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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witchcraft
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm

What is known or feared about Witchcraft?

Do you have any thoughts, comments, or beliefs you'd like to share? <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Talking to plants??? (the wikipedia listing of common practices)

I have several Wiccans in my acquaintance and a couple of kitchen witches. Their beliefs work for them.

So... where do you think Vodoun (Voodoo) falls in with all of this? Or is it separate and apart from your general "witchcraft"?

As one who identifies as a witch/neo-pagan, I find that lot of people make presumptions about my religious beliefs and practices based on fiction they've read or movies they've seen.

Guess that's why I decided to be the Pagan editor....

Yeah. Well, if talking to plants is witchcraft...

At any rate, what I've seen indicates to me this isn't a paranormal thing, it is a religion. As with any religion, you do have those who like to play at it (like the teenagers down the road that tried to hex their neighbors and were arrested for torturing animals); but for most, like Rae and my friends, its a true system of beliefs.

I don't think you can "know" about "witchcraft" unless you define specifically which "witch" you're talking about. There are so many variants and so many practices.
And of course, people have a tendency to fear or objectify anyone whose beliefs aren't considered mainstream.

Its a bit odd that it appears under "paranormal." Since there really are practicing witches, wizards, mages, priests, etc., etc.

I'd call what happens in movies and tv with witches very paranormal, but as far as witches that are practicioners of Earth and Goddess-oriented spirituality, it's not very paranormal at all.

Voodoo would be just another type of religion. (also paranormal)

It's very true that there really are practicing witches, wizards, mages, priests, etc. However we have to remember that "paranormal" just means "beyond" "Normal" or anything that is not explained by science. Which by definition would include any religion.

It's very true that there really are practicing witches, wizards, mages, priests, etc. However we have to remember that "paranormal" just means "beyond" "Normal" or anything that is not explained by science. Which by definition would include any religion.


Spot on Danielle <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well i always heard that voodoo had little dalls that you jab pins in and the rengde of reaction is "they like to be mean to pin chooshions when there mad" to "they hex you and you died" anyways there all satanic and kill there babys and drink blood... and witchs i was told growing up that the do the same with out the dolls and pins and pagans well... they run around with no morals clothes or brains and they are savages like the indians once where and they are to be tamed and contorled untill we can convert them into "GOOD CHRISTIANS"

Gee makes me wonder how we call ourselves civilized? miricle aint it!!!!?

07/04/2006
Woman Tries to Clear Va. Witch Convicted 300 Years Ago

http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5111458&nav=MXEF

Very interesting story Danielle but also sad.People were so clueless back then wernt they?

People are clueless now about Wiccans.

You can still find today people who think that because McDonald's gives out 'psychic telephone toys' that they are supporting divination, a practice of witchcraft, and hence Satanism. None of it makes any sense since Christianity itself created Satanism, not the Pagans. Wiccan/Pagan mythology predates Catholicism.

And Zoroastrianism is the root of Satanism since it was the first religion to come up with an idea of an all-consuming evil figure - Uhura Mazda and Uhura Negra. Catholicism borrowed from Zoroaster's teachings in many many things, one of them the embodiment of evil in one entity. The Christians called it Satan.

Then, in an effort to discredit the Pagans (Druids, Wiccans, etc.) they used the Kernunnos and Pan figures from Paganism and took the goat feet and beard and said those were Satanic. But the idea of Satan does not come from Paganism at all.

It still astounds me that most those who thump their Bible against Wiccans haven't the least bit of knowledge in history.

Darling, if you think the MacDonald's toys evoke fear, just hold your horses (pun utterly intended) until October and then watch what happens around here.

People just shoot off at the mouth with no knowledge what they are talking about and it must be so annoying.

Rae whats happening in oct???

Freespirit, it is the month of Halloween <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> and there will be alot of opinions "flying" around.

All Hallows Eve. <img src="/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Samhain.

I'll be here, Rae. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />

Voudon is interesting because it takes a lot of Catholic/Christian mythos and adds a generous helping of folk magic and witchcraft.

to answer Danielle's original question ...

Far to little is known and far to much is feared. Thats part of the reason I became Wicca editor. To help people who are open minded about it gain some understanding

What are your thoughts on the
THE MALLEUS MALEFICARUM
of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger

[url=BellaOnline ALERT: For anti-spam reasons, we restrict the number of URLs allowed in a given post. You have exceeded our maximum number of URLs.

What does the word "Witch" mean to you?

Witches
http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/amethystbt/ffwitch.html

This subject has always been a fascinating one to me. I was a practitioner of Wicca for several years before I became an eclectic Pagan. I also a couple years of grad school focusing on religion and magic from the ancient to the modern world. So when I speak on the topic, I speak from personal experience, and also from an historical perspective.

I had several conversations with a fellow student when I was an undergrad, who was a good 10 yrs older than me, who was very adamant about being glad that she did not remain a practitioner of Voodoo. She claimed that it was too cultish for her, and that's why she went back to Christianity. Fine for her I guess. I don't see anything wrong with Voodoo. Its a combination of west african witchcraft/folk religion and Christianity, as far as I know I think there are correspondences between the saints and the spirits. I am pretty sure it is also like this in Santeria. I am really interested in learning about Brujeria, but cannot find much information at all unfortunately. From what I understand, Brujeria differs from Santeria, in that it is entirely a form of witchcraft that hasn't been meshed with Christianity.

For a long time a the world has been rife with fears about Witchcraft. Maybe its that differing cultural worlds of godfearing men and women fear people who are not afraid to remain tied to the spirituality of their ancestors and who do not break/convert easily. Even among those who have converted through the phases of conquest, they managed to maintain a link with the old ways, which baffled conquistadores for a very long time, and still do to this day. But this isn't meant to exist as a stab at Christianity because there have been other monotheistic religions that have been having this taboo battle with cultural forms of Witchcraft since time immemoriam. Mohammed's conquest of Islam tore through desert villages, and managed to adopt in a subdued position the goddess concepts that lent themselves to blood-hungry warfare, who even today exist subdued concepts in Islam. Judaism's fight against witchcraft goes all the way back to the cradle of civilization, and many of the stories in the bible were based on or parallel the myths and legends of the Ancient Near East.

Hollywood is saturated with myths of the witch. Too bad none of that stuff actually happens. It might make life a bit more interesting from time to time. But I find that especially here in the US, it has become so riddled with the idea that there's a one true way, and that if you pursue witchcraft, you're doing a bad thing b/c too many interpret the bible literally, instead of looking at it like other mythologies. Witchcraft is really making a comeback or maybe it never really left.

tiamat4 - Very Well Put!
I think all of us in American have been affected (tainted is a bit more accurate) by the method of control of organized Euro-Christian churches. But then Fear is the method of control for most (not all) organized religions. Satan is the symbol of control and intolerance is the mechanism. If one doesn't worship as we do, they are witches and worship Satan.

I have several Wiccan friends and I completely respect their choice for spiritual fulfillment. I don't know much about general Wiccan practices, but it seems to be a very individualistic form of worship/way of life. I feel it is quite complimentary to Native American spirituality, which is also individualistic. Anything positive and somewhat based on caring for the Earth is completely acceptable to me.

My Wiccan friends often join us at Pow-Wows.

I like practicing my own eclectic mish mash. Anyone who practices a form of Witchcraft, be it paganistic or Wiccan, or whatever, I respect as long as they are respectful of others.

My other half is a paranormal investigator who talks to people "ghosts" in buildings. Instead of trying to "cast" them out like many of the religious do, she does not view them as evil and tries to communicate with them to see if they might have a message for our benefit or to uncover a secret that can give ease to those on the other side as well as the living. She says that listening is the key and having no fear to inquire of them is paramount. What you see on T.V. may not always be what is really happening in the spirit world. She and I have both had some incredible communications with those on the other side. Now onto the matter of witchcraft. I applaud the Wiccans as they have stood against many oppressors and continue to give and share and heal themselves and others. Blessed Be

It's so good to hear this ancientflaxman!

I've often wondered if demonic activity is simply that they have been too cut off from their "source" for too long, and that love is actually what is needed - not exorcisms.

Forgive this post if it is out of line but I have been in many Wicaan and Pagan forums and found that many who practice Pagan and other Earth based religions use to be Christians. I have to wonder if back in the old days if many who practiced Paganism or other earth based religions did not also break away from a Monothisisic religion and that is why they would rather die then convert or reconvert....and following in this vain it makes be wonder what happen to make them leave the Monothisic path.
From a Christian pov they were and are decived by Satan, the devil, Luthifer...whatever you would like to call it him or her... but what about from a Pagan POV?

this(as in mine)pagan POV is that modern paganism just provides more of the puzzle pieces in today's complex World. Humans NEED archetypes and rituals whether we like to admit it or not. Religion has always fulfilled that need and other needs like the need to feel like you are a part---an important and essential part---of something larger than yourself. The connection with all living things. Christianity answered a need that is how and why it developed into what it did, but now it is no always answering everyones' needs. The World has turned yet again. Human nature tries to go back to the last thing that worked. Old paganism will not work in this World today, but perhaps a new spin on the old stuff will. I am a Catholic strega. I just can't discount this Jesus business. BUT I can't throw the baby out with the bath water either. I am gathering the bits of truth relavent to me. It just so happens that it is relevant to alot of others now too.

Raven G. You have no idea how much I appreciate where you have been and now are. Such honesty is not often revealed in humans today. I think that allowing ourselves to grow without fear during our investigation and gathering the "bits of truth relevant to me", as you put it, fills in the gaps that we all have. I am reminded of an old hymn that we used to sing many years ago.I may have gotten the words mixed up because it has been 40 years ago, if so I am sorry. Some of the words went like this; Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, in the strife with truth or falsehood for the good or evil side, new occasions teach new duties time makes ancient good uncouth, we would always upward onward who would keep abreast of truth.

Christianity is abundant with magic and mysticism. Put in this vernacular however "Thems fightin words" to some. When I was preaching in one church I remember; As I was speaking the fairies {Little People] were playing on the overhead turned wooden poles that would span the building to each of the outside walls. How in the dickens would I be able to share this information with any of these people?????? I would look up and see them which was perfectly acceptable as the congregation probably thought I was communing with God as I was speaking? I tried to deny their existance as I was concentrating on doing my pastor thing and prayed for help in such. I got my answer. What does a person go through when something is so obvious and you must keep it within. I just think that they loved to harass me a little as I stood there so pompously with my shimmering robe and gold sash with the cross on it. They still play pranks on me especially when I get up tight. They will hide my keys or socks or anything until my attention from frustation to "lightening up" is sufficiently diverted. Then I will find them in the exact place that I put them which is frustrating when I looked there a dozen times earlier. When my son and I would have a little bull-head match or testosterone war, the fairies, even though they love to pull pranks, would try to restore order. My other half and I would wake up to the morning alarm clock blazing with acid rock while my son would awake to Bachs' Tacotta, Adagio, and fugue in C Major played by E Power Biggs on the Harvard three manual pipe organ. He would come roaring into our room and demand to know why we put that "[censored]" on his radio. We all had to laugh when we knew that we had made no such changes. Blessed Be

Danielle, thanks for sharing that article re Grace Sherwood. It is so sad that through the ignorance of people back in those days that many people were convicted and killed, most of them just because someone made a false accusation. They were also ignorant of the purpose of witchcraft and the beliefs involved. They were unaware of the good that a witch could do and the incredible knowledge one has to have to practice the craft.

Some of the greatest Spiritual Leaders in history practiced (and still do) witchcraft.

wow that is lovely Flaxman----are you Anglican?
(and thank you!)

No I am not Anglican Ravyn and you are very welcome!!!! I do not really know what I would be called. I was taught that we were a very old order Germanic clan that dates back to about the time of the reformation. When Martin Luther broke away from the Catholic Church he took his following in one direction. Our family originally was all Catholic at that time but unhappy with the misuse of their power. We went another direction. In the old days some of my family was hunted like wolves when we defied the church. We believed that it took only one person to define each of our futures and that substance within each of us was complete for any situation that we would encounter. Luther was, although a renegade from the original Catholic faith, still very closely tied to it in many ways. We kind of went underground. With that kind of freedom, miracles and magic became part of our lives daily. When one is open to something without fear, endless possibilities are the result. Some of us were healers, some were called "fortune tellers" in those days, and although we were never actually part of the Gypsies "Sinti-Roma", that style of freedom and wandering was very much a part of my ancestors. I keep one foot in this world and one in the other but my Root C. is tied to the center of the earth and to Great Mom Happy mothers day MOM

Hi Deanna! I am probably very out of date but I do, and have always felt, that love is the healing link that can span any gulf created between individuals or lifetimes. This link, if maintained, cannot be broken by any force no matter how powerful it appears.

I'm a history buff, which definitely taints my views on organized religions. I look historically at the good, the bad, and the ugly. It bothers me when I ponder the earth based knowledge lost in events such as the witch hunts, the genocide attempts and relocation of Native Americans and Aborigines in Australia. I feel our spiritual needs have shifted, and for many of us the Bible and organized Christianity doesn't address everything. It has been used for so many contradictory purposes through the years.

When someone feels the need to tell me how good a "Christian" they are, I usually run - FAST. When someone shares with me they have found their own spiritual path through Wicca, or some combination thereof, I want to know this person, for they have been on a similar journey to mine.

Hi Icp012586 I too love history. I have born again Christians in my family as well as a few "others". It took me many years to figure out why some followers of some religions try to make others see their way and their way alone. It is because they are themselves insecure in what they really believe. They think that the more converts they obtain that their truth will become more real in proportion. Think about it!! The more that people try to dominate each other the more that they show just how empty that they are inside. I think that as a human race we are still evolving. You however are seeing some beautiful things and making decisions that will truly enhance your path in life. I am really excited for you!!!!

I had an aunt at one time who knew some spiritual principals but used them for her own selfishness. She held fast to her male deity and used it to justify her hideous actions of maliciousness and revenge in life. If someone just made her mad or did not agree with her she would devistate the countryside if need be. She was privy to some of the familys' gifts but she took the darker side and made it a way of life. Let me make something clear here. The dark side is very apparent to many healers. It is nothing that we learned so to speak, it is just there. For instance a medical doctor learns how to heal any part of the body. The doctor learns how to save lives by correcting certain situations. What does the doctor also learn automatically withour even being taught? It just comes with the territory. Now back to my aunt. Instead of using the gifts for healing and uplifting she used it for revenge. One day, as a teenager, I asked her why she used these things for such meanness. That was a hell of a mistake for me!!!!! In the night I went to bed as we all do but I could not sleep. I will not go into exactly what happened but suffice it to say I was hurting and terrified. She was enacting something against me. I saw what she was doing. If one thinks that people do not have that power, guess again!!!! Anyway I was a stupid teenager suffering because a lady with far more spiritual knowledge than I had was going to prove that she and her deity would just plow her enemies underfoot. In wisdom my family left me alone because I was to learn my own path. I prayed, I cried, I tried to encircle myself with what they would now call white light, I did everyting that I thought would help except the two things that could really help me. Relax and meditate. When I fought through the emotional for several evenings I then resorted to the spiritual.Then a very gentle voice spoke to me and said "I will not harm thee?" I needed to hear that although it must have been a pretty proper entity as no one ever called me a thee. In any case I heard and listened. Then this lovely being told me what to do to defend myself. I did what I was directed to do. It seemed the craziest thing to do and made absolutely no sense to me but I questioningly followed through. I then felt more at peace and fell asleep. That night I dreamed like my aunts hair was standing up kind of like Al Sharptons does, her mouth was wide open, and here eyes were as round as silver dollars. She was always nice to me from then on. Blessed Be

I am a Witch. My beliefs are my own and the way I practise those beliefs are private. I was never a christian although I come from a christian family. I find that most people, when they find out that I do not practice christianity, are very interested in my religion. I don't go around proclaiming my religion, although, my husband likes to tell people what I am. I do not follow any path other than my own. I have spoken with spirits and danced with the fairies. I have driven out a vengeful ghost or two. Currently a female spirit resides in my home and tends to follow me around. She's not harmful, doesn't wish to hurt anyone and just wants to stay around to see what's coming next. There was another spirit outside near an old dog kennel that I had to drive out as it kept attacking my husband everytime he went into the garage. Just an angry spirit that didn't want to move on.
If you were to see me on the street, you wouldn't say..."Look, there's a Witch!". I look just like any other 48 year old female. I don't wear my pentacle for the world to see, although I wear it everyday and rarely take it off. I am what I am and not what the world expects a Witch to look like or to be. I just live my life everyday, go about my business, mix my herbs and smile when some idiot calls Witchcraft 'Satanism'.

It sounds like your path is steady and completes the being within. Privacy works for many people of diverse beliefs. You have just proclaimed your beliefs. I am glad for your input and appreciate your candor!!! On the street I wear my geans, crewcut, and goofy smile. Usually a stranger would not ever suspect my involvement with anything other than the normal way of living except for the fact that I live in a town of 600 people. I boast to no one here about what I believe, they just know. I am glad that you are very happy in your path!!! That gives others a lot of hope!!! I too just smile when someone calls what I do satanism and I also just smile when some try to combine their version of God and the Great Mother. peace to you. Blessed Be

It is really enjoyable to read all your posts and to see the acceptance you have in your abilities and beliefs. So many people just do not understand that witchcraft is not a demonic oriented practice. I am happy to find people who are at peace with their beliefs and are not afraid to be who they are.

I apprerciate You!!!!!

May the peace of the Goddess
Go in your hearts,
Merry meet, and merry part.
And merry meet again. Blessed be.

I am a witch and I an mot Wiccan. I am strega. NOT Raven Grimassi's homogenized American version, but a family tradition based on what would be called Angelology and Demonology. We have no Rede or Karma or Law of Three and believe in blessings and cursings. I think it would most likely fall into the "left-hand path" category. But it is not my religion. It is what I am because of certain gifts and training of those gifts. My religion is Catholic. There are Benandanti (and Malandanti) who can and do work with the Church (or against it), but as "independant-contractors" so to speak--

I hope that you do not mind me following up your post but let me say that I am in AWE and the things that you say give me hope!!!!

My Aunt Celias' dad has been gone for many decades. I would like to have know him but we never got a chance to talk. Celia did tell me what he told her years ago. He said that the day will come and is even now upon us when Our great Mother will be forgotten except by only a remaining tiny thread left in humanity. That thread, however, is woven into every soul in the remotest and almost unforgotten deepest recesses of the mind. He did not know if she would ever be consciously remembered again but he did say that she could never be completely stamped out of the universe no matter how hidden that she has to remain. Blessed Be

Ancientflaxman,

Have you ever read "Mists of Avalon"? It is an Arthurian reader and my favorite. It is about the ancient Goddesses, Lady of the Lake, and I think you would enjoy it. In it, Morgaine sees the end of the Goddess coming, yet it is not the end, only a time of quiet. Although it is fiction it has a lot of truths in it...

Merlin shall return some day and with him, the enchantments.

Your Aunt Celia's dad was right.

One thread an entire quilt can be and the quilt grows to warm those who need it.
Blessed be.

Thank you Phyllis, I will look for that book. I'll bet that it will bring back a lot of memories!

The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley was a life changing book for me. It was instrumental in my finally being able to make the break with the Christian cult my family had been a part of for three generations. The subsequent books in the series were never quite as good tho, but Mists is a stand-alone volume anyway. It can never be repeated since she has passed now.

Posts like this make me very happy and hopeful, thank you RavynG !

The enchantments are all around us!!! I live in a very rural area and there are so many abandon farms around here. Sometimes I like to just go out in the country and walk thru some of these old empty dwellings. When I listen closely I can hear an old piano or pump organ playing, then seemingly like off in the distance I can hear people singing, babies crying, laughing or yelling, and the sounds of happiness or grief. I went into one of those large old dairy barns with the hay mow above and as I entered I felt the deepest sorrow. There was a remnant left of a lady crying and a man looking over his home and barn for probably the last time. Some of these places had been in families for generations and because of costs and low income they just gave up and left. I can walk through the grove and see a rotten old remnant of rope tied to a tree where a swing might have hung and I can hear the yells and laughs of kids. There is even a few outhouses left out here and I can see a kid holding the door shut on his brother and both of them laughing. The trees, the earth, the streams are pulsating with the magik of life. I could be sad as I am out there because our old farm at home is now gone but I choose to laugh with kids as they swung in the tree or with mom as dad slipped in the cow_______ and sat squarely in it. It's all around us and we are never alone. As we just allow the eye of the spirit to be open we encounter a whole new world. Blessed Be

Hi Ravyn,

Thanks for the info about Marion Zimmer Bradley, I didn't know she had passed. I feel the same way about her books. I never stop reading Mists of Avalon, it is by far my favorite and most life changing book. Forest House, while an enjoyable read, was not nearly as important in my life.

Dear Helen,
I have all the books in the series, the last few were 'finished' or written by either her sister or her daughter--can't remember which it is---but they are just not as magickal as Mists and rather than being disappointed I would just advise to skip them. However she did write a book a couple of years(1983)after Mists that covers the pre-history of them all that is out-of-print now called "The Fall of Atlantis" by Baen Publishing, ISBN:0-671-65615-5 that is as inspired as Mists in my opinion. I would highly recommend searching for it on Amazon or eBay. We lost a shining light when she died.
PS: the Afterword in Fall is the best explanation of where she got her 'ideas' I have ever read from anyone!

Mists of Avalon and Excalibur are my favorite Arthurian readers. I am now reading Mists again for about the sixth time - I love hearing the stories from Morgaines viewpoint.

How delightful! I love your story and the feelings you expressed. I love to listen to the past - sometimes, when we go into silence, we can hear and sense a lot.