Even though pissing off witches seems like it might not be the best idea, Etsy, the internet’s go-to source for crocheted placentas and things that just kind of look like crocheted placentas, is doing just that. The online marketplace recently enacted new policies which bar sellers from offering any “service that promises or suggests it will effect a physical change (e.g., weight loss) or other outcome (e.g., love, revenge)…even if it delivers a tangible item.” So, basically, blow out the candles, pack up the herbs, and tell those ancient deities to beat it, because the party’s over. Etsy is now officially a spell-free zone.
Whether Etsy is engaging in discrimination or simply protecting gullible buyers depends on how it chooses to enforce its policies. Some vendors claim that the company has been pulling some Hobby Lobby bullshit by quietly shutting down pagan sellers while letting vendors of Christian items continue their Abrahamic chicanery unabated: “I give the example of the seller who just this week was told to change the title of her listing from ‘Archangel Protection Spell Kit’ to ‘Archangel Protection PRAYER Kit’ by an Etsy rep,” one tells The Daily Dot. It also depends on whether you think that magic—sorry, magick—you know, works.
Either way, as they do when things get tough, the scorned witches are already casting some pretty serious spells about it: