Witchcraft

Witchcraft – What It Is…What It Isn’t

I feel obliged, as most writers do, to explain a little about who and what I am and why (of course).

I am a Witch. As a matter of definition, this means that I practise Witchcraft - though how can one practise when they live it? What it doesn’t mean is that I am a diabolist or Satanist. I define Witchcraft as an ecstay-driven, earth-based mystery tradition/s.

Witchcraft is a (Pagan) tradition that is akin to shamanism in that it involves transformations of consciousness, healing, working with plant/animal/mineral/spirit allies (including Gods) and moving between/through the worlds. All of this is Magick and Magick is…

“the art of causing change in conformity with will” – Aleister Crowley

“the art of changing consciousness at will” – Dion Fortune

AND/OR

“the underlying essence, radiance and vitality of/that is Life” – Gede Parma

Witches are magickal and we work with it (Magick) – this is what our training (life’s work) is all about. In my experience Magick can not be used or done, it is a catalytic force which we work with to bring about great change within ourselves and in the world. It works on the principle of interconnection, or what we call Wyrd. Wyrd is about the Web, and it is also about Fate, but of course it is about many things. As all things are connected all Fate is relative, therefore it is possible to persuade it because it is intimately a part of who we are, and not some detached force dolling out karmic goodie bags. Throughout history Witches have been decidedly linked with the Fates, the Fae (the Good Neighbours; the Shining Ones; the Tuath; the Sidhe) and Grandmother Fate herself. In fact she is seen to be one of our main Goddesses.

Paganism and Witchcraft are irrevocably linked. Many Witches detest what I see to be an inherent connection saying that not all Witches are Pagan or necessarily spiritual (and I understand that, though I think they mean to say ‘religious’). The simple fact is Witches and their Craft/s existed long before the Abrahamic faiths came into being in a time when most cultures lived traditions which can be defined as Pagan. Therefore our history is rooted in a world that was polytheistic, animistic and pantheistic, that accepted the existence of Magick (though it was not always tolerated) and believed in the sanctity of Nature. Of course some Witches qualify this relationship by specifying which cultures distinctly inspired us. The most commonly touted is the Celts. This may be so and is definitely a great influence on my path as my mother’s ancestry is largely Irish; however I also feel a connection to the Fertile Crescent and to the Greek Gods. I do not associate myself with the state cults, rather I am allied with the forces they revered. The Mediterranean had a great deal of impact on the Craft. I recommend any of Raven Grimassi’s books for more insight into the Mediterranean influence.

Why some Witches reject the classical era is clear as the general Roman depiction of Witches was thinly-veiled misogynistic diabolism. Witches, if thinking on the past (which at times we do), tend to invoke the Palaeolithic or Neolithic periods – the hunter-gatherers. There is an interesting mythology that we have that speaks of a Mother Goddess of Life and a Horned God of Hunting (or Life and Death), though this is seen to be a Wiccan pseudo-history moreover a Witch tradition, it still holds sway.

Wicca is a tradition of Witchcraft; it is not the only one. However Wicca is Pagan religious Witchcraft (specifically ditheistic – a God and a Goddess) that has become something perhaps very different from what was first intended. Briefly the main/first propounder of the cult (he liked the word) was Gerald Gardner, a British retired civil servant who claimed to have been initiated into a hereditary Witches’ coven in the 1930s. Much of what has become NeoPaganism derives from Wicca – the casting of the Circle, the calling of the quarters, the celebration of the Eight Sabbats and the idea of a God and a Goddess. Though all of this derived from elsewhere before it was compounded into the Wiccan magickal system.

Witchcraft is:

  • a spiritual tradition
  • a magickal pathway
  • a Pagan legacy

Witchcraft isn’t:

  • a selfish technique of acquiring material possessions and other self-gratifications
  • an anti-Christian counter-cult that indulges in infanticide, murder and general malice
  • a fantasy (but it makes good stories!)

For more information and insight read my articles in the Witchcraft/the Craft archives.