While I was writing up the base framework for my piece on Witchy Consumerism I was also encountering a phenomenon related to one that I briefly touched on in that essay. I said that you should maintain a strong suspicion of "Witchy" goods you find at mainstream stores, because they are capitalizing on the popularity of a "Witchy" aesthetic with no substance, banking on the fact that you will probably get bored of the current Witchy trends and move onto a different one they can capitalize on. A thing I didn't mention in that essay, but which I think is really important, is that the Pagan and Witch community right now, and especially more newbish and New Age oriented Witches and Pagans, have helped this process along a lot by making these marketing trends into micro-identities within Witchcraft. People are encouraged to pick what "kind" of Witch they are--usually one associated with an aesthetic--and essentially make that into their personality (at least where Witchcraft is concerned).
It has gotten to the point where you can find a number of websites (including personality quiz sites and AI-generated content farms) that suggest one of the first things somebody should do when starting their practice of Witchcraft is try figuring out what type of Witch they are. And, uh... since when?? It certainly wasn't a thing when I first started practicing Witchcraft, and frankly, it makes no sense at all that committing to a bit would be the first thing you do when you start practicing.
I call this "Enamel Pinification," because when I see it, I picture people selling enamel pins and other merch featuring the label.
"I'm a ~Fire Witch.~"
"I'm a ~Green Witch.~"
"I'm a ~Divination Witch.~"
"I'm a ~Cottage Witch.~"
To be clear, I'm not anti-label, and in Witchcraft specifically there are plenty of good reasons you might want to use labels to identify yourself as a member of a particular tradition or longstanding style of Witchcraft. Some of these labels, like Traditional Witch, Hereditary Witch, Eclectic Witch, and Kitchen Witch have been used for decades to distinguish between different traditions and types of Witchcraft. While these terms have been absorbed into the Enamel Pinification phenomenon to an extent, they are really about the philosophy you adhere to in your Witchcraft practice, not aesthetics. A Kitchen Witch is still a Kitchen Witch if they use an Instant Pot in an apartment instead of a cast iron cauldron in a perfectly cottagecore-designed cabin in the woods. The hyper-specific Witchcraft labels people are aligning with nowadays are, at least in my observation, more about what marketable aesthetics and collectibles people are drawn to than anything else.
I am a maximalist and a collector who loves being surrounded by ~aesthetic~ things, so I would be a hypocrite if I said I thought there was something wrong with styling your Witchcraft practice around an aesthetic that brings you joy, nor is there anything wrong with focusing on a few magical techniques and practices that resonate with you. But an increasing number of Witchy communities are creating a culture in which people are encouraged to insert themselves into a hyper-specific but ultimately shallow typology of Witches, one that does very little but make you easier to market to. Manufacturers of cheap Witchy tchotchkes, decor, and ritual tools can sell more of them in the long-run if they can design things marketed to categories so hyper-specific the members feel like these goods were created just for them, or if people make their whole personality as a Witch about a particular tool they like. A Witch might only need a few crystals based on things they commonly need, but a ~Crystal Witch~ can be sold a large collection of crystals because they have made their personality that of a person with a lot of crystals. A Witch might have a couple tarot cecks, but a ~Tarot Witch~ might impulsively buy multiple decks a year. A Witch might have some clothing identifying them as a Witch, but somebody who has made ~Forest Witch~ their personality can be sold a T-Shirt specifically saying ~Forest Witch~ and a bunch of stickers and pins and buttons that say ~Forest Witch.~
What's worse, since a lot of these "identities" are actually just shifting trends in aesthetics, manufacturers of this kind of junk can count on a lot of Witches who have aligned themselves with an aesthetics-based identity to eventually get tired of it and work on a whole new collection of aesethetic junk based on a new identity, resulting not only in them spending a bunch more money but also generating more frivolous consumer waste that will eventually go to the landfill. The whole trend is designed to encourage overconsumption.
On an individual level, I feel it is really important to adopt behavior that celebrates us as individual Witches with a unique spectrum of tastes and interests, and to consistently adopt a quality-over-quantity philosophy when it comes to what we consume. As I said in the aforementioned essay, take your time and really make an effort to acquire tools, ingredients, and even things like apparel and decor that really resonate with you, long-term, rather than things that happen to fit a flavor-of-the-month aesthetic.
Happy Trails,
Wolfpeach