The internet has been bubbling with discussions of Etsy witches - spells that can get you a date, a job, a 'glow up', or anything you have your mind on. I'd like to buy one of these spells and see if the proposed affect happens - I'd also like to talk to some users/witches themselves about the belief in them.

In 2008, Wall Street crashed. (This is relevant, stay with me) In September 2008, all hope was lost, and the financial crisis reached its summit. This had begun in 2007, slowly, then all at once. Mass unemployment, skyrocketing house prices, and generally a financial world that was now unrecognisable, and one that here in 2026 we can agree has never truly healed.

Back in 2021/22 I almost completely stopped voluntarily listening to music. Not out of protest or as some kind of mindfulness practice, but because the sheer amount of music available to me, combined with my mental health at the time (like a lot of people, the post Covid years were dark ones), meant that I couldn’t listen to a song all the way through without skipping it. It was compulsive. Even songs I liked didn’t make it all the way through to the end.