There’s NO “D/evil” in Me

A few years ago I was at an event giving free witch’s rune readings.  It was a very low-key venue until this “nice” older woman walked up to me and tried to save my soul.  Seriously!  As a Wiccan, the concept of “coexist” is something I live, not just something I glue to my bumper, so I tried to talk her through her “intervention.”  Unfortunately, her mind was made up about me and she wouldn’t hear anything I said.  Normally I would shake off this kind of experience but this time it really got me thinking about the misconceptions people have about Wicca and Witchcraft.  Now that I’m done stewing about the experience, I’m ready to learn from it and hopefully help you, dear reader, in the process.

As a Wiccan Witch, my religion is woven into everything I do, not just when I practice the Craft.  In fact, my whole worldview includes being able to see AND respect the Divine in all things.  For me, the Divine is in balance and perfectly natural.  It has the ability to both create and destroy.  Think of rain and the variety of forms it can come in – shower, storm, hurricane.  In each of these forms, there are both creative and destructive forces coexisting.  Even as a hurricane rampages and destroys an area, aren’t the seeds of renewal planted at the same time?

Another important aspect of my beliefs is that I don’t actually worship the divine.  I respect it completely in all of its forms (though right now seeing and respecting the divine in the flies in my house is proving to be quite challenging) and have a relationship with it.  In my relationship with the Goddess and the God, I never ask them to provide for me or to do for me.  I am not a passenger on the path that is my life.  Instead, I invoke their aid so that I have the strength/wisdom/power needed to do for myself what I need/want to be done.

By the same token, we don’t worship nature either.  As both a Wiccan and a Witch, I have a strong kinship with nature because I believe all things are connected by the Divine.  Nature and all of her energies follow a rhythm, that when tapped into, allows us to work in harmony together.  My relationship with nature is respectful and caring, and always cognizant of the sacred.

One of the most irritating and frankly damaging misconceptions is that the devil lives in me and that I am somehow in league with Satan.  While there ARE Satanic Witches, it is their individual choices to include this entity in their craft.  Believe it or not, there can also be Christian Witches as well.  Honestly, most pagans, and every Wiccan I have ever met, reject the Christian framework that categorizes one entity as all good and another as all evil.  The devil is a Christian construct, and as such has very little place in the Craft or Wicca.

And finally, animal and ritual sacrifice is highly uncommon among pagans and witches alike.  If I respect the divine in all things, I’m definitely not going to sacrifice that divinity to try to get something I want (you have no idea how happy this makes Mr. Fuzzy Pants, my cat).  If I am doing a ritual or casting a spell that requires a sacrifice, it has to be something personal to me (like giving up cuss words or caffeine) or it has no meaning and no power; a sacrifice isn’t something you take from an innocent (like his or her life).  Remember, as a Wiccan and Witch (I really need to come up with some kind of catchy phrase for that like Wiccitch or Witcchan) I have a RELATIONSHIP with my deities, I am not some kind of cowering, mindless supplicant begging for scraps.  I see the Goddess and God as part of my family, my inner circle.  If your inner circle requires a blood sacrifice to stay happy, you may be hanging out with the wrong crowd!

As a Witcchan, I live by a simple rede: do what you will but harm ye none.  My purpose in this life, this place and time, is simply to nurture, protect, and guide.  I am a conduit for the energies around me, infusing them with purpose and intent as needed to meet these goals.  In all that I do, I strive to honor and respect the divine, even in those I don’t agree with.  I am a being of light and while I’m not without my own shadows, there is no “D/evil” in me or my Craft.

Blessed be,

Rain