What is TikTok trend WitchTok? Wellness tips explained - and potential costs

• TikTok users might stumble across practising witches on the social media app. 
• The WitchTok hashtag has over 6 million posts. 
• But some members of the community have accused the wellness sector of ‘co-opting’ witchcraft to sell products. 

If your children are avid TikTok users you might have heard them talk about witches and spells. The popularity of the WitchTok subculture has exploded on the app in recent years and it continues to grow. 

Practising ‘witches’ have taken to the social media app to share their advice on spells, document their lives and more. It is just one of the many rabbit holes that users of the social media app could fall down and engage with. 

While it is mostly harmless, there is a recent wellness trend on the platform that parents need to be aware of. Here’s all you need to know: 

What is WitchTok? 

The name is a portmanteau of Witchcraft and TikTok. You may have heard of similar names like FoodTok, which is a shorthand along the same lines as WitchTok. 

Beyond the etymology of the term itself, WitchTok broadly speaking refers to a side of TokTok where people are producing ‘witchy’ videos. If you go down the rabbit hole you could find clips with tarot readings, tutorials for ‘baby witches’, or vlogs documenting the daily life of a witch. 

It is a particularly popular corner of TikTok, with more than 6 million posts on the hashtag currently. The hashtag has caused a few unaware eyebrows to be raised because of the association between witchcraft and the occult, but it is far less sinister than that. 

For example in one video, a TikTok witch explains to her followers how to respectfully take photos in a graveyard - if you want that perfect gothic aesthetic. Her advice includes avoiding stepping on graves and making sure to ask permission at a grave before taking your snap. 

What is going on with wellness on WitchTok? 

However, there is a bit of an iffy recent trend appearing on WitchTok recently - which some have accused of co-opting the Wiccan religion - where witchcraft content is being combined with the wellness sector. It comes following a recent boom in headlines about so-called spiritual healers selling readings for huge sums, especially to the stars. 

Beyond the realms of TikTok, “professional witches” are reportedly charging hundreds of pounds for their services, with one said to have a five-year waiting list. Michael Cardenas, head witch at Olde Ways told The Independent: “Witchcraft has definitely been co-opted by the wellness sector. 

“It is actually having an incredibly negative cultural impact on witchcraft practices, watering them down and ‘normalising’ them to the point that the term ‘witch’ has started to lose its meaning.”

If your kids use TikTok and perhaps spend time on WitchTok, they could come across accounts attempting to sell them products under the guise of offering wellness benefits. Which could end up coming back to bite your wallet, if you are not vigilant. 

Gabriela Herstik, an author and witch based in Los Angeles adds: “You do not need anything to be a witch. 

“You do not need $1,000 readings or a $75 crystal. Witchcraft is a way of living in and working with your power, but it has been co-opted by being commodified as a cure-all. Breathwork, meditation, movement, affirmations, working with the cycles of the sun and moon… this costs nothing.”

What can parents do? 

It is always wise to avoid putting your bank or card details on digital stores on your children’s phone, or at least put security measures in place, to avoid them being able to spend money without your permission, or without understanding what they are doing. TikTok also has a range of security measures including Family Pairing. 

On its website, the social media platform explains: “Our Family Pairing features let parents link their TikTok account to their teen’s to enable a variety of content, privacy, and well-being settings. We encourage caregivers to discuss the Family Pairing features with their teens, and explain why they choose to turn them on. Even without Family Pairing enabled, parents can help their teens enable our app’s Screen Time offerings including Daily Screen Time, and Restricted Mode. These settings may vary depending on your region and version of the app.” 

What measures do you use to help reduce your children’s screen time? Share your tips in the comments below.