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Perceptions of Pagans and witches.

Am I the only one who notices all the negativity? These are some common perceptions of Christians and other religions about the people who do not "Follow the Path Of God" or the left hand path.  Am I the only one who thinks that people are becoming very narrowminded??
 
 
Call me naive, but it has come as a surprise to me to discover that to many people the terms 'pagan' and 'witch' are incredibly negative.  When I first discovered the meaning of the word 'pagan' I thought it was absolutely lovely, and that it expressed something ancient, earthy and tranquil.  But the average dictionary seems to portray the word as meaning something cold, soulless and without spirituality.  I think there may be a few publications out there that need to be revised.

It is interesting to note that many of the definitions for 'witch' refer to a womans appearance, i.e. hag, ugly, malignant, attractive.   Apparently, the original meaning of the word 'witch' was 'wise woman'.  It seems obvious that in the past (and still today) females are regarded as a threat when outspoken, powerful and expressive of their sexuality.  They are then put down, their physical appearance being the first thing used to judge or abuse their character.  This seems to be done in order to put females back into a convenient role of subordination.  If a female shows traits of power and wisdom she can be considered evil and unnatural.  Christainity, and, hypocritically many self proclaimed athiests, can label a female of this character as being evil, and therefore in league with their view of the christian deity known as the devil.

For me, witchcraft, in it's self,  has absolutely no exclusive connection with the christian devil concept.  The christian devil, and the way christianity portays this character, is purely an aspect of the christian faith.  Witchcraft is not neccessarily connected with the christian philosophy, and those bigoted few who insist  that if you are a witch you are evil and worship satan, are small minded, uninformed and naive, believing that their faith is the only true one and that all other spiritualities are overridden by their own.

Witchcraft generally promotes tolerance and respect (i.e. the minding of one's own business) for all other cultures and religions (including, to an extent, christianity) however varying and widespread they may be.  We do not profess to work with the only 'true' philosophies, but we encourage everyone to follow their own spiritual calling and to express themselves in any way they wish to, providing they do not harm or harrass anyone in doing so.  There is strength in diversity.

Fiona Horne, an Australian journalist, musician and practitioner of wicca, stated it perfectly in one of her books - "Christians have far more to do with the devil than witches".

However, spirituality is an extremely personal thing, and some of us may choose to incorporate elements from many different and varied religions and theories into our own.  These days, the term "witch" is extremely broad, with no singular definition.  Ask ten different witches what it means to be a witch and you will more than likely get ten completely different answers.  For me, witchcraft is an extremely personal issue, and my opinion is that this is the ideal circumstance.  For example, I personally do not believe in a god, goddess or any kind of devil.  I believe that man-made deities are man-made mirrors and that the qualities we humans appoint to our various deities are manifest within ourselves.  I therefore use elements from many varied religions and theories to improve my quality of life and to make sense of my existence and the universe I inhabit.   I apply elements of indigenous spiritualities, satanism, modern wicca and yes, even some of  the teachings of christ.   I also mix in my own brand of formidable antics and feral rampages.  Everyone is different and we are all free to create our own existence in whatever way works best for us.

I've spent some time scanning various dictionaries and compiling the list of definitions below.  All definitions were sought out of curiosity on my part - you can learn alot about the structure and views of modern society by flipping through a dictionary or two......

Read on 
 
 

WITCH
1. A person, now, especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic, especially black magic or the black arts, a sorceress.  2. An ugly or malignant old woman; a hag.  3. A fascinatingly attractive woman.  3.To affect by, or as by witchcraft: bewitch; charm.  4. To change by or as by witchcraft.  5. To fascinate.  6. A woman who practices magic, especially to do evil.  7. An ugly or bad old woman.   8. One that is credited with usually malignant or supernatural powers; especially a woman practicing usually black witchcraft, often with the aid of a devil or familiar.  9. An ugly old woman.  10. A charming, alluring girl or woman.  11. A practictioner of wicca.  12. A woman claiming or popularly believed to posses magical powers and practice sorcery.  13. A believer or follower of wicca; a wiccan.  14. A hag.  15. A woman considered to be spiteful or overbearing.  16. A woman or girl considered bewitching.  17. One particularly skilled or competant a one's craft: "A witch of a writer, [she] is capable of developing an intensity that verges on ferocity" (Peter S. Prescott).  

PAGAN
1. Someone who does not follow an accepted religion.   2. An irreligious or heathenish person.  3. One who has no religion.  4. A non-christian.  5. A hedonist.  6. Not christian, muslim or jewish.  6. Professing no religion.

SATAN
1. The profoundly evil adversary of god and humanity, often identified with the leader of the fallen angels; the devil.  2. The grand adversary of man; the devil, or prince of darkness; the chief of the fallen angels; the archfiend.  3. The judeo-christian chief spirit of evil and adversary of god; tempter of mankind; master of hell.

WICCA
1. A religion influenced by pre-christian beliefs and practices of western Europe that affirms the existance of supernatural power (as magic) and of both male and female deities who inhere in nature, and that empathizes ritual observance of seasonal life cycles.  2. A polytheistic neo-pagan nature religion inspired by various pre-christian western European beliefs, whose central deity is a mother goddess and which includes the use of herbal magic and benign witchcraft.  3. A group or community of believers or followers of this religion.

SORCERESS
A woman who is a sorcerer.

PRIESTESS
1. A woman who presides over religious rites, especially in pagan religions.  2. A woman authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion.  3. A woman regarded as a leader (as of a movement).

DEVIL
1. In many religions, the major personified spirit of evil, ruler of hell, and foe of god.  2. A subordinate evil spirit; a demon.  3. A wicked malevolent person.  4. A person: a handsome devil; the poor devil.  5. An energetic, mischevious, daring, or clever person.  6. A device or machine, especially one having teeth or spikes and used for tearing.  7. An outstanding example, especially of something difficult or bad: has a devil of a temper.  8. A severe reprimand or expression of anger: gave me the devil for cutting class.  9.  Used as an intensive: who the devil do you think you are?

DEVILED, DEVILLED, DEVILING, DEVILS
1. To season food heavily.  2. To annoy, torment, or harrass.  3. To tear up (cloth or rags) in a toothed machine.

SORCERER

SATANISM
1. An innate wickedness.  2. Obsession with or affinity for evil; specifically: the worship of satan marked by the travesty of christian rites. 3. The worship of satan characterized by a travesty of the christian rites.  4. Profound wickedness.

WITCHCRAFT
1. The use of sorcery or magic.  2. Communication with the devil or with a familiar.  3. An irresistable influence or fascination.  Magical sorcery.  A magical or irresistable influence, attraction or charm. 

LUCIFER
1. The archangel cast from heaven for leading the revolt of the angels; satan.  2. The planet Venus in it's appearance as the morning star. 

WITCHUNT
1. An investigation carried out ostensibly to uncover subversive activities but actually used to harrass and undermine those with differing views.  2. A searching out for persecution of persons accused of witchcraft.  3. The searching out and deliberate harrassment of those (as political opponents) with unpopular views.

DIABOLISM
1. Dealings with or possession by the devil.  2. Belief in or worship of devils.  Evil character or conduct. 

MAGICK
1. Effort undertaken because of a personal need to effect change, especially as associated with wicca or wiccan beliefs.  2. Variant of 'magic'.

HAG
1. An ugly, slatternly, or evil-looking old woman.  2. Archaic; a female demon; an evil or frightening spirit.  3. An old woman considered ugly or frightful.  4. A witch; a sorceress.  5. A female demon.  6. An ugly old woman.  6. A fury; a she-monster.  7. An ugly, evil-looking old woman.  8. Eel-like cyclostome having a tongue with horny teeth in a round mouth surrounded by eight tentacles; feeds on dead or trapped fishes by boring into their bodies.

BEELZEBUB
1. The devil; satan.  2. One of the fallen angels in Milton's Paradise Lost. Beelzebub was next to satan in power.  3. An evil spirit; a demon.  4. The title of a heathen deity to whom the jews ascribed the sovereignty of the evil spirits; hence, the devil or a devil.  5. The name given to satan, and found only in the new testament, it is probably the same as baalzebub the god of Ekron, meaning "the lord of the flies", or, as others think, "the lord of dung", or "the dung-god".

BAAL
1. Any of the various local fertility and nature gods of the ancient Semitic peoples considered to be false gods by the hebrews.  2. A false god or idol.

HEATHEN
1. An irreligious or unenlightened person.   2. Someone who does not believe in the god of the bible.  3. Someone who is not religious or shows disrespect and dislike for religion.

GOD
1. A deity, especially a male deity, presiding over some portion of worldy affairs.  2. The supreme or ultimate reality: as a) the being perfect in power, wisdom, and goodness who is worshiped as creator and ruler of the universe, b) christian science: the incorporeal divine principle ruling over all as eternal spirit: infinite mind.  3. A being or object believed to have more than natural attributes and powers and to require human worship; specifically: one controlling a particular aspect or part of reality.  4. A person or thing of supreme value.  5. A powerful ruler.

GODDESS
1. A female god or deity.  2. A woman whose great charm or beauty arouses adoration.

BITCH GODDESS
1. Success; especially: material or worldy success.

WARLOCK
1. A man practicing the black arts.  2. Conjurer.

WITCH DOCTOR
1. A man supposed to have magical powers for healing or harming others.  2. A sorcerer, prophet, or shamanistic healer, especially among African peoples.

WITCHES HAT
1. A tall conical hat with a narrow brim, supposedly worn by witches (yeah, I never leave home without mine......... Akasha). Anything resembling such a hat.

CONJURER
1. One that practices magic arts..  2. One that performs feats of sleight of hand and illusion.

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Tread lightly, she is near,
Speak quietly, she can hear the daisy's grow.