“In the broom closet” - exploring the role of online communities in shaping the identities of contemporary witchcraft practitioners

Aug 24, 2026

Uploaded by Dozel

Multiple lenses shape how contemporary witchcraft practitioners are understood: self-identification, mainstream stereotyping, and countercultural framing. The study addresses a gap in psychological perspectives on witchcraft as a sociocultural phenomenon, using semi-structured interviews with 16 participants to examine how practitioners use online communities to manage individual, social, and collective interpretations of witchcraft-related identity. Digitised practices supported group belonging and interactive knowledge exchange, with both positive and negative aspects.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

Current Psychology [https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03441-z](https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03441-z) “In the broom closet”: exploring the role of online communities in shaping the identities of contemporary witchcraft practitioners Alexandra Frampton1 · Alexandra Grandison1 Accepted: 1 July 2022 © Crown 2022 Abstract There are multiple lenses through which contemporary witchcraft practitioners are perceived in literature: self-identification; mainstream stereotyping; and counterculture. Contemporary witchcraft is a sociocultural phenomenon that has not received much attention outside of the disciplines of anthropology and sociology. Therefore, the individual views and experiences of self-identified practitioners have arguably been diluted within social research due to an emphasis on historical or group-based observations. With the aim of incorporating a psychological perspective into existing contemporary literature, the current study used semi-structured interviews to explore how practitioners personally engage with online communities to navigate the individual, social, and collective interpretations of their ‘witchcraft-related identity’. Using data from 16 participant interviews, it emerged that digitising witchcraft practices served two key roles in engaging with the practitioners’ identities by providing access to both group membership and interactive knowledge exchange. Positive and negative aspects of these experiences were discussed. Moreover, it was found that the relationship between online and face-to-face constructions of being ‘a witch’ was observably fluid, wherein digital practices could help practitioners compartmentalise their witchcraftrelated identity to online spaces or, alternatively, enhance its in-person identity saliency. This investigation offers timely and novel insights into contemporary witchcraft by taking a psychological perspective that contributes to broader debates about the notion of identity and how this manifests in online communities. Keywords Contemporary witchcraft · Identity · Online communities · Semi-structured interviews · Thematic analysis Introduction Witchcraft has seen a renaissance in the Western world in recent decades due to alternative aesthetics that have frequented popular culture and a boom in New Age interests such as occultism, mysticism, and parapsychology (e.g. , Koch, 2015) . However, there is ambiguity in what it means to identify as a ‘witch’ today (Berger, 2005) . One perspective emphasises that modern witches work with “symbols, myth, and ritual to speak to the unconscious”(Neitz, 2009, p.353) . A contrasting perspective maintains that contemporary witchcraft involves being ‘one’ with the natural and/ or metaphysical worlds and due to the numerous ways this * Alexandra Frampton [alex_frampton@hotmail.com](alex_frampton@hotmail.com) Alexandra Grandison [a.grandison@surrey.ac.uk](a.grandison@surrey.ac.uk) 1 School of Psychology, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, UK can be individually expressed (spiritually, quasi-religiously, or culturally), pinning down an exact definition would be a superficial effort (Berger & Ezzy, 2009) . Rather than attempt to do so, the following literature review will interpret this phenomenon through multiple lenses of identity theory—i.e. , how practitioners view and express themselves, how societies differentiate and label modern witches, and the interaction between these two factors. Situating the ‘witchcraft-related identity’ within a current context is challenging because the social discourses about witches have ebbed and flowed throughout history. To provide some historical context, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the practice of summoning evil spirits and demons-considered at the time to be ‘witchcraft’-was made illegal in the UK and various Witchcraft Acts (1542; 1562; 1604) put hundreds of suspected practitioners on trial (UK Parliament, 2020) . The most infamous of the so

FAQs

What psychological focus does the study bring to contemporary witchcraft research?

It examines how practitioners personally engage with online communities to navigate interpretations of their witchcraft-related identity, emphasizing individual and relational identity processes.

How did digitising witchcraft practices affect participants’ identities?

Digitisation provided access to group membership and interactive knowledge exchange, influencing how participants engaged with both positive and negative aspects of online identity work.

What did the study find about online versus face-to-face constructions of being ‘a witch’?

The relationship was fluid: digital practices could help compartmentalise witchcraft-related identity to online spaces or strengthen its saliency in in-person contexts.

Aug 24, 2026

Uploaded by Dozel