A number of years ago, we attended the wedding of a lady that worked in Claire’s office. Unlike most weddings, I was very excited to attend this one, because Claire told me that the lady was a witch (for real) and members of her coven would be at the wedding.
Needless to say, I was disappointed in the wedding… I would have been ok with a regular boring wedding, but I figured the reception afterwards would at the very least produce some witchcraft like black magic or spells or rituals of some kind — but no, it was pretty much just a regular reception.
I guess my idea of witches has never been the same since that day.
Witches got a lot press the last few years — mostly in the form of the “spoiled child” cries of “witch hunt” from our former President. I even read a story recently about a Christian group that was praying to protect Trump from witches.
But if for some reason you may be thinking about becoming a witch, there are a few things you should know about witchcraft before you get too far down that road.
Witchcraft is a pagan religion. Pagan religions worship multiple deities rather than a single god. Paganism is one of the oldest religions and includes all religions that are not Christian, Muslim or Jewish. That means Paganism includes Hindu, buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and American Indian religions as well as all other nature-oriented religions. I found one article that indicated that Paganism accounts for 50 percent of all religions.
Wicca is a (pagan) religion —popularized by the so-called Father of Wicca, Gerald Gardner, in the mid-1900s. Witches are normally thought of as women, but many Wiccans are men and worship both a god and goddess.
The word “witch” is a combination of two Old English terms: wicce (“wise one”) and Wicca (“healer”.) In ancient times, witches were admired and respected for their wisdom and ability to heal with herbs. But in the early 1300s, witchcraft was declared heresy — by the Catholic Church. That resulted in a widespread fear of witches and led to the witch hunts that took place between the late 15th and 18th centuries.
In 2011 a British census found that 11,766 people identified themselves as Wiccan and 1.276 described themselves as practicing witchcraft.
In the late 1960s, a number of women’s activist groups named themselves using the acronym WITCH. There were many variations of the acronym, such as “Women Inspired to Tell their Collective History” and “Women Incensed at Telephone Company Harassment.” These “witches” used their platform to fight for women’s rights.
Today, more than one million Americans identify as Wiccans — a religion whose practitioners often identify as “witches,” and claim to be a nature-based, peaceful, spiritual practice that has nothing to do with Satanism. According to some things that I’ve read, being a witch has become more mainstream, and in some circles, fashionable.
So it turns out that you can’t become a witch by being mean, wearing black or riding a broomstick — it just doesn’t work that way.
Wicca, one of the major religions practicing witchcraft, is about the mind, body, and spirit, along with a code of ethics and a few principles that some witches share. Respect the earth, live in harmony with the seasons, find your own purpose, and create your own path. Poof! You’re a witch.
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