What began as an online marketplace for handmade crafts has become the center of an unexpected spiritual debate.
According to conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey, Etsy’s recent enforcement against listings advertising spellcasting, curses, love spells and other occult services highlights a much deeper issue than questionable online sales—it reveals what she believes is an increasing normalization of witchcraft in mainstream culture.
“We’ve got a spiritual sickness in our culture, and the gospel is the answer,” Stuckey said during a recent broadcast. “When it’s becoming popularized, when it’s becoming normalized, when it’s becoming commercialized, when billions and billions of dollars are being made by people casting spells on others through a seemingly innocuous site like Etsy, we’ve got a problem.”
The discussion follows renewed attention to Etsy’s enforcement of a policy prohibiting the sale of metaphysical services since 2015.
According to Stuckey, the marketplace had long allowed vendors to advertise services such as love spells, curses, psychic readings and money manifestation rituals despite those written rules.
Etsy’s policy bars sellers from offering spellcasting, Reiki, prayers for sale and other metaphysical services whose outcomes cannot be verified. While many of those listings have recently been removed, Stuckey suggested the timing may be connected less to moral concerns than to legal and public-relations considerations.
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She pointed to widespread reports that someone allegedly purchased a spell targeting conservative activist Charlie Kirk before his assassination, arguing that the controversy may have prompted Etsy to begin more aggressively policing its marketplace.
“I don’t think that the people at Etsy… have moral qualms with witchcraft,” Stuckey said. “I think they don’t want to be on the hook for the potential of fraud. They don’t want to deal with another negative PR campaign.”
During the program, Stuckey displayed examples of listings that had advertised “millionaire spells,” obsession love spells and curses against enemies, many of which promised same-day results.
While acknowledging the claims may appear absurd, she argued that the people purchasing such services often reflect genuine spiritual and emotional desperation.
“It is very, very sad,” she said. “When you think about the desperation that someone has to have… to believe this kind of advertisement and then to pay money for it.”
Stuckey also warned Christians not to dismiss the occult as harmless entertainment while emphasizing that believers need not live in fear.
“This witchcraft doesn’t have any dominion over the Christian,” she said. “We are indwelt by the Holy Spirit… He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.”
Still, she cautioned that the growing popularity of occult practices—including manifestation culture, tarot readings and online spellcasting—points to a broader spiritual hunger that cannot ultimately be satisfied apart from Christ.
Rather than viewing witchcraft merely as an unusual internet trend, Stuckey argued it reflects humanity’s age-old desire to control the future apart from God.
Scripture repeatedly warns against occult practices while directing believers to seek wisdom, guidance and power from the Lord alone. As conversations surrounding spirituality continue to grow in the digital marketplace, the renewed debate over Etsy’s policies serves as another reminder that the battle for hearts and minds often extends far beyond the physical world.
Abby Trivett is a writer and editor for Charisma Media and has a passion for sharing the gospel through the written word. She holds two degrees from Regent University, a B.A. in Communication with a concentration in Journalism and a Master of Arts in Journalism. She is the author of the newly released book, The Power of Suddenly: Discover How God Can Change Everything in a Moment. For interviews and media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
