I know... right now you're laughing your ass off saying "Yeah, right! Where's the green face, the wart on your nose and the pointy hat??" I don't uncover that face until Halloween.
No, really. The Craft, and being a witch, is nothing like what Hollywood portrays it to be. Or your local fundamentalist church. Let me tell you what we're all about.
1. True witches are very benign people who love nature, our Mother Earth and all her inhabitants. All life is sacred to us. We do not worship nature, but we respect her greatly.
2. We do not sacrifice anything for any reason. We use herbs and oils, incense and stones in our spells, but we do not use babies or children, your cat or dog or farm livestock as a sacrifice. That's Hollywood hype and uneducated, fundamentalist propaganda.
3. We do not believe in the devil or Satan. He is a Christian entity that we have no use for. Our belief in evil comes from the balance in nature and the universe. There is no deity, for us, that coerces a person into doing something bad or evil.
4. We believe in god(s) and goddess(es). As I mentioned earlier, there must be a balance in nature and the universe. You have light, you have dark. You have good, you have evil. And in order to have human life, you must have male and female. Our goddess(es) are highlighted because of their ability to bear life, but we realize that you must also have the male to do so.
5. We have only one law and that is "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." This basically means you can do whatever you want to do as long as what you're doing hurts no one. And you must take into account the "ripple effect." We do not do love spells to make someone fall in love with you. This is manipulating their free will and is a big no-no.
6. Most of us do not believe in heaven or hell, but in reincarnation of the soul. Retribution for the hurt we may cause, doesn't come after you're dead, but in this lifetime and is called Karma. Karma, to us, is the return of the energy you put out, whether it be good or bad. We believe in the "Three Fold Law", which is whatever you give out, whether good or bad, will come back to you three times as good or bad.
7. We do not recruit people to join our religion. This would be manipulating someone's free will. We let you come to us if you're interested in learning and practicing.
8. We do our best to respect all religions and faiths. The only problem we have is when we're told we're "wrong" or "evil" or when someone else doesn't respect our religion and tries to convert us. I don't think you'd like it very much if someone came up to you and said "You practice a false religion and are going to hell for it. Let me save your soul. Come to the one true religion." We don't like it either.
9. We do spells to gain what we want, as long as it harms none. We do money spells, certain types of love spells, healings, prosperity spells and spells for just about anything you can want. Our spells are nothing more than a very focused prayer. We believe that we deserve things and asking for them is in no way being selfish.
10. We are a living religion which just means that you can practice any way you want, believe any way you want and do spells any way that works for you. There is not one "set in stone way" to practice which is what makes the Craft so appealing to me. I don't have to follow a list of "commandments", do what my Priestess says is right (which may not be right for me), or believe in the same god(s)/goddess(es) as my fellow witches. It's all correct as long as I'm not hurting anyone else in what I'm doing.
This is just the basics of what the Craft is. There is, of course, much more to what we believe and practice, but these are, to me, the most important things and what I tell people who ask about my belief.
I hope that I've helped you to understand a little more of what we do and believe and that you can pass on what you've learned to other people who may not understand. Education is the foundation for stamping out prejudice and harassment.
If you have any further questions about what we do, please feel free to email me. I will not respond to anyone wanting to bash my beliefs and will contact your email provider. Thanks, again, for coming by! Gentle breezes to you and Blessed Be.
Saffire
celticwitch@insightbb.com
