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| Witchcraft as I see it:
I am what you would call a traditional witch. My Welsh ancestors were midwives, herbalists, craftsmen & women and traditional witches. My native ancestors were holy men and women, healers, hunters and gatherers. I have never been a member of a coven, the skills I have as an herbalist, healer and seer come naturally to me. Although I have engaged in extensive, formal herbal training via numerous classes with herbalists known to my area, the School of Natural Healing in Utah and with a Blackfeet Holy Man, the majority of my herbal knowledge has come to me naturally and through my own vigorous studies. The same holds true for my reverence for nature, my belief in the goddess and my skills as a healer and seer. These have been enhanced by lifelong study, but they are ultimately a natural part of who I am. One of the first things I would like to put forth is that there is a great misconception that the word Wicca is Anglo-Saxon for ‘craft of the wise’. Wicca was the Anglo-Saxon word for a female witch and was used as a term of abuse. The true word for craft of the wise was ‘wisdom’ and its practitioners were wizards, whether they were male or female. The next thing I wish to put forth is that all Witches are not Wiccans, as is commonly believed. Considering all witches to be Wiccan is like considering all Christians to be Catholic. This mode of thinking is ridiculous. Christians come in many forms: Latter Day Saints, Protestants, Baptists, Catholics, Lutherans and Jews For Jesus to name a few. Witches come in many forms and follow many belief systems as well: Norse, Celtic, Pagan, Santeria, Wiccan, Voo Doo and many, many more. The image of witches meeting in a coven comprised of 13 women is false as well. If you consider how life was in ancient times you would soon realize how impossible this would have been. The distances one would have had to travel, during times of curfew, road robbers and harsh road conditions, if there were roads at all, prevented groups of people from meeting in such a way. Yes, the villagers did gather for the great rites of the year, but regular coven meetings were out of the question. Witches would have been solitary practitioners who went about their day-to-day business of watching the weather, tending to flocks and healing those in need within their own village. Most villages had one herb woman who was typically housed in the last dwelling in the village. This was so she would have her privacy, but also so no matter where you traveled finding the healer could be done with ease. This is not to say that there weren’t Priestess groups, for undoubtedly there were, but they were often large and could by no means be considered a coven. The old saying ‘Thou canst be a witch alone’ is not a witch’s rede, but one dreamed up by patriarchal society in order to persecute entire households and villages. What do witches do? Generations of country witches have celebrated the cycles of nature and paid close attention to the cycles of the moon. The wheel of the year known to practitioners of the craft now contains eight festivals. However, long ago our ancestors only celebrated four. The equinoxes and solstices were of no major importance as they were solar festivals and the ancients were concerned with the lunar and earth aspects of nature. The lives of every villager depended upon the earth, for it’s crops and livestock. What the sun was doing at any given moment was of no particular concern, unless it never showed its face at all. The seasonal rites were enacted to insure the continued fertility of the land, animals and people as well as honor the harvest and ancestors. Therefore, the rites of Beltane, Lughnassah, Samhain and Imbolc would have been of primary importance. There are those who would disagree, saying that the great stone circles are solar in nature and prove that solar rites were primary. However, ask anyone who has ever been to Stonehenge on the solstice and they will tell you that the sun does not hit it's mark until well past dawn. If you go at night however, the alignment of the moon rising hits its mark every time. Witches honor the Goddess as the provider of all. She is found in the great, green earth and in all of her creatures. We do not worship the moon, but see her as a visible symbol of the goddess in her aspects as Maiden, Mother and Crone. We listen to the rhythms of nature and honor its cycles. We strive to protect and preserve our natural resources. We do not worship Satan, as he is a Christian manifestation. Nor do we sign pacts with him in order to gain power. Satanists are the folks who do these things. They are anti-Christ and witches are not. Many witches acknowledge the Christ as a great teacher, although they do not embrace Christianity. Christianity as we know it has nothing to do with the true teachings of Jesus. He loved all manner of people and respected women greatly, which many Christian beliefs do not. He also knew that worship should take place in the heart and in the out of doors, which is very much in alignment with a witch’s beliefs. If you disagree with this, then go read the Gnostic Gospels, the Gospel According to Thomas or Mary or one of the other texts that were left out of the bible. Our ancestors knew that the changing of the seasons was cyclical; one season flowed into the next only to come full circle again. They saw firsthand the cycles of birth, death and rebirth in the crops they grew. It was for planting and harvesting that they held ritual, for this is what their lives depended upon. Although our lives do not depend so heavily upon the planting and harvesting of crops in as direct a manner as the ancients did, we still honor these cycles and pay homage to the energies that surround them |