Witchcraft Soars in the Pandemic.

Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

….…witchcraft is on the rise and it is the fault of the pandemic…. or so we are told.

Yet as history shows in troubled times like ours there tends to be a revival of the weird stuff, witchcraft and or paganism come to mind; so here we are.

With these things no longer confined to the fringes it is no surprise then that more frequent tales of this nature are popping up in the mainstream.

Like these.

Under the headline The Pandemic turned me into a Witch one writer explained how she found renewed solace in doing “spell-work” for sick friends and for the speedy development of a vaccine.

In fact during quarantine, many “virtual covens” formed. Like the one developed by Sére Skuld who joined several magic symbols to provide her circle of practitioners protection against the coronavirus.

Pandemic Paganism as it’s called has morphed into a big thing.

CNN published an article with the title ‘Witchtok’ where it admits that a fascination with astrology and the occult is on the up and up.

They report that videos on rituals, spells, healing crystals, Tarot card readings and astrology rack up millions of likes on Tiktok; and draw in untold numbers of curious viewers.

Psychics are doing a roaring trade as their accounts on social media see the number of followers quadruple in many cases; and their numbers were high to begin with.

Even old pagan practices are making a comeback, like the home-birth cord burning ceremony; which is something I wasn’t aware of but stumbled on by chance.

In this ceremony the umbilical cord is burned not cut, as a tribute to the ancestors, to re-establish the traditions of the granny midwives, to seal the power, intimacy and magic from the labour and delivery and combine it with the energy of those present; and join it with those from the past.

Consider the number of burning ceremonies. The Mafia burns a card of a Catholic saint, the Masons have their ‘burning sands’ ritual, Catholics burn candles, and occultists engage in events like Burning Man and other such indulgences.

Now; New Age witches burn sage and umbilical cords in their efforts to become ‘one with the world”.

Unprecedented times for sure.