Q: Are you a witch?
A: That's actually a tricky question to answer, so let me go about it
in a round-about way. What I am is a Neopagan. Neopaganism is a
beautiful, complex religion that is not in opposition to Christianity
in any way - just different. However, some of the people that the
Catholic church burned as "witches" were people who
practiced the same things that I do. In identification with them and
the suffering that they went through, some of us (Neopagans) call
ourselves witches. One expert, P.E.I. Bonewits, says that there are
actually several kinds of groups who call themselves
"witches." Some are people whose ancestors were the village
healers, herbalists, midwives, and such, many of whom had (or were
ascribed to have) mental, psychic, or magical powers, which were
passed down through the family in the form of oral tradition, and
Bonewits calls them "Traditional Witches." Some are people
who have deliberately used the term to oppose themselves to
Christianity, are practicing "Satanists," and practice
(deliberately) most of the practices invented by the Inquisitors.
Bonewits calls them "Gothic" or "Neo-Gothic
Witches." Of a different kind are some radical feminist groups,
who call themselves witches because they believe that the original
Inquisition was primarily anti-female; some of these also practice
magic, many of them do not - Bonewits calls them "Feminist
Witches." But the vast majority of modern witches are harmless
people who worship God in many forms, including the Lord of the
Dance, the Lady, and the Mother Earth. These are the people that
Bonewits (and I) call "Neopagan Witches" - and this is what
I am. I hope that this helps more than it confuses.
Q: Are you a devil worshipper?
A: I'm tempted to just say, "No!" and leave it at that, but
that probably isn't enough. Devil worship (including Satanism) is
really a Christian heresy. (If you don't believe me, ask an expert -
say, any well-read pastor or theology professor.) In order to worship Satan,
you have to believe in him - and there are no references to Satan
outside of the Christian Bible. So to be a Satanist or a devil
worshipper, you have to believe in the accuracy of the Christian
Bible, then identify yourself with God's Enemy, proclaim that you are
"evil," and then try to "fight against Jesus" or
similar nonsense. Neopagans do not accept the Christian Bible as a
source of truth. As a source of some beautiful poetry, sometimes, or
as a source of myth, but not as a source of truth. Emphatically, we
do not believe that God has an Opposite, an evil being trying to
destroy God, the world, man, or whatever. So it is non-sensical to
say that Neopagans worship Satan. Of course, many people insist that
any god other than JHVH/Jesus (and his other Biblical names) is a
demon or an illusion created by Satan. Well, you're welcome to
believe that if you like - but over half of the world's population is
going to be unhappy at you. Jews and followers of Islam are just as
confident that they worship the True God as you are, and resent being
called devil worshippers. So do I.
Q: What do Neopagans believe about God?
A: Neopaganism is a new religion with very, very old roots. It harks
back to the first religions that man ever practiced (based on the
physical evidence). Neopagans worship a variety of symbols from the
Old Religions - the practices of the ancient Celts, the Greeks, the
Egyptians, the Romans - and differ with each other over what those
symbols really represent. What I (and many others) believe is that
they are all aspects of God (or maybe, the Gods) - some kind of
beautiful, powerful, and loving being or force that ties all of life
together and is the origin of all miracles - including miracles such
as written language, poetry, music, art ...
Q: Do Neopagans have a Bible?
A: Not most of us. The closest analogue would be a witch's Book of
Shadows, which is a sort of notebook of legends, poetry, history, and
magic ritual which is copied by every newly-initiated witch, then
added to. But on the whole, even a Book of Shadows isn't what
Christians think of as a Bible. It's not infallible (couldn't be,
they've been brought to us via hastily-copied texts under trying
circumstances), it doesn't prescribe a specific code of morality
(except for a few general guidelines), and it doesn't claim to be
dictated by God - except for a few, debatable parts. Those of us who
aren't witches don't even have that much. Neopaganism is a religious
system that relies more on the individual than on the Book or the
Priest. One of the principal beliefs of Neopaganism is that no one,
not Pope nor Priest nor Elder, has the right to interfere with your
relationship to God. Learn from whomever you want, and pray to
whatever name means the most to you.
Q: Did you say magic? Do Neopagans believe in the occult?
A: Cringe. What a badly worded question - but I hear it all the time.
Neopagans as a rule don't "believe in the occult" - we
practice magic. Magic is simply a way to focus the mental abilities
that you were born with, and use them to change the world in positive
ways. Magic can also be mixed with worship; in which case it differs
very little from Christian prayer.
Q: But I thought that you said that you weren't a demon-worshipper?
A: That's right. Magic and demonology are two different things. Magic
you also know as "psychic powers" or "mentallics"
or even as "the power of positive thinking" - in essence,
the magical world view holds that "reality" is mostly a
construct of the human mind, and as such, can be altered by the human
mind. That's all there is to it.
Q: How do you become a Neopagan?
A: In a very real sense, nobody every "becomes" a Neopagan.
There are no converts, as no conversion is necessary.
Neopaganism is an attitude towards worship, and either you have
it or you don't. My case is not atypical. All of my life, I have been
fascinated by the old mythologies. I have always found descriptions
of the Greek Gods fascinating. If I had any religious beliefs as a
child, it was that somewhere, there was a God, and many people
worship Him, but I had no idea what His name was. I set out to find
Him, and through an odd combination of circumstances, I because
convinced that his Name was Jesus. But seven years later, I had
to admit to myself that Whoever God is, he answers non-Christians'
prayers as well as those in the name of Jesus. In either case, true
miracles are rare. In both cases, the one praying has a devout
experience with God. After searching my soul, I admitted that I could
not tell that I was better off than when I believed in the Old Gods.
And in the mean time, I had found out that other people also loved
the Old Gods - and that they call themselves Neopagans. When I
realized that what I believed was little or no different that what
they believed, I called myself a Neopagan, too. The common element
for nearly all of us is that nearly all of us already believed these
things, before we found out that anyone else did. "Becoming"
a pagan is never a conversion. It's usually a home-coming. No one
ever "brainwashed" me. I finally relaxed, and stopped
struggling against my own self.
Q: I've heard about witches holding orgies and such. Do you?
A: No, that sort of thing doesn't appeal to me. Most of the crap that
you've heard about "witch orgies" is nonsense made up by
the National Enquirer to sell magazines. But I shouldn't be flippant
about this, because it underlies a serious question - what kind of
morality do Neopagans hold to?
"Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An it harm none, do what thou will!"
from an old Book of Shadows
That about sums it all up. Neopaganism teaches that it is harmful to
yourself (and dangerous) to harm others. It also teaches that
trying to impose your moral standards on somebody else's behavior is
(at least) foolish - and probably dangerous, as you run some serious
chance of hurting that person. Perhaps in a sense Neopagans don't
have morality, for as R. A. Wilson said, "There are no
commandments because there is no Commander anywhere," but
Neopagans do have ethics - standards for behavior based on honor and
mutual benefit.
Q: I saw on the news that Neopagans use a star in a circle as their
emblem. Isn't that a Satanic symbol?
A: A pentacle (that's what it's called) is a Satanic symbol in
precisely same sense that the cross is a Nazi symbol. The German
National Socialist Party used an equal-armed cross with four flags
attached to it as their emblem. (Yes, I know - that's a swastika.
Well, before the Nazis made the word common knowledge, people just
called it a "bent cross" - it's an old heraldic symbol, and
it means the same thing that a normal cross does). That doesn't make
the Nazis good Christians, and it doesn't make Christians into Nazis.
In the same sense, Satanists (and some rock groups) use a type of
pentacle as their emblem. That doesn't make them Neopagans, nor does
it mean that Neopagans are Satanists (or even rock-and-rollers).
Q: Are Neopagans opposed to Christianity?
A: Some Neopagans are ex-Christians, and I'm not going to deny that
some of them have a grudge against the Church because of what they
perceived as attempts to control their minds. Further, many Neopagans
are suspicious of the Church, because it was in the name of Jesus
Christ that nine million of our kind were murdered. Neopagans are
opposed to anyone who uses force to control the minds of others. Does
that include you? If not, then it means that Neopagans as such are
not opposed to you. Do you work for the benefit of mankind, are you
respectful to the Earth? Then it makes us allies, whether or not
either of us wants to admit it.
- - - - - - - - - -
There are many other misconceptions in the popular mind about the Neopagan
religion. Unless you've studied it, read about it from sympathetic
sources, then you really don't know anything about Neopagan history,
beliefs, practices, customs, art, science, culture, or magic. But it
would take several entire books to teach you, and I already fear that
I will be accused of trying to win converts (despite what I've said
above). If you are curious and willing to learn, try some of the
following books:
Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon
Starhawk, The Spiral Dance
P.E.I. Bonewits, Real Magic
Stewart Farrar, What Witches Do