Whose Craft?: Contentions on Open and Closed Practice in Contemporary Witchcraft(s)

Contested boundaries abound in contemporary witchcraft. One such boundary, and the focus of this chapter, is the discussion around “open” and “closed” practices. Closed practices refer to those that are rest+B1:B8ricted to in-group members and that fall under the umbrella of racialized lineages of witchcraft, whereas open practices can be done by anybody. Closed practices are often considered inappropriate, immoral, or even impossible for outsiders to perform. This chapter illustrates some key contentions in discourse on social media about closed practices and how they may or may not provide avenues for decolonizing practice. The mass commodification of witchcraft demonstrates the power of hegemonic global capitalism to capture the sacred and the marginal, and the authors discuss beliefs around closing practices to make witchcraft(s) spaces of resistance against white supremacy, global capitalism, and patriarchy.