What Witchcraft is Not!
by M-Taliesin

One of the most common questions I am asked by folks who learn
that I am a Witch is: "So, you like... worship the Devil and stuff?"

This question is precisely the sort of myth that this site was created
to dispell. This misinformation has been taught from pulpits all over
the world for centuries. Such misinformation led to the most brutal
persecutions the world has ever know, unprecedented in human
affairs until the advent of Nazi persecution of Jewish citizens.
Hollywood has fostered the same misinformation for as long as
it has been producing movies. Fiction writers have mostly
portrayed the Witch as an evil, hex casting, ominous character.
However lurid such tales may be, they do not provide insight
nor any truth to the true nature and practice of Witchcraft.

Witchcraft does not include belief in any anti-God creature
such as Satan. We do not acknowledge the Christian Devil,
let alone worship him. It is nonsensical to maintain that
Witches or Wiccans worship something in which they do
not believe. Yet, I have heard people who argue otherwise.
These are people who have never attended any of our rites
or rituals nor have they made any effort to learn the truth.
One example I use is fairly simple, but easy to grasp.
If the Christian concept of the devil, or Satan, were
real, then why are there no evil trees? No evil animals?
Seems the only place one finds evil is in the heart of
man. From his own desires flow all the ills of huanity.
Greed, war, murder, violence of divers sort, and
all the rest of what we commonly call 'evil' stems
straight from the ego of a human being who has not
gained any sort of enlightenment.

There is a downside to not having a devil to pin all
our faults upon! We do not have the luxury of saying,
as many others do, "The devil made me do it!"
Hence, we understand that we, and we alone,
are the authors of our own karma. We cannot blame
our actions on some other force, but understand
the simple concept of personal responsibility for
what we do. This notion is not a popular one in
a society where blaming others for our own
failings seems encouraged!

We believe in something called the
"Law of Threefold Return".
What this means is - whatever you send out, will return
to you threefold. If you are into hexes or curses, you will
get back thrice whatever you send against someone else.
If you send out good, and work for someone's benefit,
then that too will return threefold. What this means is that if
I do nasty to someone, it should not be surprising that nasty
things come my way. If I do good for someone, then good
returns to me. It makes sense that I will should do good for
others because what comes back will be good. Whatever harm
I may be tempted to send against another is, in reality,
harm against myself. Out of pure, self-interest, I will not do
harm to another, but rather, do them good.

This principal has some sort of counterpart in every religion
I know of. Some call it Karma. The Christian might say,
"As you do unto others, so shall it be done unto you."
Even the wino in the street knows
"What goes around, comes around."
Some are familiar with another phrase...
"Paybacks are a bitch!"
The point is, positive Magick is the way of the Craft.
We are not given to hexes or spells that harm. We take this
further to say that we will not perform spells that subvert
the free will of another person. Doing so is harmful,
and there will be repercussions.

There are people who believe that Witches are into all
manner of bizarre behaviour. However, the truth is,
Witches behave pretty much like everyone else. The average
Witch is difficult to pick out of a crowd. You may have
friends, neighbors and even relatives that are Witches and
you never knew it. Many, because of a variety of reasons,
keep their religious path very secret. Others are very open
about their beliefs. Many of us are a bit strange, and it has
been suggested that I may be a bit odd myself.

One of my friends once commented saying:
"You know, there are people who march to the beat
of a different drummer. But you, my friend, have
your own orchestra following you about!"

I thought about that one for several minutes, then
returned to my friend with misty eyes and told him:
"You know what? I think that is perhaps one of
the nicest things anybody has said to me in a
very long time!

The essence being, we are the hidden children of the
Goddess, and if that seems a bit odd, we are just
fine with that!

Most of us are regular folk
who simply practice a different religion.

This picture of me was taken at the
Gathering for Life on Earth
in Vancouver, Canada, Sept 1, 1997.
Doug caught me fooling around
and had his camera handy.
Look for our links section soon
to access his page directly.
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