More Food for Thought : Wicca/Witchcraft

Magick, Wicca, Witchcraft. Each one of these words bring a different opinion to each person from a different background, culture and belief. The most common of these opinions is that these are either fakes or the people who practice it and believe in it should be feared as it is the work of the Devil or Satan.

Lately, continuing on my journey to understand the diversity yet similarities of religion, I have looked into the curious mysteries of Wicca practice and Magick. Contrary to the everyday perception of Witchcraft (most of it provided by religion and fueled by the media, be it a fantasy/fiction novel or a blockbuster movie), I have found that Wicca is a rather, how should I put this, interesting form of belief or if I may be more daring, religion. There are different sorts and forms of practices of Wicca (of which I know nothing deeper than what I have skimmed of the surface) but all these come down to the very basics or respecting all things, seen and unseen, heard and unheard, living and inanimate. Against most people's belief in Magick where it is evil or where someone can produce a fireball out of thin air (not saying that I can prove this is untrue or true), Wicca has its own set of rules or commandments which have to be taken into account because of the consequences of any action taken during the practice of Wicca. Two of the most important ones that I would point out is that there is dire circumstances to casting an evil spell on someone or just a spell (no ill will intended) which affects a person's freewill. The most dire of consequences of all of the spell/rituals cast are the threefold rule. This is where everything that you cast against/for someone will come back to you threefold (eg. cast badluck on someone and it will hit you back three times as worse, cast good luck and it will come back to you three times better). This is very much like Karma or the Christian belief of 'love your neighbours like yourself/do onto others what you would like done to yourself'.

So why do people think that this worshipping of deities,faeries,spirits,elements even trees are evil or to be laughed at or scorned? I cannot say this of other covens practicing other forms of wicca but a research on Natural Magick or White Magick has shown me that this form of Wicca does indeed believe in Archangels and Guardian Angels. Angels of the four corners - doesn't the bible speak of this in revelations? As for the Archangels like Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and the sort, they are spoken of in the bible and there are even more castes of angels and saints in Catholicism. I do understand that the muttering of spells and practicing of rituals may seem a little unnerving to the untrained eye (including myself) but most perceptions of these that have been ingrained into us by Hollywood movies and fanasy novels are that of human sacrifices and orgies and what nots. I stand for the Wiccans in saying that this is NOT true.

Each religion believes that the core of our being is the soul or spirit. Whether we be Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or any other religion, the soul/spirit is an important factor and there is a life after this (whether it be reincarnation or reaching the pure state of being or heaven and hell). If we humans have spirits, what is saying that all forms of life on this planet does not have one? I mean, we bleed, animals bleed, trees don't bleed but if cut the sap runs out which does to an extent sustain their life. We all breathe air, drink water, and eat (whichever way we do that) but all in all we all need each other to sustain life. So why can't we believe that each of these non-human (and to most of us, inferior things) 'things' don't have a spirit/soul/guardian taking care of them? Sometimes I even wonder which one of us are the barbaric animals here, the other inferior animals or us humans? We don't appreciate what is all around us. The creations that God has created alongside us (whichever God it may be in each religion). So why not give some respect to where respect is due? And maybe just a benefit of the doubt that they may have spirits as well.

This is what I believe that Wiccans believe in. They give thanks to the mother earth and to all the beings around them whether they be trees or guardian angels in the four corners of the Earth or even to the elementals provided to us by God or the supreme being/creator. The only reason people fear witches were because people fear the unknown and wicca which has been ongoing even longer than Christianity or I would like to assume any written religion is an unknown to people especially during the middle ages and the 21st century where we all close our minds to what is around us and what has sustained us for so long. It is true that yes, we humans dominate the Earth but do we really control everything? Or does everything else control our existence here? It is the circle of life and we are all starting to forget our place on this plane of existence.

All in all (God this feels like I'm writing a bloody essay/assignment), no matter what we believe in, it gives us a psychological lift in praying/meditating/worshipping/completing spell n rituals and therefore the faith and beliefs no matter how different have the same concept and the same outcome. PEACE OF MIND (not that I have found that yet :P). Of course there will be the extremists out there which pollute society with false beliefs and false ideas about how one practices their own religion but that is a flaw in humans, not a flaw in what the original religion/practice/belief. Look at the Crusades (Christianity), that was all to gain power and conquer more places, the Jihad (Islam) trying to fight for their rights, believing in dying for the cause, the Satanists/Black Magick practicioners/voodoo who try to corrupt what is pure and good to gain power and authority and control over others. These are all examples of corrupt people giving good religions/beliefs a bad name and unfortunately for us humans, these stereotypes are taken very seriously into account and it is hard to shake these off.

In my opinion of all of these, I believe that there is only ONE God, the ONE supreme being who is known to everyone living on Earth by God's many names and forms because we humans are not capable of even picturing this God as we are NOT supreme beings. Mainly creations that are mortal and mortals make mistakes. God may have minions or angels or deities or whatever they are called to help control and oversee God's creations and because of this, each person believes what they want to believe and some have seen and made images of what they have seen of these 'helpers' but my belief is that they are all one and the same and they are all answerable to God and all prayers to whichever idol/God/angel/deity/faerie/archangel/spirit is forwarded to God. So to the people out there who have managed to give these 2 long blogs a read with an open mind and open soul, believe in what you want to believe in as we all have our free will and we are all free to opinions but I have stated my own and I believe that soon, you will find your own answers to your questions as you start your journey of soul searching.