Editing Margaret Murray (section)

==Personal life==
[[File:Bust of Margaret Murray, UCL.jpg|thumb|upright|Bust of Murray held in the library of the [[UCL Institute of Archaeology]]. The bronze cast was produced by [[Stephen Rickard]] after having been commissioned by Murray's student Violet MacDermot.{{sfn|Janssen|1992|p=79}}]]

On researching the history of UCL's Egyptology department, the historian Rosalind M. Janssen stated that Murray was "remembered with gratitude and immense affection by all her former students. A wise and witty teacher, two generations of Egyptologists have forever been in her debt." Alongside teaching them, Murray was known to socialise with her UCL students outside of class hours.{{sfn|Janssen|1992|pp=30-31}} 

Archaeologist [[Ralph Merrifield]], who knew Murray through the Folklore Society, described her as a "diminutive and kindly scholar, who radiated intelligence and strength of character into extreme old age".{{sfn|Merrifield|1993|p=10}} Davidson, who also knew Murray through the Society, noted that at their meetings "she would sit near the front, a bent and seemingly guileless old lady dozing peacefully, and then in the middle of a discussion would suddenly intervene with a relevant and penetrating comment which showed that she had missed not one word of the argument".{{sfn|Davidson|1987|p=123}} The later folklorist Juliette Wood noted that many members of the Folklore Society "remember her fondly", adding that Murray had been "especially keen to encourage younger researchers, even those who disagreed with her ideas".{{sfn|Wood|2001|p=45}}

One of Murray's friends in the Society, [[E. O. James]], described her as a "mine of information and a perpetual inspiration ever ready to impart her vast and varied stores of specialised knowledge without reserve, or, be it said, much if any regard for the generally accepted opinions and conclusions of the experts!"{{sfn|James|1963|p=568}} Davidson described her as being "not at all assertive{{nbsp}}[...] [she] never thrust her ideas on anyone. [In relation to her witch-cult theory,] she behaved in fact rather like someone who was a fully convinced member of some unusual religious sect, or perhaps, of the [[Freemasonry|Freemasons]], but never on any account got into arguments about it in public."{{sfn|Simpson|1994|p=89}} The archaeologist [[Glyn Daniel]] observed that Murray remained mentally alert into her old age, commenting that "her vigour and forthrightness and ruthless energy never deserted her".{{sfn|Daniel|1964|p=2}}

Murray never married, instead devoting her life to her work, and for this reason, Hutton drew comparisons between her and two other prominent female British scholars of the period, [[Jane Ellen Harrison|Jane Harrison]] and [[Jessie Weston (scholar)|Jessie Weston]].{{sfn|Hutton|1999|p=194}} Murray's biographer Kathleen L. Sheppard stated that she was deeply committed to public outreach, particularly when it came to Egyptology, and that as such she "wanted to change the means by which the public obtained knowledge about Egypt's history: she wished to throw open the doors to the scientific laboratory and invite the public in".{{sfn|Sheppard|2012|p=532}} She considered travel to be one of her favourite activities, although due to restraints on her time and finances she was unable to do this regularly; her salary remained small and the revenue from her books was meagre.{{sfn|Drower|2004|p=124}}

Raised a devout Christian by her mother, Murray had initially become a [[Sunday School]] teacher to preach the faith, but after entering the academic profession she rejected religion, gaining a reputation among other members of the Folklore Society as a noted [[scepticism|sceptic]] and a [[rationalism|rationalist]].{{sfnm|1a1=Simpson|1y=1994|1p=89|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2p=200}} She was openly critical of organised religion,{{sfnm|1a1=Oates|1a2=Wood|1y=1998|1p=12|2a1=Wood|2y=2001|2p=46}} although continued to maintain a personal belief in a [[God]] of some sort, relating in her autobiography that she believed in "an unseen over-ruling Power", "which science calls Nature and religion calls God".{{sfnm|1a1=Murray|1y=1963|1pp=196–204|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2p=200}}
She was also a believer and a practitioner of [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]], performing [[curse]]s against those she felt deserved it; in one case she cursed a fellow academic, [[Jaroslav Černý (Egyptologist)|Jaroslav Černý]], when she felt that his promotion to the position of Professor of Egyptology over her friend [[Walter Bryan Emery]] was unworthy. Her curse entailed mixing up ingredients in a frying pan, and was undertaken in the presence of two colleagues.{{sfnm|1a1=Janssen|1y=1992|1p=31|2a1=Hutton|2y=1999|2pp=200–201|3a1=Drower|3y=2004|3p=121}} In another instance, she was said to have created a wax image of [[Kaiser Wilhelm II]] and then melted it during the First World War.{{sfn|Drower|2004|p=120}} Ruth Whitehouse argues that, given Murray's lack of mention of such incidents in her autobiography and generally rational approach, a "spirit of mischief" as opposed to "a real belief in the efficacy of the spells" may have motivated her practice of magic.{{sfn|Whitehouse|2013}}