February 2025

Helen A. Berger, Ph.D.

E-mail: hberger@hds.harvard.edu 

EDUCATION:

Ph.D., 1983 Department of Sociology, New York University,

                Dissertation Advisor: Richard Sennett. Dissertation: Witchcraft and the                            Domination of Women: the English Witch Trials of the 16th and 17th                               Centuries Reconsidered

M.A. 1972 Sussex University, England, Department of Sociology  

B.A., 1971 Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (cum laude)

BOOKS:

Helen A. Berger. 2019. Solitary Pagans: Contemporary Witches, Witches and Other Pagans who Practice Alone. Columbia, S.C.:  University of South Carolina Press. Audio edition 2021.

Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy.  2007. Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self.  New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.

Helen A. Berger (ed.) 2005. Witchcraft and Magic in the New World: North America in the Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press

Helen A. Berger, Evan A. Leach and Leigh S. Shaffer. 2003. Voices from the Pagan Census: Neo-Paganism in the United States. Columbia, S.C.:  University of South Carolina Press.

 Helen A. Berger 1999. A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Pagans and Witches in the United States.  Columbia, S.C.: The University of South Carolina Press. Reprinted in paperback 2013.

EDITED JOURNALS:

The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture 17:3 and 17:4 Double Special Issue “Contemporary Pagan EcoSpirituality” (with Caroline Tully) October 2023.

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES  AND BOOK CHAPTERS:

• Helen A. Berger. Forthcoming. “Contemporary Pagans and Interfaith” in Daniel Ross Goodman, Jean Lai, and Anthony A Lee (eds) Beyond Dialogue: New Paradigms in Interfaith Discourse. SUNY Press: Albany, NY.
• Helen A. Berger 2024. “Are most Pagans solitary practitioners?”. Pagan Religions in Five Minutes, pp 21-23 edited by Suzanne Owen and Angela Puca. Sheffield: Equinox.
• Helen A. Berger 2023 “The Environmentalism of the Far-Right Pagans: Blood, Soil, and the Spirit of the land” The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture 17:4: 473-503.
• Helen A. Berger 2021 “Witchcraft Past and Present at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. Special Issue on Pagans and museums 23;1-2:186-202.
• Helen A. Berger 2020 “Preface” in Paganism and its Discontents: Enduring Problems of Racialized Identity, Holli Emore (ed.) Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne.
• Helen A. Berger 2016 “An Outsider Inside: Becoming a Scholar of Contemporary Paganism” Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies17,1-2:128-140
• Helen A. Berger 2013 “Wicca” for the World Religion and Spirituality Website, Virginia Commonwealth University. http://www.has.vcu.edu/wrs/profiles/Wicca.htm
• Helen A. Berger 2012“Contemporary Paganism: Fifteen Years Later” Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 3:1:3-16
• Helen A. Berger 2012 “Are Solitaries the Future of Paganism?”  in Kathleen Mulhem (ed) Future of Religion, Patheos Press (reprint).
• Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy 2009 “Mass Media and Religious Identity: a case study of young Witches” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 48 (3):501-514.
• Douglas Ezzy and Helen A. Berger 2009. “Witchcraft: Changing Patterns of Participation in the Early Twenty-first Century” Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 11(2): 165-180.
• Helen A. Berger 2009 “Routinization of Creativity” in Barbara Jane Davy Paganism: Critical Concepts in Religion. 100-22 London: Routledge (reprint)
• Helen A. Berger 2009 “Neopaganism by the Numbers” in James Lewis and Murph Pizza (eds) Handbook of Contemporary Paganism. 153-170 Brill Publications
• Douglas Ezzy and Helen A. Berger. 2007. "Becoming a Witch: Changing Recruitment Patterns in Contemporary Witchcraft" in Hannah Johnston and Peg Aloi (eds) Next Generation Witches 41-56 London: Ashgate press.
• Helen A. Berger. 2006. "Learning about Paganism.” In New and Alternative Religions in the United States 200-217 Eugene Gallagher and W. Michael Ashcraft eds, Westport Ct: Praeger Press.
• Helen A. Berger 2006 “To the Tribe Let Be Children Born” in Between the Worlds: Readings in Contemporary Neopaganism 139-160 Siân Reid (ed) Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press (reprint from A Community of Witches)
• Helen A. Berger and Douglas Ezzy 2004. "The Internet as Virtual Spiritual Community: Teen Witches in the United States and Australia," in Religion Online: Finding Faith on the Internet.  Eds. Lorne L. Lawson and Douglas E. Cowan. New York: Routledge.
• Helen A. Berger 2000 "High Priestess: Mother, Teacher, Leader" Daughters of the Goddess: Identity, Healing and Empowerment. 103-119 Wendy Griffin (ed.). Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press (Sage Press).
• Helen A. Berger "Witches - the Next Generation" 1999. In Children in New Religious Movements. 11-28 Susan Palmer and Charlotte Hardman (eds.). Rutgers University Press.
• Helen A. Berger 1998"The Earth is Sacred: Environmental Concerns in American Wicca" In Religion in a Changing Global Environment.213-220 Madeleine Cousineau (ed.) Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing.
• Berger, Helen A., Leigh S. Shaffer, Bonita Freeman-Witthoft, and Hugo A. Freund "Friends and Lovers" 1998. The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (October) 15,5:623-636.
• Helen A. Berger "Routinization of Spontaneity," Sociology of Religion, Spring 1995,56:1 49-62.
• Hynes, John, Lynda Baloche, and Helen A. Berger. 1997. "The Sociological Imagination Goes to School" Teaching Education (Summer/Fall) 9;1:105-110.
• Hynes, John, Lynda Baloche, and Helen A. Berger 1996 "Moving toward the Integration of Professional and General Education with John Hynes and Lynda Baloche, in Action in Teacher Education. (Spring ) XVIII;1:1-9.
• Helen A. Berger 1994. "Witches and Scientists," Sociological Viewpoints, (fall) Vol. 10:56-65

NON-PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES and Book Chapters:

• Helen A Berger “Heathens of the Far-Right” Center for the Study of World Religions Newsletter” February 5, 2025.
• Helen A. Berger “Yule—a return of light and warmth” The Conversation, December 7, 2023
• Helen A Berger “As Witchcraft becomes a multibillion-dollar business practitioners’ connection to the natural world is changing” The Conversation July 26, 2023.
• Helen A. Berger “Sage, Sacred to Native Americans is being used in purification rituals, raising issues of cultural appropriation” The Conversation February 23, 2023.
• Helen A. Berger “Wiccan Celebration of Summer Solstice is a reminder that change, as expressed in nature, is inevitable” The Conversation June 17,2021.
• Helen A. Berger “The “sonnenrad” used in shooters’ manifestos: A spiritual symbol of hate” The Conversation, May 27,2022.
• Helen A. Berger “Wiccans in the US military are mourning the dead in Afghanistan this year as they mark Samhain, the original Halloween” Washington Post, October 23,2021 (reprinted from The Conversation)
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/wiccans-in-the-us-military-are-mourning-the-dead-in-afghanistan-this-year-as-they-mark-samhain-the-original-halloween/2021/10/20/edbc0868-31b6-11ec-8036-7db255bff176_story.html 
• Helen A. Berger “What is Wicca” The Conversation, August 30, 2021

• Helen A. Berger “Halloween isn’t about candy and costumes for modern-day pagans – witches mark Halloween with reflections on death as well as magic” The Conversation October 29, 2020

Internet Data:  Data from the “Pagan Census” is online at: Murray Research Archive at Harvard University and through The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)

https://dataverse.harvard.edu/dataset.xhtml?persistentId=doi:10.7910/DVN/NK9GYW

Encyclopedia Entries:

• “Wicca and Witchcraft” 2010 Encyclopedia of Religion in America CQ Press
• Neopaganism 2010 Encyclopedia of Religion in America CQ Press

• "EarthSpirit Community" Encyclopedia of Nature and Religion  2005. Bron Taylor and Jeffrey Kaplan (Eds). London and New York:  Continuum International Publishers.
• "Witchcraft" Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia 1999
• "Satanism" Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia  1999
• "Occultism" Funk and Wagnall’s New Encyclopedia 1999

BOOK REVIEWS: 

• Marisol Charbanneau. 2017. Quebec’s Distinct Paganism. Montreal, Arcana Elements. For The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 23,1-2 (2021) 235-237.
• S. Zohreh Kermani. 2013 Pagan Family: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism. New York: New York University Press. For Sociology of Religion 75 (3) 498-500 (Autumn 2014)
• Susan Greenwood.2009. The Anthropology of Magic Oxford, Berg Press for Alternative Spirituality and Religion Review 1 (2): 181-2 2010.

•  The Sign of the Witch: modernity and the pagan revival. By David Waldron. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press for The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (Spring 2009) 412-413.

• Eugene B Gallagher. 2004. The New Religious Movements Experience in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press for Sociology of Religion 60 (2): 225-6 (Summer 2007)

• Nikki Bado Fralick 2005. Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press for Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 1(1) 119-120.
• Douglas E. Cowan 2005. Cyberhenge: Modern Pagans on the Internet. London: Routledge. for Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 44;3:365-6
• Jone Salomonsen 2002. Enchanted Feminism: Ritual, Gender and Divinity Among Reclaiming Witches in San Francisco. London and New York: Routledge. Reviewed for The Journal of Contemporary Religion 18:3428-29.
• Willem de Blecourt, Ronald Hutton and Jean la Fontaine. Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Volume 6, the Twentieth Century. 1999.Athlone Press; London for Mental Health, Religion and Culture 6;1:102-3 (2003).
• Sarah M. Pike. 2001 Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press for The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 41:2:317 (June 2001)
• Mary Jo Deegan (ed.). 1998. The American Ritual Tapestry: Social Rules and Cultural Meaning. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. Reviewed for Social Science Quarterly Review.
• Tessier, L.J. 1997. Dancing After the Whirlwind: Feminist Reflections on Sex, Denial, and Spiritual Transformation. Boston: Beacon Press for Review of Religious Research March 1999. 40; 3:282-3.
• Robert A. Orsi. 1996. Thank You St. Jude: Women's Devotion to the Patron Saint of Hopeless Causes. New Haven: Yale University Press for Gender and Society. October 1998 12,5:610-11.
• Graham Harvey. 1997. Contemporary Neo-Paganism: Listening People Talking Earth. New York: New York University Press. Reviewed for Ritual Studies 11.1:82-84 (spring 1997).
• James R. Lewis (ed.).1996. Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft. Albany: State University of New York Press for Sociology of Religion. Fall 1997 58,3:292-3.
• James T. Richardson. 1988. (ed.) Money and Power in New Religions. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press r for Sociological Analysis Summer 1990, 51:2,231-233.
• Luhrmann. T.M. 1989. Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press for Contemporary Sociology. May 1990, 19:3,450-451.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 

• Presenter at “Cultural Appropriation Academic Roundtable” podcast. March 26, 2023.
• Organized two sessions at the Ecological Spiritualities Meeting at Harvard Divinity School

• The Earth is our Mother: Contemporary Paganisms and Environmentalism (plenary) April 27, 2022
• Being Pagan; Being of the Land: Ecospirituality and Based Activities among Contemporary Pagans, April 28,2022.

• Member of Heathenry and the Alt-Right Study and Action Group at Cherry Hill Seminary, University of South Carolina December 2020 to present
• Invited participant in Scripted Forms of Magic Knowledge: Grimoires in the Matrix of Western Culture June 8-11, 2014, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
• Member of the Executive Board of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group of the American Academy of Religion 2010 to 2016.
• Treasurer for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion,November 2013-present
• Chair of Fichter Award for the Association for the Sociology of Religion 2012-2014, member of the committee 2011-14.

• Member of Editorial Board for Religion Compass Blackwell Press 2007 to present
• Member of Editorial Board for the International Journal of for the Study of New Religions June 2009 to present
• Member Patheos Advisory Board
• Member of Fitcher Award committee for the Association for the Sociology of Religion August 2011-12: Chair of the Committee from August 2012-present
• Member of student travel grant committee for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion 2011-12.

• Participant in Charming and Crafty: Witchcraft and Paganism in Contemporary Media Harvard University May 2006

Paper presented "Teenage Witches Watching Teenage Witches on T.V and in the Movies: A Transnational Study  (Douglas Ezzy)

• Invited participant at Heidelberg University Workshop on Wicca, Neo-Paganism and the Use of the Internet, Center for the Study of the Dynamics of Ritual  June 2003.

        Presented 4 papers with Douglas Ezzy:

• "Teen Witches, Wicca, and Media in USAS and Australia: Theoretical and Methodological Question of Current Research
• "Research on Teen Witches, Wicca, and Media in USA and Australia: Discussion of Results and Theoretical Consequences
• Becoming a Teenage Witch in the United States and Australia: The Internet, Books and Parental Impact."
• Ritual Technologies of Self-Transformation: Teenage Witchcraft in Australia and the United States"

• Invited participant in "Challenges of the New Media Order to Freedom of Expression, Freedom or Religion and Belief, and Group Rights" Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School October 2001.

• Council member of The Association for the Sociology of Religion 2000-2003
• Organizing ASA session “Minority Religions, Majority Participants, and the New Age” for 2001 meetings.
• Newsletter Editor for the Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association Fall 1997-Spring 2000.
• Member of Distinguished Articles Award for the Sociology of Religion Section of the American Sociological Association 1998-2001. Chair of Committee 1999-2000
• Member of the Grants Award Committee for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion 1999.
• Author in Author meets Critic Session at the November 1998 meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
• Critic in Author meets Critic Session at the October 1995 meetings of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
• Session Discussant at the 1998 meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.
• Session Organizer for the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in 1997 and 1998.
• Member of Candace Rogers Award Committee for the Eastern Sociological Society 1996 meetings.
• Convener at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 6, 1994
• Eastern meetings of the National Honor's Council, Theme Group Leader for the Eastern Meetings of the National Honors Council Meetings. April 10, 1994
• Convener of Session "The Innovation of Tradition in New Religious Movements " at the Association for the Sociology of Religion August 10, 1990
• Eastern Sociology Society Meetings, March 1990 chair of round table        
• Columbia University Seminar, Content and Method in the Social Sciences, member, December 1983-present.
• Critical Cultural Studies Group, Northeastern University, member, April 1986 - September 1986
• The New York Institute for the Humanities, coordinator and participant in Comparative Cultural Studies Seminar, 1980-1982
• Social Science Research Council, participant in Culture of Fear seminar, January - June 1982

Consulting

• On Advisory Board for “Magic in the United States: 400 Years of Magical Beliefs, Practices, and Cultural Conflicts” Heather Freedman, supported by the NEH
• Advisor on Wiccan Resources for the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding
• Invited participant in Religion Media Center (UK) meeting with British reporters about best practices for representing teenage Witches in the media, October 27, 2020
•  Expert Witness on Witchcraft and Satanism in court case of the State of Iowa vs. Lawrence D. Harris, Sr. (Crim # FECR 054878) January 2009.

• Departmental Reviewer for Sociology Department Shippensburg University

• Witchcraft and Neopaganism: Practice and Beliefs to meeting of Pennsylvania Prison Chaplains October 2007
• The Beliefs and Practices of Witches and Neopagans to the National meeting of Prison Chaplains March 2008
• Resource Person for Prison Chaplains since October 2007-present

PAPERS PRESENTED: 

• Scott Cunningham and the Growth of Solitary Eclectic Witchcraft” American Academy of Religion November 24, 2024.
• “This Land is My Land; This Land is Your Land—as long as you are White: Land purchases among Folkish Heathens” with Evan A. Robin, American Academy of Religion, November 19,2023.
• “Land, Power, Racism and the Reinforcement of Traditional Gender Roles: The Asatru Folk Assembly’s Intentional Communities” with Evan A. Robins, Harvard Divinity School Conference on Power and Alternative Spiritualities April 29, 2023
• “Thinking again about Community: Contemporary Pagans, Spirituality, and Political Action.” Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Meeting November, 2022.
• “The Environmentalism of the Far Right: Blood, Soil, and the Spirit of the Land” Harvard Divinity School Conference on Ecological Spiritualities” April 27,2022
• “Morality, Acceptance, and the Alt-Right” presented at the American Academy of Religion Meetings November 24, 2019.  

• “‘I will see you in Valhalla:” But, is he a contemporary Pagan—a Heathen?”  presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Meetings October 27, 2019
• "Contemporary Pagans and the Alt Right" University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, March 6, 2019.
•  “Contemporary Pagans and the Alt-Right” WSRC, Brandeis University, November 2018
• “Contemporary Paganism Internationally: A comparison of Israel and American Pagans” (with Shai Feraro) presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meetings, October 2015.
• “But What are they Reading? The Role of Books and Internet Sites in the International Contemporary Pagan Movement” at Scripted Forms of Magical Knowledge; Grimoires in the Matrix of Western Cultures, Hebrew University, Israel, June 2014.
• “Solitary Practitioners in the United States” presented at the American Academy of Religion Meeting, November 2013
• “Magical and Metaphysical practices among Contemporary Pagans” presented at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Meeting, November 2013
• “Social Change, Social Action and Spiritual Practice: Contemporary Paganism, Feminism and Environmentalism” presented at the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings, March 2013
• “Contemporary Paganism: Fifteen Years later” the American Academy of Religion meeting, November 2011
• “Goddess Worship and Political Activity” the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings, February 2011

• “Pagan Men and Gender Equity by the Numbers” the American Academy of Religion meeting October 2010.

• “Preliminary Finds from the Pagan Census Revisited “ the Eastern Sociological Society meetings March 2010
• Discussant in “Women in Sociology then and now” the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings March 2010.

• “Parental Responses to Teens becoming Witches” the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings February 2008

• “Teenage Witches and Environmentalism” (with Douglas Ezzy )The American Academy of Religion October 2006

• “Witchcraft among Teenagers in Three Nations” The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion” November 2006
• "The role of movies in the rise of teenage Witchcraft" (with Douglas Ezzy) The Australian Sociological Association, Perth, Australia, December, 2006.  

• The Goddess, Gender Equity, and Teenage Witches: A Cross-National Study (with Douglas Ezzy) The society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 2005
• Becoming a Teenage Witch: A Cross-National Study (with Douglas Ezzy), The American Academy of Religion, November 2005.

• The Goddess, Gender Equity, and Teenage Witches: A Cross-National Study (with Douglas Ezzy) The society for the Scientific Study of Religion, November 2005

• Ethics, Morals, and Teenage Witches (with Douglas Ezzy) the Association for the Sociology of Religion August 2004.

• The Internet as Virtual Spiritual Community: Teen Witches in the United States and Australia" (with Douglas Ezzy) The Association for the Sociology of Religion August 2002

• Author meets Critic Session for A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Pagans and Witches in the United States. At Eastern Sociological Society Meetings. March 2002
• “Minority Voices from the Pagan Census” (with Evan Leach and Leigh Shaffer) Association for the Sociology of Religion August 2000

• “Satan’s Neighbors” Oral History Conference, Istanbul, Turkey June 2000
• “Trespassing Boundaries: Conflict and Synchrony Among Three Religions” Columbia University seminar on Content and Methods December 1999
• “The New Age vs. Neo-Paganism” (presented with Evan Leach and Leigh Shaffer) t the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, in Boston, November 1999
• “Homosexuality and Duality in Wiccan Rituals” the Association for the Sociology of Religion in Chicago, August 1999.
• "The Terms of Disengagement" (with Leigh Shaffer and Hugo Freund) the Eastern Sociological Society Meeting in Boston, March 1999.
• "High Priestess: Mother, Teacher, Leader" at a regular session of the American Sociological Association in San Francisco, August 1998.
• "Witch Trials 1998" the Association for the Sociology of Religion in San Francisco, August 1998.
• "Earth Goddess--Environmentalism and American Witchcraft" the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings in Philadelphia, PA. March 1998
• "Fundamentalists, Unitarian Universalists, and Witches" at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meetings in San Diego, CA., November 1997.
• "The Earth Is Sacred: Ecological and Feminist Concerns in American Wicca" the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meetings in San Diego, CA., November 1997.
• "High Priestess--Leader, Teacher, Mother: Women's Leadership Roles in Wicca" the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings in Baltimore, April 1997.
• "Perfect Love, Perfect Trust: The Coven as a Friendship Network" The Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Nashville, TN. October 1996.
• "Magical Children: The Socialization of Children in Wicca" the Association for the Sociology of Religion in New York, NY. August 1996.
• "The Neo-Pagan Census” (with Evan Leach and Leigh Shaffer) a round table discussion at the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings in Boston March 1996.
• "Men who Worship the Goddess and Feminist Thought" the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, October 1996.
• "Concepts of Self in Wicca" the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, October 1995.
• "Witches: The Next Generation" the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings, Philadelphia PA, April 1995
• "My Friends' Sweetheart" the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings, Philadelphia PA, April 1995.
• "Crossing Boundaries," (with Yvette-Camille Welsch) at the National Collegiate Council meetings, October 1994
• "Friends and Lovers," the Pennsylvania Sociological Society Meetings, (with Shaffer, Witthoft and Freund), October 1994.
• "Community or Network: The case of Neo-Pagans,” Society for Scientific Study of Religion, October 31. 1993 in Raleigh, North Carolina, October 1993.
• "Experiential Learning: Principles and Applications," the National Collegiate Honors Council Conference, in St. Louis, October 1993
• "Routinization of Spontaneity," the Eastern Sociological Society meetings, March 27,1993 in Boston and at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion in Washington D.C., November 7, 1992
• "Modern Day Witchcraft and Ecofeminism," an invited talk at the Claremont Colleges, March 8,1991
• "Women and Witchcraft in the Early Modern Period," an invited talk at the Claremont Colleges, March 7,1991
• "Witches and Scientists," the Association for the Sociology of Religion Meetings, August 9,1990
• "Magic Witchcraft and the Scientific Community," Columbia University seminar: Content and Method in the Social Sciences, September 13,1989.
• "The Reenchantment of Nature: Modern Day Witchcraft," the Popular Culture Association, March 1988
• "Witchcraft and the Occult in Modernity," the Eastern Sociological Society meetings, May 3, 1987
• "Women, Witch and Domination," the Popular Culture Meetings in Montreal, April 28,1987.
• "Rationality and Feminism: The Romantic Embrace of Irrationality," the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings, March 15,1985.
• "Repression and Rationality in Early Modern Europe: The case of the English Witch Trials," Columbia University seminar: Content and Method in the Social Sciences, December 4,1984.
• ” The English Witchcraft Trials and The Domination of Women," presented at the Eastern Sociological Society Meetings, March 10,1984.
• "The Image of the Witch: The Image of Womanhood," the Comparative Cultural Studies Seminar, New York Institute for the Humanities. December 15,1982.

GRANTS and AWARDS: 

• Student Scholar Partnership Award, Women’s Studies Research Center 2010-2016, 2018-2021

• Jack Shand Research Award 2006 from Society for the Scientific Study of Religion for research in Asheville North Carolina

• CASSDA Award July to December 2006 for Research in Asheville NC
• Merit Award for scholarship from West Chester University June 2004
• CASSDA Award September-December 2004 from West Chester University for index of Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America
• CASSDA Award January-June 2003 from West Chester University for research on Teen Witches in England.
• CASSDA Award July-December 2000 from West Chester University for research on CUUPS
• Fitcher Award 1999 from the Association for the Sociology of Religion to conduct research on CUUP
• Faculty Development Grant 1992-93 West Chester University to conduct national survey of Witches and Neo-Pagans.

Current Research Project: Online research on contemporary Pagans and the extreme right.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS:  

• “The Winter Solstice is a time for Reflection and Celebration for Pagans” NPR December,20,2024.  
• “The Modern Witch Wants You to be Self Empowered” The Forum KQED (NPR affiliate in San Francisco) November 1, 2024
• “Salem” in the Hiistory of Witchcraft: From the Greatest Myths to the Salem Witch Trials National Geographic October 2024
• “What is May Day? How to Celebrate the spring holiday with Pagan Origins” Claire Thorton in USA Today May 1,2024.
• ‘In onzekere tijden stijgt onze belangstelling voor het occulte’ (From tarot card readers in hip bars to healing fortune tellers to TikTok witches, occultism seems back from never quite being gone)” Jeroen de Preter in Knack (Cultural journal in Belgian) January 2024

• “A Witch Expert on Salem” on Women Who Travel, Condé Nash, podcast first aired October 31, 2023
• “Celebrating Death at Halloween” on Hear Me Out, Slate, podcast first aired October 31, 2023
• “’It Feels so Right’ Through Pagan ritual Chattanoogans forge link to ancestors and earth” Andrew Schwartz, Chattanooga Times Free Press October 26,2023.
• “Paganism on the Rise—here’s where to discover its tradition” by Christine MacIntyre National Geographic, March 22, 2023.
• “All them Witches” AMC documentary.
• “How to make a thousand witches with on Supreme Court Decision” by Heather Greene Religion News Service June 6, 2022.
• “From Spellcasting to Podcasting: Inside the life of a teenage witch” by Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post, October 28 2021.
• “We’re in the middle of a witch moment’: Witchcraft is on the rise in the US by Deena Yellin, USA Today, October 28,2021.
• Interview about Teenage Witches on Sputnik (radio) News October 31,2020
• “Is Witchcraft too Mainstream” by Claire Hogan, Pulitzer Center, April 5, 2020
• “When did everyone become a Witch” by Jessica Bennett, New York Times October 24, 2019
• “The working witches of Los Angeles just want you to be your best self: by Deborah Netburn Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2019.
• "Out of the Broom Closet: modern Witches" by Abigail Fryman Rouch, Church Times (Church of England newspaper, UK based), February 23, 2019.
• "'Coming out of the Broom Closet:' Denver witches report a vibrant, growing community as witchcraft charms the mainstream culture" by Elizabeth Hernandez, Denver Post December 28, 2018.  

• "The Resurgence of Witches in Pop Culture, like ‘Sabrina’ and ‘AHS Coven’ and ‘Charmed,’ Reflects women in the real world " by Kelsea Stahler Teen Vogue November 14, 2018.
• “For Some Wiccans, Halloween can be a real witch” Daniel Burke October 30, 2013, CNN, Belief Blog.
• “Holis man starting a school to train people in druid priesthood” Leslie Bridgers, October 21, 2013 Portland Press Herald.

• Radio Interview on Pagan celebrations of the solstice on “Where we live”  WNPR (Hartford, CT) June 20,2013.
• “Paganism American Style” Elizabeth Eisenstadt-Evans Lancaster Media June 18, 2011
• “Paganism, Slowly, Triumphs over Stereotypes” Samuel G. Freedman New York Times October 31, 2009.

• Radio Interview about Wicca with Jim Bohannon and Hillary Howard on Washington Post Radio May 18, 2007
• Radio Interview about Wicca and discrimination with Irene Bakhchanyan on Radio Free Europe May 17, 2007

• “Wiccan Keep the Faith with a Religion Under Wraps” Neela Banerjee New York Times May 16, 2007.

• “Along Maryland Route 5, Wiccan Work Their Magic” Dan Morse Washington Post October 2006

• “Witches, Druids and Other Pagans Make Merry Again in the Magical Month of May” Eric Goldscheider New York Times May 28, 2005
• “Flourishing pagan groups get organized” Matthew Hay Brown Baltimore Sun October 31, 2005
• "Teens and Wicca" by Barbara Bradley Hagerty on All Things Considered (NPR) first aired May 16, 2004
• "Typical Witch at Home in Suburbs" by Darrah Johnson Washington Post October 31, 2003 B 1
• Radio Times, with Marty Moscow-Wayne, April 14, 1999 to discuss A Community of Witches
• "Mother Knows Best" by Mary Lefkowitz review of A Community of Witches In Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review. November 8, 1998.           
• "Better Living Through Sorcery" by Doreen Carvajal, The New York Times October 26, 1998 E 1;4.
• "West Chester University Professor: Witches No Longer on the Fringe" by Walter S. Naedele Philadelphia Inquirer October 30, 1998 B4.
• Interview on Fox TV October 31, 1998.
• "Chester County Talk" WCHE October 27, 1998.
• "Faiths Defended" by Jenna Jackson, The Beaumont Enterprise January 12, 1998.
• "People Are Talking," TV interview about Modern Day Witches October 27, 1989
• Boston Herald August 1, 1989, interview about Women's support groups
• Associated Press, October 1988, interview about modern day Witches
• Yankee Magazine October 1988, interview about modern day Witches
• Boston Globe, October 30,1986, interview about my series at the Boston Public Library
• Boston Herald, October 26,1986, interviewed by Marjorie Howard concerning my present research on modern day witche
• Middlesex News, October 31,1986, interviewed by Jan Gardner about modern day witchcraft in New England
• Allston/Brighton New, October 31,1986, interviewed by Michaela Casey concerning my talk at the Boston Public library
• WSTC radio in Standford, CT. "Conversation Piece" interviewed about Witch Craft New and Old in New England

PUBLIC TALKS:

• “Contemporary Paganism, Environmentalism, Feminism and Political Activity” presented at Women’s History Group at Newbury Court, Concord, MA, March 29,2016
• “Witches and Other Pagans” the Waltham Council on Aging January 28, 2013
• “Witchcraft and Neopaganism: Practice and Beliefs” to meeting of Pennsylvania Prison Chaplains October 2007

• "Witchcraft, Gender, Self-Identity" Bard College, October 2003

• "Gender and Self-identity in the Wicca Community" Cornell College, February 21, 2002

• "Feminist Witches and The Goddess" Bryn Mawr College, November 27, 1995.
• "Witches: Myths and Reality," Conversations in Women's Studies, October 28, 1992
• "The Witch Today," March 19,1987 Methodist Church, Sharon Ma.
• Witchcraft from the Middle Ages to Modernity," presented February 4,1987 , Marsh Chapel, Boston University
• Witchcraft in New England: a five part series sponsored by the Endowment for the Humanities at the Boston Public Library October 1986.

Reviewer  (partial list)  

• Temple University Press (manuscript review)
• Nova Religio
• Politics and Religion
• Contemporary Jewry
• The Pomegranate:
• Journal of Contemporary Religion
• Journal of Sociology of Religion
• Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

Blogs , Op-Eds, News Articles:

• Letter to the Editor. Boston Globe, January 4,2017 concerning historic witchcraft document in the Peabody-Essex Museum.
• Ten Ways to Stay Sane and Energized while fighting the Good Fight, March 1, 1017.
• Kiss Prince Charming and he may become a Toad” with Ruth Nemzoff         November 30, 2016 Huffington Post
•  “Just Locker Room Talks” with Ruth Nemzoff, October 26, 2016 Huffington            Post
• “We have a Clear Choice” with Ruth Nemzoff,  October 26, 2016 Huffington           Post
• “We have a Clear Choice” With Ruth Nemzoff October 26, 2016 Huffington             Post
• Just Locker Room Talk” With Ruth Nemzoff  October 20, 2016 Huffington
• Post
• Op-Ed New York Times. September 16,2016: A24

•  “Is Hillary the Devil?” With Ruth Nemzoff August 26,2016 Huffington Post
• “Bernie-ites “Ten Reasons to work for Hillary” with Ruth Nemzoff, June 30,            2016 Huffington Post
• Is She a Crook” with Ruth Nemzoff, June 15, 2016 Huffington Post.

•  “An Abusive Trump” With Ruth Nemzoff Huffington Post, May 24, 2016 reprinted in USA Today May 24, 2016
•  “Is Donald Trump Prince Charming?” With Ruth Nemzoff Huffington Post, May 17, 2016
•  “Political Opportunity Knocks” With Ruth Nemzoff Huffington Post, May 5, 2016I
•  “Political Opportunity Knocks” With Ruth Nemzoff Huffington Post, May 5, 2016
• With Ruth Nemzoff “Six Easy Steps to Revolution” Huffington Post, April 15, 2016 reprinted in USA Today April 16, 2016. https://usaonlinetoday.com/dr-ruth-nemzoff-six-easy-steps-to-the-revolution/
•  “ Where there is Smoke there is fire” with Ruth Nemzoff Huffington Post, February 27, 2016
• Mean Girls, the Internet, and Politics” with Ruth Nemzoff Huffington Post February 16, 2016

Professional Positions:

• Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA., Affiliated Scholar, September 2021-Present; Resident Scholar, June 2013 to August 2021; Visiting Scholar, September 2011-June 2013; Visiting Research Associate, September 2010 to August 2011,
• West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19383 Professor Emeritus of Sociology, June 2009-Present, Professor of Sociology, Department of Anthropology and Sociology, and Women’s Studies Program, August 2000 to June 2009, Associate September 1996- August 2000, Assistant Professor, September 1991-August 1996
• Assistant Professor, Department of Social Science, College of Basic studies, Boston University, September 1984 - June 1991.
• Assistant Professor, Metropolitan College, Boston University, January 1989 - May 1989; January 1990 - May 1990
• Coordinator of the Freshman Social Science program, College of Basic Studies, Boston University, September 1986-June 1987
• Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, New York University, January - June 1984
• Part-Time Instructor, Department of Sociology, New York University, July 1979 - September 1979;June 1980 - June 1983
• Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Behavioral Science, Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York, January 1974-June 1977
• Adjunct Lecturer, Department of Behavioral Science, New York Technical Institute, January - June 1976

Committee Assignments at WSRC:

2020-21 Forum Committee

2018-2020 Chair of the Applications Committee

2019-2020 Chair of Visiting Scholars Strategic Plan Implementation Committee

2015-2018 Steering Committee

2013-2015 Co-Chair Student Outreach Committee (With two other scholars I created this committee the year before)

2012-13 Waltham Committee

2011-2012 Technology Committee.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS: 

        American Sociological Association

               Sex and Gender Unit

               Sociology of Religion Unit

        American Academy of Religion

                Contemporary Pagan Studies Unit

        Society for the Scientific Study of Religion