And see, I see the "Burning Times" as witches' attempts to give themselves their own Holocaust. Most of the victims of the assorted Witch Trials weren't "witches" in any relgious sense of the word; they were Christians who were unfortunate enough to be A)women with property B)women or men who annoyed someone in power C)irritating neighbors or D)any or all of the above. The numbers of those who died have been grossly inflated, and again, most of them weren't practicing witchcraft as a religion- they were using folk remedies, etc. independent of a faith. Heck, my great-aunt knew more folk magic than anyone I knew and she was a devout Christian. Didn't stop her from telling you to rub a potato on a wart on Good Friday and then bury it and as the potato rotted so would the wart (my dad STILL yammers about how that cured his wart). But I grew up in Central PA where folk magic is rife and is mostly practiced by Christians.
I'm not disputing people were burned or hanged or pressed to death as witches, but I don't think a single one of the witches practicing today is practicing anything like what was practiced in pre-Christian times or Dark Ages times. Modern witchcraft seems to me to be a blend of Christianity, Eastern thought, spiritualism and New Age thinking, with a focus on the feminine in Divinity. Which is what attracted me-- I want God to have my face, too, not just my father's and brother's and husband's.
But to each his and her own-- I figure the roots of any religion are not nearly as important as what one does with one's faith in the here and now anyway.
Which is not to say I didn't go through my phase of "It's an ancient faith" and "Burning times! Never again!" But, perhaps unfortunately, I kept reading and researching and eventually came to the belief that "witches" in history and "witches" in religion are two very different things and that's fine. The research also gave me the knowledge that Christmas trees are in fact ancient pagan symbols (and cultural ones), and that most Christian holidays are based around ancient pagan holidays (and many churches built on old pagan sites). Which is why the annual stuff in the media about a "war on Christmas" always amuses me.
AND-- all that said, I'm always astonished and a bit humbled when I come across a man who looks into the Craft, as it were. The great Western Faiths very clearly state man is primary and woman secondary, and for a man to look at a faith that says they're both equal (though different) is a man willing to give up some status. And that's an extraordinary thing, Somer, and I tip my hat to you-- I find it a very admirable thing.
07-30-2006, 12:36 AM
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