If That Which Thou Seekest Thou Findest Not Within Thee, Thou Wilt Never Find It On The Internet

Abstract

This paper is an examination of the information behaviors and habits of practising Pagans and ritual magicians. Aspects of information behavior relevant to contemporary Paganism are discussed, before features of Paganism that may affect information needs and use are presented. An online questionnaire covering the six areas of information needs, access, retrieval, quality, use and literacy was administered with 142 respondents, and five of those were subsequently interviewed at length, before the results were analyzed using an interpretivist methodology, with reference to existing information behavior models deemed relevant. The results present the beginning stages of a model of Pagan and Occult information behavior, showing seven sliding scales concerning issues practicing Pagans and ritual magicians face when engaging with information, on which each individual may have very different positions.