Its 1.30 am, and Im about to watch a duel between magicians.
The chat box is buzzing as occultists of various stripes arrive to hear the arguments.
My mum would hate this, I cant help thinking to myself.
She didnt even let me read Harry Potter.
Myresearchcombines my fascination with the mechanisms of belief with my love of storytelling and the stage.
Suspending disbelief is my forte, but actually believing is something Ive never been very good at.
One of these is the WitchTok community.
Videoslabeled#WitchTok have so far clocked up an impressive 18.7 billion views.
It has also caught the attention of mainstream media.
Spells usingcandles,bottles,crystalsandherbsmake for snappy and succinct tutorials which can be readily imitated by the viewer.
What, then, are TikTok users looking for in their magical clips of 60 seconds or less?
Magic appeals because life is unfair, and power is a pleasant fantasy.
In this regard, WitchTok is no different from any other magical tradition.
The first one of these is an interloper who Ill call the angry Christian.
The angry Christian believes in magic, in Satan and in the occult.
They simply think youll risk your soul if you engage with it.
The Christians I grew up with are cut from precisely this cloth.
WitchTok videos often dramatize fantasy conversations with them, imagining ominousretorts: Dont believe in curses?
Just give me a lock of your hair then … no?
Im afraid this is probably the category into which I would be placed.
Intriguingly, however, a third opponent has arisen from within the occult community itself.
(Is it cultural appropriation to wear an evil eye pendant?
Does calling for discipline in magical ritual equate to a form of fascism?)
Some learned magicians are attempting to bridge the gap.
This was a time when innovations in technology and culture served to reinvent and energize ancient magical beliefs.
Grimoires, or spellbooks, had a great influence on science and religion.Wikimedia Commons.
Dutch scholar Johann Weyers Latin treatiseDe Praestigiis Daemonumor On the Tricks of Demons was published in 1563.
Now that occult beliefs had been so thoroughly exposed and ridiculed, how could they possibly survive?
Nor did he believe, as the smarmy skeptics did, that there was no real threat whatsoever.
Doctor Faustus raised many objections due to its interplay with the demonic realm.Wikimedia Commons.
After wasting his time on petty vengeances, greed, and lust, Faustus is finally sent to hell.
The process they unwittingly began continues today on TikTok and elsewhere.
Nevertheless, the debate is civil and ends with discussions of new online editions of the rare grimoires.
