Witchcraft

In the old days, village healers whose spirituality and healing methods were nature oriented-often women, but sometimes men, were burned as witches. Practitioners of nature oriented healing methods would deify what was seen as aspects of nature-a goddess and god with various attributes. The "god" archetypes generally had horns to represent male herd animals of the forest. To villify these gods, Christians would portray Satan with the same image. I don't know of a single Witch or Pagan who even believes in Satan. I would consider myself a Witch in a positive way because I work with the healing aspects of nature (I'm a bioregional herbalist) but it seems like Wicca as it exists today is mostly reinvented and very anglocentric in focus. Many Pagan /Wiccan groups in general will fall into the same authoritarian and powertripping models that Christianity does which is why I often stay away from them. Also, most Witches I know are crazy, AND many of the most wise and interesting people I know are Witches. I leave this rant with one of my favorite quotes.. "I have been burned 9 million times, and I am still alive"!

Actually, I have 2 more points. One is that I do not relate to folks who like to "cast spells" for their own personal gain at the expense of other people, and on a somewhat related point, I do believe in the Wiccan concept of whatever you do coming back to you 3 times.

I don’t think that witchcraft should be pigeonholed too much, which is what Totoro seems to be doing. The witchcraft that is popularized today is different to what it was decades ago (and what it always has been). The many witchcraft organizations around the world cooperated in trying to give witchcraft a ‘facelift’ many decades ago to bring more people in. The main problem that they were having was that most people were turned off by the satanic and immoral customs that were part of being a witch (blood drinking, death magic, orgies…..). So all this was put into the shadows and under-the-rug and a new face of witchcraft was put forward, and now that this has been achieved the popularity of the diluted form of witchcraft has exploded, you can see this at the local newsagent, witchcraft magazines abound! Though if you go to the deeper levels of witchcraft you will find that all of the above traditions are strictly observed and esteemed.

Witchcraft, in it’s raw form, is very powerful, and the links with satanism and black magic are inherently intertwined and can not be ignored. Though the popular witchcraft that is around these days is quite tame and diluted, it’s roots are deeply tied in satanism and the occult.
As powerful as witchcraft is, it pales in comparison with the protection that is afforded to believers in Christ, this has been demonstrated time and time again; black magic, in all it’s forms, will not work against followers of Christ. Even satanists begrudgingly admit this!

Hi Wisey: Are you a Witch? If not, where do you get all of your expertise on Witchcraft. Alot of variations of spirtuality have existed prior to Christianity, and alot of variations exist now. There are TONS of people who identify as Witches from a zillion differant perspectives. I know plenty of Witches and would probably self-identify as one myself except for the fact that !) I don't identify at all with the Evangelifascist identifications of Witchcraft, 2) I am not a deist exactly but not an Atheist either (hard to explain, but I'll do it if you really want to be bored by a long explanation). Most Witches believe in a God and Goddess of Nature with various attributes. 3) I don't cast spells exactly either but work with healing aspects of the natural world. Some would consider folks like me to be Green Witches which is fine except I also take exception as many Witches do to the terms Black and White magic as they assume white is a good color and blace is a bad one. As you can see Totoro (I'll still use the 3rd person to humor you) doesn't exactly pigeonhole Witches.

Again, I know and have known tons of Witches from many differant perspectives especially from my connections in the herbalist community. I don't know of a SINGLE Witch who even believes that a Christian devil (Satan) even exists except maybe as an archetype specific for a Christian belief system. I have also known a couple of "Satanists"(not identifying as Witches) who both seemed to not take it particularly seriously because I did ask them questions out of curiosity (one was a 73 year old Satanist Grandma-go figure).

Wisey: You make alot of assumptions about people. It's good to know more facts before you make comments. I know very few Witches that EVER seek power over other people through "spells". Some will use spells for healing themselves or others when they ask or for things like protection, and yes there ARE those rare people who WILL seek power over people through "magic" but most of the time this all has nothing to do with Satanism. This ego associated with Christianity is incredible.

Witchcraft is rooted in nature oriented spirituality, not Satanism. There are people who identify as Satanic Witches, but they are quite rare.

It's true that many Witches see sex as a wonderful part of nature as I do, so I'm not sure what's wrong with orgies as long as it's all consenting adults (and these days, it's good to be safe). About the dead, a much trickier issue. Personally, I prefer to leave the dead alone except to think of good memories of them, especially aroud November 1, but I don't believe in fearing death, because like many Witches, I believe it is part of the cycle of life. I know of no Witches who drink blood and have celebrated many seasonal holidays with groups of Witches and never witnessed blood drinking. Of course Christians drink symbolic blood, but I am not judging them for doing so.

I guess I'm rambling a bit since I'm tired, but feel free to respond and I will try to be more concise. Maybe some Witches and Satanists will respond with more perspectives also.

Old Wisey feels safe against those nasty "powerful" witches. But he shouldn't let his guard down. Thanks to the Kansas Board of Education, it is now possible to get a BS degree in theoretical witchcraft. "The Wendy Zephyr Home Study Course for the Bachelor of Science in Theoretical Witchcraft" http://www.capjewels.com/gale/zephyronscience.html

Wisey is very confident in the idea that his big, jealous, he-man god will beat up all of the other Gods and Goddesses revered by Witches and everyone else. If all of these deities actually existed I WOULD pay good money to see boxing matches between all of them. Of course I would probably put my money on Kali.