Ms Bliss Magdalena Qadesh

Researching Spiritual Abuse, Violence and Domination in Paganism as an ESRC Funded PhD Candidate

This project aims to explore the lived experiences of people identifying as Pagan within the United Kingdom in relationship to gender based violence, intimate partner violence, domestic abuse, and spiritual abuse. The diverse practices and culture of Paganism as a religious and spiritual identifying population in Britain will be examined in the context of ways that Paganism can support abuse survivors through empowerment, emancipation and recovery, or exacerbate harms by enabling and protecting perpetrators in continued abuse through further marginalisation and exclusion of those who disclose their experiences of abuse within the community. 

This research feeds into a larger body of literature exploring faith and coercive control, religious communities and attitudes towards VAWG.