Virtually at war: melodrama in the world of digital witchcraft

In recent years, witches have capitalized on the virtual spaces offered by platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit, and have formed digital communities comprised of a multiplicity of practices and identities. These digital assemblages of contemporary witches have shifted the landscape from historically small or solitary practices to a vast forum and archive of popular occult content, and entertainment, that includes everything from spells, jokes, and spiritual guidance to fraught conversations on race, religion, and belonging. Though these platforms provide access to community, they are rife with contradictions and can reproduce systems of power that disqualify and marginalize certain users. Sometimes, these conflicts are called ‘witch wars’. Though witch wars are not confined to the internet, forums can become virtual battlefields where witches struggle internally over questions of authenticity and identity. Using a performance studies lens, this article explores the notion of witch wars on digital platforms such as TikTok and Reddit through the framework of melodrama. By examining the imbrication of witch culture with whiteness, neoliberal individualism, and cultural appropriation, this article aims to study the complexities and contradictions being performed online when witches metaphorically hunt other witches.