The Path of a Christian Witch (7 page)

The Word does not only relate to the spoken or written word. It is a way of describing the form you want your will to take. Will is like a ruby red wine. You cannot have it unless it is in some sort of container. Imagine wine being poured into a glass. Will, like the wine, takes the shape of the container you give it. It is accessible to you in its new, functional form. The universe can then serve it for you, exactly the way you want it.

Withdrawal

I understood magic, and I knew that with practice I would grow and learn more. I was building a magical identity slowly, surrounding myself with my symbols and reading the language of the universe as it surrounded me. But the shadowy figure standing in the doorway would not go away.

I sat fidgeting in front of my altar, unable to concentrate. I had completed all the required coursework and exercises for my level one at Crescent Moon School. The third and final part was approaching and I was dreading it: gods and goddesses. We were to go through the main deity figures in different cultures in order to find a god and a goddess that were our own. We had to research the associations with these deity figures and the mythology associated with them. They would become our guiding principles, our sources of inspiration, and our allies on our path. We would present them in a ritual and ask for their blessing in front of our classmates. I hadn’t told anyone about my continued Christian affiliations, but I could keep my cover no longer. I was now busted.

I looked at my altar. It was completely empty. I could never make up my mind about what to put on it. When I was doing magic, I usually put up a representation of the elements and that was it. But there were none of the usual objects: no pentacle, no deity representation, no wand, no athame. I had been telling myself that the emptiness was a way of representing that I was keeping my options open. However, in the mood I was in right now, it was a painful reminder of how much I lacked a true core in my beliefs.

I loved each new discovery in magic and energy work, the connectedness with nature, and the participation in ritual. But choosing deity figures from mythological pantheons was beyond what I could live with. Should I choose a pair of deities that looked interesting—research them, pretend profound devotion—so that I could go on with my studies undetected? How would others react if I told them that I found mythology interesting, laden with useful moral lessons and metaphors, but that to me that’s all it was: mythology? I couldn’t stand in ritual and invoke Isis’ help and guidance. It meant nothing to me. I felt like a cheat and an imposter.

I was to be married in little over one month. I was about to receive a sacrament of the Catholic Church in front of my family, friends, and community. I was still trying to justify to myself the harmlessness of my newfound passion for Witchcraft. Adding worship to a new deity form was more than my fragile psyche could endure at the moment.

I looked out the window at the sky. What was God, and what did he want from me? This was not a quest that I could set on right now.

I picked up the phone and called my teacher. I withdrew from Crescent Moon.

I had come to a point where I had to make clear in my head what was important to me. There were three choices available to me: (1) go back to a purely Christian practice, (2) become completely Pagan, or (3) integrate the two traditions into a uniform practice, one that could stand trial to any contradiction that I could be faced with. I could not live without Jesus, and Pagan philosophy had become an inherent part of my daily life. I had no choice but to do my best to integrate my faith, hoping that I would not lose my mind in the process.

I first had to define what it meant for me to be a Witch and what it meant for me to be Christian.

What Is a Witch?

There are probably as many definitions of Witchcraft as there are Witches. The word
Witch
is derived from the Germanic root
wic
, which means “to bend.” A Witch is therefore a person who bends or shapes the world using magic. The word is also linked to the Old English term
wicce
, meaning “wise one.” Thus, Witchcraft is the craft of the wise.

Pagani
is a Latin term for country dwellers, those close to the earth. Historically, country dwellers who retained their folklore and devotions to the land came to be known as
Pagans
. As the unholy Inquisition took hold of Europe, most practitioners of the Craft were pushed underground. It was not until the 1950s that information on Witchcraft started to filter out of England, mainly through the publications of Gerald Gardner. A number of individuals came forth, claiming to have a direct line of knowledge from traditional Witches. These individuals started their own traditions, giving initiations to a select few and passing on their knowledge. This was the beginning of the modern interest in Witchcraft, or what is now called
Wicca
.

One of these individuals, Raymond Buckland, a disciple of Gardner, brought his teachings to America. Covens and traditions started to spring up throughout the world, starting a Neo-Pagan revolution. This history is marked with many squabbles over the legitimacy of traditions and the validity of initiations. Scott Cunningham’s work on solitary practice brought about a change in the elitist view of Witchcraft and brought a new acknowledgment of the solitary practitioner, which had until then been considered as illegitimate by practitioners of organized traditions. From then on, Witchcraft became more widely accessible, and with this new momentum a series of books, groups, and associations saw the light. Yet it still remains a widely unregimented practice.

Witchcraft, in my use of the word, encompasses a wide range of mythology and religious practices, a veneration of all nature, and the use of magic to effect change. The magic practiced in Witchcraft is very much akin to the magic of the crone of old, in her cottage in the woods. It uses spellcasting, charging of objects as charms, and the concoction of potions, to name a few techniques. It is very much earth based, using the earth energies and the cycles of the moon to manifest change. I love to ritualize on a whim in the light of the moon or under a particularly beautiful tree. I love to smell the wind for signs of things to come. I love to throw my hands up in the air and give thanks to the powers that are for my blessings. That is my practice and that is why I have affinities for Witchcraft.

A Witch walks the world in complete awareness. The whole world is her sacred sanctuary, and through the world she is connected to all that is. She sees in nature the expression of the Divine and she communes with it directly. She is her own Priestess. She has the gift of Sight, for she knows that there is much that the eyes don’t see. She gains wisdom from all manners of unseen guides in the silence of her inner sanctuary. And always she gives thanks to the Creative Force that sustains our world—the God and the Goddess, whose love manifests in the bounty of the land. She follows the monthly cycle of the moon and the yearly cycle of the sun, for these are manifestations of her Lord and Lady. She performs rituals and conjures magic under moonlit skies, ever mindful of the Wiccan Rede: “An you harm none, do what you will.” (
An
, in this old sense of the word, means “if.”) She is a seeker of wisdom and of peace within. The Charge of the Goddess is clear: “Know that if what thou seekest, thou findest not within, thou shall not find it without.” We are all connected by the mystery of the Web of Life. What makes one stronger and wiser and joyful, makes all so.

In summary

A Witch worships the God and the Goddess.

She venerates the gods and goddesses of ancient-world pantheons.

She performs magic in the form of spells and rituals.

She considers all of nature to be sacred.

She walks between the worlds, the tangible one and the universal unseen.

She can be part of a coven or a tradition, or work as a
solitary.

She follows the Wiccan Rede, the Threefold Law, and the Charge of the Goddess, which reminds us that “thy seeking and yearning will avail thee not, unless thou knowest the mystery: that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, then thou wilt never find it without thee. For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.”
[3]

What Does It Mean to Be Christian?

The word
Christian
is an adjective; it means “of Christ.” Traditionally, this means being baptized into one of the branches of Christianity. The three biggest branches of Christianity are Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Protestantism; these divisions have arisen through conflicts in dogma. Charismatic churches have also sprung up throughout the world. Many people are going back to a more familial type of group worship based on revelation and the study of the Scriptures. Some groups have also stemmed from a charismatic leader who, having received divine revelation, set out on apostolic missions to spread the new gospel he had received.

I thought that defining what it means to be a Witch was going to be the hard part of this exercise. After all, there are no official institutions to regulate the Craft. But defining what it means to be Christian in this day and age proves to be infinitely more difficult. Politics and social propaganda obscure the spiritual core of Christianity. There are so many denominations and so many beliefs, rules, and dictates that divide us as Christians. These rules have very little to do, as far as I am concerned, with the Christian faith itself. Jesus himself rebuked those who followed the law blindly, without consideration for what was right and loving. The Christianity that is close to my heart belongs to a simpler time.

Simply put, Christians are those who follow the teachings of Christ. Christ came to the humble and the unlearned. He did not come only to the wise and the powerful. That is because God’s teachings are simple. They can be grasped by all of us, without intercession. Jesus taught us about God in the most fundamental way, in a way unclogged by philosophy. Like little children, he told us stories so that we might learn by example, so that we would not forget his most important teachings. He reminds us that it is in simplicity that we meet God, in a state of complete humility. Had it been otherwise, wouldn’t Jesus himself have come to us in full glory, completely revealed in his godly state? Wouldn’t his precursor and kin, John, have trampled the Temple with his followers and demanded submission from the High Priest himself ? The teachings of Jesus are simple indeed. Following his instructions is what makes us Christians, disciples of Christ.

Jesus taught us humility and love above all. Humility is what allows us to put others’ needs before our own. When we serve others in this manner, we allow compassion to spread like a wildfire throughout the earth.

Jesus taught us to be free and unattached so that we may follow the Spirit wherever it leads us.

He taught us to love without discrimination.

He taught us to fight for what is right and to live with passion.

He taught us to keep our eyes open and to keep an open mind. In the simplicity of our hearts lies the truth. In this sacred space, our Lord whispers to us. These private conversations overrule all laws and dictates thrown at us by the authorities. He taught us through his own life. He followed his truth at the expense of the Laws of the Elders, causing him to have many enemies among the Jewish authorities. He passed on this truth to his church, to us who believe in him and follow his truth. We are his church. The only “laws” we are bound to are the laws of love that we have been taught. He taught us to respect life and that the value of this life was irrespective of rank, gender, religion, ethnicity, or religious decree. The teachings are simple. This is all we need to live by.

So, who will lead us? The only source we can trust is Jesus himself. At the very beginning, the church lived on the revelation of its disciples. It had no texts of law or dogma. It grew from revelation. We have to look to the past to reclaim what it used to mean to be Christian. We had just received the wisdom of our Lord; we still remembered the sound of his voice and his teachings were still fresh in our minds. Back then, we used to gather in a simple place in remembrance of the greatness that had transformed our lives.

How do we get back to that essence? Who can we trust to tell us the way it used to be, the way Jesus wanted it all to become? Because, in the end, that is
all
that matters. In our own inner sanctum, stripped of our own worldly pursuits, with our hearts wide open, we can still recognize the voice of our Lord. We still remember.

A New Creed

What is it that I believe, deep in my core? What parts of Christianity are non-negotiable for me? What is my “apostles’ creed”?

I believe in the Almighty, who created all there is.

I believe that he sent Jesus to teach us about him and so he may learn about us.

In order to do this, Jesus was born of a woman, a mission she chose freely and with full knowledge.

Jesus, God as man, embraced humanity completely.

Jesus taught us to love above all and to live with an open heart.

He died on a cross and was resurrected from the dead, symbol of hope and that life stands above all, even death.