Red Flags In Pagan Circles
I've seen a lot of younger, inexperienced members of the pagan (and witchy!) communities fall into some traps set up for them by people who wish to harm them. It saddens my heart to see this happen, as a lot of newer practitioners join these circles so they can learn! And because they're new, they often get taken advantage of.
So I'm creating this non-comprehensive list of some red flags in pagan and witch circles. Again, this isn't comprehensive. I will be updating this as time goes by, so I recommend checking in on this. For each red flag, I'll give a brief explanation as to why it's a red flag. As always, feel free to add your own in the replies and I'll add them to this post!
Use of the terms "black" and "white" magick: [can be racist: the association of darkness or black things with evil can be tied all the way back to the Atlantic slave trade]
Argues that using closed plants such as white sage is ok: [this is cultural appropriation]
Argues that closed practices such as smudging, voodoo, hoodoo, etc. are ok: [like the above, this is cultural appropriation]
Believes that open pantheons (especially watch out for this is Nordic circles) should only be worshipped by those with Nordic blood: [this is an argument straight out of folkism, which is a Neo-Nazi movement]
Offers to teach advanced to newbies: [new practitioners are NOT ready for things like this!]
They use the terms "witchcraft" and "Wicca" interchangeably [they are not! These types of people often believe you must be Wiccan to practice witchcraft]
Refers to Wicca as an "ancient" religion [this is demonstrably false: Wicca was formed in the 1960s]
Acts as if baneful magick is evil [it is not]
Acts as if the "Threefold Law" is the end-all-be-all of practicing [not every witch believes in the threefold law. This goes back into my point about them believing you must follow Wiccan teachings to practice witchcraft]
The use of racial or cultural slurs. Even if they say it is "non-discriminatory" [they are racist. PERIOD]
Pushes a specific diet [people are able to eat what they want. Some practices might have specific diets, but not all of them do]
Pushes pseudoscience and/or anti-science ideologies (anti-vax, etc.) [this is dangerous!]
Enforcement of gender binaries (e.x. "masculine" and "feminine" energies) [not everyone falls into one of these binaries.]
Promotes the idea that only witches can be female/male witches are called warlocks [witches can be any gender!]
Promotes the idea that mentally ill/neurodivergent witches are that way because they have a strong intuition [this is extremely dangerous!!]
