Interactive Witchtok videos are popular because of tarot cards or an energy wichtok board which with the use of crystal reveals the answers to various questions of the users. This of course also increases the interaction from the people watching and the creators gain tens of thousands of followers. But what they are told is that some supernatural force made them watch it and therefore they were meant to follow.

Of course everything in Witchtok is done in a short form since the tarot reading practices are limited to two or three cards to get a message out to the viewers in a short period of time. Witchtok's witches carve the symbols into the candles quickly by simply conveying the instructions to the viewer as opposed to the traditional practice of time-consuming esoteric systems.

The question is why are Witchtok videos so popular and billions of people? What answers are people looking for and even in such a short content?

The spells used in Witchtok seem to be about love, money, health and well-being, or avenging a loved one. This is probably the reason why Witchtok is so popular among people who are not really concerned with practical magic. Life has been unfair for many people and is getting harder all the time, and so people are interested in getting out of the dead ends of occultism and magic on a practical level.

Witchtok hunters

Within this subculture of Tiktok there are many kinds of systems, since one can meet followers of paganism or Wicca, people who practice Solomonic magic, demon worshipers and quite a few more. there are also people who hate any such practice.

There are religious people, many of whom are also fanatics and therefore attack any form of magic, and believe that one should not practice it because it is dangerous for the human species and serves the forces of evil. Then there are the skeptics, those who advocate that there is nothing other than scientific thinking and rationalism. But there is a third category that has developed within the occult search community.

It is the consummate occultist, one who takes the occult so seriously in theory and practice, understanding the intricacies of each system and its rituals. As well as the philosophical extensions of these systems.

This automatically makes them an opponent of Witchtok's videos, in which they appear when Witchtok misleads or misinforms about a magical system, trying to correct the creators of the videos by flexing their “arcane”knowledge.

Is witchtok dangerous?

The issue is this: Since TikTok consists of a young audience, then how dangerous can the practices shown in Witchtok's videos become? The truth is that perhaps from a practical point of view they are not so dangerous since each practice is not presented in all the details, whether it concerns the tarot, or the engraving of occult symbols on candles, or the invocation through crystals and a Ouija board.