Stereotypes of Witches

All witches do not wear black! I don't always wear black, actually, I wear a lot of pinks and red. Which in due time I will address colors and what their meaning is and what effect it has on spells, daily life, others, etc. But, black is appropriate for ritual because it is a dark goddess color, and it attracts energy. Rituals are celebrated at night for the same reasons, though many take place during the day as well, depending on the tradition. Witches can feel empowered to wear black outside of the ritual space, but wearing black is not a requirement. Black and late evening rituals were also practical during the Burning Times. If you were afraid of getting caught, black cloaks would hide you at night in the forest from prospective witch hunters. Black is also the color of clergy, used by priests and rabbis. Perhaps they adopted that practice from witches...

Witches DO NOT perform animal sacrifices, thought it may have been a part of our distant history, as it was in Judaism and many other religions. Many Wiccans are animal right activists and environmentalists, subscribing to a theory of "harm ye none". Witches DO NOT abuse children in or our of ritual as part of their faith, nor do we perform curses or hexes. 

Witches and other pagans do believe in and practice magick. Magick is the art of making change, manifesting your dreams, and banishing the things that no longer serve you and hold you back. Though the effects can be quite startling and powerful, magick usually manifests in the form of  unusual coincidences and connections. The first time you have success with magick, and even the second or third time, you might dismiss it. After repeated successes, however, you know you are no longer working with the fabled "Law of Averages", and that some other forces, namely magic, is at work. Magick is usually spelled with a k by modern practitioners, to distinguish it from illusion and sleight of hand tricks. 

Spells, specific acts of magick, can be created through ritual or meditation. To a witch, spells are like prayers. They are simple acts of sending out an intention to the divine, asking it to manifest. The difference between spells and prayers is that witches study the nature of the universe to understand better how to create change. Many people who pray think it is a give and take process, where one has to give up something "sinful" to receive the boon of the prayer. Though there is always an exchange of energies, witches know that the universe is ever abundant. 

We do not label ourselves white or black witches, as was done in the Burning Times. Though the distinction of white and black magick can still be found in the initial lessons of high ritual magick, most modern witches do not subscribe to it. Magick is ruled by intention. 


*Credit to Christopher Penczak

The Common Witch

Pagan originally meant "of the land" or "country dweller", referring to rural people and their beliefs. As Christianity grew and took control of Europe, pagan became identified with any of the non-Judeo-Christian religions, and to some it was equated with heretic, an enemy of the Church's truth. Some equate the word heathen with heretic or savage, but it means "one who lives on heaths". Church officials wanted to replace pagan beliefs and practices with Christian ones, so much so that pagan holidays were adopted into the Christian calendar to get converts. As the word witch is reclaimed, so is the word pagan. Now it refers to a larger group of beliefs with many different traditions and practices. Pagan is to Wiccan as Christian is to Catholic, meaning Pagan and Christian are larger groups with smaller traditions within them. All Wiccans and witches are pagan, but not all pagans are witches. Many identify themselves as pagan, but may not identify with a specific tradition, such as witchcraft. And within the heading of witchcraft are several other smaller divisions. 

Divinity is inherent in all things, material and spiritual. The divine force is apparent in all life and form. Spiritual does not mean divorced from the physical, earthly realm. The Earth is actually one of the most divine forms in all creation. All life, all nature is the divine manifest, and most pagans honor the Earth as a living being, the source of life. In our mythology, the Earth is viewed as Mother, or even Grandmother, the source of all life on Earth. The Earth Goddess can be seen as a symbol of life and interconnection, or a sentient consciousness available for communication in her own right. Science is slowly catching up to the idea of the Earth being alive, and no a lifeless rock. British biologist James Lovelock first proposed the "Gaia Hypothesis" in the 1970's, named after the Greek goddess Gaia, stating that all life, including humanity, is part of a complex biosphere organism. Others have extrapolated that hypothesis into a theory that the Earth is a living being, and all things on Earth are akin to cells within her. To witches, there is no doubt that the Earth is alive. 

The divinity, or life force, present in all things expresses itself in several different ways in witchcraft. Most common in this faith is the expression of the divine not only thought the Earth, but also through the Goddess, the Great Mother, and the God, the all Father. Through the actions of this polarity, Goddess and God, life is created. 

As the Goddess is manifested through the Earth, she is also inherent in the Moon, the changing cycles matching the twenty-eight day menstruation period. The concept of a Triple Goddess-Maiden, Mother, and Crone-seen in the waxing, full, and waning Moon, is rooted deeply in the pagan consciousness. Her three identities could also be the Moon, Earth, and Underworld Goddess. The Triple Goddess is seen as the giver of life, sustainer and destroyer, all in one. The mythologies of old contain the Triple Goddess image. Different cultures alternately see the Goddess in the Sun, ocean, rivers, sky, and spiraling galaxies. 

The God is manifested through various faces, including the Sky Father, encompassing Mother Earth; Solar King; Horned God, the lord of animals; and the Green Man, the lord of the harvest. The God is most aptly seen as dualistic. On the waxing, or warming half of the year, he is life bringer, the god of light, Sun, and growing things. On the waning and withering half of the year, he is the god of darkness, death, animals, and the hunt. 

Each image or archetype in our collective consciousness reveals one aspect of the divine, God and Goddess alike. Neo-pagans and witches have adopted the gods and goddesses of various pantheons as expressions of the Goddess and God. Usually these expressions function as rulers over a particular aspect of nature or human life, such as a deity of storms, the sea, the Moon, hunting, or magic. Usually they have more than one attribute. Even as expressions of the divine, the gods and goddesses are very real, connecting to our innermost selves. 

Although witches are polytheists, meaning they acknowledge and honor more than one deity, they recognize the one spirit running though everything. Perhaps the word monist, one who recognizes the divine in everything is a more appropriate term, but most pagans identify themselves as polytheistic. The gods and goddesses are expressions of that one spirit,leading to a more personal relationship with the divine. 

The one spirit, the Great Spirit, is known by many terms. The Goddess and God move in the love of the Great Spirit. They are different aspects of the divine. Infrequently, some Wiccan traditions call this one spirit Dryghten, a word said to be Anglo-Saxon and best translated to "lord", but without the gender quality, referring to the creative force that is both male and female, the source of all things. Some see this Great Spirit as the Goddess exclusively, who gave birth to the God through her self-fertilization. Ancient myths, such as the Greek creation story, start with the Goddess who give birth to her son/husband to continue creation. 

Critics say that witches worship nature, and to a certain extent that is true, but in reality we worship the creative force found in nature. In essence, we honor life, everywhere, we see the divine in everything and everyone. 

Witches have nothing to do with the Christian Devil. To believe in the Devil, one must already believe in the Christian myths, and most witches feel their spiritual roots predate Christianity. We are not naive. We do believe that harmful forces exist and precautions must be taken, but we do not subscribe to an ultimate author of evil or the concept of sin. An ultimate evil and an ultimate good is a polarity never found in nature. In Christian myths, God is all powerful, but the Devil still exists. For this to be a true polarity, they must be equal to each other, but in Christian mythology, they are not. In Wicca, we focus on the polarity of the Goddess and the God, and the love of their union that births life into beings. Love is the focus, not conflict. The concept of light versus dark, good verse evil, was actually adopted from Zoroastrian religions. 

*Credit to Christopher Penczak

The Roots of Witchcraft: Stone Age

In the Paleolithic era, the early Stone Age, human societies were hunters and gathers, nomadic people continuously following the source of food. Most modern people think of the Paleolithic times as the age of barbaric cavemen, but these tribes were probably more sophisticated than we give them credit for. In those societies, the men usually hunted for food, while the women stayed with the tribe, caring for the family. Women were logically considered the lifeblood of the tribe, and cherished, since women gave birth to the children. Men were more "expendable" in terms of survival, since one man could impregnate many women. Scholars speculate that the role of man in pregnancy was not even understood in Stone Age times. In this harsh life, children were vital to continuing the tribe. This gave rise to the belief that many of these societies were matriarchal, meaning they were led by women. These societies were more right-brained, focusing on pictures, feelings, and instinct. 

Religiously, cave painting and other artifacts indicate a level of spiritual belief. We believe that these early people saw the divine in nature, animated by nature spirits or gods. The Earth was the mother of life, providing the vegetation needed to survive, while her consort was an animal lord, providing the animals needed by the people. Stone Age people were polytheists, believing in more than one god. Other spirits possibly animated the sky, storms, mountains, rivers, and fire. 

Certain members of the tribes noticed that they had abilities that set them apart from their kin, and some developed these abilities further. Women and men who were either too old or too injured to hunt lived lives that allowed them the opportunity to expand these abilities. Notice that our surviving archetypes of these people are the wise old women and men., and often such sages are called wounded healers, their injuries helping them understand the nature of healing. These individuals developed their natural rapport with the spirits, developing psychic talents, knowledge of herbs and other healing skills, and becoming the wise ones of the tribe. They became the religious leaders, petitioning the elements and leading hunters to the herds. They conducted ceremonies and celebrations. They were the magic makers. Such people did not necessarily use the word witch or witchcraft, but in essence, this was their practice. They were akin to the Native American Shamans, but we do not have a proper name for the shamans' ancient European, African, or Middle Eastern brethren. Anytime someone honored both Mother and Father aspects of the divine, revered nature, and shaped the forces of the world for healing and change, they were practicing witchcraft. 

As women were so critical to the development of witchcraft, the Goddess played a pivotal role in its development, then and now. Humanity's earliest works of art and religion are based on Goddess figures, images that we now believe represent the Great Mother. In the earliest creation myths, the Mother was often the prime source of creation, self-fertilizing and single-handedly manifesting reality from the void. Similar images are found all over the world, depicting She of a Thousand Names, the mother of witchcraft. 

                       

Ishtar/Inanna/Astarte of Babylon                           Nathor, Nile River Goddess
          2000 BCE                                                               4000 BCE


                                                   
                                

Venus of Lespugue                                                      Venus of Willednorf
      25,000 BCE                                                                  30,000 BCE



*Credit to Christopher Penczak

The Weaver

The words witch and witchcraft evoke a sense of humanity's mystical past and a hope for the future. Whenever someone, individual or culture, sought to understand spirit through the cycles of life, honored the divine as being both masculine and feminine, recognize the Earth and sky, quieted themselves enough to hear the soft inner whisper, and took an active partnership with nature, they were practicing witchcraft. It is only through an unfortunate period of history that the words witch and witchcraft became maligned. 

The most important aspect of this tradition is the individual's sovereignty. Each practitioner is his or her own priest or priestess. Teachers, elders, and healers are respected and can help you on the path, but ultimately witchcraft is about your own personal, individual relationship with the divine. through such training you have the ability to perform your own spiritual rituals and seek guidance. We have the last word on what is correct and good for us, as well as the responsibility of living with those decisions. 

The eclectic witch borrows from many cultures. These cultures do not necessarily have to be Celtic or even European to be a part of the modern craft, even though some traditionalists feel that witchcraft is exclusively Celtic. We come from a tradition filled with the mysteries of the past, but now witchcraft generally encourages one to find the path that works for the individual. All our other "hats"-healer, therapist, herbalist, shaman, mother, brother, priest, priestess, environmentalist, counselor, researcher, writer, psychic, and teacher-all fit nicely under the "hat" of witch, for witches are all these things, too. The path of the witch is truly the path of knowledge and, more importantly, wisdom. It changes and adapts as new information is discovered. Witchcraft is a living religion. 


*Credit to Christopher Penczak

The Walker

Witch can also be defined as "a walker between the worlds". Due to a revival of interest in Native American practices, many people associate the shaman with the medicine man of a tribal people. Shamans are spiritual leaders, but that is not the entire picture. The term originated in Siberia, but has been applied to native practices throughout the Americas and more loosely to practices across the world. The shaman believes in nonphysical, spiritual realms and learns to send his or her spirit to such realms. In these worlds, one can retrieve information and healing energy, and commune with spirits. The shaman ministers to his or her people through the ability, to effect healing of the mind, body, and spirit. 

Witches, too, believe in nonphysical realms. They believe in the physical and a multitude of spiritual dimensions. Witches hone their abilities to pierce the veil and travel to these dimensions, where they speak with goddesses, gods, and spirits. Like the shamans, they are expected to remain grounded in the material world with responsibilities to their people, yet keep one foot ever ready to enter the spiritual world. They are bridges between worlds, seeking to bring their people into greater partnership with the divine. The native people in Siberia and the Americas remained more tribal and retained a certain amount of reverence for these shamans, even in the modern era. As the European people became less tribal, they stamped out their very own shamanic traditions, the practices of the witch. That fear of spiritual power, of the unknown, of mysteries in a culture with a growing patriarchy, turned the image of the witch from a priestess and healer into a monster of the night. 

*Credit to Christopher Penczak

The Healer

A great definition of witch is "healer". In the ancient cultures, people went to the priestesses and priests for healing. At the time, healing encompassed much more than our modern medical profession. Modern medicine is wonderful in many ways, but in these ancient times, healing was a process involving the mind, emotions, and spirit as well as the body. In short, healing was an energetic process. We are now coming full circle with the rise in popularity of holistic and alternative treatments. A healer was one to counsel, advise, and minister to the spiritual balance of the individual or tribe, as well as do ritual, divination, and hands-on healing. You will probably find many witches now involved in the healing arts, traditional or otherwise, because helping others is such an important part of the practice of witchcraft. 


*Credit to Christopher Penzczak

What is a Witch?

If you turn back a few hundred years, you can see the word witch all across the records of one of Europe's greatest holocausts, the witch trials. Men and women were persecuted and killed for being different. Some call it the Burning Times, because many were put to death by fire, burnt at the stake. Typically, history books gloss over this particular bit of history, but it is every bit a part of us, as relevant to our modern cultures as wars of conquest.

At the top of the list of victims were those accused of practicing witchcraft. The ruling powers of the time had their own ideas about witchcraft, spreading stories of black masses, sacrifice, and contracts in blood signing souls over to the Devil. These stories are the roots of the children's fairy tales. The vast majority of the condemned were not practicing "true" witchcraft. Some held the teachings of the wise women and cunning men of the tribes, a knowledge of healing herbs, remedies, mid-wiving, and simple charms. We call such skills old wives' tales, but they have endured because there is truth to them. We don't know how many of the accused and condemned were actually practicing what is now call the Old Religion, the way of the witch.

If you turn back even further, to cultures whose histories were not often written down, you find a different kind of witch. This witch was not shrouded in the darkness of fear and fairy tales, but in the darkness and light of the Goddess. This witch was revered as a healer, teacher, leader, and wise one. The image of the witch inspired the same reverence that a priest or minister does now in modern culture, for the ancestors of modern witchcraft were the priestesses and priests, the seers and advisors living a spiritual life by turning into the forces of nature, the tides of the seasons, and the cycles of the Moon. They held a kinship with the plants and animals and, in essence, all life. Their teaching and histories were kept in the oral tradition, holding the myths and magic of the culture.

Modern witches focus on this particular root in the witchcraft tree. Those claiming the name and title of witch are truly reclaiming and building on the image of the witch from these ancient days. If you really want to know what the words witch and witchcraft mean as we move into the next century, look at the growing movement of modern witches.

If you ask a witch what he or she means by the word, you will get as many definitions as there are witches. And yes, witches can be both women and men. Male witches are not called warlocks. The word warlock can be traced from Scottish, Old English, Germanic, and Indo-European roots and is now generally regarded to mean "deceiver" or "oath breaker" to those involved in the craft. Such a title was probably associated with witchcraft by those who wanted to defame the practice.

The root of the word wic, or wicca, means "wise", for witches were the keepers of the wisdom, evolving into the images of wise women and wizardly men. Another definition was "to bend shape", meaning those who practiced witchcraft could bend and shape the natural forces to do their bidding, to make magic. The word witch is actually considered to be Anglo-Saxon in origin, and some feel that only those who are practicing European traditions, or more specifically Celtic, Saxon, or Germanic traditions, have the right to claim the title witch. The etymology of the word can possibly be traced back to Sanskrit and the earliest Indo-European languages, although this could be a popular folk etymology used by many modern witches. The Middle English word wicche is traced back to the Old English wiccan, meaning "to practice witchcraft". Male and female witches were distinguished through the words wicca and wicce, respectively. In Middle High German, wicken means "to bewitch or divine the future". In Old German, the word is traced to wih, meaning "holy". From the Old German to Old Norman, we have the ve, meaning "temple". Notice an interesting shift from the W sound to the V sound, but notice the similar shape of the letters. The letter W actually looks more like double V in our alphabet. In French, the letter is called doublevay. The further back you go, the further away you get from the stereotypical witch and to a word of sacredness and spirituality.

In modern English, witch is used to refer to both men and women. Wicca refers to the modern revival of witchcraft. After the witch trials and persecutions, what remained of the teaching went underground. Other teachings were lost forever, but the practices were revived and the surviving traditions came to light in the twentieth century. In several modern traditions, witchcraft refers to the practice and art of the the craft., such as spells, while the religion is known as Wicca. Thought you can make a strong distinction between the definitions of witch and Wiccan, or Witchcraft and Wicca, most practitioners accept both words and identities. If you are not sure what to call someone, ask them. 


* Credit to Christopher Penczak