Invitation to Witchcraft Psychological Study

[Sylvana920]

Hello sisters, brothers, and siblings!

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.

Link to the study:

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

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!

Blessed be,

Sylwia Falkowska

([email protected])

 

[Morell]

I assume that you are only interested in witches, then... Well, that excludes me.

 

[Mycelial_Adept]

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

 

[Morell]

I agree. Witch is mainly group of Wicca practitioners, which is pretty specific group of magic practitioners.

Some follow Wicca religion without any active magic practice too. Interesting facts, to be honest.

 

[Mycelial_Adept]

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

 

[Morell]

I use term mage, because it is ancient and connected with old Magus, meaning wise.

But yes, the terms keep changing meanings. Nice choice to have secret terms. Definitely worth it. I actually have one myself...

 

[Sylvana920]

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!

Blessed be, Sylwia

 

[Morell]

Magic practitioner would feel better to me, than a Witch, as it feels way ore neutral... but thanks for your clarification.

 

[Mycelial_Adept]

Magic practitioner would feel better to me, than a Witch, as it feels way ore neutral... but thanks for your clarification.

This is how we normally refer to each other in mixed company. it's the widest net I would say

 

[MorganBlack]

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.

 

[FraterFraxinus]

"...a powerfull identity"
puuh, I also eat, shit and piss but i don't identify as eater, shitter or pisser.

Whats "positive psychology"?
This post reeks of some kind of phishing and i'd never click that link.