During the eighth and ninth centuries, laws regulating Witchcraft became much more prevalent. Some of these laws made sense and seem reasonable by today's standards. For example, Charemagne made human sacrifice a crime punishable by death.
It's impossible to separate Magick and Witchcraft. Although not all Magick falls under te broad title of Witchcraft, all Witches practice Magick in one form or another. At the dawn of the human race, when people first came to understand cause and effect, they began trying to explain the mysteries of earth and the heavens. If a wind blew down...
The worldview of most Witches bears a similarity to that of the shaman. Like shamans, Witches see the Earth as a living, breathing entity to be honored and protected, not a place to conquer and control. Every living thing in this world - and the planet itself - possesses a Spirit, a unique energy pattern or resonance. As a result...
The Witch's body houses his Soul. Witches who believe in reincarnation - and most do - regard Earth as a place of learning. Their time on this planet is spent gaining and applying knowledge in ways that can only be accomplished on the physical plane. The eventual goal, however, is to stop the cycle of reincarnation so the Soul...
Christianity has its heaven. Buddhism has nirvana. Where do Witches go when they die? Many of them believe that their Souls go to Summerland, a resting place before reincarnation into new bodies, in an ongoing cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth.
Starhawk, one of the foremost figures in the modern revival of Witchcraft, lists immanence, interconnectedness, and community as the three core principles or values of Goddess-based religion. Immanence means that all life on earth is an embodiment of the Divine and therefore sacred. You and everyone else are manifestations of the God and Goddess.
Are there "bad" Witches who use their knowledge and power for personal gain and ill will? Yes, of course, just as there are "bad" Christians, "bad" Muslims, and so on. People are people.
Witches and Wiccans approach Magick in very personal ways - ways that can be incredibly complex or very simple. Kitchen and Hedge Witches, for example, generally practice pragmatic, uncomplicated Magick, much of which originates in folklore. Hedge Witches traditionally do not belong to a Coven. Solitary practitioners, they depend on self-study,...
The Threefold Law translates as What goes around comes around, not just once but three times. This seems to be a very good reason to make sure your motives are positive. Although karma is an Eastern term, you can see versions of karmic law expressed in the Christian concept that what you sow so shall you reap. Essentially, it's the...
By the way, it's good to remember that a male Witch or Wiccan is not called a Warlock. He is a Witch or Wiccan, too. Warlock derived from an Old English word for oath breaker; later, during the mid-1400s, the word came to mean liar (whether the person was male or female). So to call a male Witch a...