What is a Witch?
Julie White
This is an introduction to witches in general, who we are, what we believe
in, and little bits of information about us that you perhaps didn't know. It
is designed to strip away the stereotyped images of witchcraft and its
practitioners, and reveal the Witch of Today.
The Stereotyped Witch
It is a common belief that witches are ugly old women dressed in black with
pointy hats and warts on their noses, flying on a broomstick or living
secluded in a hut in the woods. I promise you, at least I'm not one of them,
and so far, I've never seen one either.
What's in a Name?
The word wicca or witch originally came from the Anglo-Saxon language and
means "wise one". This gives us an insight into a lot of things. First of
all why the witch is often portrayed as an old woman - have you ever heard
the wording "wise-woman"? She is the Crone, representing the oldest of the
Triple Goddess, who is wise and understanding, strong and stern. She may
dress in black and might live in the forest; and if she is unlucky enough,
she might even have a wart on her nose. But if you think about it, that
description might well fit anyone. As the word witch itself therefore
suggests; we are a caring and wisdom-seeking kind.
A Piece of History
Being the "wise ones," as the name witch implies, has not always been to our
benefit, however. You have perhaps heard of the Burning Times. This was a
horrible era when witches were hunted and put to unjust trials. For example,
the inquisitor sometimes tested whether a person was a witch or not by
throwing them into the ocean and wait to see if s/he could swim. If they
could, they were witches and were burned at the stake, if not, they were
left to die in the water. And all this started because these people were
considered too wise. They had considerable knowledge of natural medicine,
and what others thought were special powers. Therefore they were blamed for
various disasters of their time, such as plagues or a year of bad crop. Of
course the witches never caused these misfortunes - they were natural
occurrences. It would be against a witch's moral to do harm to others.
What is a White Witch?
In essence, all real witches are white witches. The famous Wiccan Rede's
injunction to harm none is one of the pillars of magick. We only do positive
magick, and never set out to hurt anyone. Of course, if a family member or a
friend is in danger, we might feel obliged to take measures of protection -
which are not designed to harm others - but to keep them from harming us.
And this is always done for the good of all as we often phrase it. Of course
there are many witches who do not practise spells and the like. Witchcraft
is NOT synonymous with spellcraft. It is foremost a religion. We are
followers of the old pagan religions. Some witches perform positive magick
to enhance their life. This is no more strange than Christians praying to
their God for a better life. It is all about concentrating on your need and
communicating with your chosen deity. The practise of black magick is not
accepted in the pagan community, and there is no such thing as a satanic
witch; simply because witches do not believe in Satan. The devil belongs to
Christianity. He is NOT found within our religion!
What we Believe
We can not stress this enough - witches DO NOT believe in Satan. This is,
however, the most common myth we have to fight against in order to be
accepted. Once that is established, most people realise that we are no worse
that followers of any other religion. Because above all, that is what
witchcraft is - a religion. We are people very much in tune with nature.
This is why we worship Mother Earth. Since we believe that everything has
two sides, there obviously has to be a Father too, sometimes called Sky
Father or Father Sun (as opposed to the Moon Goddess). These two are the
Lord and the Lady, the Father and the Mother, the God and the Goddess. They
are our principal deities, and generally, neither is more powerful than the
other. There are several aspects of these two deities, and this is why most
pagans have a whole pantheon of Gods and Goddesses, each representing
different things. Some are war God/desses, some are known to have powers of
healing, protection, love, justice and so on, to meet the needs of the
people. But all Gods are one God, and all Goddesses are one Goddess - and
together they are ONE. This One is the source of everything.
--
~~~~~~~~ Julie White ~~~~~~
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BOS-pagan
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FontWorld
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Figinn
news:w2Yva.316340$vs.23...@news3.calgary.shaw.ca...
Julie,
Very nice post, let me start by saying.
However, I have to break with the standard party lines on a few points.
-A Wiccan and a Witch are not the same thing.
-Someone can be a witch and not practice Wicca. Someone can practice Wicca
and not practice witchcraft.
-Someone can be a Pagan and not practice witchcraft. Someone can practice
witchcraft and not be Pagan (including ... well, me lol)
-Wicca is a religion. Witchcraft is not necessarily a religion. I've
spoken to witches from various backgrounds, including Christianity and
Judaism ... and then there are the weirdos like me who are actually
monotheists and don't fit into any standard category.
-Some witches actually *do* believe in Satan (I'm not one of them) and some
in the pagan/witchcraft community *do* accept "black" magick. (I'm not one
of them either)
I believe the traditional distinction of who is a witch is outdated and
inaccurate. Different from the old days, but still outdated and inaccurate.
We're *all* witches ... we *all* attempt to bend our realities to fit our
wills. We can call it whatever we want but it's true. We can wear fancy
robes and tattoo pentagrams on our tooshies or not. Why does prayer seem to
work so well? Cuz it's magick ... tuning into the forces established here
by our deity.
Your statements are great PR for Wicca but they don't change society's
opinion. Only when we start introducing magick as a normal part of people's
lives will anybody ever get it.
Kindest regards,
Figinn
Julie White
Thank you, Figinn :) That's the nicest post I've gotten from a witchy type
group today. *sigh* It wasn't my article, I just forwarded it. I'm not
wiccan, pagan, or anything just yet. Just reading up on some things. It was
an article that went through my yahoo group recently, and I wanted to share
it.
Thanks for pointing out the inconsistencies of it. I won't post that version
again. :)
Sincerely,
Julie
THE Cast Iron Bitch
from yet another putrid pink Spewellyn publication. You can expect to be
pounded if you waltz in here and insult long time regs who wipe more
knowledge off their asses that *you* will EVER manage to scrape up, M'K?
IOW, you have already fucked up, and you are behooved to at least TRY to
think on how best to proceed from here if you wish to avoid being trounced
soundly......
"Julie White" <nospam...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:oq3wa.318592$vs.23...@news3.calgary.shaw.ca...
ba...@dmcom.net
> Thank you, Figinn :) That's the nicest post I've gotten from a witchy type
> group today. *sigh* It wasn't my article, I just forwarded it. I'm not
> wiccan, pagan, or anything just yet. Just reading up on some things. It was
> an article that went through my yahoo group recently, and I wanted to share
> it.
>
Welcome to the group. I see you have already heard from of the regs in
replies to your posts.
--
news:alt.pagan FAQ at http://www.dmcom.net/bard/altpag.txt
news:alt.religion.wicca FAQ at http://www.dmcom.net/bard/arwfaq2.txt
news:news.groups FAQ at http://www.dmcom.net/bard/ngfaq.txt
Want a new group FAQs http://web.presby.edu/~nnqadmin/nnq/ncreate.html
Jani
Jani
"Julie White" <nospam...@shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:oq3wa.318592$vs.23...@news3.calgary.shaw.ca...
Ironywaves
Jani
Why shouldn't she? There's cut and paste in these groups all the time. I've
never seen you single anyone out before. Why not leave Julie be? If these
groups need a moderator, I'm certain you're not the one for the job, Jani.
Will
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Isis-House
ba...@dmcom.net
>
> Julie, why are you posting all these cut-and-pastes?
>
I believe she in new to Usenet and thought it would be nice to share
information she had found with us. I believe the intent was well
meaning.
Jani
<ba...@dmcom.net> wrote in message news:3EC13F...@dmcom.net...
> Jani wrote:
> > Julie, why are you posting all these cut-and-pastes?
> I believe she in new to Usenet and thought it would be nice to share
> information she had found with us. I believe the intent was well
> meaning.
Well, that was me giving the benefit of the doubt. If she does another
Chive, she'll get blasted. I think that's fair ...
Jani
Jan
> >
> > Julie, why are you posting all these cut-and-pastes?
> >
>
> I believe she in new to Usenet and thought it would be nice to share
> information she had found with us. I believe the intent was well
> meaning.
*dropping into serious mode for a min*
Than perhaps I should thank Julie but point out that it's really not
necessary to cut/paste/post intro content from websites in a ng that
has existed for a long time with people who can search for themselves,
think for themselves, and some even produce original work?
~Jan
Ironywaves
> Than perhaps I should thank Julie but point out that it's really not
> necessary to cut/paste/post intro content from websites in a ng that
> has existed for a long time with people who can search for themselves,
> think for themselves, and some even produce original work?
~Jan
Why bother with all that? It's not yor buisness, this is unmoderated, and
perhaps we should thank you but posts such as yours are even less needed
here. At least her post had some content. Yours does not.
Will
Jan
news:<vc2q10q...@corp.supernews.com>...
Now Willy, I know you have a hard time keeping the threads straight,
but you have been advised that being a spoksperson is not quite in
your skill set. And I think you need not apply to be a ng critic
either, that requires powers of observation and some awareness, and
anyway the position is already taken.
Best of luck to you in your career search and good evening!
~Jan
Ironywaves
> but you have been advised that being a spoksperson is not quite in
> your skill set. And I think you need not apply to be a ng critic
> either, that requires powers of observation and some awareness, and
> anyway the position is already taken.
>
> Best of luck to you in your career search and good evening!
>
> ~Jan
I never applied. I'm writing that others lack the skills. Sod off, Jan/Jani.
Will
Jan
news:<vc3obf5...@corp.supernews.com>...
Oh youre funny Willy!
Good morning to you!
~Jan
Ironywaves
Good morning to you!
~Jan
Good morning, Slitch-Man!
Will