I swore long ago that I would do whatever it took to avoid being one of those old people who refused to stay current with technology and who always griped about how everything was better when they were young. Unfortunately, I’m starting to suspect that I am entering my crone era just in time to actually have good reason to cling to the ways of the past. There’s a name for it, even.

Enshitification.

I’ve also never been the kind of witch who by defaut values the practices of the past over the ways of the present. No time period has a monopoly on effective magic, and so much of the way any witch practices witchcraft is tied to their time and place and cultural context. I want to be a 21st century witch, not a witch who cosplays 19th century fantasy because it feels more legitimate.

But I’ll be damned if I’m not finding my own version of “the Old Ways” to hearken back to.

I miss the days of online forums and digital communities before social media became ad-focused, algorithm-driven machines of capitalist bullshit. When we came together searching for friendship, good conversation, and knowledge traded freely as opposed to searching for follower counts, engagement, and knowledge offered via paywall.

I miss the days when local witches were excited to come out in person to meetups and gatherings to hang out and be social. When people weren’t so averse to meeting new people and spending time outside their home.

I miss the days when people passionate about their pet topics – including witchcraft – would spend the time to make their own websites as little digital shrines to the things they care about. And when people regularly searched out cool websites to visit for reasons other than commerce. I hate that the internet has become such a wasteland that those of us with websites struggle more than effort to attract other people interested in what we’ve made.

I want to hold out hope that someday soon we’ll reach some kind of critical mass in the larger community where so many people feel the loss of community, both online and offline, and fight to resurrect the habits and spaces we used to have. But maybe that’s not how things will turn out. Maybe holding out that kind of hope is the same thing as my elders complaining about things they lost and refusing to embrace change as it comes. Change is, after all, inevitable. And very little is accomplished by trying to resist it.

So I also try to hold out hope that the enshitification of everything is just part of a process of evolution. That this is an awkward and painful transition we have to go through in order to make way for some great new opportunity to come together and encourage connection and creativity in the witchcraft community and beyond.

In the meantime, though, it certainly couldn’t hurt for all of us to ressurect the newer old ways. Go meet up with local witches in your community. Make a website. Share stuff for free. Connect with people on a personal level, even online, and nurture actual friendships. I promise it’s way better than the alternative.