by Emily Carlin
We live in a world that is more interconnected than ever. In the blink of an eye we can talk to people across the globe via social media in real time—as if they were in the next room. Of course, we often use this amazing technology to send each other videos of synchronized dancing and pictures of cats. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) However, as magickal people we could be doing so much more with social media. The same technologies that create viral videos and trending tags can be used to both gather and send out energy in order to manifest your magick in the world.
One of the fundamental concepts in pop culture magick is that popular things have their own energy reservoir that can be tapped into by a knowledgeable practitioner. The idea is that things that are experienced and enjoyed by the masses are given energy through those interactions. In other words, you can work with a character or concept you like from a popular television show or book and take advantage of the energies poured into it by other fans. Similarly, in ceremonial magic a ritual is considered more potent for the energies of the many practitioners who have performed it in the past. It’s about boosting a magickal working with not only the energy of the practitioner performing it, but also with the energies of those connected via emotional or metaphysical links. What does this have to do with doing magick on social media? Everything.
The purpose of social media is to allow people to create and share information, ideas, images, and videos in virtual communities. Through tags, trends, and sharing, we can see thoughts and images spread around the world, experienced by countless individuals. Each person that experiences a piece of media online imparts his or her own bit of energy to it as it passes through his or her mind. How much energy do you think a meme gathers as it spreads across the Internet? We can take advantage of this natural energy accumulation by creating and sharing magickal media. Imagine creating an image deliberately infused with your magickal will that goes viral; how much energy would that raise in the service of your intent?
Selecting a Social Network
There are many social networks that can be used to share your magickal works, and each one has particular strengths and weaknesses. Some social networks are primarily focused on networking, creating interest groups, or staying connected with friends and family—think Facebook, Google+, or LinkedIn. Other networks are focused on sharing art, articles, hobbies, and commentary—like Tumblr, Instagram, or DeviantArt. Still others focus on sharing news, opinions, and information—like Twitter or Reddit. It’s important to choose the right network for your magickal style. If you want to pull energy from a particular kind of person be sure to share your crafted content in a group that you know comprises those people. If you want to inspire others to create something based on your media, then share it on a network that is composed of largely of artists. If you want to spread your spell as far and wide as possible, be sure to tag it with the most popular and appropriate tags and post it everywhere you can. Rather than explore the many social media options out there, for brevity’s sake we’ll look at three in detail: Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter.
Facebook: Connections
Facebook is one of the most popular social networks in the world. Everyone and their mom are on Facebook; my mom is on Facebook. This means that there are also a lot of magickal folk on Facebook. A quick search will show you thousands of different groups for magickal practitioners of every flavor. Not only are these groups an excellent place to get advice and feedback on your practices, they’re a great place to gather energy and appreciation. One of the most common bits of social media magick I’ve seen on Facebook is devotions. When practitioners call upon external entities (deities, fae, Goetics, spirits, etc.) in the course of a magickal work, the deities often ask some kind of special recognition in exchange for their aid. It’s not always practical to perform a chant extolling the kindness and virtues of Maman Bridgette on the street, but it is absolutely appropriate to do so in a Facebook group devoted to the Loa. I would argue that it is better to post such thanks in a smaller but focused social media group than in a less restricted but targetless place because the folks in a magickal group will understand the significance of your devotions and appreciate them more fully. There are many ways to do magick on Facebook, but sharing devotions in the appropriate group is one of the best.
Tumblr: Visuals
Tumblr and other visual-heavy social networks are the places par excellence for sharing magickally charged images. There are many ways to charge an image with magickal intent. One of the easiest is to add a sigil that you’ve created to the image. For example, to do a spell for finding a new job, create a digital sigil that embodies your full intent in a program like Microsoft Paint or Adobe Photoshop and then paste it into an image of someone doing your dream job. Then you can share that image with tags like #ProsperitySpell, #NewJobForMe, or #ProsperityAndAPromotion. If you’re more creatively minded you might compose an altar photo that contains all the elements of a traditional prosperity spell and then share that image. If you’re an artist you can create an original piece of art that incorporates your intent and then share it. Some great examples of blogs focused on just this are http://problemglyphs.org and http://everydaysigils.tumblr.com. Be sure to take advantage of your chosen network’s tagging and captioning systems so that others can find your work if they don’t follow you. Captions are also important for making sure the visually impaired aren’t excluded from your working. These techniques can also be used for charging audio or video files. Creating interesting, bespelled images that grab people’s attention and get shared is a great way to harness the power of art-heavy social networks.
Twitter: Words
For the more verbally inclined there are networks like Twitter. While you certainly can post images and links in Twitter, the very best posts are 140 characters of just the right words. The most obvious magickal use of Twitter is to write a 140-character spell—which is more difficult than you might imagine. A lot of times, trying to reduce a full spell into 140 characters or less will just create a semimagickal haiku that doesn’t make much sense. This is a good medium for simple, active spells and for prayers and petitions. For example, “Athena, guide me this day so that I act with insight, consideration, and grace #Wisdom #GuideMe.” A good Twitter spell requires time and effort to get just right, but that very effort will infuse your words with your intent and make their impact on those who read them that much more potent. Add a good hashtag or two and your spell will be seen and shared by the masses, lending your words far more energy than if you’d simply spoken them aloud. Twitter is the network of bon mots rather than drawn out discourse, so keep your workings straightforward and you might just be a trending tag.
Social media has the power to spread your magick around your community and the world at large. By intentionally posting words, images, videos, and other material that contain your magickal will, you can take advantage of the energy that the people who experience it put forth. Find the medium that most appeals to you, be it art, words, music, video, or something else entirely. Find the right network on which to share it, and then send it out into the world to gather what it will. Most of us already belong to at least one social network, so why not take advantage of it? Unleash your creativity online and see where it takes your magick.