Hi guest! As you can see, the new Wizard Forums has been revived, and we are glad to have you visiting our site! However, it would be really helpful, both to you and us, if you registered on our website! Registering allows you to see all posts, and make posts yourself, which would be great if you could share your knowledge and opinions with us! You could also make posts to ask questions!
I’m Sylwia, a Master’s student in Positive Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. I’m conducting a study that is very close to my heart, and I would love to invite you to participate!
Why am I doing this?
Witchcraft is a beautiful and powerful identity, yet it’s often misunderstood or stigmatized by the modern world. My goal is to bring scientific visibility to our community. I want to show how our path affects our wellbeing and how we navigate social stigma.
Your voice can help bridge the gap between academia and the spiritual world!
Who can join?
You identify as a Witch (any path!)
You are 18+
You can complete the survey in English
What’s involved?
It’s a 15–20 minute anonymous online survey about your identity, experiences, and wellbeing.
Ethics & Privacy: Your participation is 100% voluntary and anonymous. You’ll get a unique code to withdraw your data if you change your mind later. Study open until June 30th, 2026.
Thank you so much for your time and for helping me "enchant" the world of psychology with your experiences!
I also felt focusing on the title "witch" could reduce participation. I filled out the survey regardless. I'm in the middle of my MDiv and getting survey participation is a pain lol
When I was growing up and learning, we used witch and warlock. then terminology shifted and witch became gender neutral. We shifted away from the terms in my practice, because "witch" took on new meanings heavily newaged and no longer fit what we felt the term(s) to mean, or held the authority we felt it should. So, we have new stuff to call ourselves (which is private to our group), but I find that when I dream I still exclusively refer to myself as "warlock" when it comes up in the dream.
In reality the name you use is just a made up word anyway. many words are used for the same thing. At best it can identify the clothes you dress the work up in. but its all the same thing in the end really
Thank you so much for raising this point, and a huge thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to fill out the survey! I really appreciate your support and this discussion, as terminology is incredibly important.
I completely understand where you are coming from. The reason I chose the term "Witch" is because, from an academic and psychological perspective, it is currently the most broadly recognized and inclusive term for people outside the magical or esoteric community.
If I used more specific terms like Wicca, Mage, Pagan, or New Age, psychologists, therapists, and wellbeing practitioners who read this study might not understand who the research is actually about. My goal is to build a bridge between academia and spiritual practitioners. By using a widely known term, it helps secular professionals better understand the unique experiences, needs, and wellbeing of this community.
That being said, I absolutely do not want to erase anyone's specific identity! Inside the survey, there is a dedicated section where you can specify your exact path, tradition, or the terminology you prefer to use.
Everyone practicing any form of magic, energy work, or nature-based spirituality is more than welcome to participate, no matter what title you hold.
Thank you again for your valuable feedback and for helping me bring this topic into the scientific world!
Is this survey only for people in Anglo-American cultures only?
Speaking as Latino-Anglo American, using the word "witch" comes with very heavily filtered cultural assumptions.
You have to be a little outside the English worldview to see it, but word 'witch' carries highly specific Anglophone and Neopagan assumptions that don't apply globally. The vast majority of people worldwide who practice folk magic, traditional healing, or ancestral esoteric traditions are neither British, nor Neopagan, nor do they use the word 'witch' to describe themselves.
While it’s wonderful to see academic research into these spaces, using the specific English term 'witch' on an international board might introduce a significant sampling bias.
In modern Anglophone academia, 'witch' is heavily associated with Western Neopaganism, Wicca, and modern reclaimed and reconstructed spiritualities. By using the English term 'witch' in an international forum, this methodology guarantees a marked self-selection bias.
You are not going to get a global cross-section, you are going to get an over-sampled, highly vocal, overwhelmingly white, modern Western Pagan subculture that is terminally online, and comfortable with Anglosphere terminology.
The only danger here, in my view, is that is will confine to foster conversations that inevitably 'argue to the mean' - the same English-speaking mean- by taking the data of this culturally homogenous, localized Western demographic and generalizing it as a universal standard.
And In doing so, this study will actively participate in the ongoing academic erasure of Latino, Indigenous, and Afro-Diasporic practitioners. Traditional practitioners globally do not share the lineage, aesthetics, or theological frameworks of modern Western Neopaganism, who do not self-identify using English colonial framing. If your methodology cannot account for this massive demographic skew, your data will simply reproduce Western ethnocentrism under the guise of an 'international' study."
If your survey is looking for broader global perspectives, the current phrasing might accidentally filter out the very people from Latino, Latin America and the Global South because they simply won't recognize their practices under that English label.
I am not asking for us to be included here, just please include a sub-note that we exist and that you are survey is attempting to model highly specific European cultural assumptions only.
I’m Sylwia, a Master’s student in Positive Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University. I’m conducting a study that is very close to my heart, and I would love to invite you to participate!
Why am I doing this?
Witchcraft is a beautiful and powerful identity, yet it’s often misunderstood or stigmatized by the modern world. My goal is to bring scientific visibility to our community. I want to show how our path affects our wellbeing and how we navigate social stigma.
Your voice can help bridge the gap between academia and the spiritual world!
Who can join?
You identify as a Witch (any path!)
You are 18+
You can complete the survey in English
What’s involved?
It’s a 15–20 minute anonymous online survey about your identity, experiences, and wellbeing.
Ethics & Privacy: Your participation is 100% voluntary and anonymous. You’ll get a unique code to withdraw your data if you change your mind later. Study open until June 30th, 2026.
Thank you so much for your time and for helping me "enchant" the world of psychology with your experiences!
Please do not view this as an attack of any sorts but more of pointing out the hypocrisy of:
I would simply like to address the requirement of "must identify as a witch"
The Hypocrisy of Mandating the "Witch" Identity in Academic Research
The Premise: "Witch" as an Imposed Tool of Oppression
To understand the inherent flaw in requiring someone to self-identify as a "witch," one must first recognize the word's true origin. Historically, "witch" was never a self-chosen title or a neutral descriptor; it was an external accusation weaponized by men in power to marginalize, control, and execute women who defied societal norms. To force a modern participant to adopt the title of "witch" as a barrier to entry for a study is to force them to claim the very vocabulary of their historical oppressors. It requires the subaltern to validate a linguistic construct born out of systemic violence.
The Timeline of Self-Identification
The concept of reclaiming the word "witch" as a positive, self-chosen identity is a relatively modern phenomenon.
The Historical Reality: For centuries, no woman willingly called herself a witch, as doing so was a death sentence. The 19th-Century Shift: It was not until the mid-19th century that women began to deliberately adapt and claim the term to describe themselves, transforming a fatal accusation into a symbol of autonomy and resistance.
Therefore, a study that treats "witch" as an ancient, timeless, or universally accepted self-identifier ignores centuries of history. It projects a modern, 19th-century-and-later paradigm onto a deeply traumatic historical framework.
Textual Evidence: Witchcraft vs. Sistercraft
The hypocrisy is further exposed by historical and sacred texts written by women who practiced esoteric traditions. These texts explicitly reject the term "witchcraft," viewing it as a patriarchal distortion of their actual practices.
Janet Horne’s The Devil’s Maleficium (1707): In this text, Horne actively argues against the use of the word "witch." She asserts that the true nature of their practice is "sistercraft." Crucially, Horne warns that any woman who willingly claims the title of "witch" is not a true practitioner of this tradition, but is instead a deceiver and not a sister. From this perspective, accepting the label of "witch" is an act of betrayal to the sisterhood itself.
Margareta Rhoda’s Romani Oracle (1889): Writing over a century later, Rhoda similarly frames these traditions through the lens of "sistercraft" rather than "witchcraft." This reinforces a continuous historical lineage of women defining their spiritual and communal work away from the vocabulary of the state and church.
The Logical Fallacy of the Study
When a modern study mandates that a participant must identify as a "witch," it creates a logical paradox and an ethical hypocrisy:
It excludes the authentic practitioners: According to foundational texts like The Devil’s Maleficium, those who truly understand and practice the tradition of "sistercraft" would actively reject the label of "witch." By making the label mandatory, the study automatically excludes the very people it seeks to study, while inviting in those whom historical practitioners would deem "deceivers."
It reinforces patriarchal definitions: By validating "witchcraft" over "sistercraft," the researchers are choosing to legitimize an inquisitorial, male-dominated definition of women's spiritual practices rather than the definitions written by the women themselves.
Ultimately, asking someone to identify as a witch to participate in research is not progressive data-gathering; it is the unwitting continuation of an ancient linguistic trap, forcing women to view themselves through the eyes of the men who persecuted them.
additionally I will add this excerpt/portion from the Devil's Maleficium 1707:
"Let it be known to those who find these words by the hearth-light or beneath the root: we are Sisters above all else. Mark me well, for the world is full of sharpen'd tongues and iron-bound laws. We are not witches.
A 'Witch' is naught but an accusation, a black-hearted crime bestowed by the mouths of men who fear what they cannot tether. It is a word forged in a kirk-court to justify the rope and the flame. No True Sister would ever take that name upon her breast and wear it as a cloak.
When the sun is high and the neighbors knock, we are but a Cunning Women, skilled in the root and the charm to still the fever or find the lost kine. But when the moon sits low and we gather where the rowan grows thick, we are Sisters, no more, and certainly no less.
Hearken to this warning: beware of the woman who stands bold and calls herself 'Witch.' She is a deceiver, a creature of vanity seeking a power she does not possess, or a fool dancing toward her own grave. We move in the quiet; we heal in the dark; we remain kin when all the world turns to stone."
These are the Defilers of the Hearth. They are easily spotted by those with the true "Sight," for they possess the following marks of falsehood:
The Loud Tongue: They boast of their power in the marketplaces and taverns, for a true sister kens that silence is the greatest vessel of the Divine, while a hollow vessel makes the most noise.
The Spirit of Strife: They do not seek the Unity of Agreement. Instead, they bring the "Ill-tongue" into the circle, whispering malice against a sister to elevate themselves. They are the breeders of the Competitive Spirit that rots the coven from within.
The Lack of the Seal: They can speak of herbs and stars, yet they cannot show a single act of Mercy or a gift of healing that is not for their own gain. Their hands are dry of the Divine dew.
The Danger of the False Kin These women are a pestilence. To admit a Pretender into your circle is to invite a fox into the hen-house. They do not come to weave the cord; they come to fray it. They are the ones who, when the trial comes, will be the first to "cry Witch" against their own kin to save their worthless skins. They pose a mortal danger to the life and soul of every true sister.
The Law of Severance Ye must be as iron against them. They are not to be pitied, nor are they to be taught, for ye cannot pour wine into a vessel made of salt, it will only turn bitter.
"Cast them aside without hesitation. Bar the door of the hearth and the gate of the circle against them. Let them wander in the mists of their own vanity, for it is better to bide as a lone flame than to be part of a fire that is fed by the wood of a liar."
Keep the Sisterhood pure, for in the days of shadow, our survival bides not in our numbers, but in the Truth of the blood that binds us.
@Sylvana920 there is a minor chance that “magick practitioner” will accidentally attract stage magicians and the like, so I often choose the term “occultist” to broadly describe practitioners of all kinds of occult paradigms.
Good luck with your study, I will send a mass notification to all members to bring some attention to this post.
If you are able to, I’d appreciate you mentioning WF in your study (as a source for data or whatnot).
@Sylvana920 there is a minor chance that “magick practitioner” will accidentally attract stage magicians and the like, so I often choose the term “occultist” to broadly describe practitioners of all kinds of occult paradigms.
Good luck with your study, I will send a mass notification to all members to bring some attention to this post.
If you are able to, I’d appreciate you mentioning WF in your study (as a source for data or whatnot).
I would suggest Esotericist, as under the umbrella of Esotericist fits (students of, practitioners, etc), esoteric practitioner would even be a more narrowed title (if practitioners "witches") were in fact the targeted demographic.
Thank you so much for raising this point, and a huge thank you to everyone who has already taken the time to fill out the survey! I really appreciate your support and this discussion, as terminology is incredibly important.
I completely understand where you are coming from. The reason I chose the term "Witch" is because, from an academic and psychological perspective, it is currently the most broadly recognized and inclusive term for people outside the magical or esoteric community.
If I used more specific terms like Wicca, Mage, Pagan, or New Age, psychologists, therapists, and wellbeing practitioners who read this study might not understand who the research is actually about. My goal is to build a bridge between academia and spiritual practitioners. By using a widely known term, it helps secular professionals better understand the unique experiences, needs, and wellbeing of this community.
That being said, I absolutely do not want to erase anyone's specific identity! Inside the survey, there is a dedicated section where you can specify your exact path, tradition, or the terminology you prefer to use.
Everyone practicing any form of magic, energy work, or nature-based spirituality is more than welcome to participate, no matter what title you hold.
Thank you again for your valuable feedback and for helping me bring this topic into the scientific world!
esoteric practitioner or esotericist is what, in my opinion should be used. As A) even those new to investigating the occult can google its meaning and B) it would be the correct term to cover "those who study" (which could be practitioners, hobbyists, Academic, etc.)
Lol, I mean, if the demographic they
Are trying to bring to light in a study is those who do call themselves a witch, which means all practices of witchcraft, then it was on point for her study. People who do studies arent usually being thoughtless about their choice of words, quite the opposite. It just means that grouping of data will be "witches". If you were going to do a study on the reflection probability of clouds on lakes you wouldn't be expecting backlash because it excluded the probability of stars reflecting on the lakes in the same study, we'd all understand that the study is for the reflection of clouds.
You identify as a Witch (any path!)
Ethics & Privacy: Your participation is 100% voluntary and anonymous. You’ll get a unique code to withdraw your data if you change your mind later. Study open until June 30th, 2026.
