Let’s not sugar-coat it: every community that claims spiritual depth also grows its own little garden of thorns. The Pagan and witchcraft world is no exception. Somewhere between the incense smoke and Witchtok, a darker side exists… sharp-tongued, side-eyed, and occasionally downright venomous.

We talk a lot in Pagan and witchcraft spaces about healing, authenticity, and “living your truth.”

But there’s a less photogenic current moving through the community. One that doesn’t get ritualised under the full moon or hashtagged into inspiration.

Call it what it is: Bitchcraft.

Not the reclaiming, defiant use of the word. Not the witch as the transgressive boundary-breaker or truth-teller.

I’m talking about the less obvious craft. The whispered spell. The social hex.

Jealousy and toxic behaviour are rampant within the community.

And to understand why it thrives, we need to look at how modern Paganism was shaped.

Witchcraft – A Movement Built to Be Acceptable

Modern witchcraft didn’t emerge in a vacuum. As discussed in my last article, much of what we now call contemporary Paganism was filtered, shaped, and presented through figures like Gerald Gardner and later popularised by voices such as Doreen Valiente.

In the mid-20th century, witchcraft had a problem: survival.

To exist openly in a society still deeply influenced by Christianity, it had to become palatable. Respectable. Safe enough not to provoke moral panic.

So, parts of the tradition were softened.

The emphasis on “harm none” ethics and the careful distancing from anything that looked too transgressive or threatening.

This wasn’t necessarily malicious. It was strategic. Protective, even.

But it came with a cost.

From Cunning Craft to Comfortable Spirituality

Historically, the people we now romanticise as “witches” or cunning folk weren’t always gentle healers lighting candles for self-love.

They occupied complicated roles. They healed… and they cursed. They protected… and they retaliated. They worked for those without power, often in morally grey ways.

They weren’t trying to be liked. They were trying to be effective.

Modern Paganism, especially in its more mainstream forms, often sheds that ambiguity. It leans toward being visibly ethical rather than deeply examined.

And when a tradition distances itself from its shadow, that shadow doesn’t disappear.

It goes underground and becomes toxic.

The Rise of the Spiritual Social Game

Fast forward to now.

Paganism isn’t hidden anymore. It’s online (terminally). It’s an aesthetic. It’s a brand.

Altars are curated. Practices are often over-shared. Personal gnosis becomes content.

And where there is visibility, there is hierarchy… even in communities that insist they don’t have one.

Who is more experienced?
Who is more authentic?
Who has the bigger following?
Who gets invited, platformed, and published.

It’s not supposed to matter.

But it does.

Because humans didn’t stop being human when they picked up a staff and some robes.

Enter: Bitchcraft

This is where the older, darker currents resurface… not as ritualised cursing or folk magic, but as social behaviour.

It looks like:

Smiling in ritual, then dissecting someone the moment they leave.
Withholding knowledge to maintain status or authority.
Framing jealousy as discernment.
Undermining others through subtle, deniable comments.
Forming quiet alliances and exclusions.

It’s not always obvious. In fact, it thrives on subtlety.

And because the community often avoids conflict in the name of “keeping the peace,” it rarely gets addressed directly.

The Witch Wound… and What We Do with It

There’s truth in the idea that many people come to Paganism carrying wounds. If you have been to any moot or pagan event, it is clear to see that we attract a wide range of damaged characters. They arrive with religious trauma, social rejection and a history of being othered.

But pain doesn’t automatically create wisdom. Unexamined, it creates problematic patterns.

Jealousy when someone else shines.
Defensiveness when challenged.
A need to control spaces to feel safe within them.

And when those patterns are dressed up in spiritual language, they become harder to challenge.

I am sure we have all been on the receiving end of the toxic parts of our community. I know I have. It led me to put down my robes and leave the public eye for 15 years.

But I bet we have also been the toxic ones.

Spiritual Bypassing in Ritual Robes

Modern Pagan spaces have developed a dialect for avoiding accountability, and it is something we must address.

It sounds like:

“Their energy feels off”
“Spirit told me to step back”
“I’m protecting my peace”

Sometimes that’s genuine intuition. Sometimes it’s a beautifully worded shield from discomfort, envy, or conflict. The language of spirituality can become camouflage.

And bitchcraft thrives in camouflage.

Why This Matters

Because this isn’t just about hurt feelings or community drama.

It’s about integrity.

If a path claims transformation, then it has to include this work too. Not just calling in deities or honouring the land but confronting the ways we replicate the very dynamics we say we’ve rejected.

Otherwise, we end up with the same hierarchies, the same exclusions, the same quiet cruelties…

Just dressed in ritual tools and poetic language.

The Real Work – Combating Toxic Jealousy

The uncomfortable truth is that everyone is capable of this.

Not just “toxic people.” Not just “them.”

All of us, even I, fall prey to the draw of a good bitching session.

The work isn’t to pretend we’re above it. It’s to catch it in ourselves before it calcifies into behaviour. Shadow work is an important part of Witchcraft that often gets overlooked.

That means:

Naming jealousy instead of disguising it.
Refusing to participate in gossip, even when it bonds you to others.
Letting go of the need to be seen as the most knowledgeable or “advanced”.
Owning when you’ve been the sharp edge, not just the one cut by it.

Because real witchcraft isn’t just about what you can do with energy.

It’s about what you do with power.

Do the work, stop being lazy.

A Final Thought

Witchcraft has always lived at the edges.

But if we strip away our ability to call out bad behaviour in the name of being accepting, accommodating or accepted, and then reintroduce those same dynamics through passive aggression, exclusion, and social manipulation…

We haven’t transcended anything.

We’ve just changed the problem.