I have spent the last month off of social media. It was really nice and it has made me rethink why I use social media and what I want out of the relationship. Because it is a relationship – often unequal and unrequited, but still a relationship.
As I work slowly to reintegrate social media back into my life – I catch myself falling into the patterns that I appreciated letting go of during the break: posting content and checking for engagement. Ugh. I don’t want my life dictated by a need for likes or engagement. I don’t want to respond or feed an algorithm. And yet, in so many ways, you cannot exist online without doing so.
This ultimately brings me back to this space. It’s less flashy and instantaneous. It’s not as far reaching. And it requires more thought on my part before posting. But as a witch who believes self knowledge and discernment are important, I think this might just be the space I need to inhabit for this moment. Moreover, in my tradition of witchcraft, we are advised to sit in silence with our thoughts and ideas and digest them fully before sharing them (there are obviously caveats to this). And there is something about sitting with a blog post, thinking through the words written, that is more contemplative in nature than a quick image based post on instagram. Each has their place and purpose.
Last year was a year of consuming action. on my part. I read voraciously. I made lists. I traveled. I studied. I did. I built. I initiated. I took on students. I strove. I took in so much information that I found my head spinning, often second guessing what I personally believe and value. It was a year of testing. And in all that consumption based learning, I really saw how media (of all forms) can mute your inner voice and self knowledge.
This year I find myself contemplating, removing what doesn’t serve, making choices. I find myself looking for wisdom in what is vs building and mastering what I can. I don’t want to take in as much right now. I want to synthesize and shape what has been learned. Integrate and let go. It’s a fascinating process and one that I’m really appreciating. Even though I’m still full of action, I am enjoying the rest found within a different type of activity.
Which leads me to the question in this post: how do we navigate social media mindfully in occult work?
So much of the work we do, esoterically speaking, requires stillness, self-knowledge, and practice. Like a musician or an artist, I believe that being a witch requires discipline and practice. I don’t mean this in an all or nothing severity. But I do mean it in a consistent, applied type of way. We need to hone skills of observation, listening, sight (etc), in order to apply them to our practice.
I didn’t learn divination in a day. Or meditation. Or running a coven. They are things I continue to work at and evolve. I make mistakes. Some days I am too influenced by my outside forces to hear my inner voice. Some days I’m too caught up in my mundane obligations to concentrate. These things impact my ability to cast a circle (because I work in a circle – your mileage may vary and that’s ok), enter into trance/hedgeriding work, to hear the spirits and deities. Years of practice support me during those times. But it’s a muscle. The more I work it, the easier it flexes (hee hee…. I am gleefully enjoying the pun of the moment).
There need to be times when we take breaks from consuming media and outside sources so that we know who we are, what we believe, what our values are, and what our inner voice sounds like. I just had a class with my pre-initiate students this tide where we talked about red flags and boundaries in the craft. My follow up question to them, myself, and even you dear reader, is how do you know what your red flags/boundaries are if you don’t know what is truly your reaction vs media/consumer outrage? Are you upset because you are upset or are you triggered because you’ve been told to be? Are you worked up into a lather because society is frothing at the bit or are you genuinely indignant about an issue that hits close to home?
I’m going to be that pagan – the one who advocates for reduced social media usage and lowered screen times – just so that you can have moments of contemplation and space to figure out what your practice looks like for you. Because what you see online is only a portion of the story. Influencers are busy crafting an image, practitioners are busy practicing. (Eek, I know, I wrote it). But there are limited hours in a day. And while there are times to study, absorb, and consume; there also needs to be times to rest, contemplate, and integrate.