{"id":1620,"date":"2018-10-31T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T13:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1620"},"modified":"2018-10-29T19:21:25","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T00:21:25","slug":"why-witchcraft-appeals-to-marginalized-groups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2018\/10\/31\/why-witchcraft-appeals-to-marginalized-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Witchcraft Appeals to Marginalized Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1623\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1623\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/68942208@N02\/16365078410\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-1623\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2017\/10\/16365078410_e64363a61e_z-600x338.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2017\/10\/16365078410_e64363a61e_z-600x338.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2017\/10\/16365078410_e64363a61e_z-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2017\/10\/16365078410_e64363a61e_z.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1623\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Tom Lee, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><em>Originally posted October 18. 2017<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you like Halloween, you know that witches are a popular costume choice and decoration this time of year. But the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/halloween\/history-of-halloween\/videos\/history-of-witches\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">history of witches<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> involves much more than bubbling cauldrons and flying broomsticks. Social science shows us that witchcraft has a long history of empowering marginalized groups, like women and sexual minorities, who question more traditional religious practices.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<h5>While popular images of witches often focus on magic spells, brooms, and pointed hats, witchcraft and other forms of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Neo-Paganism\">neo-paganism<\/a>\u00a0have historically been used by women to push back against male-dominated religions. More traditional, hierarchical religions like Christianity and Islam often place women in a subordinate role to men, and research finds that many women are drawn to witchcraft and other alternative spiritualities because they emphasize female empowerment, embodied rituals, and sexual freedom.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/luhrmann.net\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T.M. Luhrmann<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 1989. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hup.harvard.edu\/catalog.php?isbn=9780674663244&amp;content=reviews\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Persuasions of the Witch\u2019s Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Harvard University Press. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pureportal.coventry.ac.uk\/en\/persons\/kristin-aune\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kristin Aune<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2015. \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/0891243214545681\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Feminist Spirituality as Lived Religion: How UK Feminists Forge Religio-spiritual Lives<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gender &amp; Society<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 29(1): 122-145.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cgu.edu\/people\/cynthia-eller\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cynthia Eller<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 1993. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Living_in_the_Lap_of_the_Goddess.html?id=bCCbVtnXUsEC\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Living in the Lap of the Goddess: The Feminist Spirituality Movement in America<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New York: Crossroad.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>People who practice witchcraft and neo-paganism typically see sexuality and gender as key sites for social transformation and personal healing, pushing back against the Christian idea that sex and bodies are sinful. Since neo-paganism values sexual freedom and sexual diversity, LGBTQ folks and people practicing polyamory often feel a sense of belonging that they don\u2019t find in other religious spaces.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tf.uio.no\/english\/research\/projects\/redo\/partnere\/pike.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sarah M. Pike<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2006. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cup.columbia.edu\/book\/new-age-and-neopagan-religions-in-america\/9780231124034\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">New Age and Neo-Pagan Religions in America<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Columbia University Press. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brandeis.edu\/wsrc\/scholars\/profiles\/berger.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helen Berger,<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wcupa.edu\/business-publicManagement\/eLeach.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Evan Leach<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and Leigh Shaffer. 2003. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sc.edu\/uscpress\/books\/2003\/3488.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans in the United States<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">University of South Carolina Press. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brandeis.edu\/wsrc\/scholars\/profiles\/berger.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Helen Berger<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, ed. 2005.\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.upenn.edu\/pennpress\/book\/toc\/14131.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">University of Pennsylvania Press. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>This has also been true for young adults. In general, young adults practice religion and spirituality differently than do older generations. For example, millennials are the least likely to participate in traditional religious institutions or identify with one single religious belief system, but many still desire some combination of spirituality and community. The increase in portrayals of witchcraft and other neo-pagan religions in popular media has exposed younger generations to these communities, and research finds that teens are more often drawn to these alternative spiritual practices as a means of self-discovery and community, rather than the promise of magical powers.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brandeis.edu\/wsrc\/scholars\/profiles\/berger.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.brandeis.edu\/wsrc\/scholars\/profiles\/berger.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">len Berger<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.utas.edu.au\/profiles\/staff\/social-sciences\/douglas-ezzy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Douglas Ezzy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2007. <\/span><i><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Teenage_witches.html?id=iWHuAAAAMAAJ\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rutgers University Press.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lisapearce.web.unc.edu\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lisa Pearce<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/colfa.utsa.edu\/sociology\/faculty\/denton\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Melinda Lundquist Denton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2011<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><em><a href=\"https:\/\/global.oup.com\/academic\/product\/a-faith-of-their-own-9780199753895?cc=us&amp;lang=en&amp;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Faith of Their Own: Stability and Change in the Religiosity of America&#8217;s Adolescents<\/span><\/a><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Oxford University Press.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/crcc.usc.edu\/people\/richard-flory\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Richard Flory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cf\/faculty-and-staff\/faculty.cfm?pid=1003537\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Donald Miller<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2007. \u201cThe Embodied Spirituality of the Post-Boomer Generations,\u201d in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=A_C_CwAAQBAJ&amp;dq=The+Embodied+Spirituality+of+the+Post-Boomer+Generations&amp;source=gbs_navlinks_s\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A Sociology of Spirituality<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">edited by Kieran Flanagan and Peter C. Jupp. Ashgate Publishing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Originally posted October 18. 2017 If you like Halloween, you know that witches are a popular costume choice and decoration this time of year. But the history of witches involves much more than bubbling cauldrons and flying broomsticks. Social science shows us that witchcraft has a long history of empowering marginalized groups, like women and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1957,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,55,13],"tags":[103400,38543,103402,38545,38541,103399,103398,103401,103403],"class_list":["post-1620","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-gender","category-inequality","tag-alternative-spirituality","tag-culture","tag-feminist-spirituality","tag-gender","tag-inequality","tag-neo-paganism","tag-witchcraft","tag-womens-spirituality","tag-young-adults"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1957"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1620"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2262,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1620\/revisions\/2262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1620"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1620"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1620"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}