Why a growing interest in witchcraft is leaving us spellbound

The WitchTok hashtag has garnered billions of views on social media, manifestation has become mainstream, and witchcraft paraphernalia is available on the high street all year-round, not just Halloween.

‘I think the rise of interest in witchcraft and magic is definitely telling about the state of society,’ says Lottie Salako, 26, from Liverpool, a white witch and search trends analyst for Salience Marketing Research. 

‘Practices such as crystal work, astrology, tarot, and charms are all easily digestible tools of empowerment for people who feel like they have little control in their lives.’

The brand’s data has highlighted that on average there were 1,600 Google monthly searches for how to make moon water, 4,400 searches for how to charge crystals, 22,200 for crystal healing, and 9,900 for how to manifest over the last year in the UK. 

Witchcraft might seem woo-woo, but even the most vocal cynic has probably picked up a penny for good luck, or avoided walking under a ladder, just in case. 

‘We all do it. Small superstitions, such as touching wood, saluting magpies, believing in karma, all place accountability for positive and negative experiences in our lives with something outside of ourselves,’ says Salako, who started exploring witchcraft in her teens. 

‘My nan used to go to seances in haunted houses, so my mum was happy to buy me spell books. These days, there are so many types of witches: green, white, grey, crystal, cosmic that all have their own aesthetic and essential toolkit.’

The relevance of witchcraft has ebbed and flowed through the decades.  

‘The modern interest in witches started in the 1970s with the feminist rediscovery of the persecution of women in witch trials across Europe. The idea that this represented the suppression of a whole world of female knowledge about spirituality and healing was very appealing.

‘It was picked up by the “new age” religions of the 1980s and 1990s, and has been going ever since,’ says Robert Poole, Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire and author of The Wonderful Discovery of Witches in the County of Lancaster. 

‘There are so many misconceptions about witches. That we only wear black, that we dance naked under the moon, that we’re “weird,” or in some way evil, even though one of the few rules of witchcraft is “thou shall do no harm.” In reality, witches come in all shapes, forms, and walks of life.’

Spells are not the main focus of witchcraft, insists Rowntree. 

‘It’s much more about connecting to ourselves and nature. Personally, witchcraft has led me to develop a sense of belonging in a world that can so often be difficult to find.’