I watch an awful lot of YouTube videos these days. That habit began because I absolutely detest commercials, and only got worse when I started researching Etsy. YouTube is a wonderful resource for all sorts of educational information, if you’re careful.
As I’ve been “witchy” for about 35 years or so, I don’t normally watch a lot of pagan/wiccan/witch content. So much of it is just Wicca 101, or other 101 types of videos, and those are simply not relevant to me.
Or so I thought.
I got myself a TikTok account so I could watch my daughters’ videos. I quickly discovered TikTok isn’t really the place for me, or at least I’m not the TikTok video kind of creator. I like words, written words, so I can think carefully before expressing myself.
I also prefer longer content. I just don’t have the patience for tiny little videos and scroll, scroll, scroll…If a video is less than 20 minutes I feel jilted.
I did, however, find a few excellent creators over there who happened to have YouTube channels, and so I recently began following them. So that is how I finally caught wind of #OcculTea. As a woman with a lot of opinions, I couldn’t resist throwing in my two cents and change, so here I am.
This hashtag was started by three content creators from YouTube; Ella Harrison, The Redheaded Witch, and the Polish Folk Witch. Admittedly, I wasn’t following any of them, but I’ve now watched at least a couple of their entries about this topic. I’ll likely be watching more of them later, but I really didn’t want to be any later to this party than I already am. I believe the post was shared first to Instagram, not YouTube, but I’m not over there just yet so I’m not sure.
Introduction: Introduce yourself. How long have you been participating in the witchcraft online space? What practices and topics do you discuss primarily?
I have a whole page here as an introduction, but I’ll try to give a quick re-introduction in case anyone is here straight from the hashtag and hasn’t read it yet.
I go by Camylleon. Its a nickname I started with back when AOL first went to 13 characters from 8, and I was too excited that I was able to get a name that didn’t have to have numbers on it. That’ll give you an idea of how long I’ve been online.
I was immediately at least reading in the witchcraft spaces I could find back then, because it was a lifeline. Up to that point, I had been scrambling to piece together information from library books, what few books I could afford from a local metaphysical store, and what little they carried at Borders.
Yeah, dating myself again. Borders. That goes back, doesn’t it? I wasn’t posting as much back then. I didn’t feel like I had anything to offer. I was learning. I was looking for teachers, information, anything. Times were tough. I even went through a three-level Wicca school. Paid for a lifetime membership and everything.
So to answer the second question, how long have I been participating? Oh, I guess the mid 90s? If my math is right, let’s say about 30 years or so, give-or-take.
What practices and topics do you discuss primarily? I’ve only just gotten started, twice now, maybe three times really, with this generation of this blog so its still sort of hard to tell. I ramble a lot. I like rambling. I haven’t really ruled anything out yet.
My own practice right at this moment is hard to explain. I can’t call it worship exactly. I work with Ancestral Spirits, primarily, but there are a few Deities around as well. I consider myself an Omnist. All Entities exist and are valid; every last one. I might disagree about different qualities or aspects of the Entity, but I’ve no doubt they exist.
All Spirits are, at the end of the day, Spirits. I don’t believe that humans quite understand the differences between disincarnate human spirits, saints, orishas, lwa, demons, angels, demigods, daimons, gods, etc., etc.
Currently, I’m spending most of my writing on sharing my journey and how I got here from there. I think its probably the most relatable part of who I am. Its something we all have in common, we learn as we go. Sometimes its harder and sometimes its easier, but we seldom end where we began.
TOPIC ONE: IMPACT ON COMMUNITY
What is my personal reasoning/inspiration behind sharing my practice online? Do I seek to educate, learn, or connect?
I don’t know that I’ve actually thought much about it. I have a long history of having my privacy invaded, so I suppose in some ways this is the only way I can do it anymore. If its public, it can’t be violated?
Despite having an abominable experience a number of years ago with yet another couple of leeches, I keep thinking that maybe someone out there wants or needs to hear what I have to say. Maybe someone else out there feels the same way I do. Maybe they need the encouragement and information I wanted and needed 30 years ago.
What am I looking to achieve by participating?
Nothing, except perhaps to throw my opinion out into the void, get it off my shoulders, and move on. Its a release.
As far as educate, learn, or connect…
I’m always looking to learn. I’ll happily share any knowledge I have if that counts as educating. I’m leery of “connecting,” though, as the odds seem pretty much against me in that department. Although I will say that when I connect and it sticks, I do pretty damn well. The few friends I’ve kept are some of the best a person could hope for.
I just get hurt more often than not. Still, I’m here so I suppose I’m willing to risk it. Therapy. Therapy helps a lot.
How do I believe social media, as a whole, has impacted the community?
Its all at once wonderful and horrifying.
But then, I keep saying it is what you make of it. So I suppose that explains it. People are all at once wonderful and horrifying.
If you fill your feed with cute puppies and kitties, that’s what you’re going to get. If you fill it with seething hate-filled rants from people who have the complete opposite views from you because you love to argue, that’s what you’re going to get.
Social media is us.
How do I think social platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube have each impacted education/sharing information?
To me, two of those three haven’t done anything terribly good for either education or sharing information.
TikTok, in particular, is horrible. Sharing is easy, too easy. Anyone can do it, and it can be difficult for someone who is coming in with a blank slate to tell good information from bad.
There’s an awful lot of bad on TikTok.
There’s some good as well, but if I were going into it with no background information or damn good intuition to guide me, I’d be more confused or more misled, one or the other.
Both Instagram and TikTok are big on looks. The better you look, the better your following. They’re shallow platforms with unrealistic depictions of the “ease” of witchcraft, and if you ask me, the aesthetics of witchcraft.
I get it, its cool. Don’t get me wrong. I love the crystals and the mood lighting and the dried plants hanging all over. I want to live in the Practical Magic house, too. But that’s Hollywood, not reality. TikTok and Instagram are quite good at packaged sound bites of cute, repeated information. Not so good at actual education. At best, if you were looking at the Linktrees or other links in profiles, you might be able to find quality information if you dig. A lot.
Sharing, well, they’re both too good at that. Bad and good information travel like wildfire, and sometimes do as much damage.
I’ve also seen how peer pressure functions in those two platforms. There are fads, fashionable types or genres of witchcraft that I find suddenly everyone is practicing. Sometimes for the wrong reasons.
YouTube is slightly different. Not that there isn’t the same percentage of bad to good there, but to me there’s more variety. Longer video time also means its possible for those who want to provide information can share detailed, quality information. If they want to.
The problem there is that YouTube doesn’t exactly promote quality. It also promotes the pretty, the angering, the strong emotional reactions. So if you rely on the algorithm to suggest videos to you, you’re not going to find much. You have to be actively searching and in control of your feed.
It is also what you make of it. 🙂
Additionally, there’s a lack of good advanced information, and an awful lot of 101. I believe there are a lot of creators in all the different subjects on YouTube who just get burned out with being stuck in entry-level information. Its as tedious for them as it is for viewers.
Is consuming witchcraft content becoming a substitute for practice?
Not for me. Could it, though? Sure. Its not much different than people who read and research and research and read but never practice. That was me for an awful long time; I was simply not secure enough in my knowledge to do it myself, by myself.
That’s what can happen when people don’t have IRL guidance. When you have someone there to hold your hand, to walk you through it, its easier. Much easier, like so many things in life. Especially when people are shouting from the sidelines about whatever “law” you might accidentally break.
I finally got off of my ass and got to work, and once I did, I realized how silly I had been. I would imagine there are a lot of new, “Baby” witches in that same position. No shame.
There could also be people who will never actively practice. I don’t have a problem with that either.
If you know Christianity, or any other mainstream religion really, you quickly figure out that there are priests, lay people, and congregations. Not everyone is made to do the Spiritual Work. That’s one of the many reasons there’s televised services; not everyone can or wants to attend church, but they want it in their lives.
It doesn’t mean they’re any less believers, they’re any less pagan or what-have-you. Its just not their calling. They might attend large gatherings for holidays, post happy solstice messages on their social media, and watch as many witch or pagan videos as they like. It doesn’t mean they’re any less dedicated.
There’s a place for all of us.
Alright, I’m leaving it there because its quite long enough already! Part Two to be written when I’ve recovered!
camylleon.wordpress.com 
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