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Attitudes Towards Potential Harmful Magical Practices in Contemporary Paganism - A Survey

Bibliographic Data

ID12756752
AuthorsBethan Juliet Oake (corresponding author)
Year2019
Volume21
Issue1
Pages26-52
Publication date2019-11-08
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePomegranate The International Journal of Pagan Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1528-0268 • E-ISSN: 1743-1735
PublisherEquinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1558/pome.34988
OpenAlexW2983313719
LanguageEN
Citations received1

In 2016, a group of witches organised a mass online hex against Brock Turner, the “Stanford Rapist,” in disgust toward his crime and unjust punishment. Responses to this event demonstrate the enormous diversity in Pagan’s opinions regarding the use of hexes, curses, or other forms of potentially “harmful” magic. The research outlined in this article consists of a qualitative survey which sought to identify these differences in opinion and the reasoning behind them. Results demonstrated that Pagans’ attitudes towards potentially harmful uses of magic fell into four distinct categories. It appears that fears of misjudgment and discrimination are very present amongst many within the community, which has led to some individuals attempting to conceal any practices that may be deemed harmful, or “evil,” by outsiders. Additionally, some choose to abstain from using harmful magic due to fears of harm returning to them. However, a significant proportion of Pagans today are in fact open to engaging with potentially harmful magical practices, as long as they can in some way be channeled to provide an outcome that can be deemed positive and/or healing

Anger · Christianity · Criminology · Disgust · Fell · Geography · Harm · MAGIC (telescope · Paganism · Punishment (psychology · Sociology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Psychology · Religious Studies and Spiritual Practices · Social Psychology

  • An’ Ye harm none? Discourses of hexes and harm on WitchTok

    Open Access•C Miller•Social Compass•2026

Citations per year1
Citation span2026 - 2026 (1)
Highly citedNo

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