But it's not our job to ridicule them.
If you're one of those witches that doesn't live under a rock in a secret bunker in the middle of the Southern Appalachian oak forests, you've probably heard about the recent happenings from the witchtok community. To summarize: a bunch of baby witches on tiktok hexed the moon. And the fae.
Their actions were very foolish, thoughtless, & careless. They either didn't do any research, did it for 5 minutes of internet recognition, or they're secretly a group of non-witches who are trying to make real witches look like assholes.
Personally, I believe they did it for attention. Or to "prove themselves" to the larger witch community. Maybe they didn't feel accepted by us, maybe they're the type to confuse education with gatekeeping. Maybe they're just feeling repressed, bored, & helpless in a time where so many of us are feeling that way & they needed to do something to feel like they're in control of anything they can be in control of.
Frankly, their reasoning doesn't matter & this post isn't here to speculate or psychoanalyze a bunch of new witchtok users.
What I'm here to talk about is the rest of us & how our behaviour towards this situation can be improved.
Of course we're upset. Of course we're offended. They put a hex (which many witches are fundamentally opposed to hexing in the first place) on something that is widely considered a great source of our power & is even worshipped by many. Hell, I schedule my whole life around moon phases, right down to when I trim my split ends. I'm pissed too! They also hexed a powerful community that everyone is taught to respect on basically day one of witchcraft 101! Not to mention the fact that the moon goddess is upset, which in turn upsets the sun god, who the hexers have also threatened! They did a horrible thing. These "witchtok" babies fucked up big time, & their actions negatively effected a lot of people.
But we have got to stop crucifying every single baby witch for this. And before you start arguing with me about whether or not you personally are doing this, hear me out.
I think what happened stressed a lot of people out. That's kind of how it goes when a source of your energy that you're deeply connected to gets hexed. I think that too many people have jumped to prove that they're against these actions by vocally persecuting them not just for what they did, but for being baby witches & doing it.
Don't make this a time to push people away from the craft. Don't make this a time to act like you've never been new to witchcraft. Or like you're better than those who are just now learning. This time should be about education. Learning. Growing.
Instead of saying things like
"Those baby witches never know what they're doing."
"Leave it to the baby witches to fuck up this badly"
"The people who did this were uneducated, here are some resources to learn more about why they were wrong."
"The people involved in this have made terrible mistakes. Here's what we can do to help."
"This is what we can do to help fix this & make sure nothing like this ever happens again."
Educate the baby witches. Don't push them out of the community.
Sure, it's not our job to educate every new witch we see, but it sure as fuck isn't our job to reprimand them either.