I have a question for you, especially OG members of SoM that have been on here for many years.
How do you personally feel about magic and esotericism becoming so mainstream these days? It’s absolutely everywhere - celebrities talk about it, influencers talk about it, so many tiktok videos and Instagram reels dedicated to esoteric subjects and it’s been getting more and more attention lately. It definitely wasn’t as openly talked about before, at least back when this site was crowded and active - so around 2008-2015.
It was only in the forums of a select few websites like SoM. Now it’s everywhere. I personally am not a big fan of this shift, as I believe everything that goes mainstream becomes “spoiled” and expired. I feel like a lot of practices have lost their impact due to this, but maybe that’s just me.
I may have only been in the practice for 5 years, which I started because of this site. I personally am glad that magick is becoming a more mainstream topic as it allows more people who are truly helped by it to find it. I'm able to openly practice and talk about my craft without being seen as weird or delusional and because of how widespread it is now it can even be a conversation starter to make new friends.
Though I understand your thoughts on it becoming "spoiled" by becoming mainstream. As it became more popular there would be more misleading content and big companies start trying to butt their way into it for practice. There are already witch kits being sold which while useful sometimes, lead newer practitioners to think these items are necessary when they are not. There are also all the videos on spells online where many newer witches try them out but they haven't learned why the spell uses the ingredients or symbolism or how to protect themselves. The mainstreamness is making newer practitioners less creative with their work as they just look for something someone else has done and simulate it themselves without even thinking of why these steps are done.
Overall, I think it can be a good thing with proper education. Though proper education becomes harder with more people that need it at once.
I think the way I look at it is that it is what it is. Both good and bad in many ways. Most often every detail surrounding this mass exposure being both at once.
There is more good information, but also more bad. So it is faster to find but more difficult to sift through for beginners. (Can be countered by focusing beginners on the process and principles over the spells and practice)
Information is more openly shared and cross-cultural, but traditions get blurred and homogenized. Some call it corruption/pollution, others call it evolving and progressing.
More people are learning about magic, but arguably fewer are learning about the religions and purpose behind it. Searching for gratification/results instead of internal growth and external respect.
It is like health-food being cut with sugar; it is easier to get more, and is nicer on the palette, but the substance and actual benefit is lost. Carrots are good for you, but carrot cake is not. And the mainstream wants the cake. They seem to think that the carrot is still in there, so it'll become somehow healthy again if you just eat enough of it.
Re: How do you feel about By: WhiteRav3n / Knowledgeable
Post # 5 Apr 27, 2024
Algorithms can paint a very interesting picture of the world--a different one for everyone! And that picture always aligns with their interests.
I don't see what you see because I don't teach TikTok, Facebook, and Google that I want to see metaphysical or esoteric subjects.
In all honesty, since most people don't understand how algorithms work, many people believe everyone in the world agrees with them until they walk outside and speak with strangers (and who does that anymore? Not enough!).
Republicans see stories that support their views while democrats see everything that supports their views. Christians see Christian stories and Witches see witchy stories.
My job forces me to research so many different subjects that algorithms don't know what to show me! XD
My recommendation to you is to pick up a physical city newspaper and you'll see what the world is focused on without algorithms getting in the way. Unfortunately, as technology becomes more intelligent, it reduces the worldly awareness of those who use it and gives us a false sense of being informed.
I converted to Paganism around 2006 and it being more mainstream is a blessing and a curse. When I converted, I lived in a town that had [still has] a bylaw that you couldn't sell occult merchandise. I was approached by a girl in my class who gave me a bag of books because she heard I was researching Wicca and the public library only had 1 book [our school library had a paragraph in a book of cults and a book on the Salem Witch Trials and that's it] She also directed me to a metaphysical shop 20 minutes away that is still my go-to shop, so thank's Karen, hope you're doing well ^_^ I introduced witchcraft to my friends who decided to do it [some for fun, some for spirituality] and another friend came out of the broom closet. A year later, we were approached by another girl [a wannabe Nancy Downs type] who said "Heard you're the local witches, we're friends now." So, the only witches that town knew were my friends and I and we were... Not the best representation of witchcraft, but at the same time, we were teens. We dealt with our share of issues from the town, like having the cops called on us every time we tried to worship outside [and by "worship" I mean meditating in the park, we weren't doing a full ceremony in public] and there was the time one of the churches tried to forcefully convert us by locking us in the basement [long story short, they told each one of us to come to help set up at different times and managed to lock one of us in the basement but we got him out before he got hurt. the pastor threatened to arrest us for trespassing and when we reported this incident to the chops, we were told to "Stop harassing the church" instead of being taken seriously]
I do enjoy having more representation and access to information. I just wish it was good information. Too often it's misinformation or drama that is picked up by the media to pain our faith as a joke. IDK if you remember the Fox News thing from 10+ years ago, but a state university added a bunch of religious holidays to its approved list and Pagan holidays were among them. Fox and Friends [one of them specifically] went off on a 5 minutes mocking rant about us being losers and after a week of outrage from the Pagan community, issued an apology where he snickered through the entire thing.
TikTok can be a blessing and a curse. Like with YouTube, I've found many witches who post hilarious and informative content on a variety of subjects, but far too often its drama, lies, and in-fighting. The Pagan community has a lot of nonsense drama that I do my best to stay out of because it's not worth my energy. [Remember the whole hexing the moon nonsense? That made us look LOVELY in the eyes of non-witches] I also wish more shows would depict witches better. The Owl House and Hilda were pretty good. Wasn't a fan of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina [a rant for another day. All I'll say is, they would say something correct, then follow it up with something rage-inducing. Like how they had a Handfasting but used the skin of babies to bind their hands, like it's an actual religious ceremony! Why did you do that?! I know, I know, to be entertaining, but seriously, that show GYAH!!!]
Overall, I'm hoping for more positive representation/information to get out there because we've got a second Satanic Panic on the horizon. We also need to fight for our rights and not just roll over or stay in the broom closet. I know, not everyone can be out and safe, but for those of us who can live outside the broom closet, we need to fight for religious equality to protect those in the Pagan umbrella. A lot of Pagan stores are targets of harassment/threats and law enforcement does nothing [or the cops are the ones enforcing 200-year-old laws that nobody cares about] are evicted from their homes, or fired from their jobs [that happened to me a few years ago. After I quit, I discovered the people at work thought I could curse anything I touched which made them fearful of me [which is hilarious because not only would I answer questions for them, but if you saw me in real life, I usually dress/act like Enid Sinclair and Wednesday Addams] so they went out of their way to make work unbearable for me so I'd quit] So, while a lot of social media witchcraft is meh, more representation means a higher likelihood of information getting out there and witches won't face persecution thanks to misinformation. And for the newbies, it's easier to find information. The tricky part is knowing where to look.
