Don’t Put Other Witches on Pedestals

Most of us rankle a bit at the mention of “Big Name Pagans,” especially as those big names start to belong to people that we’ve never heard of. I log onto Instagram these days, and the biggest witch and Pagan platforms don’t belong to authors, festival presenters, or bloggers–they belong to influencers! This makes me a little bit squeamish sometimes, but ultimately I don’t think the potential problems are really all that different than they are with other types of Big Name Pagans: we put them on pedestals, we mistake their writing and promotional skills for magical ability or some other kind of religious specialness, and we put too much emotional stock in their position as exemplars.

What do we do when our heroes disappoint us? Who should we be looking to for validation and support? In this video I discuss some of these questions and share some of my own experiences as an author.

Takeaways for if videos aren’t your jam: Authors, teachers, and influencers are resources, but they’re still flawed people. Don’t build your witchcraft on someone else. They will eventually fail you or die.