The Way of the Witch

by Sir Stephan of Wada's Hill

Contrary to myth, the power of witchcraft does not come from the devil. Anyone can become a witch, and the price tag on this ancient power does not require the selling of your soul. So what does it take to harness this mystical power?
According to Marsha Smith Shaw, a practicing witch since 1968, one becomes a witch by doing what witches do. In fact, you do not have to join a coven or undergo a long study period. "You begin by making a commitment to the path of the Witch and living it as fully as possible," she explains. "Our way is life-affirming and individual-empowering. We align our lives with the great powers of the universe, attuning ourselves to the turning of the seasons and celebrating the ebb and flow of life and time and tide."

For most, Wicca has come to mean the religion of witchcraft. In truth, wicca is the Old English singular masculine noun for Witch. The proper name of the religion is Witchcraft

In The Magic Power of Witchcraft, authors Gavin and Yvonne Frost, directors of the Church and School of Wicca, say that most people already have the power of witchcraft. The simple act of making someone turn to look at you in a theater or expressing the same thought at the exact moment as a friend are evidences of this power

Among witches, there is a concept of Mysteries similar to the Christian Sacraments. These Mysteries are accessible to everyone, but the symbolic language and the exercises used to impart that information can vary. The real Mysteries of the Craft are stories told by the goddesses and gods to each witch, and each witch must interpret these stories for themselves. Traditional mysteries and coven secrets are only introductions and annotations to the stories of the gods.

Witches are not satanists. According to the the Frosts, Satan is a thoughtform. Satanists are people who draw energy from one's thoughts and fears of satanism. Witches believe instead in a pantheon of gods and goddesses, including Isis, Bastet, Hathor, Osiris, and Thoth

The power of witchcraft was given by these deities, and whether that power is used for good or evil is up to the practitioner. The gods and goddesses assist witches in evolving spiritually through direct guidance in trance, dreams, and meditations, and also indirectly through their myths and symbols.

Witches riding brooms are among the most exaggerated concepts of the witch. The image probably comes from a fertility dance where the witch straddles her broom and jumps into the air to encourage the crops to grow. In truth, witches do profess to flying by means of astral projection where the soul is separated from the body and free to travel, not only across the Earth, but also into other planes of existence.
As for the Sabbot, witches, like Druids and Pagans, celebrate holidays that correspond with the solstices, equinoxes, and other days of significance, including Yule (renewal and rebirth, Winter Solstice) December 22; Imbolic (Festival of Lights) February 2; Ostara (Vernal Equinox, the beginning of Spring) May 1; Litha (Summer Solstice, a time for great magick) June 21; Lammas, or Lughnasadh (the beginning of harvest) August l; Mabon (second harvest, Autumnal Equinox) September 23; Samhain (end of summer, a time to honor the dead) October 31. Other religiously significant days are esbats which celebrate events such as the Full Moon or New Moon. These celebrations have their own rituals.

We have all heard about the impossible-to-find ingredients used in witch's spells; eye of newt, breath of toad, etc. But what are witch's really making when they heat up their pots and pans? Some create "evil" potions such as incense for prayer, menthol cough drops, and that most diabolical of concoctions, ginger ale. "The ancient grimoire, full of unpronounceable words, obscure references, little-understood symbols and repulsive ingredients," the Frosts explain, "is as foreign to most witches as it is to the average person. What makes most spells work is the emotion invested in them.

Most witches do not advocate manipulation in their magick but trust in the flow of things. When they do magick for a specific purpose, they do it for the good of all and in accordance with free will

Furthermore, witches see life as "a continuum with births and deaths being doors which lead to a different room in the mansion of the universe." If one spends his life invoking hexes and curses, Shaw says, he will spend his next life (and the next and the next for as long as it takes) learning the lessons he did not learn in this lifetime.

Who would marry the warty-nosed, jut-chinned old hag with the greenish flesh? Surely all witches look like the Halloween decorations, right?

Wrong. Witches come in all shapes and sizes, including the ugly old woman down the block, the fat guy mowing his lawn next door, and even a supermodel.
Although witches today come from every ethnic background, gender, economic status, and age range, the one thing they have in common is a desire to be actively involved in spiritual development and to manifest that desire through their commitment to conserving the planet

Many witches honor the Halloween image of the Crone. Shaw compares it to the way many black women are reclaiming the image of the mammy; witches are reclaiming the image of the aged wise woman

Though many witches are alone in the practice of their craft, many others are members of covens. A coven of witches may not look so different than a gathering of any other religion, with entire families turning out to celebrate the holiday.
So how about that cat? What is the purpose of the witch's "familiar?

There are three types of familiars. One is a discarnate human being, a second is a nonhuman spirit or elemental, and the third is that of an actual physical creature, usually a small animal like a cat or toad. Cats are mysterious creatures, nocturnal, and known to be sensitive to the presence of spirits. The idea of the black cat most likely comes from the Roman Catholic Church and the belief that the dark was associated with evil. Cats have been sacred to many Pagan people, including the Egyptians.

It may never be known how many women and men were burned, hanged, drowned, or otherwise executed for being witches. During the Middle Ages, the fear of bedevilment spread like wildfire, and any ill-luck was likely to be contributed to the old woman who lived alone with no company but her cat .
The first Papal bull dealing with sorcery was issued by Alexander IV on the 13th of December, 1258. The last Papal Constitution concerned with the crime of witchcraft was by Urban VIII on April 1, 1631. This did not stop the executions, however

The last reported trial of an English witch came in 1717 when an old woman and her son were acquitted of witchcraft. A Scottish witch was executed at Loth in 1722 and in 1793, two hags were burned in Poland as witches

In America, legends of the notorious witch trials of Salem, MA are abundant. However, historians now say these trials were relatively mild compared to the persecutions that took place in Europe. No witches were burned in Salem, but 19 people were hanged for the crime of sorcery. Four years after the last major witchcraft trial in America, many of the jurors who had sent the condemned to the gallows made a public confession stating, "...[we have] ignorantly and unwittingly [brought] upon ourselves and this people of the Lord the guilt of innocent blood...[we were] under the power of a strong and general delusion...

The persecution continues, despite evidence that Witchcraft is not the work of the devil. According to the 1995 summer issue of Circle Network News, the largest Pagan networking organization in the U.S., a Pagan in Michigan was arrested for carrying his athame (sacred dagger) in a public park. The police confiscated his ritual gear, searched all other Pagans coming to the festival, and threatened to close the park if the Pagans did not leave all gear and robes locked in their car.
The high priestess of a coven in Rhode Island had three foster children abruptly removed from her home when her religion was discovered. And the Church of Iron Oak in Florida has undergone several years of legal wrangling and persecution from neighbors for holding religious services in a residence

Being a witch today is better than it was 1,000 years ago, but it is something the public does not seem willing to accept. Though the crime of witchcraft came to be regarded as a delusioneven spawning apologies from some church officials. Margaret Murray, an anthropologist and Egyptologist, did not believe all the witch confessions had been the result of torture. In 1921 she published The Witch Cult in Western Europe, in which she stated that there had been a large underground witch cult in western Europe which she did not believe were devil-worshippers, but followers of a pre-Christian, primordial religion: the worship of the Great Earth Mother Goddess. Murray went too far, according to many scholars, when she hypothesized that Joan of Arc and many kings of England had beenmembers of this theoretical cult

In 1949, occultist Gerald Brousseau Gardner announced that he was a witch and since witchcraft was a "dying cult," he was breaking the vow of silence because the art needed to be passed on to younger generations. Though Gardner was well-respected, his ominous prediction was proved wrong. Self-proclaimed witches began appearing everywhere, all claiming to be heirs to the ancient religion described by Murray

Witchcraft saw a temporary rise in membership during the late 1960s, but the greatest increase came in the 1980s, perhaps attributable to the many books published on the subject and the awakening of goddess consciousness in the ecological movement

Today, the Old Religion is divided into many different denominations. Their primary differences are in practices and some theology, but essentially they are very similar. The uninitiated would be hard-pressed to distinguish what makes one coven different from another

Magick has retained its strength through the ages. Since the 1960s, magick has gained a stronger influence in the lives of many people, both here and abroad. Neo-Paganism, including Witchcraft, is the fastest growing religion in the U.S. Shaw says that a lot of that growth is due to the appeal of the goddess to feminists and the renewed interest in the sacredness of our planet: "...the undercurrent flowing through all of this is the magick which touches the soul and stirs us to reach beyond our limited human perceptions and stretch our hands out to the divine in all.

The Church of Wicca is alive and well, with headquarters in New Bern, NC, branches in several states, and worldwide membership. There are other witches, those who have followed their own path or joined small local covens; their numbers cannot be counted. You are not likely to see them wandering around your local mall wearing the fabled black robes and pointed hat, mumbling arcane words and waving mysteriously. But that pretty young woman working the register at your favorite food store just might be a witch.