We’re on the home stretch to the end of 2016, and there are still people out there who have countless misconceptions about witchcraft and what it does, or doesn’t, include.
Of course, we also live in a country where people need directions printed on the back of a shampoo bottle on how to wash their hair, with HARMFUL IF SWALLOWED written in big letters across the back. Do people have a shampoo drinking fetish that I don’t know about?
Anyway, to enlighten the masses, I’ve decided to put together this list — in the spirit of Halloween — to tell you the five things you got wrong about witchcraft. Perhaps you might see fit to change your mind?
Five Things You Got Wrong About Witchcraft
5. We Worship Satan
Whether you’re a practitioner of witchcraft because you practice Celtic neopaganism, Egyptian polytheism, Italian stregheria, or Latino/Hispanic brujeria, there is one common misconception that people have of you: you worship Satan or the Devil. But, on its face, these people could not be more wrong: while some neopagan religions honor Jesus Christ as an avatar of a deity — but not a deity himself — Satanism and all its tenets have nothing to do with modern witchcraft. This is not to say Satanists cannot practice witchcraft, but it is to say that, amongst the neopagan community, Satan holds no truck with any of us.
4. We’re All Wiccan
Wiccan has become the catch-all phrase to encompass everyone who practices the so-called “good” witchcraft, but the reality of it is many of us practitioners of the Old Religion adhere to tenets that have nothing to do with Wicca. For example, in the Egyptian polytheistic world, they adhere to the 42 Laws of Ma’at, the basis for the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments.
3. We Practice Black Magic
Again, while there are some practitioners of witchcraft who practice “black magic” (that is, magic that is meant to be harmful to others), many practitioners of witchcraft are followers of the Three-Fold Law (sometimes called the law of Karma). Many are too afraid of the repercussions that the so-called “black magic” will visit upon them, and therefore avoid doing magic that would cause harm to another.
2. We Have Absolute Dominion Over All Things
Though that would be nice (no, really, it would), the reality is, when witches perform witchcraft, they do so to have cooperation with all things both on the physical and astral planes. There is nowhere in the witchcraft tenets that allow for dominion over all things.
1. We’re Possessed by Demons
A common misconception that’s a hold-over from the Burning Times. While witches are capable of many things, having a Demon embody their physical being is not one of them. Sorry to disappoint you!
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