Post #3100535 · Elektrine

2026-06-04 16:49 UTC

There's a certain type of witchcraft-posting that really grinds my gears; When people make their craft seem much more mystical/mysterious than it actually is by implying that it's dangerous. Like vagueposting about deep transformative workings with an air of "Don't try this at home." Call it the Crowley Gambit. Maybe it's because I lived through the Satanic Panic and was directly affected by it, but I think presenting witchcraft as something dangerous does not help anyone. It doesn't help newcomers because it discourages them from trying things, and it could actually harm the community by making non-pagans afraid for their loved ones who want to join. It only serves to make the person saying it seem more powerful or whatever because *they* can do it, but other people shouldn't because they don't have "experience." Coincidentally, people who make these kinds of posts are almost always selling something.

Replies (1)

@Siiin@pagan.plus 2026-06-04 21:17

@Cat_LeFey@pagan.plus There's also a difference between "oo scary" in a sense of cultivating horror related to the craft (I see a lot of replies about fear of pentagrams etc) as opposed to genuine care related to witchcraft. Any tool that is powerful necessarily contains the potential for harm, and I don't really see the point in pretending like that isn't the case. We don't need to sit here and fear monger about, say, modern antibiotics. Clearly they're very beneficial. But obviously misuse and overuse has the potential to incur a grave social cost. I think that any craft related to magick is kind of like that: it's a tool. If we didn't think it had any power what's the point? But I make the distinction because I'm not sure which you're talking about -- genuine guidelines around practice, or the cultivation of horror around witchcraft in general.

Open ##3105259