THE TRUE MEANING OF THE CRAFT
As seen from the "wiccan" religion, NOT necessarily Witchcraft

          To begin with, if you arrived here from the "if you are of a different faith" link, I'd like to thank you for taking the time and interest to visit this site, and keeping an open mind. It is greatly appreciated!
         So...Lets start with what witches ARE NOT! We are not evil! We have NOTHING to with Satan, or any other negative energy force, an we DO NOT sacrifice anything, the thought of killing somethin makes me physically ill!! One of the rules/laws of Wicca that we adhere to, that we live by, is the Three fold law of the universe: What ever energy you send out, good or bad, WILL return to you, three fold!  You've heard this before, phrased as, "what goes around, comes around". A short version of, "The Wiccan Rede":

Bide the Wiccan Law ye must.
In perfect love, in perfect trust.
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill,
An it harm none, do what ye will.
And ever mind the Law of Three
What you send out comes back to thee.
Follow this in mind and heart,
Merry Meet and Merry Part.

Long version here

So, how did all the misconceptions about witchcraft start? Where did the negative image of the witch begin? The answers to these questions have their roots deep in the past. If one can grasp the reality of the Bible's historical setting then there is only one more hurdle to conquer. Although the term "dumbing-down" did not exist in the early 17th century that is exactly the intent of King James when he undertook the project of translating the Bible and it was the inevitable result of that work. This infamous King of England cast a veil over the treasures in this ancient writing. The language he chose was not the common English of the day but the obscure language of the royal court he commanded. He chose a language not only foreign to the common people but one so simplistic that it was totally inadequate to properly render the languages it replaced. The incompetence of the translators was really of little importance considering the true agenda of this despotic authoritarian and repressive monarch. He had only two goals. One was his desire to be a god-king by affirming the "divine right of kings" and the other to eliminate the access of the common people to these works. To accomplish this end he gave his hand picked supervisor of the project, the Bishop of London, strict dogmatic instruction and gave final approval to the book that bears his name. Had it not been what he wanted it would never have been published. The result is a language nobody understands, numerous purposeful mistranslations, and so many words added or deleted the toll is incalculable. The fruit of his labor has held fast over four centuries. In the world of Bible-based religions there are more denominations than books in the Bible, more sub-denominations than chapters, and more pastoral schisms than verses.

Patriarchy culminated in Europe in the fourth century when the church and the Roman Empire joined forces. Under Constantine, Christianity became the official religion of the empire. Bishops followed Roman armies into the territories and, under their protection, began preaching what they called, "the good news."
Christendom did not become the dominant faith overnight, and for centuries the old religion and Christianity coexisted, side by side, and for a long time, Christians too, practiced the old ways.
An attempt at mass conversion was made by Pope Gregory the Great. He thought that one way to get the people to attend the Christian churches was to have them built on the sites where the older temples had been built (they were all destroyed for the new religion) where the people were already accustomed to gathering for worship. He instructed his bishops to sprinkle the grounds with holy water and rededicate them to Christianity. The only artisans available however to do the religious carvings for the new church, were the locals themselves. The stone carvers and wood masons incorporated their own religious symbols into the new Christian symbols, many of which are still in use today.
As Christianity gained more control, usually through severe condemnation, the Old religion went "underground." They "re-named" themselves to hide their identity. They made "code" names for many of their potions (ex: eye of newt ?, tongue of dog?) and all meetings were held by cover of night in the woods so not to be caught practicing their faith. It didn't take long for the powers of the church to find out what was going on. Wicca is a nature religion and myth god of nature, is Pan...a half animal half human.... with horns. This is where the image of Satan having horns came from! A nature myth. The Bible calls him Lucifer, the anointed cherub, he was not only created perfect, but he was exceedingly beautiful. In his high position and beauty, he forgot his creatureliness and wanted to become "as God" No where in the Christian bible is Lucifer referred to as physically ugly, hideous, or as having horns. Reference is to his physical beauty. (cf. Ezek. 28:11-15; Isa. 14:12-13).

"THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER..."What does the Bible say about Witches?

Well, NOT A LOT! Lets look at the main source of this: Exodus 22:18--"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." As was pointed out as early as 1584 by Reginald Scot in "The Discovery Of Witchcraft," the original word in Hebrew, chasaph means "poisoner," not Witch. At the time of writing, a poisoner could ruin a well and kill many people and livestock. This is what the Bible originally referred to.
King James I had a paranoid fear of Witches (as evidenced by his book, Demonologies) and deliberately had his translators alter the text to prove grounds for the extermination of Witches. Reginald Scot's book was burned at the command of James I.
The other well known quote, comes from the story of the "Witch of Endor" found in I Samuel, 28. Was she a witch? According to the Bible, NO. the Bible states she was, "a woman that hath a familiar spirit." Apparently, this woman was what we today, would call a "channel" or some type of medium.
These incorrect translations, still in use today, have been the cause for thousands to die

I hope this sheds a little bit of light on Wicca for you. It is not meant to change your faith, just to let you understand that Wicca is not what movies and books portray it as. It is a very gentle religion of nature.

Once again I'd like to thank you for visiting this page. If you have any questions, or would like to make any comments please do not hesitate to E-mail me.

Latin translators, with the understanding that HEYLEL meant the morning star, translated HEYLEL as "Lucifer", the Latin term used for the Morning Star (it literally meant "light-bringer"). However, down through the centuries, some Christian denominations have assumed "Lucifer" to be a name for Satan. When the English KJV Bible was written, they even chose to retain the Latin word amidst the English text.

The word "Pagan" comes from the Latin "Pagani," it means "people who live in the country. The word "heathen" means, "one who dwells on the heath." Both of these terms were appropriate for non-Christians at the time because they bore no connotations of evil, there use to day in a derogatory sense is incorrect!