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WITCHCRAFT: Some Answers for the Curious
prepared and released
by Ka'l El
of the
Grove of the Unicorn
07/07/88
What is a Witch?
Contrary to many widely-held myths, witches are quite normal, engaged
in the sorts of activities that are common to people in any culture or
civilization. We work in a variety of professions, we live in all
climates, we drive cars, raise families, tell jokes, and in most ways
come across as perfectly normal people. This, however, doesn't answer
the question, so let's approach it from a different angle:
Technically, witches are initiated members of a Celtic-style nature
religion. In this sense (which is, strictly speaking, the proper
one), a witch is a person who has demonstrated a firm understanding of
the principles of the Craft, has been trained in the meaning and
purpose of ritual and the performance of ritual, and in all ways seeks
to live a life that is in harmony with Nature and the cycles of the
universe.
What are Warlocks, then?
The term 'warlock' specifically means 'oath-breaker'; it is used to
describe one whose word cannot be safely trusted. To call someone a
warlock is a serious matter in Pagan circles, as we hold integrity and
trustworthiness in very high regard. Warlocks are generally outcasts,
and may be either male or female. Just so, the term 'witch' is
correctly applied to both male and female.
You've mentioned Paganism twice; I thought Pagans were godless
heathens!
'Pagan' comes from the Latin pagani, which means 'country-dweller'.
During the Middle Ages, when the Roman church began to consolidate its
influence in northern Europe (and specifically in the British Isles),
they concentrated their efforts around the noble courts, which were
generally centers of population. As members of the court began to
accept the new Way of Christianity, others began to see advantage in
being on the new team, and followed those with money and power into
the fold.
The new religion was not so popular among the common people, who were
more inclined to tend their flocks and crops than to curry favor with
the nobility in town. The courtiers, educated by Latin-speaking
clergymen, referred to these un-Converted masses as pagans, or
'hicks', as might be said today.
'Heathen', that all-purpose accusation, is just the old English
translation of 'pagan'; both terms simply mean that the fashionable
people of the Dark Ages didn't think much of the arrogant rubes who
wanted to hang on to their own ways rather than disbelieve the
evidence of their lives and experiences.
As far as 'godlessness' is concerned, only repetition has given these
words that connotation.
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That doesn't tell me much about Paganism.
Paganism is a broad group of traditions that share a more-or-less
common world-view, and in that way is similar to Christianity. This
world-view is marked by several elements:
- Creation as an on-going process (as distinct from an event);
- Time as an ever-repeating cycle or spiral (no start or
finish);
- Universe as an organism becoming conscious (as distinct from a
machine produced by a celestial engineer);
- Love as the essential nature of the Universal organism;
- Experience as the means by which the Universe becomes
conscious;
- Incarnation as the means by which experience is forged into
wisdom;
- 'God' as a description (as distinct from a name or title).
Although there are differences between them, Wicca, Shintoism,
Hinduism, Polynesian Kahuna, Taoism and American Indians are among
those groups who substantially share this world-view. Many of these
concepts are espoused as well by some 'New Age' groups. In essence,
Pagans hold that spirituality and divinity are inherent in the
Universe, that we live to experience, and through that experience we
gain wisdom and increased awareness.
Do witches Believe in Jesus?
Some witches believe in a historical Jesus while others believe in the
symbolic or mythic Jesus; others believe in neither, and for many, the
question of Jesus is irrelevant. I have heard many of my brothers and
sisters voice the opinion that Jesus was a genuine Divine Being who
taught a path of love and service, and who in his role as the Sacred
King gave his life that the lives of the people would be renewed. For
these things we honor him, yet we do not believe in messiahs, and I
know of no Witch who worships him as the 'only son of god'.
Then how do Witches propose to Escape Hell and Attain Salvation?
This dual question has no real meaning for us; we see life as a
school, not a lottery. In this school, we learn from the mistakes we
make as we thread our ways through the world, and the lessons we learn
are of love, tolerance, humility, understanding and joy. We believe
that we learn these lessons, in common with all life every-where,
through face-to-face interaction with the 'way things are'; and we
believe that, though these lessons are often accompanied by feelings
of sorrow or loss, they are worth the learning. On the subject of
salvation, we believe that Hell (so-called) is the result of
becoming attached to things and people (being 'of the world', as
Christians might say), taking the lessons of life personally and
perceiving them as troubles and blaming ourselves and others for the
problems in our lives. On the same note, the closest we get to an
idea of Heaven is through accepting the pains and frustrations of
day-to-day life as lessons, and learning how we have caused ourselves
and others pain through our errors, thereby freeing us to go on with
our lives stronger, wiser, and more balanced.
Where do you think you go when you die, then?
We tell stories of a place we call Summerland, which we think of as a
place of welcome rest after the rigors of life on Earth. We expect to
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be rejoined with friends and loved ones who went before us, to digest
and understand the lessons we have learned during our time
'incarnate'. From there, we will return to life on Earth after a
time, to learn and teach until we achieve perfect knowledge and
understanding of this cycle of existence. Honestly, we don't much
occupy ourselves with thoughts about afterlife, as we believe there
is nothing to fear.
I guess you don't believe the Bible is the 'word of god'...
No we don't; the ways it teaches are not our ways, although we
respect them as we respect all the many ways that people use to 'touch
the heart of God'.
What do you use, then, for a Bible?
The world is our 'bible' (Latin for 'book'), and all that is on it, in
it, and around it. For us, the Earth is our mother, our teacher and
our provider. From her, we learn to survive, to sing, to create, to
rest and to believe. The Sun for us is a symbol of the father, from
whom we learn to dare, to question, to heal, to dance and to dream.
The seasons teach about birth, death and rebirth, and about the need
to live in harmony and balance with the rest of creation. For us, the
Divine is all about us, befriending us, teaching and guiding us.
Are Witches Pantheistic or Polytheistic?
Both. Yet the truth is not reached by so simple an answer. We are
pantheist in the sense that, for us, the gods are everywhere. This is
essentially what Judeo-Christianity refers to in speaking of God as
omnipresent. The gods are also within us (the Kingdom of God within,
as Christians would say), because we contain the Divine Spark ('Holy
Spirit') in common with all that exists. Because we perceive this
ever-present spiritual manifestation around us, we are also
polytheistic, meaning that the attributes or characteristics of
perfection and divinity take on many forms; therefore, they can be
understood in many different senses and deepen our comprehension of
the Truth that is behind and beyond all Ways and all religions. To put
it another way, we are Polytheist because (for us) the Absolute (which
roughly equates to the Christian concept of 'God') manifests as male
and female, and so we worship both God and Goddess. We are Pantheist
because this primary dual manifestation is reflected throughout
creation and so, everything that is tells us about some aspect of the
Absolute (and is therefore holy). Tell me something about the Gods you
worship.
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Please bear with me on this, as the question requires some groundwork.
In common with the monotheistic religions, we believe that there is a
single Source of all things, beyond our observation and comprehension.
In our conception, the Source is neither a thing nor a Being, but
instead transcends such limited human concepts. It serves the same
role, conceptually, as that of a 'Supreme Being'. We do not worship
the Source (also referred to as 'the All' and as 'the Absolute'), as
such, because in our view, one can only approach a relationship
with the Source by becoming mindful of its characteristics and
qualities as they manifest themselves in the world in which we live.
These characteristics and qualities, over the years, have become
personified as 'gods'. In such forms, they appear in the myths and
teachings of many cultures, including the antique world of Greece,
Rome, Egypt, etc.
The names of these gods are not of particular importance, because the
gods themselves are only important as symbols of various aspects of
existence. Through them, we are able to see ourselves as part of the
universe, as manifestations of the Source in our own rights. We
believe it is the destiny of all things to return to the Source
through true understanding. Having said all this, let me now show you
how it all comes about for us.
We believe that the Source is made manifest in the Creation that
surrounds us; and we see this manifestation as being made up of
dualities, which are linked in a meaningful way. The most obvious of
these polar pairs are male/female, heat/cold, light/dark, sky/earth,
and sun/moon; there are, literally, thousands of such pairs of
complementary opposites, and each plays its own role, but for our
purposes here, these are enough.
This profusion of paired opposites suggests to us that duality is the
essential character of creation, and to humans, the most significant
of these pairings is that of male and female. From this primal pair
emerges the concept of god and goddess. In this light, the pairs we
listed just now are categorized by their apparent natures:
God - male, light, heat, sky, sun;
Goddess -female,dark, cold,earth, moon;and fromthese
categories, it is derived that the overall character of god is active,
and that of goddess is passive. At the risk of oversimplifying, I
will leave this part of the discussion, with a word that these
qualities of god and goddess are archetypal, rather than literal
absolutes.
We refer to god and goddess, generally, as the Lord and the Lady. The
Lord is the Father of all, and his qualities of light, warmth, and
energy are most often symbolized by the sun, and whose nature is most
often represented by the sky. The Lady is the Mother of all, whose
patience and receptivity is symbolized by the earth, and whose
adaptability and steadfastness is represented by the moon. Our bodies
are the sign of her love and creativity.
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We see this endless chain of dualities reflected in our interactions
with the world in which we live, and with our fellow creatures, who
are also the children of the Lord and Lady. We see this chain in the
eternal cycles which move the universe around its unknown center.
There is more to male and female than mother and father: the Lord also
represents our Brother, our Friend; and likewise is the Lady Sister
and Friend to us. Like each of us, they have many names, many
faces, many roles, yet they remain themselves. Our gods have grown, in
a sense, as our understanding of ourselves and the creation around us
has grown; and yet they are just as they have always been. "As it was
in the beginning, it is now, and ever shall be" is true to us, as
well.
As we learn more about the divine creation around us, we learn to move
in harmony with it and with the creatures that share it with us, just
as sailors learn to work in accord with the winds, the currents and
the tides in order to reach their destination. As we learn about
ourselves, we learn to rise above the fear and frustration that can
accompany life, and learn to accept ourselves and others as we are, to
experience joy and love in our lives. As we learn about the gods, we
draw closer to them and learn under-standing, tolerance, humor, and
thankfulness. And, for us, doing any one of these is doing all of
these.
Do Witches worship the Devil?
NO! In fact, for many centuries, Wicca (as we call the indigenous
paganism of northern Europe) and Christianity co-existed peacefully:
the Christians did not claim to be the sole access to God, and the
Wicca offered sincere reverence to Jesus as a great Sacred King whose
sacrifice touched everyone. However, as the Roman church grew in
power and influence, it became jealous of the very large number of
Wiccans who - though acknowledging the divine role of Jesus and
respectful of the Path walked by those devoted exclusively to his
message - still steadfastly refused to render obedience, wealth and
land to Rome (and its emissaries); for northern Europe was almost
entirely inhabited by those who held to the 'Old Religion'. This
jealousy was the beginning of the Roman church's deliberate attempts
to discredit the old ways. These attempts included the creation of a
'devil' that was deliberately designed as a caricature of the Horned
God worshipped (though not exclusively) by the Old Religion; the
attribution of any and all natural calamities, and any source of
distress, to the practices of the Wicca, which, it was claimed,
invoked this 'Power of Evil' the church had created; and by accusing
women (who lacked sufficient maleness to have been created in 'God's'
image) of being inherently demonic temptations, drawing men away from
the church and into the natural world of life and death.
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In this light, it is hardly accidental that the whole-sale persecution
of the Old Religion began during the time of the Black Death. This
plague did much of the church's work for it: by killing off one
fourth to one third of the population, the black death eliminated an
enormous number of adherents to the Old Religion. That done, and the
Wiccan civilization still disorganized from the imperial Roman
extermination of the Druids years before (the Druids were masters of
history, ritual, poetry and law), it became a simple matter to
convince the survivors that the natural world was their enemy, and
women the wanton agents of the 'Enemy'. The stage had been set for the
Inquisitions, whose victims were overwhelmingly women and persons of
wealth and influence in the lives of the decimated pagan community.
Since those times, the Roman church and it's successors (such as the
'PTL' and '700' clubs) have used this manufactured association with an
artificial Arch-BadGuy as a means of justifying the CONTINUED
persecution and murder of those who still follow the Wiccan Way.
In "The Satanic Bible", it says that Witches ARE devil-worshippers but
are ignorant of the fact.
The Satanic Bible was written by a man who worships 'Satan', who is
supposed to be the 'father of lies'. This suggests to me that his
commitment to the truth may not be trustworthy. Essentially, by
declaring his belief in the church's own image of their created Enemy,
he has declared his acceptance of the medieval Christian character of
the game they play; he has chosen the 'Party Line', and his place of
the side of the imagined Adversary. We do not define the world in
Christian terms, for we have essentially nothing to do with Christian
beliefs and practices. (This is not to say that these is no common
ground between Christianity and the Craft, for there is much that we
share.) Not so the Satanists, whose every practice is either a
perversion or a violation of some Christian form (e.g., the 'Black
Mass', which Witches would still consider a foolish and irreverent
waste of time and energy, even if it were otherwise harmless), or the
more-or-less self-conscious pursuit of evil, which cannot be seriously
defended.
Though we are not believers in 'Satan', we do have a concept of evil,
which I will attempt to delineate: most of the problems we experience
in life can be thought of as arising from the four qualities of
attachment, greed, fear, and ignorance. These "qualities" cause us
all great pain in life as they warp our under-standing of events and
cause us to respond in ways that hurt and confuse. This is 'sin' in
it's original meaning of error and mistake, and often it is quite
innocent of any desire or intent to hurt, mislead or abuse. Evil is
the result of adding a fifth quality to the others, that of self-
centeredness. When self-centeredness enters the picture, then the
seeds of evil truly exist. Self-centeredness allows the self-centered
one to discount, or even ignore, the feelings, the rights, and even
the humanity of anyone outside that narrow focus. It is just such
'object'-ifcation that allows truly horrendous crimes to be committed,
that creates characters such as Jim Jones, Idi Amin, Josef Stalin,
Torquemada, Cromwell, and Hitler. The same self-centeredness, moved
from the individual self to the group self, allows war, slavery,
torture, terrorism, profiteering, persecution and genocide. I
ask you to remember that this is my formulation of a Pagan concept of
evil, and may not be agreed to by others. Regarding the idea that
Witches are ignorant of the focus of their spirituality, I can only
say that this is both false and flatly insulting, much as it would be
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to state that Christians do not worship Jesus, but a shoe salesman
from New Jersey who they think is Jesus.
What about these reports of Ritual murder, Sacrifices, and
Cannibalism?
These things have nothing to do with us, and we have nothing to do
with such practices. We find the reports of such things disgusting
and horrifying, for we have and maintain a deep respect and reverence
for all life; the suggestion that we are involved in such things
causes us great pain, for to be so involved would run counter to
everything we hold sacred. It would be, quite literally, "against our
religion".
Episodes of such anti-human, anti-life behavior are attributable to
derangement and insanity, or to Satanists, who make no pretense of
their worship of Christianity's manufactured 'prince of darkness'.
So much the worse for us: because of the original program of
opposition against Wiccan (and by that extension, all) Paganism, all
Satanists are assumed to be Witches by definition.
It is interesting to note that, in the days when Christianity was new,
the Romans accused them of many of the same vileness: blasphemy,
killing and eating of children, trafficking with demonic spirits,
ritual sacrifice. It is also interesting that in the hey-day of the
Roman church, Jews were subjected to these appalling charges, which
fuelled anti-Semitism right up to the Nazi exterminations. Indeed,
such accusations seem almost to be a 'traditional' means of
discrediting and destroying political/economic enemies (witness the
naming of the USSR as "an evil empire"). Perhaps the day will come
when peoples of different ways can live together without accusing each
other of abominations.
Why do you call Wicca a Religion, rather than a Cult?
Religions arise from principles and understanding and teach a way of
life; cults are based upon charisma and fascination, and are motivated
by profit and ascendancy. Religions thrive on independent conscious
participation; cults thrive on manipulation and obedience.
Wicca teaches a way of life based upon the perfection and
perfectibility of the spirit, closeness to the gods, right action, the
gaining of wisdom, and the Oneness of all life. In token and
celebration of this, we come together at our appointed times to
worship and to share the love, joy and 'fellowship' that life holds
for us, and to take note of the lessons that the events of the
seasons, and of our lives, have to teach us.
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Our religion is the wellspring of our joy; it is the sharing of the
knowledge that we are endlessly in the radiant presence of all that is
holy, all that is sweet and uplifting. It warms us and fills us and
makes us whole, strengthens our minds and clears our spirits. It is
the knowledge of the love of our Mother the Earth, who provides for us
even in our thoughtless and destructive ecological folly, and who is
more beautiful and more patient than praise can express. It is the
knowledge of the guidance of our Father the Hunter, who quickens us,
who teaches us love and laughter, wisdom and prudence. It is the
awareness that we share this world, this life with countless others;
that each of us both deserves the respect of, and owes respect to, the
other children of the Lord and the Lady.
Why does this Religion seem so strange to us?
It has been suggested that there are two kinds of religion: Type One,
which has been called 'primitive', believes in a cyclic, ever-renewing
concept of time, and a belief in reincarnation frequently accompanies
this view. This type encourages a sense of appreciation and oneness
with Nature, and of personal responsibility both practical and
spiritual. Typically, a Type One religion will have a dualistic and
complementary images of Godhead, representing polar aspects of
Creation as male and female. The Pagan religions are Type One.
Type Two, which has been called 'revealed', believes in a literal
beginning and ending of Creation- a linear concept of time, with life
considered as a one-shot ordeal. Type two religions encourage a
detachment from the world of Nature and a reliance on authority
(beyond the initial choice of whether or not to follow orders); they
will have a dualistic and antagonistic images of Godhead, representing
polar aspects of Creation as good and evil. Monotheistic religions
such as Christianity are Type Two religions. Type One and Type Two are
so called because they are the first and second types, respectively
and sequentially, to show themselves in human affairs.
The typical American is raised Christian, has virtually no contact
with members of Type One religions, and little meaningful inter-action
with members of the other monotheisms (Judaism, Islam,
Zoroastrianism). As a result, most opinions are formed based on
the images that are provided by the culture, and today this means the
images provided by movies and television. From the beginning, these
images have been selected to amuse and shock, rather than to enlighten
or inform. Truly, after nearly 2,000 years of exceptionally bad
press, Pagans of any sort from the 'superstitious' Hindu to the
'savage' native American to the 'wicked' Witch, are notoriously easy
targets for caricature. One can only say, 'Please don't believe
everything you see and hear!'
Why do Witches go off into the woods at night to worship?
First, we prefer to worship out-of-doors; as we are a nature religion,
we believe that no building can give us the sense of contact we feel
when our bare feet rest upon the Mother Earth, or the sense of
blessing we feel when a breeze caresses our skin. To worship is to
enter the presence of God or the Gods or Universe; so for us,
worshipping inside a building is more like leaving the Divine
Presence.
Given that, the best place to do this would be in a quiet spot, not
frequented by picnickers, traffic, or smog; a place remote enough to
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minimize the distractions of the man-made world. These days, there
are few areas that offer much along these lines, but there are still
woods to be found, and when we can, we worship there. The fact that
trees are important symbols for us only enhances the appeal of the
woods.
So, why at night? There are several reasons: after dark, people go
indoors & get quiet - this enhances the peacefulness (as almost
everyone knows) and the serenity of our outdoor communion, which is
important to us; also, the moon for us is a symbol of the Goddess, and
our rituals are synchronized with the lunar phases - this makes
nighttime appropriate to us, for night is when the moon is most
prominent.
There is one more reason we hold Circle (our worship) in the woods at
night - in practice, the more isolated we are, the safer we are. In
our Circle site in Lithonia, we were too close to go unheard, and too
far to be understood; the sad result of that incident was that we were
driven away by wild rumors and fears of the unknown.
If Witches are all the good things you say, what are you afraid of?
We are afraid of ignorance and of the violence that too often
accompanies it. To draw an example from history, the church-inspired
inquisitions caused the murder of 9,000,000 people. These people met
their ends through torture, starvation, burning, drowning and hanging;
their property was seized by the church, and their families were
scattered. Many of them were forced to watch loved ones suffer
agonies while they awaited their turns. The only accused who survived
were those who 'confessed' to the most loathsome crimes and outrageous
- even nonsensical - acts, and recanted their 'heresies'. All
who protested their innocence died.
Today in the 20th Century, members of the Craft have been fired from
their jobs, have been beaten, harassed, and sometimes murdered. Some
have lost their children in ugly legal battles, homes have been looted
and burned, and perfectly wholesome people have been declared
anti-social and a menace to the community. Yes, all these things do
go on now, today, often perpetrated by "well-intentioned" Christians
in a state of great fear and utter ignorance.
This is the reason for this pamphlet: to bear a lamp in the darkness
so that this holocaust may finally come to an end, and innocent people
may go about their lives unafraid.
As an example of why we're afraid, the next question is pretty good:
The Bible says, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live"; Why should
we?
The 'King James Version', on which virtually all English-language
translations are based, was begun and completed during the Burning
Times (our term for the anti-Pagan holocaust in Europe). Several
terms were rendered as "witch" in the final version. These terms
were, roughly, "evil-doer", "poisoner", "one who works harm in
secret". We shall probably never know whether this substitution was a
matter of political calculation or honest error. I think it likely
that there was a healthy portion of each at work. Further, the context
of this passage is significant. At the time, the Israelites were
preparing to invade and conquer the land of Canaan. In this light, it
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is highly possible that the original warning was against Canaanite
saboteurs and/or infiltrators, partisans working against the Israeli
occupation. It would take a deliberate decision to apply such a
stricture against a different people of another time in another land.
It may be interesting to note, in this context, that the warning
(often quoted) against soothsayers, magicians, etc. was specifically
aimed at foreign practitioners. Jewish soothsayers, etc. were not
mentioned.
Are there any guidelines a Witch might be expected to live by? There
are many precepts that help us learn how to live in harmony. One of
the most important of these is personal responsibility. We hold that
each of us is responsible for choosing any and all words, deeds,
opinions, thoughts, feelings and responses. Another is called
the Law of Three-fold Return. This teaches us that we directly
experience the results of our choices, deeds and behavior. It works
much like the 'golden rule'.
From these two, arises one that almost might be called 'the Witch's
Motto': An it harm none, do what ye will. This one carries much of
the weight that the Ten Commandments carries for Christians. It means
that we are free to act as we see fit, providing that no other person
suffers injury, pain, anguish, loss, or corruption, as a result of our
actions.
Also, there are the 13 Wiccan Virtues, which also guide us in our
growth and spiritual development. These virtues are Tolerance,
Charity, Humility, Devotion, Patience, Kindliness, Forbearance,
Sincerity, Courage, Precision, Efficiency, Discrimination, and Wisdom.
These are taken to a rather highly developed point in application, but
not changed from the qualities one would assume. I would like to point
out that 'discrimination' refers to the skill of recognizing the fine
points that make one person/place/situation/ moment different and
unique from any other. It has nothing to do with segregation, or with
injustice.
What does the number 13 mean to Witches?
Simply, it represents the 13 lunar months in a year; we celebrate the
passage of these months, or 'moons' in our rituals.
What are Wiccan rituals like?
In substance, they are no different from any other religion's
observances, though they do look different.
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We begin by preparing ourselves with prayer and meditation; we then
'cast the circle'. The Circle is our temple, and it is built and
purified for each ritual; it usually has no overt form or structure,
not even a chalk boundary, but is always circular in shape. Every
participant must declare themselves free of malice, and ready to
celebrate in a spirit of harmony and good-will before they can be
allowed to enter the Circle. Once all have gathered, we use a group
prayer (chanted by all, usually) to further unite us and elevate
our hearts, and to turn our minds toward the gods.
The priest and priestess (our clergy) then call upon the Lord and the
Lady, asking them to be with us - to receive our love and blessings,
and to share their love and blessings with us. We share lessons and
moral exercises at this time, which serve to emphasize the spiritual
focus and the significance of the occasion. Through chanting and
exaltation, we internalize these lessons and this significance so
that we may be in harmony with the unfoldment of the Divine Purpose.
We then share bread and wine as a sign that, as children of the Gods,
we share in the bounty of nature and receive our nourishment from
them. Thanksgiving is then offered to the Lord and Lady, and to the
Creation in which we take part, and we receive their bene-diction. A
ritual is frequently followed by food and fellowship. Most of our
rituals are for worship, for spiritual focus and development, and to
harmonize with the Divine Purpose ("the Path"). We also perform rites
of passage and sanctification: namings (christening/baptism),
handfastings (marriage), and memorials (funeral rites), among others.
What about Magic?
We do use magick for a variety of purposes (we spell 'magick' with a
'k' to distinguish what we do from stage magic, with its connotations
of illusion and trickery): healing, behavior change (a witch only
works on his or her own behavior), and general self-improvement.
These are the primary aims of magick, as practiced by a witch who
knows what she's doing! It is sometimes true that someone will say,
"I am a witch", and then do things that no witch would do, just as
some have claimed to follow Jesus, yet have done things in his name
that would never have gained his approval.
In this context, let me share something with you: no true witch will
employ magick to harm another; or to manipulate or influence another
without the knowledge and permission of the person to be affected.It
is standard to get a person's permission even before attempting to
heal that person. This means that love spells, hexes, curses, and
"the evil eye", whatever that is, are specifically out of line and out
of the question for a true witch.
Other uses of magick include seeking guidance, protection, finding
lost persons or articles, to harmonize with the gods and with the
natural life and cycles of the planet Earth.
Magick is a way of approaching situations that allows one to bring all
one's abilities and internal resources into play. It is similar to
Positive Thinking, combined with self-awareness and a clear
understanding of exactly what one hopes to achieve. All this is done
from within a focussed, prayerful attitude to ensure that the effort
is in harmony with the Divine Purpose.
Magick, done properly, does work; and harmlessness is a major part of
doing it properly. It can be powerful, which is why no true witch
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will attempt to teach magick to a person who is unstable or immature
(remember, we consider ourselves responsible for our acts and
choices!); nor will any true witch use magick to impress others, nor
to enrich herself or himself at another's expense.
How can I recognize a true Witch?
Witches are human, like anyone else; therefore, they are not perfect.
A true witch, however, will be actively involved in becoming the best,
most complete and well-balanced person that she or he can become. As
a result, you should be able to see all 13 of the Wiccan Virtues
active in the person, though you may not see them all at once, and
perhaps not in their perfect expression. A true witch tends to be
active, good-humored, perceptive of her own faults, and tolerant of
faults in others. There may in fact be no clear way of recognizing a
witch as a witch; but if you know a witch, or someone who claims to be
a witch, my advice would be "By their fruits shall ye know them; for
an evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit, neither can a good tree
bear evil fruit."
On the off chance that I wanted to know more, where could I look?
Larger cities sometime have a group or two that are more or less
"public". This may give you a starting point if you actually want to
talk to someone. Try meeting with current and former members, if
possible. For those with a more academic interest, there are several
books one can read:
Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler
This book is available at B.Dalton Booksellers, Waldenbooks and
others. A national journalist, Ms Adler has done a commendable job of
sampling the diversity of Wiccan/Pagan activity in the U.S. today.
Witches by T.C. Lethbridge
An older book, it provides some good historical data, along with
some fascinating speculations.
Witchcraft from the Inside by Raymond Buckland
This was thefirst book I read, and I still think it gives a good
picture of the roots and history of Wicca as a religion.
The ABCs of Witchcraft by Doreen Valiente
This book comes highly recommended by my friend and priestess, Lady
Galadriel, who suggests that I read it. For a general understanding of
non-monotheistic religions:
The Masks of God, in 4 volumes by Joseph Campbell
When Mr. Campbell died earlier this year, he left behind a
treasure-house of researches and reflections on the nature and essence
of religion on planet Earth. This massive work is well worth the time
taken to read it, as there is brilliance on nearly every page. While
he does not deal with the Craft as such, he provides superb insight
into the world-view we share with other pagan and monotheistic
religions.
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AFTERWORD
I have tried in this article to give respect to religious faiths other
than my own. Some of the historical facts regarding the relationship
between the Craft and Christianity are not pleasant to relate, and
they may not be flattering to hear; yet these things are matters of
record, and they are crucial to an understanding of a Wiccan position,
so I have included them. I have also, at times, used a 'voice' that
is basic and direct, at the expense of formal correctness, in an
effort to give as clear and unambiguous a picture of the Wiccan 'side'
as possible. I have done so without malice, and I intend only real
communication; if you find some of this offensive, therefore, I ask
you to consider the 'gentleness' with which we have been treated over
the centuries, and find it in your heart to forgive me.
disclaimer
I speak for no-one but myself; however many witches might agree with
me, I assume no right to speak for any others;
I am the sole author of this work, relying on my training and
experience and the reading and research of a lifetime in writing this
work;
I am under no influence, nor working at the request of any other
person; therefore I am responsible for the contents;
I am indebted to the Grove of the Unicorn for my long and rich
association with the Craft, and for the training and practical
experience I have received; they share what virtue is here - any
mistakes are my own.
If you feel moved to respond to this effort in some way, please
contact me in
writing at: PO Box 13384, Atlanta, GA 30324.
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