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Many people who follow a path of Witchcraft join a religion that seems more conducive to
the practice of the craft like Wicca. There are a few of us however, who for whatever
bizarre reason choose to stay in a religion that doesn’t embrace the craft so easily,
namely Christianity.
Unfortunately, because of bigotry, fear and misunderstanding, witches of all paths have
more or less had to stay underground, with traditions developing independently from the
others. It shouldn’t be surprising then that there is some confusion to the average by-
stander about what a witch even is.
It also doesn’t help when the word witch is put interchangably with the word Wiccan as
this is not always the case. While, Wicca is a beautiful religious path, to make
the word witch always mean Wiccan, causes confusion when someone calls
him/herself a witch, but for whatever reason chooses to follow a different religious path.
Christianity is the right religious path for me. And no matter how
bizarre it might seem, witchcraft is one of the ways I choose to express that religion.
There are many ideas and beliefs that get mixed up with witchcraft. Some believe to be
a witch you have to believe in reincarnation among other things. (Note, I’m not saying
this is a “wrong” belief, only that it isn’t my personal belief. Believe it or not
there are some Christians who believe in Reincarnation. One cannot simply believe
something or not believe something just because it is the "standard" belief of others who
follow that religious path.) Reincarnation, however is a religious belief,
whereas, witchcraft is a practice.
Anyway...I know I’m rambling off topic once again...but in the back of my mind I’m
thinking of the non-christian witch, and the Christian fundie who might see this site and
be unable to understand it. One of the most positive things that I have gleaned so far
from this path is meeting other witches. And, not just Christian Witches, but witches of
all paths.
It is a positive thing I think to meet those people of other religious paths and be able
to see past the stereotypes for the first time. Growing up in a “Hell fearing” church it
is very refreshing to find that the church stereotypes of witches are all false. While
Christianity definitely has an ugly side...for me, the religion on the whole rang true.
There are a lot of things Christians get blamed for...but there is predjudice against
them as well as Witches. (However, it’s unfortunate that many witches don’t feel like
they can be open about who they are, whereas a Christian can shout it from the rooftops
however, obnoxious.) I used to be very obsessed with finding “The ultimate truth.”
But, the problem with that was, how would I know it when I found it? I also used to
think...if I were born into a religion besides Christianity its very unlikely that I
would convert...simply because I would feel a strong attachment to that religion. I
think a lot of fundies get really caught up with the evangelizing thing.
But anyway...you could spend years and years and years studying all the different
religions but you still wouldn’t have enough information to make an educated choice.
Somehow...I just don’t think that God is trying to make this nearly as complex as we are.
The more I read and studied about Christianity, the more it really appealed to me. After
getting past the fundie beliefs and into some actually intelligent views on
Christianity, it really started to connect with me. But despite the fact that I was
seeing some truth in it, I knew that there was no way I could truly have a relationship
with a God I was afraid of.
And, I couldn’t spend all my time seeing “devils around every corner.” In fact there
were two things that caused me to really shy away from developing any type of
relationship with God: 1. I was afraid that if I searched that I would find that there
was no God, but that instead he/she was a person we created so we wouldn’t feel so alone
in the universe.
Another fear was that I would become a fundie...and be all “religious” and judging other
people. (I still worry about this one...because I know sometimes I judge
people...especially fundies.) When I was in high school I was against homosexuality,
interracial marriage, certain movies, witches, you name it.
I was a completely bigoted horribly self-righteous person...and sometimes I think now
that I’ve moved very far in the other direction so that now I’m self-righteous once
again, only this time against fundies.
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I had some real issues with concepts like “Hell.” Slowly my viewpoint on this has
changed until I no longer believe in a literal Hell. I do believe in Heaven, and weirdly
enough I believe in a devil...but I don’t believe that he is red with horns or anything.
I don’t know exactly what I believe about him. Although I certainly believe
in personal responsibility and not blaming everything on a supernatural source
I hear Christians say all the time: “The
devil comes disguised as an angel
of light.”
They use this scripture constantly to harp on all kinds of
behavior “occult activity” being one of them. My question is: “How the Hell do they
think he’s coming as an “angel of light” when they all think it’s evil to begin with?
If the devil does show up as an angel of light, my theory is that it is more likely that
he did it with the doctrine of Hell.
To me, that one doctrine is the most disgusting thing to come out of the Christian
faith. I couldn’t hold Hitler’s hand to a flame for five minutes (despite all his
cruelty two wrongs don’t make a right, if I was able to torture him, and did, that would
make me evil too.) I thought if God did, that was a God that I didn’t want to have
anything to do with.
I used to think God was just a big manipulator. That “free will” was a bunch of BS. I
mean how free can you possibly be if God is up there saying: “Love me and do exactly
what the bible says or I’ll torture you for eternity?” That’s not love and that’s not
free will. I think C.S. Lewis put it best when he said: “In the end, there won’t be
anyone in Hell who could have been happy in Heaven.”
So, in order to make Christianity work for me, I had to find out if God was some evil
manipulator or if his messengers were. After reading a lot of different viewpoints on
the matter, I truly believe that God, the Christian God is not a manipulator out to
torture people. One of the most influential Christian books for me spiritually
was: “Searching for a God to Love; The one you always wanted is really there.” By: Chris
Blake. (It has played a big role in fundie detox.)
I also decided to not be a “Sunday Christian”, but to try to look for ways to be a more
spiritual person on a day to day basis. For every place that a fundie has tried to pull
out a bible scripture and twist it’s cultural meaning, or take it out of context, or take
it literally when it should have been taken figuratively, I found that I could find
something positive.
Things like taking care of the earth. And forgiving others. Having an authentic love
for people and nature. etc. I also started to explore ways to be creative with my
spirituality...namely witchcraft. (I have a lot to say about magick right here...but
it’ll have to wait until I get to that page.)
I also have decided to blend some of my celtic roots into it. Some Christian Witches
stop going to church because they no longer feel like they belong there or feel
hypocritical about going and then practicing witchcraft in private.
For me, however I need the community of church...however I switched denominations. I
found a wonderful home at the Episcopal church. Deep down, I think if I shared my path
with them in detail and explained it all to them, they wouldn’t condemn me for it.
However, I choose to stay in the broom closet, for two reasons:
1. I live in a relatively small town that is VERY pentecostal! If I came out of the
closet, half the town would be praying for my “deliverance from evil” and the other half
would be afraid of me. and:
2. It is a private spiritual practice. I am a solitary practitioner...so there is no
reason for me to share. Only two people, outside of the online world know: my husband,
who was never a fundie, and one of my best friends, who’s an atheist. Even
though I’m not a Wiccan...there are some tenets of the Wiccan faith that I
believe very strongly in such as: “Harm none.” To come out of the broom closet would
definitely harm my family and friends emotionally.
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I tend to sound “judgemental” and very obnoxious like I’m “right” in my faith and have
the “Truth” which I can understand would be offensive to someone of another
faith system. More on that on the “Relativism” page.
I know a lot of Christian Witches have struggled with the question of “Am I changing
religions and just not brave enough to let go of what I was raised believing?” I dealt
with that temporarily also...but oddly enough, I feel as though my beliefs are
getting stronger since choosing to follow this path.
This whole thing just “fits” for me. If I was just a “Plain Christian” there would be a
huge part of my personality and creativity which would never be expressed. If I
changed religions to practice witchcraft within a group that would accept me more
readily as a witch, then I would be sacrificing many beliefs that ring true for
me. (and there is a growing community of Christian Witches...so that is quickly
becoming a moot point.)
So as bizzarre as I’m sure it is to some...it’s who I am. Freedom of religions means ALL
religions...it means Wiccans, Pagans, it means Christians, so I guess it means
Christian Witches too.
Blessings,
Zoë Grace =)
Special thanks to the following for graphics:
