NMR ISSUE 1

Astrological Forecast 1
Beltane
Closer Look at the Tarot: Aces
Earth's Coronation
Eastern Insights
Editorial
Evolutionary Astrology
Guardians of the Four Gateways
How to Eat Meat
Olivine
Solitary Beltane Ritual
Solitary Summer Rite
Stone Banishing Ritual
Summer Solstice
Tarot Images
The Kabalah in Everyday Use
The Oldest Magick
The Other Editorial
Witchcraft: Problems of Study

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Witchcraft: Problems of Study

Judith Wise

The great body of biased work on Witchcraft makes its study very difficult. An objective observer has the challenge of sifting through the work of people with heavy biases, usually against Witches and their craft. Most obvious are the hysterical religious prejudices that insist that non-Christian are of the devil, period. In such views, those of any different faith or sect are doomed to "Hell," especially Witches.

Some scholars believe that the Craft was an organized, anti-Christian heresy—simply a rebellion against the established Church. Such scholars seem to forget the Craft predates the Church. Some minimize the number of people killed in the burning times, stating that not more than a few hundred women were killed in all the years of persecution. (Over 3 million died during three centuries of burnings.) Some Jungian scholars see the execution of women in a purely "symbolic" sense. Edward Whitmont labels the mass murders for Witchcraft as a

"mutation" in the collective psyche "which temporarily terminates the feminine principle."

The following is a list of features which make it difficult for Judeo-Christian scholars to treat the Craft objectively.

FEMALE DEITIES: Any religion which deifies a female principle tends to seem "primitive" if not blasphemous and

"evil." NO BODY AND SOUL DUALISM: Witchcraft does not separate the body from the soul or accord one a loftier destiny then the other. Witchcraft is a western religion that does not denigrate the human body or see it in need of being elevated by the spirit. This is difficult for many scholars who see religion as an ascetic phenomenon to take seriously.

VIEWING NATURE AS SACRED: Several scholars have point out that Judaism and Christianity consider nature as inferior to "man" as something for "him" to conquer. (I put "man" and

"him" in quotes because I am not pretending that the words are generic. "man" often sees Woman as nature in Judaism and Christianity—as an inferior being in need of taming and cultivation.) Judaism and Christianity do not share or easily tolerate Witchcraft's view of other forms of life as equal to the human form.

VALUE OF THE INDIVIDUAL WILL: Witchcraft values the will. It is all right to assert one's will and to rally deities to one's aid. Followers of Judaism and Christianity see the assertion of individual will as something to avoid unless "God" wills it also. Attempts to rally physical and psychic resources to achieve an individual goal they see as degenerate forms of "magickal" thought which do not have "religious" character.

CYCLIC NOTION OF TIME: Witchcraft does not hold a notion of the linear progress of time to some judgment day of euphoria or catastrophe. Time is circular and repetitive.

CYCLIC NOTION OF BODILY GROWTH AND DECAY: Along with the idea of cyclic nature of time, Witchcraft accepts a cyclic nature of life. Witches accept the body's growth and decline. They do not see it as a result of sin. The triple aspect of the Goddess as maiden, mother and crone in different stages of growth and decline shows this nicely.

NO ORIGINAL SIN: Witchcraft accepts neither ancestral sin nor covenant against which one can sin.

NO GOOD AND EVIL: Individual actions may work toward balance or away from it, but inevitably, all proceeds toward godhead. Whether or not an individual values an action is governed by context. This is not amoral, but it recognizes no absolute. The absence of such dogma unsettles most people brought up in the Judeo-Christian tradition.

ABSENCE OF A SACRED TEXT: Witchcraft's lack of sacred books compounds the problem of relating it to Judeo-Christian views. It encourages a pluralism of beliefs. One symbol can mean several things to several people or even to one person. (There are Witches who standardize beliefs and practices, but the basic structure of the Craft is small groups of worshippers. The lack of a single sacred text undermines efforts to codify Witchcraft. The individual forms his own beliefs.)

NO RIGID LAW OF DISCIPLINE: Witchcraft sees no need for law to keep base human instincts in control. Most Christians and Jews find this unthinkable. The Judeo-Christian (and Freudian) picture of the psyche is of a being seething with amoral passions. Only the higher rule of law keeps it from wreaking its wicked designs on itself and the planet. This is the lion-tamer fantasy. The individual is a child who needs rules, who can't decide right and wrong for himself. The Craft subscribes to no such fantasy. It considers the individual (both conscious and subconscious) to be self-regulating and self-governing. Responsibility lies in recognizing of the cycles of instincts, drives and will. No moral law need keep some "lower" nature in check. Witches are aware that the individual is the cause and effect in his world that he alone is responsible for what happens to him. This is unacceptable to those who would rather blame the devil for tempting them, or who need someone to "save" and "forgive" them. Witchcraft rejects laws to control inner passions and challenges the claim that they represent an advance. The Craft would claim that Judeo-Christian laws and commandments do not enhance life.

SEX: The Craft does not see a need for elaborate restrictions on sexuality. Judaism, Christianity and Witchcraft all understand desire for another. Judaism and Christianity forbidding it outside of the narrow restrictions of law and society. The Craft is a fertility religion celebrating Life. Thus, it sees sex as natural, not "dirty," and lets it follow its own laws to a large degree. The Craft understands sex to have its own regulatory principle, like ambition.

PLAY: This is the last problem area I want to mention today. Play is omnipresent in Witchcraft. Rituals allow spontaneous fun and jokes. This attitude is impossible under the Jewish and Christian stance towards worship.

These factors make Witchcraft difficult for Jewish and Christian scholars to recognize as a religion. Never the less, Witchcraft is a modern religion of growing strengths and numbers.

Next issue, "Why We Need the Goddess:" how men need Her as much as women, what has happened to women denied the Feminine Principle and how this has affected the entire worldview.