u/dot80

Hi Everyone! I recently posted here and found there were many in our community that would be interested in collaborating on a shared resource for SASS witches. Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/SASSWitches/comments/1uhlabj/communitycompiled_grimoire/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1

To get the ball rolling I have drafted a few guiding principles. Many also mentioned they’d like to see an example before contributing themselves, so I went ahead and wrote-up an introduction defining some of the core concepts as I understand them. None of this is set in stone! Please share feedback on what you like and what should be changed. Please also share some additional topics that need to be tackled (even if you are not the one planning to tackle them in the end).

Next steps will be to incorporate the feedback provided and find someone who will be willing to do a full peer-review of what I’ve written up. As others start to write-up topics, please follow the same process: post a thread to get public comment, find a peer reviewer, then we can begin compiling things together. I suppose we will need to work out an acceptance process for what is considered final, open to ideas about that.

Goals:

1. Create a shared resource for both experienced and beginner SASS witches to expand their practice.
2. Collate the knowledge of the community
3. Form connections among community members.

Core Guiding Principles:

1. All content should be secular, meaning it does not require belief in a particular faith or creed.
2. All content should be well-supported by scientific evidence and clear citations.
3. All content should be made open for public comment as well as peer-reviewed for quality.
4. All discussion and activities related to the project should adhere to community guidelines.

Proposed Peer Review Process:

1. Content should be posted in a thread inviting constructive commentary and additions.
2. After opportunity for public comment, a peer reviewer should perform a private review to verify: information is present fairly and accurately, information is supported by citations, information aligns with the core guiding principles, information is free of grammatical errors, information meaningfully incorporated public feedback from the community, and information doesn’t contradict what has been previously accepted.

SASS Witchcraft Introduction: Secular, Agnostic, Science-Seeking (SASS) Witchcraft is a magic practice that centers scientific evidence and doesn’t require belief in the supernatural. The acronym used also embodies the prevailing attitude of SASS witches. Secular in this case suggests a practice that is “not overtly or specifically religious” (Merriam-Webster. Secular.), but in being agnostic it also means that the practice does not necessarily exclude those who do believe in the supernatural. Rather, the idea is that as a science-seeking practice, it should equally be useful for any who may wish to participate, as it is based of off objective scientific evidence.

SASS witches challenge themselves to be intentional in their practice, to research what they are doing and ask key questions: Why am I doing what I do? What is my goal for each working? What evidence is there that my practice will actually affect the world? In trying to meet the standard of evidence-based practices, understanding and overcoming personal bias becomes important. Often SASS witchcraft requires practitioners to reinterpret traditional witchcraft practices in the context of scientific evidence. It may limit what one can do in light of the available evidence. Individual witches may disagree on how much their practice needs to reference specific evidence, and how much one can operate in the gray areas. SASS witchcraft is always personal to the practitioner, as all witchcraft must be, but community engagement may be especially important to SASS witches in generating ideas, overcoming personal bias, and getting perspectives outside of one’s own.

Definition of Magic: In SASS witchcraft magic is defined as simply influencing the world through one’s will. A working, spell, potion, or ritual is the conduit by which one exerts their will on the world. It does not expect bright flashes of light, balls of fire, or supernatural forces. Magic often operates at the level of the mind and consciousness, but may also be found in what otherwise could be mistaken for the mundane: a reduction in bodily inflammation from steeping tea from an herb, performing small rites of superstition to feel protected, or meaning-making through intuitive interpretation of everyday signs and patterns.

Placebo Effect: The foundational concept to SASS witchcraft is the placebo effect. The placebo effect is “a clinically significant response to a therapeutically inert substance or nonspecific treatment (placebo), deriving from the recipient’s expectations or beliefs regarding the intervention.” (APA, Placebo Effect). In other words, a placebo effect is a response to a treatment that cannot be explained by the treatment itself. It comes from one’s own mind and body, based on what you believe will happen as a result of the treatment. Traditionally, the placebo effect is measured when doing clinical trials for treatments and drugs. Participants that receive the control (i.e. a sugar pill), still have a measurable response to the treatment, despite the fact that the treatment didn’t include any actual medicine.

What does this have to do with witchcraft? Research has also shown that when the participant knows they are receiving a placebo (termed an open-label placebo), there is still a positive response. Said simply, even when we know there is nothing to the treatment, just the experience of receiving the treatment is enough to have a positive impact. This is where witchcraft enters the picture: SASS witchcraft often seeks to take advantage of the idea of an open-label placebo effect in the practice of magic. By working a spell, the SASS witch relies on the idea that the very act of the spell will have an effect on them, even if they may not know for sure or believe at all in the supernatural power of the spell to work, they do trust in the placebo effect.

Recent research into the open-label placebo effect has support this idea. A meta analysis conducted in 2025 found that “OLPs appear to affect self-report and objective outcomes differently. While OLPs have a beneficial effect on self-report outcomes across both clinical and non-clinical populations, they show no effect on objective outcomes” (Fendel et al. 2025). This suggests that, in witchcraft open-label placebo can help us to influence our mental perceptions of a situation, even if it cannot physically change our reality.

Another key findings relevant for witchcraft is that “the suggestiveness of the treatment rationale in OLP interventions is crucial, as trials lacking suggestive elements did not yield significant beneficial effects.” This means that if we believe in the power of the open-label placebo and our magic, it will be more effective. The study outlines the following ‘suggestive elements’ as typical for open-label placebo: “(1) the placebo effect is powerful, (2) the body is automatically responding to placebos, (3) a positive attitude towards palcebos is not necessary, and (4) adherence to the placebo regime is important” (Fendel et al. 2025). Reinterpreted in terms of magic, this means a) we need to understand the potential for a placebo effect, and b) we need to follow-through on the design of the spell for it to work.

In a sense, any spell or working that is meant to influence one’s own mental state or attitudes can take advantage of the placebo-effect. Many practices within SASS witchcraft are to do just that: get motivation to stick to a new routine, move beyond a past love interest, feel confident in one’s ability to be successful in a new endeavor. These types of workings are about feeling better, more confident, and/or ready to move on. This type of working is supported by current research into the placebo effect. Limitations to the placebo effect-based workings would be to physically heal an ailment, curse an enemy, or cause someone to fall in love.

Evidence-based Practice: While the placebo effect serves as the jumping off point for SASS witchcraft, it is only the start. Any practice that is supported by evidence can be incorporated into SASS witchcraft. In order to be a SASS-aligned practice, a practitioner must begin by investigating what the current scientific evidence says about any practice they are interested in undertaking. If the practice is not supported by evidence, it is not a SASS practice. That is not to say it still might not be a valuable part of an individual witch’s practice, just that it is not SASS.

To develop a SASS practice, it is useful to think in terms of ‘evidence-based practice’ (EBP). EBP a model used by medical practitioners to make sure they are providing the most effective treatment to their patients. EBP is defined as “the conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” (LibGuides: Evidence-Based Practice Guide: What is EBP?). While SASS witches are not doctors, they do seek to do the same: integrate, to the best of their ability, prevailing scientific evidence to support their practices.

The steps of EBP include (adapted for witchcraft from LibGuides: Evidence-Based Practice Guide: What is EBP?) :

1. Asking: Asking includes converting a puzzling into a question. What is it you are trying to achieve? What practices are you considering?
2. Accessing: Searching to find evidence to support the practices you are considering. In this process you may find the practice you’re considering is supported by scientific evidence (see placebo effect above), or it may mean you find other alternatives that are supported.
3. Appraising: One of the most important steps is evaluating your sources. Is this coming from a reputable source? Is it recent? Does it apply to your question?
4. Applying: Now that you have found research to support a practice, how does the research suggest the practice can be made most effective? How might you adapt the practice in light of the evidence?
5. Assessing: Try the practice and see how it works. If it’s not working for you, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

Bibliography: American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Placebo effect. In APA dictionary of psychology. Retrieved July 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.apa.org/placebo-effect

Fendel JC, Tiersch C, Sölder P, Gaab J, Schmidt S. Effects of open-label placebos across populations and outcomes: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Sci Rep. 2025 Aug 15;15(1):29940. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-14895-z. PMID: 40817381; PMCID: PMC12356945.

LibGuides: Evidence-Based Practice Guide: What is EBP? (n.d.). https://utsouthwestern.libguides.com/ebp

Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Secular. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved July 3, 2026, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular

Would anyone be interested in compiling a public Grimoire as a SASS community?

I’m imagining a few little essay write-ups on various topics. Definition of SASS. Placebo effect. How to do a mini-lit review to support your practice. Frameworks for designing spells/rituals. Summarized explanations of common branches of witchcraft. Guides for “secularizing” woo-y practices. Personal Grimoire writing.

Also maybe compiled science-supported wellness practices with a SASS spin. Mindfulness/meditation. Grounding. Forest-bathing. Placebo effect. Journal magic.

Not even imaging something super formal. Like we could even just start a thread to compile things. The only thing I think that would be important is required citations from good sources that support what has been written with a peer-review process.