White Witches and Black Magic: Ethics and Consumerism in Contemporary Witchcraft

What is white Witchcraft and how is it different to black magic? The books and practices of the purveyors of white Witchcraft are examined alongside other popular Witches oriented toward consumerism. White Witchcraft is also compared to traditional Witchcraft. I argue that white Witchcraft is a marketing label for a type of Witchcraft consistent with consumer Capitalism. White Witchcraft emphasises growth and success eliding the understanding of loss, death, and the dark that is found in traditional Witchcraft. White Witchcraft also celebrates individual pleasure and instrumental self-gratification at the expense of locating individuals in ecological and human networks of relationships. Consumer-oriented Witchcraft has popularised and facilitated the growth of Witchcraft, but consumer capitalism has also shaped Witchcraft to be consistent with consumer values and ethics. The purveyors of white Witchcraft do not challenge or question the goals and values of consumer capitalism, but explicitly celebrate them. The mass media and consumerism are central sites of ethical struggle for contemporary Witches.     

Sex Role Identity, Androgyny, and Sex Role Transcendence: A Sex Role Strain Analysis

This paper first reviews three different theoretical constructs concerning the psychological significance of sex role related characteristics in personality functioning: sex role identity, androgyny, and sex role transcendence. A new conceptual analysis concerning sex-typing, sex role strain analysis, is presented. According to this analysis, the relationship between sex role related personality characteristics and psychological adjustment, especially self-esteem, is moderated by two variables: perception of the ideal member of the same sex, and sex role salience. These two variables', taken in conjunction with real self-concept, generate five sex role strain outcomes. The constructs of sex role identity, androgyny, and sex role transcendence are interpreted in terms of this sex role strain analysis. The implications of this analysis for current research and for understanding the dynamics of both individual and social change in sex roles are briefly described.     

Shame in Relation to the Body,Sex, and Death: A Clinical Exploration of the Psychotic Levels of Shame

This paper explores the topic of shame in relation to the body, viewing it as the expression of a basic conflict that threatens to obstruct the growth of personality by breaking up the body-mind relationship. The paper presents the psychoanalysis of a psychotic patient whose paranoid shame was associated with the delusion of being noticed. During this analysis, the patient's bodily manifestations and hatred were acknowledged as related to his getting closer to an authentic existence of his own. Particular emphasis is given to the analyst's involvement in the analytic process, in the form of both bodily countertransference and dream activation. The containment and working-through of concrete aspects of hatred and death anxiety, together with the analysand's recognizing the value of sensory perception of his own body, fostered an abatement of symptoms, including his tendency to flee and to attempt to burst the confines of his body. The activation of a connection with the body seems a prerequisite to the development of abstract thinking. The paper describes similar dynamics in two vignettes of less dramatic clinical cases.     

Death Threat,Religiosity, and Fear of Death: A Repertory Grid Investigation

Personal construct methodologies in the study of death threat have been limited by the use of death-specific constructs as well as global measures of other variables. To address these shortcomings, 40 males completed the 40-construct provided form of the Threat Index (Tip), an interpersonal repertory grid ORG), and multifaceted scales of religiosity and death concern. Death threat scores derived from the Tip and repertory grid correlated only moderately. Significant negative correlations were found between death threat and different components of religiosity, particularly when IRG measures of death threat were used. In keeping with past research, death threat also correlated significantly with fear of death subscales that particularly focus on the self (as opposed to the death of others). The implications of these results for future work in the area of death threat were discussed.     

Sex,Race, and Biopower: A Foucauldian Genealogy

For many years feminists have asserted an “intersection” between sex and race. This paper, drawing heavily on the work of Michel Foucault, offers a genealogical account of the two concepts showing how they developed together and in relation to similar political forces in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Thus it attempts to give a concrete meaning to the claim that sex and race are intersecting phenomena.     

Deviant scripturalism and ritual satanic abuse part two: Possible Masonic,Mormon, Magick,and Pagan influences

Having shown in a previous paper the possible Judeo–Christian influences that may exist in ritual satanic abuse, this study compares portions of people's accounts (using interviews and diaries from several alleged survivors), with doctrinal precedents for satanic ritual abuse in deviant interpretations of Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan traditions.¹     

Deviant Scripturalism and Ritual Satanic Abuse Part Two: Possible Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan Influences

Having shown in a previous paper the possible Judeo-Christian influences that may exist in ritual satanic abuse, this study compares portions of people's accounts (using interviews and diaries from several alleged survivors), with doctrinal precedents for satanic ritual abuse in deviant interpretations of Masonic, Mormon, Magick, and Pagan traditions.     

Sandman,Lars, A Good Death,On the Value of Death and Dying

Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics -     

Life,Death, and Life After Death: Meanings of the Relationship Between Death Anxiety and Religion

ABSTRACT

A sample of 389 individuals completed a death anxiety scale and a series of items that measured self-reported religious practices and beliefs. Those lowest in religious practices and beliefs were significantly higher in death anxiety. Contrary to some prior research, depth of belief had a stronger negative association with death anxiety than did religious activities. Strongest relationships had to do with concepts of life after death. The oldest respondents reported the least death anxiety.     

Witchcraft, Relativism and the Problem of the Criterion

This paper presents a naturalistic response to the challenge of epistemic relativism. The case of the Azande poison oracle is employed as an example of an alternative epistemic norm which may be used to justify beliefs about everyday occurrences. While a distinction is made between scepticism and relativism, an argument in support of epistemic relativism is presented that is based on the sceptical problem of the criterion. A response to the resulting relativistic position is then provided on the basis of a particularist response to scepticism combined with a naturalistic approach to the warrant of epistemic norms. It is argued that it is possible to comparatively assess the ability of epistemic norms to lead to epistemic aims. As against the epistemic relativist, it is possible to provide an objective basis for the choice between alternative epistemic norms.