What does your heart desire? Get it now, for 30% off with a PayPal transaction. That’s the model that hundreds of “Etsy Witches” follow. Although witchcraft has a rugged, multi-cultural history, its pull into the mainstream through Wicca and other spiritual practices has given practitioners a platform to help cure personal problems. Whether the results are authentic or AI-generated, the trend reflects a cultural need to hope for better days in times of crisis.
Image Credit: Nosferattus via Wikimedia Commons
Online witches in the marketplace are nothing new. Still, digital commerce platforms like Etsy fueled the surge of “magical services” sales due to the website’s branding as a place for human craftsmanship and indie businesses. Spell casting became such a home staple of the platform that Etsy banned its sale in 2015. In the years since, however, spells can still be purchased on the platform under the category “entertainment services.” In addition, newer social media sites like TikTok have developed their witch-mania by promoting certain trends, such as #crystaltok and #whimsygoth, which are adjacent to the look and lifestyle of esoteric practitioners.
Many Etsy Witches promote their services by tackling ever-present subjects such as love, financial gain, career opportunities and higher education, as well as family life. Although these are popular topics that remain consistently relevant, several users have resorted to witch-employment for protection services or as a way to find justice. Perhaps the most notable example was when a Jezebel writers published an article where they asked an Etsy Witch to curse right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk (who, two days later, was shot). Setting aside the veracity of the cursing process, the event drew mass media attention, particularly striking people in search of some semblance of control. A seemingly impossible desire in our current sociopolitical landscape.
Although the aspirations (manifestation, personal clarity, or even revenge) are often very similar, each platform witch has their own means. Some Etsy Witches do traditional Tarot readings, where they will have a virtual session with the user where they chose the cards. Top Etsy seller AfinaMystic, listed at 7,400 sales, offers predictions by reading cards, burning wood, and casting divination charms to craft “personalized digital insight reports in PDF format, designed to help you reflect on your relationship, emotions, and personal situation.”
Others use a less structured analysis. Etsy user Elena Brooks, with over 1,500 sales, advertises a “clairvoyant insight”: no cards, no tools, she merely “tune[s] into your energy and the energy surrounding your person or situation to uncover what is happening beneath the surface”. She claims to sense a person’s context, weaknesses and desires by reading their birthday and looking at them through a computer screen for an hour. After the session, they then send a PDF with the interpretation results.
Now in the age of AI, the witchcraft industry is becoming increasingly nebulous. While Etsy is dominated by witches who emphasize their unique techniques and practices, there’s been a recent spike in AI profiles that offer magic services. Elena is one of these sellers. Whether the readings are made by a real person or not, she uses a digital avatar and promotional material entirely AI-generated (according to an image analysis via DeepAI). With information about these profiles black boxed it’s hard to separate legitimate sellers from bad-faith actors bent on scamming users.
Whatever the truth behind the spells, Etsy Witches look set to remain a booming business in the coming years. Not in small part due to our desperate desire for escape, and their seemingly perfect solution. Whether customers are ordering love potions to woo coworkers or buying a protection spell to avoid being fired in mass layoffs, demand is there. And as long as that is the case, Etsy Witches will supply.