The Reality of Witchcraft

Witchcraft. The very word is enough to inspire the imagination. It has in fact done just
that for centuries. Everything from the Bible to comic books have touched on the very
subject of Witches. TV shows, late night radio shows, and news publications have
dedicated much time and energy in forming the public's opinion of what Witches and
Witchcraft are. Now you will hear the truth. Not the truth of roleplay games and fictional
novels. Not the opinion of a drug addict hippie, and not the opinion of someone lost in a
fantasy. It also will not be the opinion of someone anxious to have a political battle with
the right-wing Christians. It is the opinion of someone with over 17 years of occult study,
and someone who does not view his religion as “just another way to jab a thumb in the
eye of society”.

For far too long Witchcraft has been defined by television shows such as Bewitched,
Sabrina, and Charmed. At the present, most people who are out and about proclaiming
themselves as “proud Wiccans” and shouting at people to “not eat meat” and “respect a
woman's right to have an abortion”, are either in their late teens or are first year college
students who waste too much time wondering how politically correct Satanism is and
how wrong the U.S. is for having a strong military and not enough time in trying to be
more spiritually enlightened than the Christians they like to speak of as being “closed
minded” and “childish”. They speak about how old their beliefs are and point their fingers
to cave paintings and the ancient Druids without remembering that the cave man ate
whatever he could kill and that the Celts were a war-riddled society.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in animal rights and not being cruel to Nature's creations.
However, I also know that we will never grow broccoli that tastes like a freshly grilled
steak or asparagus that tastes like a slowly cooked roast. I also don't like the fact that
the U.S. bombs other countries all the time but let me ask, how many of you have tried
to run a country? It can not be an easy thing and it seems to me that most 17 year old
“Wiccans” today can't even keep a job at McDonald's, much less make decisions that
can change the world on a daily basis.

That said, let's take a look at the most common misconceptions that you will find others
who claim to be “Pagan” or a “Witch” spreading.

First, there is the “My religion is the oldest in the world.” misconception. When the first
religion was conceived by man, he did not know how to keep records of what day to day
life was like. The best we can do is GUESS at what life was like from studying cave
paintings and fossils. Also, much in the way of Pagan religions was lost when the
practice of anything other than Christianity was outlawed. What they are practicing today
is a religion that closely resembles what was taught by Gerald Gardener in the late
1950's. He called his religion “Wicca”. “Wicca” is not the oldest religion in the world, it
simply claims heritage to the pagan religions of old. You can not argue this unless you
were alive when the first religion in the world was conceived and I think we can pretty
much chalk up everyone who was around at that time as being dead now.

Another misconception -- and probably the most important -- is that many “Wiccans” and
other Neo-pagans take many of the stories that ancient magicans told as being completely
literal. This may be the most disappointing fact to the magickal neophyte, but Magick is
not going to make you all powerful. The truth about Magick is that you can work very hard
at something and not see the results you expect. You in fact may not see any results at
all. Magick does not work for everyone, especially those who are not truly sincere, honest,
and truthful about their goals and the practice of Magick.

The first steps that one should take if wanting to follow a magickal tradition is to learn and
practice maturity, responsibility, honesty, and humility. Those are the most important
lessons to anyone who wishes to follow these traditions. Another important thing to learn
is to stay focused on reality. Magick is not something you will learn by playing Dungeons
& Dragons or by reading fantasy novels. True, those things may use much of the magickal
jargon and have alot of flashy buzz words and perhaps describe a ritual or two in a slightly
accurate way, but they are still fiction and fantasy.

One should also understand that many of the ancient writings of magickal ceremony were
written in a non-literal and metaphorical manner as many spiritual texts through out the
ages were. For instance, when a Shaman spoke of spiritual journies and spiritual battles,
he often meant that these were “inward journies” and a time of self reflection and
overcoming imperfections within himself. He did not mean that he went out and
physically killed huge tangable demons and dragons. This seems to be lost on today's
new generation of “Wiccans”. All too often I hear them talk about living on some “astral
plane” where they are married to someone that their real boyfriends or girlfriends don't
know and how they have tons of battles with demons and evil fairies. Sound like a
cartoon? Yes it does. If I ask questions of these boasts all I hear is “But the Shamans
went to “astral worlds” on their spiritual journies...”. Yes, they did speak of that, however
they also spent their entire lives preparing themselves for astral travels and they also
knew what each of them meant by the term “astral travel”.

Magick just does not work the way that people of today want it to. Magick has it's
limitations and it's uses. It is not here to solve every aspect of life's problems and
challenges and it is not a replacement for facing and accepting your responsibilites.
Magick has it's place and the results do not come without hard work and extreme
dedication to your respected traditions. The results of Magick are also not going to just
present themselves to you in an extremely visual manner. Magick will bring about
small subtle changes in a situation and it will only do so if you are actually working hard
at achieving your goal. You also have to remember that the goal you are working towards
must be reasonable and realistic. For instance, Magick can help you find a job, however
this must be a job that is within your skills and abilities and you must make reasonable
effort to get the job. This means being presentable and mature at the interview, being
respectful to those who are interviewing, etc.

Now that I have touched on some misconceptions that you may have about “Witchcraft”, I
will explain exactly what the practice of “Witchcraft” is.

Witchcraft is a religious path whoes practitioners worship their dieties through rituals and
celebration. Of course it is a Pagan religion. The practitioners of Witchcraft believe that
they can bring about changes in day to day life by the use of religio-magick. That is
magickal ceremony that asks for assistance from gods and goddesses and offers praise
and worship to those dieties that assist in the working of Magick. Witchcraft is neither
good or evil and no serious Witch would believe in a devil or “Satan”.

It is my opinion that only those who are mature and serious about finding a spiritual path
to follow should consider Witchcraft.

You may hear stories about rampant drug use and sexual orgies at pagan celebrations,
however these are usually exaggerations and if that is what you expect, then this is simply
not the path for you. A real Witch would not need drugs and no one who is responsible,
mature, and serious about spiritual growth would need or want to look for orgies. True, many
pagan groups practice their rituals “skyclad” or nude, however I can promise you that if
someone went to one of these rituals simply to ogle and gawk at nude men and women, they
would not stay at the ritual very long. These rituals are taken very seriously and are
considered sacred and not to be defiled by immature sexual perverts.

Some will practice what is known as the “Great Rite” wich is the joining of a man and woman
and is sexual in it's practice. However this is usually done by a couple who is already
romanticaly involved or married. It is not an opportunity for someone to “get lucky” or “find a
quick and easy fuck”. Rest assured that if this is your attitude toward Witchcraft, you will find
yourself alone and looked at as an idiot by those who are established within the religion.

Witchcraft doesn't sound very exotic at this point, does it? The truth is, much of what society
has come to expect about Witchcraft and Magick is unrealistic. Sure, I practice Magick, but I
still live in the same reality as everyone else. I can not fly, read minds, make books
disappear in a ball of flame or anything else. Perhaps David Copperfield can give you the
illusion of such things, but reality simply does not allow them to truly exist.

Truth be known, Magick is the Pagan equivalent of the Christian prayer. The one big difference
is that instead of kneeling and being silent and still, we are physically and vocally active and
perform celebrations during our “prayer”.

I believe that the time to wash away the artificial, fiction, and fantasy that most teen-aged
Wiccans have brought to Paganism and Magick is at hand. It is time to offer the realistic side
of what Magick is and to offer an alternative to those stuck in a role-play game or Mercades
Lackey novel. It is important to remember that there has to be a healthy balance of reality and
fantasy. It seems that most people today simply wish to over emphasize the fantasy aspect.
Funny how they like to speak of balances when it comes to their ritual, but when it comes to
living day to day life, they simply choose a one sided path.

One last note I want to add here is on the spelling of “magick” and “magic”. There are some out there who chose to
argue that “magic” is the only accepted spelling of the word and no one should use the spelling with a “k”. Now, I do agree that
when people try desperately hard to “return” to the “old roots” or want to look different from anyone else that they use “majik” or “majick”,
it gets a bit ridiculous, but that is not the purpose that many pagans use the spelling of “magick”. The use of the “k” was brought back
by early 20 th century proponents of the occult (mainly Crowley). It was to distinguish between “magic”, slight of hand and illusion practiced by
stage magicians, and “magick”, the causing of change in accordance with the will by non-physical means. The idea is that there are two
different definitions, so there should be two different spellings.

It is, in my opinion, a symbol of a religious movement. It does not make
me a “fluffy bunny” or a “wanna be” any more than it would have made Crowley or any of the other modern occult forefathers one.
I simply agree with the idea of “two separate definitions; two separate spellings”. Just like the English language has separate spellings for
two, to, and too. The idea is catching on, Dictionary.com now has a definition for the "magick" spelling of the word.

~Shadow Villanueva~
http://www.magickalshadow.com

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