The BBC has told listeners to “embrace” pagan rituals and spells in a radio series promoting the use of witchcraft in the UK.
India Rakusen, who presents BBC Radio 4’s ‘Witch’, spoke to those who identify as witches and joined in their practices.
Rakusen attempted to normalise pagan “sabbats” by equating them with societal events such as “baby showers, stag dos, football chants and dinner party speeches”.
‘Self-discovery’
The journalist drew attention to an area on social media platform TikTok as a “space for all things Witch!”, saying if a spell is working, “why not embrace it?”
She claimed: “In this series you’re not going to find many pointy hats or broomsticks, that is an image crafted by persecutors and murderers”.
“The moment I start actually meeting and talking to witches it’s clear that many of the archetypes don’t hold today, the idea of the witch now encompasses much much more”.
an image crafted by persecutors
Her guest, Professor Ronald Hutton of Bristol University, added: “Witchcraft is about personal growth, self-discovery, and self-empowerment and those are three interwoven major themes of the discovery of the individual in modern culture”.