{"id":244,"date":"2016-12-09T13:43:19","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T21:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/?p=244"},"modified":"2016-12-09T13:43:19","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T21:43:19","slug":"dissection-witchcraft-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tempest\/2016\/12\/dissection-witchcraft-religion.html","title":{"rendered":"Dissection: Is Witchcraft a Religion?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

**Warning: If you rush to comment based off of a snap judgment of the title alone before actually reading the whole thing, your witch card will be instantly and metaphysically revoked.**<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Welcome to\u00a0part 2 in a series of posts exploring the essence of being a Witch, from a Modern Tradition perspective. \u00a0I\u2019ll be tackling some sticky yet interwoven topics that create\u00a0and define\u00a0the Witch \u2013 including solo vs. group work, examining religion and spirituality, commerce, morals and ethics, etc. \u00a0If you haven\u2019t read part 1 yet, please\u00a0head over here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Back in the days of ye olde traditional witchcraft online forums and IRC channels (aka, the 90\u2019s), the debate about whether witchcraft was a religion was a hot one, littered with the bodies of many whipped deceased equines. \u00a0My answer, from both then and now, is the same: Yes of course, and no, not exactly.<\/p>\n

Why? Because I\u2019m a Gemini, and I\u2019m infuriating like that.<\/p>\n

Seriously though, it comes down to one\u2019s perspective, background, personal practice, and semantics.<\/p>\n

\"collage
collage by the author<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If you\u2019re coming at witchcraft from a Wiccan perspective, of course you\u2019re going to say, \u201cthis is my religion.\u201d \u00a0Wicca, as it\u2019s developed \u2013 from Gardner through today \u2013 has been based on the concept of reviving both witchcraft\/cunning folk practices and ancient beliefs in respecting the land and \u201cdeities of old.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s rooted in a participant, group-working structure based on its more ceremonial magic roots (Golden Dawn, Freemasonry, OTO, etc) and purposefully was developed as a religion. \u00a0It\u2019s recognized today in many places as a legitimate world religion, under the umbrella of Neo-Paganism. (I would argue that it pretty much provided the skeleton base of said umbrella as well.)<\/em><\/p>\n

But then there\u2019s another perspective \u2013 where you\u2019re coming at witchcraft from a sense of magical practice, not necessarily tied to any specific belief system. \u00a0You could be a P-word* of some sort, but maybe you\u2019re an atheist, animist, or agnostic. \u00a0Or maybe you identify more comfortably as a Christian or a Jew or a Buddhist<\/a>. \u00a0You\u2019re not going to feel in any way that witchcraft is your religion. \u00a0It\u2019s a thing you do.<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s where semantics roll in!<\/p>\n

When you hear the word \u201creligion,\u201d you\u2019re very likely to think \u201ca group of people holding a similar set of beliefs and morals, gathered in a somewhat organized fashion.\u201d \u00a0For extra flourishes, throw in a temple or a church, and tax-free status, and legal recognition.<\/p>\n

But if we look at the root of \u201creligion\u201d as a word, it can be interpreted as \u201cto reconnect.\u201d \u00a0What are we connecting to again? We can consider religion\u00a0as a means to understanding ourselves and our relationship with the Divine. \u00a0It can be\u00a0personal and unique, without all of the other baggage. \u00a0Think about it.<\/p>\n

\"witch3\"When I ask myself: \u201cwhat is my religion?\u201d<\/em>, I\u2019m seeking to define how I personally connect with my spiritual self, the world around me, and the divine. \u00a0It doesn\u2019t directly involve anyone else. \u00a0I believe there are\u00a0many gods (polytheism) without subscribing to one pantheon. \u00a0I also see the\u00a0sacredness and\u00a0divine interconnection of all things (pantheism). AND\u00a0I believe that creatures, places, and things can hold unique spiritual energy (animism). \u00a0I don\u2019t use the term worship in regards to anything I do. How I interact with all of these things is intensely determined by my path as a Witch. \u00a0For ease, I can just toss on the label Pagan, and do occasionally without blinking an eye. \u00a0But it doesn\u2019t even begin to describe all of what I just told you.<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s the interpretations of the word witchcraft. \u00a0Easiest breakdown is \u201ccraft of the witch\u201d<\/em> \u2013 but for some people that equates to\u00a0magick of some sort (and there are many kinds), and for others it means the knowledge and use of a wide variety of practices and techniques that probably also include spellcraft. \u00a0I follow the latter understanding, so for me, witchcraft does not automatically equate to spellcraft.<\/p>\n

Spellcraft is the craft of creating spells.\u00a0Witches can do far more than just cast spells. They work with spirits and walk in liminal places. Witches\u00a0act as guides, teachers, counselors, psychics, healers, protectors, artisans. Spells can be done by anyone, without much investment of time or background. \u00a0In this understanding, calling oneself a witch simply because you occasionally use magick is like calling yourself a doctor because you know how to treat a cut or burn. \u00a0Or calling yourself a plumber because you replaced the broken chain on the toilet. \u00a0Hence why I\u2019m not a fan of making spellcraft synonymous with witchcraft.<\/p>\n

For me, Witchcraft\u00a0is how I see how everything is interwoven. \u00a0It is more than magick and spells. \u00a0It\u2019s not easily defined or organized into a system for others, but it carries legal status and recognition. \u00a0It is both my spiritual system and my vocational practice.<\/p>\n

So now that we have all of the parts on the table, you can see\u00a0why the response can be so varied and sometimes volatile. \u00a0It really has so much to do with where you\u2019re coming from, what the words mean to you, and how you interact with them. \u00a0The connecting factor in all of this is YOU. \u00a0In the end, that\u2019s the main person who it should matter. \u00a0It\u2019s what drives you and your practice. \u00a0Everything else is just words.<\/p>\n

*P-word: Pagan, Polytheist, Pantheist, etc<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

**Warning: If you rush to comment based off of a snap judgment of the title alone before actually reading the whole thing, your witch card will be instantly and metaphysically revoked.** Welcome to\u00a0part 2 in a series of posts exploring the essence of being a Witch, from a Modern Tradition perspective. \u00a0I\u2019ll be tackling some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2676,"featured_media":245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,12,13,14],"tags":[141,140,88,42,142,54,134,7,4,138],"class_list":["post-244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metaphysics","category-modernpractice","category-myth-and-folklore","category-tradition","tag-animism","tag-pantheism","tag-polytheism","tag-practice","tag-religion","tag-spellcraft","tag-wicca","tag-witch","tag-witchcraft","tag-witchery"],"yoast_head":"\nDissection: Is Witchcraft a 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