This year is full of new surprises, including this past weekend when the online witch community leaked onto mainstream Twitter.
You may have seen some tweets, TikToks, or jokes about baby witches hexing the moon and wondered what the hell is going on. Well, strap in as we unpack.
The first thing to understand is that witchcraft isn't just a bunch of teens running around playing with Ouija boards and rewatching The Craft. Yes, witchcraft ebbs and flows as a trend and aesthetic, but there are also a lot of people out there for whom witchcraft is a genuinely held set of spiritual beliefs and, more than that, a lifestyle.
It's those people who are showing their frustration with the rumor that a small coven of "baby witches" have been hexing stuff they shouldn't. A "baby witch," in the community, is a typically young witch who is new to the practice and, either out of ignorance or inexperience or both, has no idea what they're doing.
The rumor, which starting circulating on "WitchTok" (the community of witches on TikTok) is that these baby witches first hexed the fae. The fae, also called the fair folk, are magical creatures seen in folklore from many cultures. They're associated with nature and being cunning and full of mischief, and some witches incorporate them into their practices.
So, generally speaking, hexing them is a no-no. As is hexing the moon, which the rumors say are what these baby witches did next.
The moon, like the fae, is very important to witches. Its power is used in witchcraft and, in particular, represents the divine feminine.
Still following?
Okay, so, again, "hexing" these things is just not a thing that's done. According to one Reddit post, those four baby witches were trying to "prove a point" of some sort and now the whole thing has exploded all over Twitter.
A lot of this stems from a Twitter thread from user @heyyadoraa that has more than 34,000 retweets.
In the thread, they explain what a hex is and how this all started.
They also explain why little witches shouldn't be messing with the fae or the moon, which are seen as very powerful in the community.
You may have also seen people talking about Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, who is heavily associated with the moon. Basically, hexing the moon would probably piss her off.
Naturally, as usually happens when anything niche reaches the mainstream, the rest of Twitter didn't react with the utmost respect and kindness to news of all this witchy controversy.
It's been a weird time.
There are also plenty of fellow witches who are scolding and making fun of the baby witches for messing with things they don't understand.
And then others are questioning whether you even can hex the moon.
Even former Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson weighed in.
Meanwhile, over on WitchTok, similar conversations are happening.
So, all that to say, it's been a hectic 24 hours in the witch community and debates are still ongoing about who has the power to do what and whether everyone is just overreacting.
And if you're not a witch, it's probably best to resist the temptation to mock the current happenings — no one needs that energy right now.