Spotting Witches with Bad Intentions
This post is not going to be a call out post, its not even going to be a witch hunt, instead this post is aimed towards beginners who may be getting into the community, looking for mentors, and dont know how to spot bad apples yet, so lets take a look!
When it comes to magic or spirituality when you enter a new community you are being exposed to new practices, voices, opinions, and more. It can be really hard to navigate what everyone is saying, and sometimes we can accidentally fall into the wrong groups because we just lack the knowledge to spot when someone is being shady or has ulterior motives.
So, before going into how to spot bad actors we need to look at accidents. Sometimes we join a community and the person has genuinely good intentions but are accidentally contributing to stigma.
A big example of this would be creators on a short form content sites, you can make a spell, but its very hard to explain it within 15 seconds of content and a lot of people wont follow up with the reason behind something. Sometimes you get creators that follow a format, or push beliefs without really understanding why (for example "rosemary is a universal herb").
Another accident could be when you just meet someone so set in their ways, its very hard for them to see other perspectives. You can still listen to their people, see how they argue against push back, and learn something, the problem is sometimes this group has trouble taking accountability, correcting information, and that is a good thing to note.
Finally another big accident I tend to see is within heated spaces, you can learn a lot from debate, however you need to identify what platform you are on, the type of information being provided, and play devils advocate. Not only does it make you a stronger thinker, but it helps you figure out where you stand on hot topics.
These are just some accidents out of many, and I will be going into how to spot when someone is being accidentally bad faith, but the biggest thing to remember is to keep your peace. Sometimes youll meet people eager to help and accidentally spread mis-information, sometimes youll meet a mentor that is so deep in their path that they cant help you with other topics, whats important is that you process the information and fact check it and learn how to make your own opinions.
With that being said lets move onto what a 'bad actor' is
A 'Bad Actor' is someone in a witchy or spiritual community that has bad intentions for you or someone's practice. They seek to gain something from you, whether its money, fame, followers, or even information, these people are looking to use you for a goal.
Bad actors come in all forms, whether its predatory media companies, stars on tic tok, or even one-on-one mentors, and it can be very easy to be swept up in abusive situations. These groups exist in many many forms so lets get into some examples.
In all of these examples I will be getting into how to spot the good, bad, and dirty. These are not all the examples, but pretty close haha
Bigotry - This one is self-explanatory, you know you found a bad actor if their ideologies aim to harm people directly. Concepts like racism, homophobia, sexism, do not belong in our community.
Tic Tok as a tool - Something I see a lot is that tic tok can be full of bad actors who are looking to make money with your view. Whether its 'rage bait' saying someone isn't practicing right, or chasing clout by making up a hex, tic tok is filled with mis-information that can be hard to separate from genuine people. The issue with short form content is that its so short, your not getting really deep information and its hard to cite sources. (common on tic tok, instagram reels, and short form content)
Liars and Mis-information - Often times this section gets mixed up with people who genuinely are un-informed, so you may hear lies like 'you can only be a woman to be a witch' or 'you cant buy your own tarot deck, it must be gifted to you' and what's important to know is that bad actors and genuine people react different to these kind of mistakes. When it comes to misinformation someone in good faith will be quick to correct mistakes, and own up to them quickly! (Common on reddit, amino, and tumblr, mainly forum based sites)
"elder" Baiting - This is the concept of people who either purposefully play up their 'years of experience' to create a false image of themselves, or it can be people who act as if they have really complex and deep information and the only way to access it is to follow in their foot steps. (Common on tic tok, discord, and chat sites). Something worth noting is there is a difference between those who are looking to use their experience in the field for a long time for a good cause like dispelling misinformation, compared to the groups who use experience to stop dialogue or push a certain belief.
"Hero" Baiting - This is the concept of people who feel the need to 'fix' someone or something. They feel this need to help you on your practice, but they end up micro managing your craft and spoon feed you answers so you never learn the skills you need to think for yourself. Often time this group then leaves you when they are done molding you into what they want you to be. (Common on discord, Instagram, and twitter)
"Mentor" Baiting - This is when someone claims to be a mentor and either only teachers their way of thinking and doesn't encourage research, or becomes hostile when they advertise being a mentor so people ask questions. This group tends not actually teach anything, and instead uses people as an ego boost and for credibility. (Common on every platform)
Fear Mongers - This group of people starts rumors or spreads mis-information to create terror, chaos, and sometimes even profit off of it. A big example is when a group of trolls spread the idea they hexed a god, and then broke off and created fake stories about 'that god being mad and affected by the hex' causing beginners to panic while profiting off the videos. This group tries to spread as much as possible, as far as they can. (Common on every platform)
Cult Leaders - This is both literal, and figurative, but it represents a group of people that are preaching an ideal, and create an echo chamber of supporters to gain credibility. It is VERY important to research genuine spiritual cult movements, and also keep an eye out for spaces that seem to follow cult flags like restricting information (more on that below, common on discord, reddit, and forum spaces) Something else I do want to mention is that the word cult has both modern and historical contexts, so to throw that term around is ill-advised! There are very real religious connotations to that term like the cult of Dionysus that has nothing to do with modern uses of that word.
'Holier than Thou' - This is actually a complex, people who have a holier than thou complex are people that see themselves as so wise and great that they will gatekeep information, talk down to you, and give bad information because they cannot fathom that they are equal to all of us. They believe they have some divine knowledge or journey only they are on, so they talk down to others. (common on every platform)
Scammers - This is an easy one, this is your pushy tarot readers trying to steal from you, these are people that are trying to get you to take a class for sacred information that's really just on Wikipedia, these are groups try to take advantage of naivety and usually money is the goal (Common on every platform)
Religious Gatekeepers - These are groups that take an open concept but try to gate keep it, for example we saw this happen with tarot in 2020 where a group tried to argue its closed before the community came forward and said it wasn't. Their goal is to gain attention, money from post interaction, and spread mis-information. (Common on discord, reddit, and forum based platforms)
Bad Faith Activists - These are 'activists' similar to gatekeepers, who aim to be a super loud and controversial activist so that way they can gain attention and a following. Often times they use clickbait statements, don't give information till the very very end of a video, and tend to be performative online. (common on Instagram, Facebook, and tic tok)
Echo Chambers - These are spaces where everyone thinks so alike that new ideas are rarely introduced. Mainly you see a lot of dog-piling, shared sources, and empowered takes on things because no one is there to disagree or add research. (Common on forum based platforms and chat platforms)
In relation to accidents:
A lot of what we just went over can happen to innocent people, beginners can take on a holier than thou complex, elders can accidentally create echo chambers, whats important is how they react to correction. People who are genuine tend to adjust or explain their behavior and are willing to hear you out, they open the door to communication, and are willing to house a discussion. Sometimes people spread mis-information on accident because something is just so repeated its hard not to believe it. Whats important is we give the benefit of the doubt to people when we first interact with others, and watch out for the warning signs.
In relation to true bad actors:
Some common traits exist when it comes to bad actors, its
Aggression or passive aggression
Cannot admit fault when corrected on something
Weasels out of conversations
Refuse to house certain discussions unreasonably (no danger present in the topic)
dogpiles people asking questions
Presents themselves in a position of total authority with little to back up their claims
Tries to back you into a corner for money or information
Bullies or is belligerent towards you
Will discuss a concept, but when asked questions, aggressively tells you to 'just research'
Cant backup claims with specific sources, or wont identify Unverified Personal Genosis
Another big thing we have to discuss is cult behavior, especially when it comes to spaces like discord where a server owner can easily create echo chambers, its important to identify these common traits. As a reminder the word cult in this case is used under dictionary definitions and I recognize this term has significant nuance!!!
Absolute Authority without accountability
Zero Tolerance for criticism or questions
Hiding financial topics (i.e hiding the price of a reading and trying to force you to pay whatever price they set AFTER the reading, pressuring you to join a group for a small fee, not telling you where money is going in an organization)
Creating fears about the real world which turn into conspiracies or witch hunts
A belief that people who left the group are evil or wrong, and not being able to fathom why someone would leave a group
Abuse of members, this can occur even on discord via verbal abuse, doxxing, threats, blackmail, and much much more
Records, books, articles, hashtags, documenting abusive traits of the leaders
Members feeling like they arent 'good enough' or cant live up to standards set by the group
Belief that the leader is right 100% of the time
A belief that the leader has a divine truth and seeking validation from them
Lets remember guys that Anyone can fall victim to a cult, they are very good at what they do, and they do exist in magical spaces even on social media. Its very important that you remember these people arent 'stupid' but they are victims of manipulation and it is our job to support them.
For more information click me
Finally remember BITE when looking out for cult spaces
Behavior Control
Information Control
Thought Control
Emotional Control
Edit: Big thank you to the person who sent me this wonderful document, this is a model of common things that control groups use to indoctrinate people.
How can I research a claim or a person?
This is a wonderful question, here are some of my research tips and tricks, and I have made a couple posts about it before so lets take a look
Google names - This can be people, authors, organizations, servers, and this can tell you a lot about what people are saying, and if they are attempting to push an agenda.
Play Devils Advocate - When you see someone making a really bold claim, try to research things that would indicate the opposite. What demographics are on which side? Why is this happening?
Use the CRAAP test and other note taking strategies - When you see a claim its good to note it down, then do research on it at a later time and use test models to verify the credibility of the claim
Diversify your spaces - To get a good picture of what is going on, its good to check out vast communities to get a well rounded view of something, if you mainly stick to tic tok try branching out to chat spaces.
Sources Matter - If someone is saying something wild or out there, ask them where they got the information from. If they cant give you anything specific, then I would question if its coming from a source at all
Research is a nuanced thing, people research differently! Whats important is that you are comparing and contrasting things and forming your own opinions on a piece of media. Being well educated is a great tool and knowledge is power!
While this isnt perfect, and yes there are so many types of bad actors and traits, whats important is that we begin this conversation and start to help people identify who is looking to harm you. Its important to identify motives and keep yourself safe online! If anyone thinks of anything more to add feel free to drop it in my comments!
