Problematic Authors Database

Community-vetted information about authors with documented concerns in occult, pagan, and witchcraft spaces

29
Total Authors
3
Extreme Avoidance
  • This database contains community-sourced opinions and should not be considered definitive truth
  • All content reflects documented public claims by or about the authors
  • We do not claim these assessments are complete or without bias
  • Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and form independent judgments
  • This is an opinion-based resource, not a factual encyclopedia

Legal Disclaimer:

This site operates under Fair Use principles for commentary and criticism. All information is presented as analysis of public records and community-reported experiences. Claims are supported where possible by verifiable sources and public statements.

Contact usTermsPrivacy

Database updated: October 16, 2025

Showing 29 of 29 authors

Silver Ravenwolf

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Anti-religious bias (bashes Christianity and other religions while promoting Wicca as superior)
  • •Misinformation about Wicca and witchcraft (claims Wicca is the only valid path to witchcraft)
  • •Cultural appropriation (misrepresents closed practices, uses racial slurs)
  • •Historical inaccuracies (exaggerates Burning Times statistics, promotes debunked theories)
  • •Cult-like rhetoric (discourages sharing beliefs with family/friends)
  • •Contradictory claims (asserts Protestant folk magic lineage while rejecting Christian witches)

Aleister Crowley

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Radical and dangerous ideologies
  • •Documented racism and misogyny
  • •Cultural appropriation
  • •Unethical cult leadership practices
  • •Extreme practices (including coprophagia for 'enlightenment')

Scott Cunningham

⚠️ Use with caution

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Outdated Wiccan-centric information
  • •Some valuable resources (e.g., Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs)
  • •Requires critical evaluation of material

Skye Alexander

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • The Modern Guide to Witchcraft

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural fetishization
  • •Perpetuates Burning Times myth
  • •Promotes harmful stereotypes
  • •Problematic deity approach ('collector' mentality)
  • •Minimizes systemic racism

Gabriela Herstik

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation
  • •Unverified personal gnosis presented as fact
  • •Gender bias
  • •Historical inaccuracies

Austin Osman Spare

⚠️ Use with caution

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Dense, inaccessible writing style
  • •Assumes advanced prior knowledge
  • •Specialized terminology without explanation

Fiona Horne

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Admitted lack of passion/authenticity in writing
  • •Targets teenage audiences with misinformation
  • •Islamic cultural appropriation
  • •Identifies as atheist while claiming Wiccan affiliation

D.J. Conway

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Norse Magic
  • Celtic Magic
  • Mystical Dragon

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Repetitive, recycled content across books
  • •Historical and cultural inaccuracies
  • •Superficial treatment of diverse traditions

Gerald Gardner

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Witchcraft Today
  • The Meaning of Witchcraft

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Founder of Gardnerian Wicca with problematic legacy
  • •Documented racism
  • •Fabricated academic credentials
  • •Cultural appropriation

Gerina Dunwich

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Wicca A to Z
  • The Wicca Spellbook

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation (misuse of chakras, smudging, Voodoo terminology)
  • •Gatekeeping witchcraft behind Wiccan framework
  • •Historical inaccuracies
  • •Problematic deity approach

Specific Issues

appropriation:
  • Encourages use of closed practice elements
  • Uses 'Voodoo doll' instead of 'poppet'
  • Misrepresents sacred herbs from other religions
misinformation:
  • False claims about Wicca's antiquity
  • Imposes Wiccan Rede on non-Wiccan practices
  • Incorrectly defines Wicca as exclusively Goddess-centric

Galina Krasskova

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • On Divination
  • Ancestors and Hero Cultus
  • Honoring the Ancestors: A Basic Guide
  • Honoring the Mothers: Novenas to the Mothers of Our Gods and Heroes

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Neo-Nazi affiliations
  • •Antisemitism
  • •Racism
  • •Religious intolerance
  • •Misinformation

Anastasia Greywolf

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Witchcraft: A Handbook of Magic, Spells, and Potions

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation
  • •Misinformation
  • •Inconsistent religious syncretism (mixes Christian elements with Wicca)
  • •Racism

Ernst Tristan

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Nazi associations
  • •Antisemitism
  • •Cultural appropriation
  • •Misinformation

Yvonne & Gavin Frost

❌ Extreme Avoidance

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Documented advocacy of abusive practices involving minors
  • •Severe ethical violations in ritual content
  • •Widespread condemnation by pagan communities
  • •Persistent influence despite known dangers

Specific Issues

ethical violations:
  • Authored rituals requiring minor participation in sexual contexts
  • Promoted abusive practices under guise of spiritual tradition
  • Refused to recant problematic material despite public outcry
community response:
  • Universally condemned by major Wiccan organizations
  • Subject of multiple formal denouncements
  • Removed from recommended reading lists community-wide
ongoing concerns:
  • Works still circulate in some beginner collections
  • Historical influence complicates complete eradication
  • Requires active warning due to potential harm

Judika Illes

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation (misrepresents shamanism, Hoodoo, and Native traditions)
  • •Anti-religious bias (particularly anti-Christian)
  • •Misinformation (incorrect definitions, oversimplification of spiritual concepts)
  • •LGBTQ+ exclusionary (enforces binary gender roles)
  • •Inappropriate focus on sexuality in a non-inclusive way
  • •Promotes unsafe practices (e.g., passing out in crossroads for shapeshifting)

Judy Hall

⚠️ Use with caution

Notable Works:

  • The Crystal Bible
  • The Astrology Bible

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation (misuse of chakras, 'smudging' terminology)
  • •Requires mental correction of terminology for ethical use

Leanna Greenaway

⚠️ Use with caution

Notable Works:

  • Wiccapedia

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Anti-modern medicine stance
  • •Misinformation (especially about witch hunts)
  • •Conflates Wicca with witchcraft

Lisa Lester (Lister)

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Witch

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Misandry (promotes hatred of men)
  • •Trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF ideology)
  • •Gender essentialism (reduces magic to biological sex)
  • •Transphobic content

Arin Murphy-Hiscock

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • The Green Witch

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Misinformation about historical folk practices
  • •Conflation of Wicca with witchcraft
  • •Romanticized pseudoscience (human energy affecting nature)
  • •Misrepresentation of cunning folk as 'feared outcasts' (contrary to historical evidence)
  • •Overgeneralization of folk traditions as 'witchcraft'

David Thompson

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • The Magick of Apollo
  • The Magick of Aphrodite
  • The Magick of Hermes

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Historical misinformation (e.g., Lemuria myth)
  • •Misrepresentation of ancient practices

Robert Simmons

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Unethical mineral trade practices
  • •Exploitation of small-scale miners
  • •Trademark abuse of indigenous stone names (e.g., New Zealand Greenstone)
  • •Price gouging (e.g., $2500 for common jasper specimens)
  • •Market manipulation through false labeling (e.g., 'Azeztulite' scam)
  • •Legal threats against critics
  • •Environmental damage from restricted access policies

E.A. Koetting (Matthew Joseph Lawrence)

❌ Extreme Caution

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Promotion of violent extremism (alleged ties to Temple ov Blood)
  • •Inspiration for real-world violence (Danyal Hussein case)
  • •Cultural appropriation (Voodoo, Hoodoo, African traditions)
  • •Fraudulent occult merchandise
  • •Dangerous rituals (alleged human sacrifice ideology)
  • •Criminal history (drug and weapons charges)
  • •Narcissistic messianism (self-deification claims)

Michael Ford

❌ Avoid

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation
  • •Misinformation (misrepresents Luciferianism as Satanism)
  • •Ties to O9A (a documented Nazi-aligned organization)
  • •Perceived arrogance in writing style

Tamsin Chamberlin

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Witchcraft: A Book of Magickal Practices and Spells

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Misogyny (promotes coercive marriage spells)
  • •Cultural appropriation (misuses Native practices, Hoodoo, Kabbalah)
  • •Uses racial slurs (e.g., 'G*psy')
  • •Misinformation (unrealistic spells like immortality)
  • •Harmful gender dynamics ('make a woman accept marriage' spells)

Raymond Buckland

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Complete Book of Witchcraft

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Misogyny & sexism (objectifies women in rituals)
  • •Outdated patriarchal Gardnerian derivatives
  • •Elitism (dismisses solitary practitioners)
  • •Graphic, unnecessary sexual content
  • •Exclusionary coven-centric ideology

Helena Blavatsky

❌ Extreme Avoidance

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Documented racism and antisemitism
  • •Cultural appropriation of Kabbalah
  • •Academic fraud regarding claimed esoteric knowledge
  • •Foundational influence on problematic modern traditions

Specific Issues

racism:
  • Claimed African, Aboriginal Australian, and South Sea Islander peoples were biologically and spiritually inferior
  • Referred to Indigenous Australians as 'half-animal' in published works
  • Promoted hierarchical racial theories under guise of spiritual evolution
antisemitism:
  • Characterized Judaism as 'a religion of hate and malice'
  • Misrepresented Jewish mysticism while denigrating its origins
  • Blamed Jewish traditions for perceived flaws in Christianity
academic criticism:
  • René Guénon demonstrated her works were compiled from existing texts, not supernatural sources (historical)
  • Professor Agehananda Bharati dismissed her work as 'horrendous hogwash' (anthropological)
  • Mircea Eliade proved her theories contradict authentic Eastern spiritual traditions (theological)
influence:
  • Direct inspiration for Gerald Gardner's problematic Wiccan foundations

Damon Brand

❌ Avoid

Notable Works:

  • Magickal Protection - Defend Against Curses, Gossip, Bullies, Thieves, Demonic Forces, Violence, Threats and Psychic Attack

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Cultural appropriation of Jewish angelology
  • •Commercial exploitation of spiritual practices
  • •Unverified metaphysical claims
  • •Problematic anti-piracy rhetoric

Specific Issues

appropriation:
  • Instructs non-Jewish practitioners to invoke Hebrew-named angels without cultural context
  • Fails to provide accurate translations or traditional usage guidelines
  • Commercializes sacred terminology
ethical concerns:
  • Claims book purchase constitutes magical 'pact' for efficacy
  • Threatens supernatural retaliation against copyright infringers
  • Positioned as paywall to spiritual access
methodological issues:
  • Oversimplifies complex angelic traditions
  • Lacks scholarly or traditional citations
  • Promotes instant-results mentality in spiritual practice

Sarah Young

⚠️ Caution

Notable Works:

  • Jesus Calling - Enjoying Peace in His Presence

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Theological inconsistencies
  • •Commercialization of spiritual experience
  • •Problematic claims of divine authority
  • •Contradictory creation process

Specific Issues

theological concerns:
  • Purports to speak directly for the Christian deity
  • Underwent multiple revisions despite claims of divine inspiration
  • Promotes spiritual bypassing of complex issues
methodological issues:
  • Used automatic writing while claiming Christian orthodoxy
  • Commercial motives apparent in publishing approach
  • Comparable to Doreen Virtue's problematic works
community notes:
  • Potential use: Some Christian witches report value in bibliomancy applications
  • Controversy: Widely criticized in theological circles for presumptive authorship

Susun Weed

❌ Extreme Avoidance

Reasons to Avoid:

  • •Documented abuse allegations
  • •Violent behavior and threats
  • •Systemic transphobia and sexism
  • •Cultural appropriation
  • •Legal violations

Specific Issues

abuse allegations:
  • Multiple reports of verbal and physical assault
  • Threats against apprentices documented in police records
  • Pattern of coercive control in teaching environments
discrimination:
  • Trans-exclusionary rhetoric and policies
  • Gender essentialism in herbalism teachings
  • Hostility toward LGBTQ+ practitioners
legal issues:
  • Arrest for threatening behavior (Ulster County, NY)
  • Multiple restraining orders filed by former students