So What is Witchcraft?

So What is Witchcraft?

Dr Raven Dolick MsD

Apr 1, 2016

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2016 RavenStar Enchantments

•Witchcraft is a religion of respect, and a way of life that focuses on the balance between nature and man, as well as, the physical and spiritual world. In order to achieve balance, one must first learn respect for all things; seen and unseen.

We have many basic beliefs, but the long and short of them are:

oWe believe in the concept of a God. However, to us, God is not something outside of ourselves, but rather something we are part of. We see "God" as a divine entity that has masculine and feminine aspects. Many traditions will assign pantheons (a mythological God or Goddess) to these aspects in order to give form to their practices by which they can honor the Divine. This is similar to Christians who use the crucifix or images of Jesus to give their God form by which they can worship.

oWe do not worship, we honor. We honor the divine around us and within us. I alone am not a Goddess, you are not a god. But you and I and all things throughout the universe, seen and unseen make up the Divine.

oWe believe in reincarnation, karma and an afterlife. We believe in a soul and spirit.

•Witchcraft as religion has existed for thousands of years, under many labels and in many countries. The religion today is primarily based on Indo-European concepts and cultures. Witchcraft defines the basics of the belief, while the traditions (or denominations) put those beliefs into practice and sometimes further defines or adds details to those beliefs.

•There are literally thousands of traditions within the religion. The most known today is Wicca. But as a tradition, Wicca is relatively new. It was founded in the 1950s by Gerald Gardner who was an initiated witch into other traditions. Gardnerarian Wicca is widely practiced here in the United States. But there is also, Faery Wicca, Dianic Wicca, Seax Wicca, Celtic Wicca and many more.

In addition to formal traditions, there are family traditions, which are based in knowledge passed through each family generation to the next. There are more of these than you may realize. Finally there are also solitary paths, where a person will study many traditions, take those parts that feel right to him/her and create their own.

•Within our religion a leader is called a priest, priestess, mage, wizard or shaman. Member groups are called covens and clans. A leader/teacher has gone through many years of formal study and has been initiated into a particular tradition of the path.

Or they have studied for many years; decades even, through formal classes, personal research and community interactions to reach a point of significant wisdom and spiritual understanding. They are looked upon as a wise mage or shaman by their community, based on their actions, knowledge and daily exercise of that wisdom.

I'll be honest here; there are few of these self taught shamans. In some traditions, a leader who takes on the title of Priest or Shaman without a formal test of knowledge and initiation is often frowned upon or somehow seen as not fully acknowledged in the role.

•Formal traditions often require a dedication of faith, which is usually a self dedication before a person can be considered for a formal initiation. Initiations are invitations to join a coven or clan and are only given when a person has demonstrated a certain level of knowledge of that tradition.

Many traditions contain varying levels of initiation as well. Such as student, apprentice, teacher and leader or priest/priestess. Each level requires a test or demonstration of knowledge before the title is granted.

It's important to note here that just claiming the title of witch, priest or shaman, doesn't make it so. And rarely are self proclaiming initiations to claim a title acknowledge. Education, study, research and demonstration of knowledge are all hard work. But if your child is serious about this path, they must be serious about the effort involved to practice it.

What Witchcraft Isn't

First and foremost, Witchcraft is not devil worship. Witchcraft is a pre-Christian religion and we do not believe in the existence of the devil. So it's kind of hard to worship something you don't believe in.

Secondly, Witchcraft is not about spells and potions and magick. There is a big difference between spellcraft and Witchcraft.

Now that we've got those out of the way.

•A spell is merely a focused prayer with a specific intent behind it. Not all people on the path of Witchcraft practice spellcraft. Those that do never cast upon any person without that person's permission.

•A spell is not an easy way out of situations and in our beliefs there are always consequences for casting.

•We do not cast to make someone else do something against their will. That means, we don't approve of love spells, hate spells, or spells that manipulate someone else in anyway. To us, that is interfering with their free will and choice, and thereby affecting the lessons or karma that person is here to learn. In short, it's affecting the advancement of their soul and that is a big no.

Things To Lookout For

Now that we have some of the basic understanding and misconceptions out of the way. How as a parent can you protect your child? Here are a few tips.

•A formal teacher will not take on a minor child as a student without written and often times, verified permission from a parent. If your child is talking about a teacher who is teaching them, without your knowledge, this is a sign of trouble.

•If a teacher can offer you nothing that proves their status of leader or initiation as a teacher, this is a sign of trouble.

•If your child is getting their information from websites that do not provide information about their research material; or the research material is based solely on modern craft books, this could be a sign of trouble.

•If your child is new to the path (less than a year) then there is no way they have a complete understanding of the religion to be casting spells. That's a sign of trouble; period!

•If your child is talking about casting spells to harm someone, or threatening to cast a spell on someone, (good, bad, or indifferent) this is a major sign of trouble and a complete lack of understanding about this religion.

•If your child is talking about casting spells to bind or protect someone, this is also a sign of trouble. We do not "bind" people. We can only protect ourselves, or those who ask for the help on themselves. Never upon someone who doesn't know the spell is being cast upon them.

•If your child is only talking about spells, this is a sign of trouble and lack of research. -- do you see a pattern here? --

Modern media focuses on spellcraft without fully knowing what they're talking about. Consequently, children want to be like what they see on TV. We're nothing like that.

•If your child is claiming to be a natural witch or born witch; there's no such thing. There is no witch DNA. Being a witch is a spiritual choice, not a birthright. No one is born a witch and no one is born a religion. Even being raised in a home with a particular religion, does not make one a member of that religion; unless they chose to be so.

•If your child is claiming to have psychic gifts and is therefore a witch. Nope wrong again. Being psychic is not specific to one religion over another. And it certainly doesn't make someone an automatic witch.

If your child is claiming they have "power"; Nope, wrong again. Power is an illusion. No one can have more a less power than anyone else. There is emotional "power" in having a spiritual path but that is considerably different than being self powerful.

•If your child is claiming to be part of a coven, sign of trouble. Either it is really a group of their friends who are working as a study group; in which case they should call it that. It's a group of kids who have banded together to practice rituals; in which case it's doubtful any of them have the experience or knowledge to do this. Or it's a group of people who are more interested in the size of their group than the ethics of a real coven.

All these can be a sign of trouble.