On the hypnotic whirlwind of Tiktok, a new group of spiritual learners emerge under the cloak out of the Electric Wave of Witchtok and Digital Spirituality.
This isn’t your granny’s dot com or your Crowleys Occult pewdabble. No, this is a different animal entirely. It can only be a 1000x crashing-server hybrid of the internet, as we think we know it today. There, the ancient and the cutting edge are strewn like broken tiles in a kaleidoscope of culture and art, a multitude of new ways of looking at reality.
Witchtok Digital Spirituality.
Unveiling the Spiritual Spectrum of TikTok
The digital covens of social media witches have brought high magick together with activism and post-modern leftist politics, towing party lines while meshing spells with social justice buzzwords and digital spell casting. However, quite interestingly, TikTok manages to put a blend of bizarre paradigms together that nestles themselves within a paradox that cannot be ignored
—the simultaneous critique and participation in the capitalist infrastructure that TikTok epitomizes.
Nevertheless, I think that if you lean in close, squint past the mere surface. Only then, you’re slapped with what is a stark, pulsating heart of revolutionary spirit or the facade thereof.
The Paradox of Activism in a Capitalist Framework
Witchtok contains “a microcosm brimming with earnest desires for societal change”. It dubiously offers us what modern politics cannot. Actual methods to bring them about (albeit shrouded in magical thinking. )
In the virtual enclave of WitchTok, practitioners unite around themes of justice and thereby use their digital stages as platforms to critique and unravel the capitalist systems that underpin their own visibility.
Witchtok Leftist Activism
If you read some inherent ideology of these witches you’ll nevertheless find that their aim is to overthrow the pillars of our system. Its clear by the titles in their video headers they march forward to destroy the abominable houses of injustice and inequality which our civilization is marred with. Or something like that.
The Witchtok mission?
There is no central consortium of witches per se. No witchtok “vatican”. If you follow the jist, however, of these blossoming connected communities. What occurs within the confines of a system deeply rooted in capitalism—a system that the very members of WitchTok often critique, is kind of ian ironic world.
Just your basic buzzwords:
- Environmental Conservation
- Social Justice
- Mental Health Awareness
- Feminism and Empowerment
- Body Positivity
- Animal Rights
- Cultural Appreciation vs. Appropriation
- Indigenous Rights and Awareness
- Spiritual Education and Decolonization
- Economic Inequality
- Healthcare Reform
- LGBTQIA+
The Irony of Capitalist Critique in Digital Spaces
Here, in this digital coven of Social Media, crystal magick gleams not from the dim light of a candle but from the backlit glow of a thousand screens, each one a portal product commodified. Here the mirror magic reflects not our faces but the very soul of the internet itself.
The Commercial Metrics of Activism
The platform that enables their voice is also one that thrives on the metrics of success defined by capitalism:
- Likes
- Shares
- Followers
These metrics, ostensibly markers of influence, also serve as reminders of the commercial underpinnings of the space in which these activists operate.
This high magick is not to be confined to dusty shelves of forgotten libraries but alive and pulsing in the veins of the web. I appreciate the effort to bring this new digital spirituality out into the open. However, the idea of change in society through a ceremonial community is highly provocative and evokes one leading to the idea of activity-based change within the realm of digital capitalism.
It has its origins in the Knights templar and the Freemasons. This brings the question: do social-mediated institutions, being basically money-making platforms on their own, provide for an environment where the genuine desires and attempts for social change vis-à-vis capitalism can be made?
‘WitchTok’, which gives this crossroads a face, also becomes a forum for such discussion.
Narcissism Behind Social Media Witchcraft
In this new era, a magic ceremony is not a gathering in some remote forest clearing but a virtual event, attended by avatars and Influecners. As much as it may be government by the rules of ceremonial magick it regardless blurs the line between sensationalism and ceremony.
Obviously the engagement-driven nature of these platforms introduces an element of performatively to activism that strives to make content which is more palatable and sensationalized to the masses.
True Digital Spirituality vs. Instant Gratification
Today’s digital witch, is powered by likes and shares. She embarks on a voyage to dominate not just the physical world but also the powers of the universe.
So what is so fascinating about WitchTok?
Simply that there is the notion of people who can master rituals and spells to manipulate the world. That is a very powerful idea. As is evidenced by this belief in the ability to induce global transformations from one’s independent actions
This idea that one can, through rituals and spells, exert influence on a universal scale is a kind of personal empowerment through digital spirituality.
Yet, a shallow facet of this belief veers towards narcissism. That is, positing that human perceptions of the natural and the ethereal realms should be molded to align with individual wishes
The Quest for Power in Modern Witchcraft
Connected Communities form the digital congregations of the 21st century, places where Digital Mindfulness is practiced with the same devotion as any ancient rite. Sacred Texts Online become the scriptures for a new generation, studied with Tech-Aided Prayer and celebrated through Digital Rituals.
The teachings of neoplatonism, once the domain of scholars and mystics, now permeate the digital ether, finding resonance in the concept of cyber zen. A Pilgrimage in Pixels becomes the modern quest for enlightenment, a journey not across physical landscapes but through the boundless realms of Virtual Meditation.
Digital Spirituality vs. Instant Gratification
Within the witchtok community lies a broader cultural shift toward valuing power and immediacy.
A trait of digital life is the ability to waive a magic wand (your finger) on things in a blink of an eye and have desires met.
This is in direct opposition to what I teach in mindful scrolling. Instead, this ability to “cast a spell” and see quick results (or at least to project the appearance of such speed) naturally is going to resonate with a generation accustomed to the instantaneous gratification of digital life.
This contrasts sharply with the more deliberate pace of traditional spiritual practices, such as the teachings of Aleister Crowley or hermeticism, which often emphasize patience, persistence, and the acceptance that some outcomes are beyond human control.
With the digital age’s undeniable worship of speed and showcasing individual, a form of witchcraft thus will evolve, that might be perceived as more in line with consumerism’s tenets than with its true spiritual progress.
The proliferation of witchcraft on platforms like TikTok merely a resurgence of ancient traditions and a reinterpretation through the lens of modern sensibilities
A chance for true Digital Spirituality and Awakening?
Seekers of Online Spiritual Guidance navigate the information superhighway, searching for meaning in a world where Augmented Reality (AR) Spirituality and Virtual Reality (VR) Spirituality blur the lines between the material and the metaphysical.
This digital performance, nonetheless, conceals a truly spiritual thirst—a yearning for explanation, community, and independence in a world that is being switched on ever more rapidly. There are lot of positive outcomes of this:
- Digital witchcraft gives lots of people a feeling of control.
- Witchtok becomes the medium which bonds like-minded people.
- It fosters the ability to investigate and practice one’s spirituality in ways that may not be readily provided by the institutionalized structures of mainstream religion.
But the question is how to move through this journey by sailing on the surface while still being mindful of the roots and responsibilities that come along with this awesome endeavor. The conflict of worldly goals and divine matters is rightfully emphasized as it defines the complicated balance between one doer and the surroundings as well as the material and divine worlds within the scope of control and understanding.
