Witches: What Are They and What Are They Not?

An Essay I wrote for school.

When most people think of witches, they think of an ugly woman with a green face, a long nose with a wart on it standing over bubbling cauldrons filled with potions made of disgusting ingredients with an unbearable odor. They think of Satan worship and animal or human sacrifices. All of this is just fiction in actual reality when it comes to witches. With this in mind we can begin to truly move on to seeing what a witch really is and what they believe.

First of all, there are two types of practice; Witchcraft and Wicca. Witchcraft is the practice of magick, in which the physical world is altered by the will of the witch. Witchcraft is a magickal practice, but has nothing to do with spiritual or religious beliefs. Wicca, on the other hand, is a religion. Witchcraft itself is an important element of being a Wiccan, but it is not one and the same. A person can practice witchcraft and not even have a religion. The point of focus here is mostly on the religion. However, either practice classifies a person as being a witch.

Second, the term ‘witch’ is not exclusively bent towards women. Male witches are not warlocks, but are witches as well. The term warlock itself means traitor, liar, or enemy. This implies that a male witch would be a bad person and untrustworthy. Now this could be true of some, but not all. So, to use the word to describe a man who is a witch would be a very unwelcomed insult.

Satanic Worship is not even an issue with witchcraft, for those who practice it do not even believe in the devil. They believe that a person is in charge of his or her own actions and only they can be responsible for them. Pushing them on temptation from the ‘devil’ is just a scapegoat. There is, however, in Wicca a horned god (name of horned god -

Cernunnous). Many have wrongly percieved he as the devil. This isn't at all true because the horned god is the god of the wood.

Human and animal sacrifice are also a misconception about witches. True witches do not harm others, but do their best to help them. They use herbal concoctions and spells in order to relieve pain, bring good fortune, and protect. The creed most live by is “Do what you will, but harm none.” Not only that, but the three fold law. They believe in Karma. Whatever they put out into the universe will come back to them three fold, whether it is good or bad energy. So, to harm a human or animal, and even worse, to kill them, would be directed right back at them. With consequences such as those, it would be hard to believe that anyone would willingly turn the cosmic forces against them.

Now as for gods in this religion, witches believe in a God and a Goddess. Witches worship nature with everything they do and everything in nature has a male and female aspect. For instance, in nature there is night and day, male and female, pollen and seed. So, hence a God and Goddess.

Warts on noses? Green faces? None at all. Witches are just like everyone else. If one were to stand in an airport and look around at the tens of thousands of people and walk around, passing a witch and never even realizing it. The only real indication is usually a pentacle, and nowadays many people wear them without even being a witch, just because they look cool. Most don’t even grasp the meaning of this symbol of a star within a circle. Each different point has a meaning; earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. So, this really doesn’t have an evil meaning, but a spiritual meaning.

Lastly we reach potions and spells. Most of the potions and spells that witches create and cast are for everyday things as well as holidays on the Wiccan calendar. Spells and potions created use herbs and oils as well as candles, stones, and incense. Many of such ingredients can be found outdoors and at local supermarkets. Most concoctions created by witches smell and/or taste good. They try to make whatever they can pleasant, but as in nature not everything can be, so yes, some potions can smell and taste horrible. It just depends on which ones.

A witch is not someone who intends on being scary, or like the little girls you see on Halloween (which is actually a witch’s new year), they are people just like everyone else. Perhaps the reason why people are so afraid of them is because they are different and have different beliefs that many people don’t have, such as sex out of marriage not being a sin, but a blessing. An expression of love that doesn’t need a license to be able to occur. Differences have always created fear in humanity, and they have tried to erase them.

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[Donald Meikle]

How did you larn sa much abaaht us then?