Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on being a witch as a lifestyle, presented in social media. Using content analysis and Stebbins' (1997) ethnographic approach to lifestyle, I will study the activities and shaping social identity through online presence of two Polish content creators: @Paranormalia and @idzys.

Paper long abstract:

The Internet has been providing a space for "imagined community" (Anderson 2006) for contemporary witchcraft practitioners since the 1990s. Finding like-minded people, sharing knowledge and experiences, and, simply, connecting virtually was done first via interactive forums and discussion lists, then via social media which provided a sense of community (Frampton and Grandison 2022). Apart from the role of online communities, other aspects of witchcraft/Paganism and technology have been explored by many researchers, for example: ritual practice amongst Instagram users (Orrell 2019); spreading witchcraft and Pagan spirituality via social media (Jabłońska 2022); or identity construction through social media protests (Miller 2022).

In the proposed paper I aim to add another layer to this research and focus on being a witch as a lifestyle, presented in social media, primarly on Youtube. I refer to 'lifestyle' as a "set of shared patterns of tangible behavior that is organized around a set of coherent interests or social conditions or both (…)" that "becomes the basis for a separate common social identitity for its participants" (Stebbins 1997: 350). These patterns of tangible behaviour can be consciously presented through content created online.

Data for the proposed analysis will be gathered from the content analysis of Youtube channels created by two Poles: firstly, Natalia Turska (@Paranormalia), who identifies as a Pagan and a Witch and secondly, Idżys (@idzys), self-identified as "Slow Living Dreamer", a Druid, a witch and a tarot reader. I will analyse the activities they present - both in a ritual and everyday context - and how they construct social identities through their online presence. I will also address the issue of professionalisation and monetisation of their channels. Other social media channels run by Natalia and Idżys - especially Instagram - will be used as a broad context.