"Why Witchcraft is on the rise"

 

Bosker, B. (2020) Why witchcraft is on the rise, The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company. Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/witchcraft-juliet-diaz/605518/ (Accessed: November 23, 2022).

I was reading about the rise of contemporary witchcraft, to try and get an idea of why it has seen such a spike in interest (and to validify my query) when I came across this article. It was published in 2020, which is recent enough to still be relevant.

" In the 19th century, as transcendentalism and the women’s-suffrage movement took hold, witches enjoyed the beginnings of a rebranding—from wicked devil-worshippers to intuitive wisewomen. Woodstock and second-wave feminism were a boon for witches, whose popularity spiked again following the Anita Hill hearings in the ’90s, and again after Donald Trump’s election and alongside the #MeToo movement"

"“The more frustrated people get, they do often turn to witchcraft, because they’re like, ‘Well, the usual channels are just not working, so let’s see what else is out there,’ ” Grossman told me"

"Throughout history, attempts to control women have masqueraded as crackdowns on witchcraft, and for some people, simply self-identifying as a witch—a symbol of strong female power, especially in the face of the violent, misogynistic backlash that can greet it—is a form of activism"

 "the fact that there are no set criteria for being a witch is, for many, precisely the appeal"

Bokser explains that witchcraft and feminist activism, often go hand in hand. However, it has also become very lucrative for many practitioners. In recent years, due to numerous political, social and humanitarian events, people have turned to alternative methods of causing change - since "the system" seems to be failing. On one hand, this points towards capitalism, as people are profiting from the practice of witchcraft in some shape or form. However, it also points towards a more accepting/open minded society - where these alternative practices are valued and actively sought out, rather than shunned or scoffed at. 

The article talks about the appropriation of witchcraft, and how the "aesthetic" is often borrowed/stolen by large companies to make profit, or seen as a passing trend. This example of globalization can be harmful to smaller indigenous communities and often leads to over farming, poor working conditions, a negative impact on the environment and potentially the loss of a culture's roots. 

Although the internet appears to have made it a much safer place for people to openly identify with witchcraft in many shapes and forms, the article also states that there still some very dangerous beliefs:

"London established a police team dedicated to reducing violence targeting accused witches; by contrast, officials in Saudi Arabia established an antiwitchery unit that trains police to “scientifically battle witchcraft,” which is punishable by beheading"