‘It could be your grandmother making a herbal bath to heal your ailments or a friend who carries a rabbit foot for good luck.’ Miller also wants to remind people that witches ‘aren’t a monolith’, noting instead that all witches practise differently according to their ancestry and personal beliefs. ‘Some of the best sources are elders and family members, but I think with the rise of WitchTok, we can start to support more marginalised spiritualists who can teach people about their own cultures and practices,’ she says. Despite modern technological advances, she says resources are ‘still so limited’ because of who has access to publishing. Lexx Miller, an Austin, Texas-based rootworker (someone who practises Hoodoo, the folk magic of the AmericanSouth), says that spirituality seems to trend ‘during revolutionary times’, whether it’s the New Age movement of the Seventies or today’s digital era. The point here is the rejection of organised religion Before that, thousands of witches across the US rose up against the Trump administration, using the hashtag #WitchTheVote for a ‘collective intersectional effort to direct our magic towards electing candidates who will push our country and our planet forward’ into a ‘witch utopia’. When they’re not discussing spells online, modern witches are joining forces to hex Putin every Saturday night, chanting, ‘You are cursed, you are bound’. In UK publishing, ‘witch fiction’ is taking over book lists with several releases this year, including the big Harper Collins debut Weyward by Emilia Hart and the second instalment of Juno Dawson’s bestselling Her Majesty’s Royal Coven series. In the 2021 Census for England and Wales, 74,000 people referred to themselves as Pagans (up from 57,000 in 2011), while 13,000 people listed their religion as Wicca.
MAGIC TOUCH HOW TO
From the billions of views on TikTok’s Witchtok community – where you can break money curses through chants or learn how to charge your crystals – to last year’sHocus Pocus revival starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Bette Midler, it seems that Wiccans are everywhere right now. And it’s all set against a backdrop of New Age witches trending online and beyond. Haksever’s casual coven meet-ups are among a wave happening in the UK, from the east-London shop She’s LostControl to the Bermondsey arts spaceUgly Duck and Brighton’s sprawling Coven of the Horse and Moon. ‘Witchcraft isa contemporary way for women who want to be empowered to connect with some kind of energy.’ ‘It’s a very inviting and accessible space for everybody,’ she says, describing it in terms of a new wellness trend. Haksever self-identifies as an eclectic witch, meaning she doesn’t follow a single tradition and instead incorporates different cultures and practices into her witchcraft. To attend, you need to bring an aromatic mix of ingredients: ‘Cinnamon, dried basil, cloves, a bayleaf, essential oils, a flower, hot charcoal, a handful of soil, and a dish to burn some paper in.’ It might seem niche, but she says this is a way for women who crave spirituality in their lives to ‘dip their toe’ into the world of paganism by connecting with the moon’s energy and casting a simple spell. Every month at Mama Moon HQ, east London, people of all age groups, from teens to octogenerians, gather for what its owner Semra Haksever describes as ‘a kind of coven’.
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