I’ve continued to think about why Paul Huson’s book struck me so much. It occurs to me that the starkest difference between witchcraft in the early seventies and now is the change in the relationship between witchcraft and power. I got to thinking about what was going on at the time that Huson’s book came out–radicalism and resistance of all kinds, such as in the student/antiwar movement, the women’s movement, the Stonewall Rebellion, the Black Power movement, etc. These were not about feeling good or being nice as an individual student, woman, gay, or black. They were about recognizing our history not as victims but as warriors and taking power as a group.
What has happened in the intervening decades is that history (and as a result, difference) has been eradicated and power has become a dirty word. An example: I can remember being at a gay pride march in the early eighties and seeing some guy on a float wearing a leather harness, leather face mask, and a full-length gray crinoline petticoat. I thought it was a pretty cool contrast, the macho/masoch leather and femme/fatale crinoline. But some complained–how were gay men ever going to be accepted if they rode around on floats dressed like wackos? In other words, difference consists of rough edges that must be ground down so that those in power will accept it. It reminds me of what “melting pot” used to mean: doing your best to scrub away your Old Country culture and thereby become a “real” American. The ways and language of the Old Country were a sacrifice that had to be made to attain Americanness. Gradually, the political power of gayness was melted off and gayness got turned into a medical condition, something to do with genes or chemicals in one’s brain. It is no longer about a choice. It is no longer about just wanting to freely choose your own object of desire, thankyouverymuch, much less is it about choosing to reject the values of the patriarchy. It’s about molecules, which conveniently erases all critique of heterosexist, patriarchal, etc. society. Molecules free us of responsibility for crafting a critique or even making a choice. The choice is made for us. Everything has a mechanical materialist explanation instead of a political or historical one. No thinking necessary, no responsibility, no risk. And no power. Because then the power question is erased as inappropriate and even somehow rude and upsetting to everyone who wishes so desperately to be just like everyone else, if only their molecules would let them.
Acceptance
And do we indeed not see that nowadays? To paraphrase the Jewish saying, gays are just like everyone else only more so. Ditto women. Ditto blacks (so much so, we have a black just-like-every-other-corporatist-president-only-more-so president). Only radical students seem to be getting some of their mojo back in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Everyone else, it seems, just wants to be accepted so they can have a faux chateau with a plasma TV and a bloated vehicle and be members of the PTA and have representative chaplains in the military, etc. It is not that I am saying these things are evil. But they are so white bread. And so paltry.
Likewise, nowadays witches want to be accepted, to be recognized as a religious practice by the (Christian) powers that be. It’s great not to get fired or your house burned down because you practice magic, and difference should be recognized and valued as a charactierstic of modern society. Isn’t that the whole point of rejecting traditional society, that difference can bloom? But does wanting not to be pilloried in our community mean that we have to grind off all true difference and throw away even any talk about power?
Being accepted is not being empowered. It’s being tolerated. Asking for or even demanding acceptance means that we do not have power. Being accepted offers a sort of protection as long as those who have the real power are in a good mood and we don’t deviate too much from what They consider average, because if we did, we would be challenging the system by our very existence. But is being allowed to conform some kind of boon we should dream of? It seems more like a shabby consolation prize to me. “You didn’t get a new world. Instead, you got to form Witches for Republicanism as a 501(c). Have a nice day as one of the accepted millions, and don’t forget to go shopping with your new Bank of Witchcraft Visa card!”
Bah humbug.
Maybe you’re saying, “New world? I didn’t want any new world.” So what are you practicing magic for? Because the underlying assumption of magic is that everything is not fine the way it is. Magic is about personally engaging in changing the world. We can make that change as big or as small as we want, but that’s what it is at its core. If we want acceptance, all we have to do is give up magic. We cannot even make the bogus excuse that we can’t help being witches or claim that molecules in our brains or strands in our DNA make us want to cast spells. It’s a choice, one we can reject if all we want is acceptance.
But if we want to change the world? Then, of course, we are talking about risk–all kinds (I like what petoskystone had to say abour danger and power in the comments below). We will have to talk about power and to work on getting it. We might have to forego acceptance. I don’ t know about you, but in my experience, acceptance is overrated, especially in comparison to power.
Absolute grapes corrupt absolutely.
The problem is that power has become so forbidden that the very word conjures up images of capricious cruelty and in the magical world, stereotypes of necromancers, Satanists, and “negative” people. Is that because cruel capriciousness describes the actual use of power in our society by the 1%, or are these condemning images just a way of convincing ourselves that the power presently out of our reach is really not worth having?
I guess one of the things that has really struck me about Huson’s book and the reaction to it in many reviews is how curses and binding spells are basically the leather harness and gray full-length crinoline petticoat of witchcraft. If people see these things–people who have the power to allow us to be accepted–then they won’t accept us and we will have to stay out on the margins of society. If in contrast we condemn curses and binding spells, then everyone will know we are just like them only more so, and they will accept us, and everything will be hunky dory. ‘Course, we will be metaphorically straightening our kinky hair and lightening our skin and wearing power suits and signing up for gay wedding registries by doing that, all so we can become McWitched, harmless and powerless. Wouldn’t curse a fly.
Maybe what books like Paul Huson’s can do is to get us thinking and talking about power again. I’m not sure how I would define power or even whether at this point it can be defined for witchcraft. I do feel like the power question might be enlightened by how more and more witches have come to identify with formerly circumscribed deities like Kali and Hekate–on the one hand, a certain amount of sanitization and declawing seems to be going on with the way those deities are being presented, but on the other, I wonder if people are not choosing to identify with those deities because they perceive the lack of power of witchcraft as it is generally imagined by us today and are trying to remedy that. Ditto for magic practitioners who are dipping into practices like Hoodoo, Santeria, Vodou, etc.. Some of it seems like the same-as-it-ever-was white people glomming on to everything not white because it seems more “real”–the whole “noble savage” thing. But just as big a part of it seems like it is a desire to bring rough-and-tumble power back to witchcraft.
I have a lot more thinking to do on this question, and I figure I’ll be writing about it further. But I’d like to hear what others think about the relationships between the practice of witchcraft, social acceptance, and social and personal (and perhaps even spiritual) power.
I’ve been outspoken against “sanitizing” witchcraft, and your post has helped me to further clarify my thoughts on the subject. Especially your statement “Being accepted is not being empowered. It’s being tolerated.”
Until we live in a paradigm that embraces difference as interesting and enriching to our culture as a whole, we all lose. Whitewashing our differences doesn’t help; it’s us aiding in our own destruction.
I recently discovered Huson’s book and (coincidentally) find it popping up as the subject of a couple of blogs. I am currently re-reading it because I fear I missed much the first time through. It is a most refreshing work.
My first impression was that he did go into some “dark” areas, but then I realized the truth that, to truly understand such things, you must have some knowledge of the “darker” aspects. Then my mind wander to the Chaos principle that there are no rules, everything is permitted. We need look no further than modern society, particularly American society, to recognize the truth of this: we have many rules, but people of power ignore them. Rules seem only to apply to the weaker masses that people of power are trying to control and manipulate. A fine example appears to be this New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement who, in trying to stir up the Christian masses, “bear false witness” against real minority groups like pagans, homosexuals, etc. In other words, they utterly ignore fundamental Christian principles to stir up political support – in the name of Christ! Such minorities have become the cause for this nation’s fall from God’s grace and its current troubles – not the hypocrisy of Christians themselves?
Powerful people fear power that they do not have or understand, so we have sanded down the rough edges (as you suggest) so we are not so scary to them, but we can still be used as scape goats when needed? I agree with you that this makes no sense at all. In fact, the more I see, the more I want to disassociate with much of society. I want to be a “fringe dweller.” I do not want anyone to think that I am in anyway like these hypocrites and charlatans. If being scary would make them keep their distance, I would be all for it. Unfortunately, history shows a tendency for “frightened” people to attack what they are frightened of – if that is what you want to call it. It really seems more political where wolves prey upon the fears of sheep. Nevertheless, current events suggests that “sanitizing” witchcraft doesn’t work the way it is supposed to.
I find Huson’s book to be one of the most instructive books I have encountered, but I wouldn’t recommend it to many people. There are far too many immature people who seem to forget that the craft of the wise implies the employment of some wisdom, not just possessing arcane knowledge. Even Huson cautions the reader about how they employ such knowledge. However, hiding the book would also make it so much more attractive to the immature seeker, wouldn’t it?
I do not see what there is to gain by not celebrating our “differences.” It also seems hypocritical to leave religion and take up witchcraft only to turn around and say there isn’t much (if any) difference. Bravo for a most excellent post.
once, when talking about how fragile our power supply is, someone said to me (in a rather sneery tone) ‘oh, you want to live off the grid’. before they could continue with a follow-up snark, i corrected them: i don’t want to live off the grid, i want to live above it. i don’t want others to see how well i manage to live without thier help, because when they are having troubles, they will come & take mine. i want to above it all…no interruption, dependent & independent as i see the need. i feel the same about personal power, about Magic, about having the ability to Change as i see fit.
‘acceptance’ is a reflection of social mores, acceptance mutates as society does. the implication of ‘mutates’ is why i don’t see any use in trying to achieve it. while i enjoy the surface differences in varying religions, dress, cultures i still am aware that underneath the surface, of many, lurks fear. fear in those who have power but don’t wish to share, & those without power who are angry with those who dare to snatch it. for many years, if not generations, ‘witch’ has come to mean those who aren’t afraid to get & keep power (of change, of choice, of making sure the households are taken care of). acceptance is the gloss given to surface differences, including, to some degree ‘pagan’. but ‘witch’ remains apart, dark, held in fear. i am a witch, my differences go deep.
i don’t expect acceptance, or even tolerance, & would be highly suspicious of those who offer same. for those who think they can sanitize Kali & Hecate….i will laugh when Her claws come out, when Her smile shows her wholeness.
As I was reading this, I was reminded of a lot of the “I’m a Wiccan, but I would never ever ever ever hex anyone…” practitioners I met in early adulthood. Ask one of them why her circle engages in raising a cone of power and launches it to release political prisoners of conscience, or to save the rainforest, etc, and the pat answer is, “Well, we do GOOD with our power.” Which of course never addresses the creative use of personal power concentrated with the personal power of others. The point is there’s a means to an end, and this is what is being done, and no one will be hurt, so nyaahh. And I’m not harshing on Wiccans with this comment so much as outlining a very common refrain in that group of practitioners.
All that being said, witchcraft is not for everyone. Thankfully. There’s the whole “I want ____ and ____, and I want to see proof of my workings actually accomplishing a goal” line of practice, which shoots the practitioner in the foot, IMHO. This isn’t natural energy meets quantum physics and the seen world is the knowable world, although it certainly could be for some folks. But make crafting and magick a goal-oriented process, and something will inevitably be lost along the way. Lost in translation or just ignored because the practitioner doesn’t think it means anything important. Talk about conceit.
When it comes to social acceptance and related quirks of culture in general, that’s something which has always repelled me. Context is everything here. If I’m at work and someone starts a discussion on a not-safe-for-work topic like spiritual and religious practice, it is no one’s business what I do in my spare time when I’m not on the clock. Likewise, it is none of MY business what my coworkers do. I might be a little concerned if someone starts jabbering about proselytizing, and make some rules about engaging them outside work, but that’s about it. If they’re happy, that’s swell. They don’t need to know that I follow a deity who leads the dead through the underworld, though. So I’ll keep my mouth shut, because that’s between me and Her.
This, sharing out of context, is something which is actually not supposed to be happening anyway. Or so I thought. And it’s not an act of sanitizing (to my mind that would be sprinkling on a layer of pixie dust to characterize my practice so everyone feels good about it, ugh), so much as self-protection, if I keep my cards close to my chest. Not because I am worried that my coworkers would persecute me at all, but because the world is full of many different energies and beings, and I’m already attracting enough unseen attention as a practitioner, without shooting off my mouth.
Boy this is a packed topic. I have to sort my thoughts out some more on it.
In parting, I think that the issue of immature seekers trying to digest more than they can handle is often self-correcting. If they cannot understand what they’re reading, they’ll have to set a text aside. If they’re foolish enough to brag about “reading it” despite not understanding it, that’s on them. This is true of general books and literature, too, of course. I had a prof tell me that the perfect book to brag about reading is Finnegan’s Wake, because dollars to donuts you will not encounter someone who has actually read and comprehended the dang book front to back.
Not s witch here…but from where I stand, witchcraft wouldn’t have come to existence without Christianity. How witches define themselves is directly related to how they want the church to embrace them. Witch craft might as well be a way of life. The baptists pray for Hindus on Diwali every year..(Diwali is this coming wednesday actually). And with good reason…all our gods and goddesses must seem like witches and warlocks to them. Who cares. We have nothing to do with them and don’t need their validation. If Christianity didn’t exist, there would be no witch craft. It would have just been one of the several hundreds of beliefs.
Also..Kali is Kali. She doesn’t care if she is sanitized or otherwise. She is defined by how you look at her and her power is defined by you. A goddess’ power can be controlled by those who worship her…because gods derive their power from the faith bestowed upon them. Kali is whole…dark and light. She doesn’t care about you unless you approach her. She gives if you ask. Thats all. My 2c.
I love this post. Good one!
Well gee… not much more can be underlined here.
I work in a powerhouse company. Its huge. Most people around the world have heard of it.
I’m an I.T. guy who happens to be a lot of things that are not accepted. I also live in the bible belt.
Hell, half the stuff I enjoy doing would probably raise a few looks around here too, so as far as fitting in goes, not much of me does … anywhere.
I am a witch, and I explore the occult.
I am opposed to Christianity yet live in the bible belt.
I was a powerlifter and bodybuilder. I am now middle aged and suffering from arthritis in my hips, so I can’t do those things, but if anyone met me they would assume I keep in good shape… you’d be amazed how often people assume I’m an asshole simply because I’m not out of shape.
How many people here would make assumptions about me if you knew I liked watching the NFL?
If you knew nothing of me other than that my mother was thanked by Chandler Burr in his book “A Separate Creation” about gays? I’m not gay myself and I have no problem with anyone who is. If you are a Christian down here in North Carolina, you’d have plenty to say about it… and some have.
Anyone have this experience? I’ve helped people here at work fix their computers (I actually work for a company that contracts out to the large one where I work)… and when finished, most folks are so thankful that I’ve been as kind as I am and as quick and forthcoming as I am when I help them. They find out I’m “into the occult” and suddenly I’m either a weirdo or they hate me. <– that part.
I'm a kind, gentle person and I will always be the most generous, loving person I can be. Even to those that hate me. Am I giving up power? Nope. I'm being who I am at my core and that has nothing to do with the other person. I try to be kind even to those who show hatred to me.
Huson's book resonated with me on a TON of levels. I don't really follow his book… why? Well, I don't need to find love and don't need a spell for amorous encounters (happily married). I do things for divination now that are trustworthy. I don't have a need to hex someone but if it arises, I won't hesitate *under the right circumstances* and frankly, would likely take another course of action (if they are too stupid to realize how incredibly dangerous the world can be when it focuses on them, really… they'd have to F up in a major way for me to feel they earned that level of punishment)… and I don't need to form my own coven. So Huson… well, that kind of eats up most of his book from a practice point of view.
So why did it resonate with me and why do I love it so? Precisely what Harry and everyone else has pointed out. It is Witchcraft in the style of "Take a stand and embrace it for all it is. She has two faces and one of them will scare the shit out of you." Good. That's what I want. Look at Sara… she started off on a path on her own. I'd bet she couldn't have done so without the personal power Witchcraft has given her. Sorry Sara if that is off base, I'm not speaking for you… just thinking out loud.
You don't go trotting down this path without knowing its dangerous and get very far. But the rewards that are there are those that "fix" the bullshit we are tethered with from the start. I'm also a professional and executive (and a life) coach… but too chicken shit to jump off to the self-employed to start a private practice. I will be gutsy enough, just not yet.
I'm ranting but I hope I'm making sense.
As an aside, I love the people that post here. If there is anything I can ever do to help one of you, just ask.
Has anything really changed? Tyrant kings still abound but their kingdoms are companies and their title is CEO.
The easiest way to oppress someone? Make them happy to be oppressed. Take away everything and make them feel grateful that they at least have the basic dignity of food/water/shelter.
So what if you want more? What if that "more" is defined, as it is in my case, as knowing the truth… about life, souls, the hereafter, the purpose of it all? What if you want to transcend the day to day and find out what it means to be living?
Well, if you're me you turn to Witchcraft in all its danger and light. I wouldn't want it any other way.
I'd hazard a guess to say that 100% of the folks reading this are more advanced then me, know more than I do and have more insight than me.
So be it. I'm me. I'm still where I almost feel that sometimes I need to apologize for being me…. but that is rapidly fading and I have Witchcraft to thank for that. There's the power. Its growing. The danger is worth it. Huson wasn't pulling punches.
Harry is a hero. He's a witch and he has his own life… he alone decides what he makes of it. Sara is a hero. She is the same. Trothwy … wow… that takes some kinda guts to put the likes of that book club together and … just wow. Hero. FaustianB? Makes sense with every response. Hero. All of you are. To me anyway.
I'll shut up now. Criminy I hope I made some kinda sense.
Sean
I have been lurking on your blog for a short while now & I just want to thank you for the past two posts. You have put into words what I have been mulling over for a year or two now.
I began my exploration of magick & witchcraft about fifteen years after you, but I too was attracted to the older, more “operative” books. Part of this was probably my general discomfort with religion in the early years, but I think mostly the older books felt more honest — they are grittier, sans saccarin. They do not try to “make nice” for the masses. This is not to say that many of them don’t contain their fair share of sensationalism. They certainly do.
I really appreciate these posts because I often feel a bit misunderstood in Pagan circles, even among closer friends. I recently made the point that witchcraft as a “craft” could be practiced by anyone & I got looks like I was spouting heresy. I don’t try to pretend that everyone is fluffy — you can use magick to your liking, assuming you are comfortable w/the responsibility that comes w/that decision. No matter how much witchcraft is whitewashed, it will never be acceptable to a large portion of society because of taboos & religious prohibitions. Sometimes I feel irritated that there is any effort to mainstream magick at all. I think there is a generational difference here, to some extent, but I digress…
I have many unsorted feelings about this & I have not the time to work them out in writing so I look forward to your further exploration of this subject. I think your social analogies are fair & I don’t think we should be apologizing for practices. Thank you for sharing your reflections. They are very helpful for me.
Why does power have to mean a F@$# you? Maybe its because i come from a generation that didn’t have to fight much for acceptance since the majority of the battles had already happened (minus the experience of having been closeted in a Catholic highschool), but im not sure if i agree that power is only available through differentiating ourselves. I think our power would be doubly as powerful if we could find a way to exist within the “mainstream” and yet still have faith and confidence in ourselves and our strength to know that being integrated wasnt a compromise to our truth as magical practitioners (which doesnt just involve the beneficient sunshine lollipop charms). I agree that magic is a means to change our present environment and that one of its ultimate goals is a “new world” but i think that creation of this world has to happen from within it and not without.
In my own case Jacob, it isn’t that power is only available through differentiation. In my case, being different frequently meant a series of situations (growing up) where any “past the envelope” individualism I had was methodically hammered away. Seems the core of me simply refused to change. That’s why, in the “kings still abound” thing I refer to the members here as hero’s. Every “bad king” story has a hero who refused to succumb to the status quo and becomes themselves without compromise. That’s what I see folks here as doing… and that’s why, in those little tales, they are hero’s. I know where you are coming from… I was in a Catholic military high school. LOL. Witchcraft has returned to me what should have never been taken and what you rightly pointed out, “faith and confidence in ourselves and our strength to know that being integrated wasn’t a compromise to our truth.”
For me, my “self” needed reclaiming. I wonder if that’s why some people insist they were “born” witches … perhaps they feel it reclaimed a chunk of them that was missing and that made them wonder if it was who they were all along. Conjecture, to be sure.
I’m not sure where you are getting the “FU” stuff from…
[...] And Harold Roth at The Alchemist’s Garden (whom you’ll see here tomorrow, discussing Chapter 2) writes about the book and its concepts in his post Power and Witchcraft. [...]
Greetings,
Sean, I have to ditto your sentiments about the folks here.
Claiming or re-claiming of personal core through a path of magic
has altered my thought processes from that of hapless victim of fate
to possessing a personal power.
Now the process has become how to harness that power, learn to use it wisely, and dismiss the old and very tired victim mentality.
From one that has so much yet to learn and discover, I thank all of you
here, and Harold for creating this haven.
Blessings,
Alephestra
harry..sorry to interrupt. but i have a ‘situation’..can you please check your email..like right away?..:(
Mandrake emergency! Looks like the patient will live.:)
And one became three..:) thank you!
I have never read Huson’s book, but I very much like the issues you raise here. In many pagan circles I’ve been with, power is a dirty word. People associate it fundamentally with bad intention and inequality. As a student of Feri, I often feel that much of my work is about gaining power, of understanding power and of knowing how to hold power responsibly by being in relationship with the gods. I understand why people shy away from it, but it has created a frame within our pagan culture that says: power corrupts. This is not always true, and to be sure we are not acknowledging the full reality of the world that we live in by living within that frame.
Also, our shunning of power is not even fully examined. Witches were seen as powerful and destroyed for it. Do we really want to be reliving this fear of power within our communities? Look what destruction it has done to pagan people in the past, and even today in some places on this earth.
I absolutely agree with your comments about Huson’s book. Being both gay AND a Witch, I have watched as both cultures have tried to dumb themselves down, to strip away anything that is unique and powerful about them, and to basically castrate themselves in an attempt to appease the straight, Christian, white-bread masses….even sometimes turning against members of their own if they behave in a way that is likely to be disapproved of by the Powers That Be. Try telling a modern NeoPagan McWiccan (my comments are largely against people who think they can become of the Wicca from a book; you can’t) that you perform love spells and/or curses when needed, or going to a gay rights event in drag or gender variant clothing, and you’ll get much the same response in either situation. “Oh, you can’t do that! What will the Christians/straight people say? We’ll never be tolerated if we do anything they don’t like!” Well, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s our very existence they don’t like, and no amount of bowing and scraping and assimilation will ever change that. Power, and change, does not come from kissing the feet of your persecutors and hoping that they will eventually change out of the goodness of their hearts, but from standing up for yourself and saying “This is who and how I am, and I will not allow you to hurt me or to trample my rights based upon your own prejudices and delusions.”
I think in Witchcraft a large part of the problem is that so many McWitches learn their beliefs from the same 5 books or so, and are otherwise ignorant of historical magical practices or, indeed, modern ones outside the realms of what Lady MoonWytch Pentaclecloak says in her “How To Be a Priestess In One Long Weekend” paperback. They honestly don’t know or understand that curses are and always have been a part of Witchcraft, that most modern magical currents regularly cast love spells, even on specific people, and that part of being a Witch is knowing when these kinds of things are indicated, and when they are not. They don’t want a powerful and sometimes dangerous Craft of the Wise, they want Christianity II where they can go to Sunday services, be told what to do, and will have all their ethical choices made for them. Such people can recite “Harm none” ad nauseum, but when you ask them to recite the rest of the Rede, inform them that “rede” means “advice” or point out that the vast majority of magical people are not Wiccan and have no such “rede” they will shake their head in confusion.
If you read modern Witchcraft books, you can actually see the stripping away of the power as the years go by. First we had Huson, who’s work is the real thing and which details the use of curses for appropriate cases. Then, we get the “harm none” crowd, where we’re told that curses are forbidden, but that you can “bind” people or “send back” any harmful energy they’ve put out against you. Next, we’re told that love spells are “bad” and that NO magic can be performed without the consent of everybody involved (kind of makes that whole secrecy thing hard, huh?) A popular book published a few years ago now claims that even binding and sending back negative energy is forbidden, and that the only acceptable response to attack is to “send love” to your attacker. I cannot imagine “sending love” to an abuser, stalker, or murderer but that’s what it says. Now the current thing is to claim that “Witches” “don’t do spells” or use magic at ALL; in their mind, being a Witch involves “loving the Earth,” recycling, and becoming a vegan and has nothing to do with magic at all.
If I sound a little annoyed, it’s because I am. I am sickened of watching the word “Witch” be castrated by people who neither understand it nor embrace it, but who want to re-make it to their own toothless agenda. I am tired of seeing people in funny clothes go on talk shows and claim that “Witches never do XYZ” even though they actually can and do. I am saddened by seeing ancient practices discarded or demeaned because they don’t fit some modern airheads “nice” view of things, and saddened when I see what should be private, sacred rituals used as publicity stunts and put on for show so that the masses can watch and laugh. When people hear the word “Witch” now, they no longer think of a dangerous person with hidden knowledge, but of a teenager in bad Goth clothing, playing around for a few years until they run back to Christianity, and this in my mind is even worse.
Pagan chaplains are all well and good, and I am grateful to the people who stood up (and stood out) so that we can have our own weddings, our own funerals, and have the protection of the law. However, Witchcraft itself is not Christianity, and never will be. It’s not even Paganism, per se. As long as people continue to try and deny themselves power, to strip away anything that is unique, different, and just a bit dangerous about themselves, we will continue to see the word “Witch” become diluted and dumbed down until it’s little more than a marketing term. I am extremely pleased, however, to see so much interest displayed lately in “Mastering Witchcraft” because it DOES mean that there are people out there for whom pre-packaged McWicca is not enough, and who are willing and able to make their own choices and use their own minds. If we really want change in this world, we’re going to have to make it happen. Not by bowing before our oppressors, or by turning ourselves into the same bland level of beige that our cookie cutter neighbors have in their cookie cutter house, but by daring to be different and having the guts to stand up for ourselves and use the gifts that we were given.
You just have to feel secure in what you are and what you do. And, I can relate to what all of you are saying here because I’ve been around awhile now and have lived through most of it and spirits bless and help you if you’re singled out as a Pagan Witch in a community of “Born-Again Christians”. Thats modern-day Persecution and Ostracism and it still happens frequently in some non-tolerant places. Or it does to Wiccans. I should know because I’ve lived in a few places like that in the Southern United States and I’ve seen the dynamics of what happens. But, I’m not Wiccan and it does’nt really happen to me, or, not in quite the same context. Why ? Because I do “Hoodoo Rootwork” and some Voodoo and that tends to very seriously frighten many of those people that would otherwise be out gosspping about me and mine or coming by my place to convert me, or, in the worst case, planting burning crosses in my front yard.
And, that is where this issue of Power comes in. Or, more exactly, what we fear. We fear what we’ve been conditioned to fear and what we sense to be dangerous ( although, not everyone has that innate sense of danger ). In this Southern world, people have no real familiarity with Wicca other than their ministers telling them its Antichrist and heathen, so, its their “Christian Duty” to “oppose” it ie. they dont really fear it, but, they believe it offends Jesus and they do their best to rid their immediate world of it. Okay…but, with Hoodoo and Voodoo, it does’nt work quite like that. People know exactly what we’re about and they believe that what we do is very real. They may call us “that crazy Voodoo-Hoodoo”, but, they grew up with it too and I know they were surely told “never to mess with it” by their older and wiser family because “it’ll come back to bite you if you do”. So, yeah, they dont bother us in quite the same way that they go after the Wiccans. ie. they come after us with Holy Water not with Torches…
Yet, with that fear or “respect” if you want to call it that, does come a certain Ostracism. And, this is because, sadly, a lot of people, including some Wiccans, associate Hoodoo and Voodoo with these Negative “forces”. And, I’ll agree, what we do in these traditions has to do with manipulating things in the world around us. We do things to improve our Luck and Prosperity, we do things to improve our Relationships and our Workplace and our interaction with Society. We also apply our Art to situations where we are obstaculized or directly threatened and we believe strongly in Friends and Enemies. Do we believe in “Karma” ? There is a recent trend among Hoodoo people to say that the “Karmic Principle” is alien to the origins and tradition of Hoodoo…but, as someone who actually does stuff with spells and conjure and grisgris, I beg to differ there. I’ve done some Curses and some Bindings and, with Curses, I’ve learned that when you bring out and channel those Negative “Energies”, they can linger with you and bring you some very hard times if you dont wash that “bad Karma” away forthwith after you channel it. You have to purify yourself and everything around you that was touched by it and quickly. Also, it will spiritually drain you to an extent. Age you, if you will. And if you do enough of it, it gets into your Aura and you carry it around with you. If you’re sensitive to Auras, you’ll see that right away in people that do Curses regularly..it clings to them. And, thats why I try to avoid it, generally.
In this World, you do what you have to do and when circumstances call for it. If you survive, you must have done something right. So, why make things all complicated and judgemental ? Use the things that you know how to do to get through and prosper and if you can help people over the course of your Journey, more Power to you.
You know, it’s interesting what you raise about the different responses evoked in fundamentalist Christians by Wiccans vs. rootworkers. I can well imagine that Southern Christians, at any rate, would indeed leave you alone. I had no such luck here, although I am not a Wiccan or a rootworker. People in my neighborhood know me as a witch, though, and one of them went out of his way to try to get me in trouble with the city councilman, a guy I voted for, who in turn tried to get me in trouble with my landlady. That was some years ago, but still, if the shit ever hit the fan, I feel certain that particular individual would be gunning for me. He isn’t a fundamentalist, just a jerk. I can’t imagine what would have happened if I had been surrounded by fundamentalists.
“Maybe what books like Paul Huson’s can do is to get us thinking and talking about power again. I’m not sure how I would define power or even whether at this point it can be defined for witchcraft.”
“There is only one success – to spend your life in your own way.”
- Christopher Morley
Well, I suppose my idea of power is sort of small right now. I just want the power to achieve that quote about success. Maybe I can start there, make my own aura a bit brighter and happier and less stressed, and that by default will pour a little bit more positivity into the rest of the world and help it. Like Sean above I’m an IT lackey in the South, and putting up with way too much corporate BS that I am way too stressed out dealing with. When I develop the power to get myself into a happier income situation (or get my house paid off so I could actually be OK with less income, economy permitting) and live healthier then I will feel as if I am making some powerful progress.