Witchcraft and Paganism - Coursework Example

Client’s 20 October Different people react differently when they hear the word witchcraft. Halloween is arguably the first thing that comes to mind when witchcraft is being discussed. People also get reminded of old hags when witches are being talked about. The image that people have of witchcraft has changed significantly in the recent past. This drastic change has occurred because of numerous movies made on the subject, and several books have also been published on witchcraft, which has again helped in changing people’s perception about witchcraft. This paper will shed light upon witchcraft and paganism since 1815; modern day witchcraft will be discussed extensively in the following parts of this paper. “Witches should be aware of their roots; aware of how and why the persecutions came about, for instance, and where and when the re-emergence took place. There is a great deal to be learned from the past. Its true that much of history can seem dry and boring to many of us, but that is far from so with the history of Witchcraft. It is very much alive and filled with excitement.” (Buckland 1) Witches have often been banished from our society; they have been tortured beyond imagination and this image has to be changed. Christians try assiduously to follow the bible but several of them fail to do so when they develop hatred for witches because the Bible clearly says that hating another person is wrong. As discussed earlier there is a change in perception which has already taken place and because of this more people have started accepting witchcraft. It becomes an arduous task to describe modern day witchcraft; it is really difficult to describe it in general terms. In India, voodoo magic is being practiced and people in states like West Bengal indulge in this very dangerous practice. It is considered dangerous because several people have lost their lives attempting to do voodoo magic. It is often said that a person who has mastered voodoo magic can instantly hypnotize another person within literally no time. It becomes difficult to describe modern day witchcraft because there is no specific book which one can refer to; usually people follow different rituals and traditions. Ancient religion, science fiction and myth all play an important part in witchcraft and paganism. People who practice it often take cues from religion, fiction and myth. Another important aspect of witchcraft and paganism is that people who follow it do not worship evil forces; they consider mother earth very important and usually worship mother earth rather than focusing their energy on evil forces. Satanism is another important topic which comes to mind when paganism and witchcraft is being talked of. There is a lot of difference between Satanism and witchcraft: people who indulge in Satanism pray to the Saturn or the evil forces but the followers of witchcraft do not pray to evil forces. “Here in Canada kitchen prophecy is a way of life.” (The "Kitchen Goddess”) This goes to show that prophecy is often practiced by witches. They engage in speculation, they enjoy telling people about what they should expect in the future. Wicca has to be discussed when witchcraft is being shed light upon, Wicca is a religion. The word Witch generally refers to a person from pagan religion. The roots of Wicca are firmly engraved in our history; people have been practicing it since prehistoric times. It would be inappropriate to consider Wicca as a unified whole. Beliefs and rituals practiced by the Witches vary significantly and this is why it would be inappropriate to consider Wicca as a unified whole. “There have been many books written on the history of Witchcraft. The vast majority have suffered from bias”...”but a few of the more recently published ones have told the story accurately... or as accurately as we can determine.” (Buckland 1) It is important to know that there are several differences between witchcraft and paganism. There are many contemporary Pagans who prefer to be referred to as witches. Pagans are all contemporary witches but there is a catch again here. Modern Pagans are not witches or at least all the modern Pagans cannot be called witches. Modern witches have their own places of worship and all of them gather there and get the proceedings underway. It is also important to know that not all witches worship, some of them engage in conducting rituals as well. The sun and the moon are of prime importance to witches and they worship according to the phases of the sun and the moon, for instance the lunar eclipse is one phase of the moon and it is also of utmost importance to the modern day witches. Like people belonging to other religions witches have their own seasonal holidays and they thoroughly enjoy these holidays, called “Sabbats”. Witches from North America and Europe have these Sabbats but witches in other parts of the world do not have Sabbats. Sabbats are mainly eight seasonal holidays, and there are several rituals held during the Sabbats. Story-telling is one very popular ritual which almost all the witches engage in; drumming is another ritual which the witches engage in during the Sabbats. Chanting and meditation are a few other rituals that these witches enjoy doing. These however cannot be called deeper ritual works; the aforementioned are just light rituals. Deeper rituals are not performed openly. They are private gatherings especially organized for such private affairs. Personal spiritual development remains the sole aim of every witch during these personal gatherings and to accomplish this they practice healing work and try raising their collective energy level. “It is knowledge and understanding of ourselves at the very source that is contracted through confrontation with adversity.” (de Angeles 40) Contemporary Pagans Contemporary pagans have their own beliefs and some of the most important ones are as follows: Contemporary pagans firmly believe in the divine and divinity. They also believe that there are several paths that can lead them to divinity. Every modern day pagan respects Mother Earth. They also understand the importance of the physical world and firmly believe that every human being must enjoy. They believe in peace and refrain as much as plausible from harming others. They also understand that nothing material or any other gain can be achieved by harming others. They have their own morals and principles and they firmly stick to them. They also believe a lot in community cooperation and this is why they have gatherings and meetings in which they perform their rituals. Every modern day pagan is committed towards making this planet better, in other words planetary growth remains one of their priorities. They celebrate the lunar and the solar cycles, old customs are revived and new ones are made during these celebrations. Consistency is very important to all the day pagans, they believe that lifestyle and one’s beliefs must be in accord and must be consistent. Paganism in Different Countries Paganism varies from country to country; some rituals are mutually exclusive to some pagans residing in a particular country while some other rituals are not so mutually exclusive. Paganism in Germany is quite different from the paganism followed in other countries. A new subset by the name of Norse Paganism has emerged from Germany; it is believed that the tribes in Germany started Norse Paganism. “In England, in 1951, the last laws against Witchcraft were finally repealed.” (Buckland 6) There were no temples in earlier days and the form of worship was very different from the forms of worship seen these days. The tribes used to worship in a very different way which was quite similar to the way Balts and Celts used to worship. People who follow Norse Paganism firmly believe in sacrifice. People belonging to other religions may find this very disturbing. Animals are the main targets when sacrifice is being talked about and sometimes even human beings are sacrificed by the Norse Pagans. Human beings were sacrificed by the Norse Pagans at religious festivals to make the Gods happy. Human beings were also sacrificed at funerals by the Norse Pagans. Neopaganism is another subset which has been inspired by Norse Paganism. African witchcraft is very different from the rest of the world, it is different because the continent has diverse people and diverse practices are followed by these diverse people. There are over 50 different nations that make up this continent so it is not surprising there is so much diversity when so many different people are living in the same continent. It is very important to examine the impact of Christianity as a religion on witchcraft in Africa. It is a general perception that witches are very evil and they do nasty things. This perception was made even stronger when people started believing in Christianity and this is why Christianity has wiped out several religions in Africa, not only in Africa but it has also wiped out other religions across the globe. “In America the first Witch to "stand up and be recognized" was myself, Raymond Buckland. At that time there were no covens visible in this country. Initiated in Scotland (Perth) by Gardners High Priestess, I set out to emulate Gardner insofar as to try to straighten the long-held misconceptions and to show the Craft for what it truly is.” (Buckland 8) Pagans in the UK have their own way of conducting things; Edinburgh is of particular importance in the UK when Paganism is being talked about. The Beltane Festival held there is the biggest for the pagans. Many pagans believe that it is not a religious occasion but it gives them a chance for merrymaking. The coming of summer is celebrated every year by the pagans at Carlton Hill on the 30th of April. May Queen and Green Man represent fertility and growth, the pagans dress up enthusiastically as May Queen and Green Man which also goes to show a lot about their thinking. Fertility and growth remains one of many of their objectives and this is why they dress up in that fashion. The Celtic and the Scottish folklore are mainly responsible for creating the attire that pagans wear on the 30th of April each year in the UK. Another very important aspect of paganism is the gender equality they practice day in, day out. Pagans do not differentiate between men and women because they consider them equal and when it comes to worship both men and women worship together without any differences or without any favoritism towards a particular gender. This is a great quality and every human being deserves to be treated equally. It is also seen that women sometimes take a lead role when it comes to worship and pagan men do not ever object to this. Pagans also consider circles very important. A circle is usually drawn at the place of worship and no pagan is supposed to enter into it. They are all supposed to keep out of it. Hoyt strongly claims in his preface, “In witchcraft studies, as in other areas of scholarly investigation, the questions are more important than the answers.” (ix) Christianity and Witchcraft There has always been animosity between Christianity and witchcraft. The animosity has only intensified over the years instead of settling down. It is very easy to make out and to understand as to why these religions have been at odds. Several major changes took place during the European Christianization; Old Gods turned into demons and a lot of chaos was caused because of this sudden transition. The horned God of Paganism was identified by the priests as Satan. The Satan was called Cernunnos by the priests; the Greek God Pan resembled the new Satan. Christianity became a major religion across Europe and the rest of the world but paganism failed to become a major religion. “In Christianity there are many denominations, such as Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Baptist, and Methodist. So it is in Witchcraft. Just as there is no one religion that is right for all people, there is no one denomination of Witchcraft that is right for all witches. And that is as it should be. We are all different. Our backgrounds—both ethnic and social—vary greatly. It has often been said that there are many paths, but they all lead to the same center. With so many paths, then, you are able to find the right one for you; the one path you can travel comfortably and securely.” (Buckland, Raymond. Introduction) People who followed paganism were tortured by the priests and this torture was beyond imagination. Witches who were not even witches had to confess that they were witches because of the extent of torture carried out on them. The priests would usually put their legs in a special boot which would break all the bones in the leg, other forms of torture included beating the suspicious people with iron rods, red-hot irons and so on. This was a major reason why Paganism could not become a major religion and all this torture was carried out on the assumption that witches were evil and they worship Satan which according to Christianity is a very big sin. Raymond Buckland asked the questions, “But what about Satanism? The Witches were called worshippers of the Devil. Was there any truth to this? ” (6) These days it is against human rights to inflict pain upon others. Paganism is slowly becoming a major religion but the hostility between the pagans and the Christians just refuses to placate. Even modern day Christians firmly believe that pagans are devil-worshippers and should be taught a lesson so that they give up on it. “There are powers that demand reverence. What I call a God someone else may not call a God.” (Essentials of Faith) These were the words of a Pagan, this also justifies why Pagan worship the Earth. Mother Earth has had to go through several difficulties and the difficulties just keep on mounting and our planet is getting hammered with each passing day. Pollution rises when population increases, the population of this planter is increasing with each passing day and so is the level of pollution. The whole image of witches has changed thanks to television, books and magazines but some people still consider them evil and they also think that it is perfectly fine to inflict pain upon witches, it is very important to change this thinking and much work needs to be done to change this perception. Deforestation has brought about a lot of undesirable changes and human beings have already witnessed the wrath of mother earth in earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones and so on. It is time we learnt from the Pagans on how to treat our planet, there are a lot of positive qualities that can be learned from the Pagans and the most important of them all is how to treat our planet. Worshipping the planet may look absurd to some people but it is something which probably can protect us from the wrath of our mother earth. References Buckland Raymond. Bucklands Complete Book of Witchcraft. Llewellyn Publications, MN. 1986, 2002. Print. De Angeles, Ly. Witchcraft: Theory and Practice. 1st ed. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2001. Print. Essentials of Faith: Paganism. Films Media Group, 2006. Films On Demand. Web. Retrieved from: Hoyt, Charles Alva. Witchcraft. 2nd ed. Illinois: Southern Illinois Univ Pr, 1989. Print. The "Kitchen Goddess": The Reemergence of the Village Psychic. Films Media Group, 1999. Films On Demand. Web. Retrieved from: Read More