Lots of people want to know what the 'proper' way to be initiated into Witchcraft might be. There are many groups around that 'claim' they have the 'right' kind of initiation. But looking back into history we find out what went on historically.
Most Witches Covens don't have a history to report. If they do, it often does not include an initiation. In this post we will discover why an initiation is important, what it means, and how to do one.
WHY IS AN INITIATION IMPORTANT?
As stated in an earlier post, COVEN 1658 is 'Sovereign'. This means we are fully unrelated to any other group of witches since our inception prior to 1576, and again in 1658. To briefly review our history, a woman named Bessie Dunlop was approached by the ghost of a man named Thomas Reid. He invited her to meet the Fairies, but challenged her to give up her commitment to all-good, and she refused. Thus passing this 'test' he took her to meet the Fairies out in a nearby forest, where they counted her worthy to become initiated with their magic. (Coven 1658 does not use the spelling 'magick' because that's a modern invention, and not historic for us; but if you like it better, you may use it; also, the computer self-corrects the spelling and its just not fun to go back and keep 'fixing' the word... anyway...) The Fairies were real and Bessie Dunlop's official court records reveal much about her meeting with them. To initiate her with their magic, the Fairy Queen extended unto her a scepter, called 'The Silver Bough', which was a wand that transferred the Fairy magic, stored in the full moon's light, to Bessie Dunlop for her access, provided that she use it for good at all times. she was told she would loose access to this magic if she ever used it for evil purposes and she agreed, which is, of course, why they chose to initiate her. They also told her that if she did not pass this access to magic down through initiation to others who had committed to use it for good, it would be lost forever - they would not re-initiate her, and it could not be accessed just because someone desired to have it; the Fairies had to give permission to access it, in order for anyone to gain use of these powers. She was told that should she accidentally use this magic for malevolence, she could become re-empowered at the night of the next full moon, provided she had genuinely renounced evil within her heart, as could any other person she initiated. She was told to bring her wand to each Full Moon (called an Esbat), and by re-empowering it, she would be able to return home to re-empower all her other tools, both new and established.
In this history, we have some rules for an initiation. The first 'rule' is, you can't just go anywhere and become 'initiated'. If a Coven does not have a historical lineage back in time to the Fairies, who guard this magick and distribute it through the full moon light, you won't be able to access it. You can stand under the light of the full moon for hours, month after month and never gain an ounce of power, if the person or Coven initiating you has no power to give you. This power has to come from the Fairies, and has to be passed down to you from someone who has received it in a traceable lineage back to its origin - back to Bessie Dunlop, who first received it from the Fairies themselves. This is at least the way COVEN 1658 has received power to work magic. We can not comment on any other individual, group or coven of witches and how they were given permission to access magic powers, or what type of magic powers they were given to use. There are many kinds of energies out there and an individual, group or coven can do many things - they can 'say' they have power, when they don't; they can access power by mistake or accident, when they have no right to use it; they can gain access to magic and use it to bring harm when they should not and the power will return to them as karma, bringing them a return of harm if the Divine so decides to send it to them. COVEN 1658 can not guarantee any other source of power or form of it except that which we were given to share, through our initiation process, which passes down a literal and real access to these powers.
Further, each person is a different personality. Some people are more talented at accessing power, visualizing it, and blending their own intention with that power, to sent it out to do its 'work'. Some people just aren't good at it. They may have been given it, but things don't work for them magically because they lack natural talent, which largely develops with practice. Other people have a natural ability to access magic without any initiation at all, which may be because they are hereditary witches, and haven't been informed of this special gift.
COVEN 1658's goal is to initiate others so the benevolent magic of the Good Fairies can continue, just as Bessie Dunlop promised them it would...and just as the Hierophant, John Guillieland, and his High Priestess, Violat Guillieland, committed to do after Violat's escape from the Scottish Witch Trials in 1658 (and John's execution). Their wish was to share this good, healing, helping magic with others who would commit to doing only good with it, so that this special gift would not be lost to the world.
Many Covens expect people to go through classes, spend money, learn, learn, learn....and jump through a lot of 'hoops'. COVEN 1658 does not expect this of anyone prior to their initiation. Instead we want your commitment to DO GOOD at ALL TIMES with the magic we initiate others with. We know that if only a person commits to do good with the magic they are given, then good will happen. Those truly interested in magic will commit to COVEN 1658 as a means of helping this coven become restored in the modern world, and proudly claim their membership in COVEN 1658 as a member of an historical coven that dates back to its two beginnings - one prior to 1576, and the other in 1658. They will re-tell the story of our Coven's origin to everyone, and initiate others into this good magic and will not try to change their religion, provided it is a religion that embraced only good. This is not 'Wicca' - it is not a religion. It is a DISCIPLINE. A discipline of identifying energy in natural objects and combining that energy with personal will to create positive transformation in our world, in order to help and heal the Divine, Self, Others and our Earth. Much of this can be done by personal commitment, personal choice, and mundane activities, such as picking up that trash on the roadside, or riding your bike to the grocery store instead of taking the car, or giving extra money to a charity, and by never disparaging a religion that many groups of witches try to condemn (Christianity). It is our duty to love those who brought us harm in the past. Perhaps they have something to learn about themselves and us. In fact, some of us may be Christians and we need to go back to those we know and encourage them learn to love others at all times, and let the Divine make the judgment calls.
So about this initiation...how is it done? COVEN 1658 is not about 'difficult rituals'. Becoming a COVEN 1658 Witch is really a matter of your commitment to our Coven and to doing good with the powers you have been allowed access to. Here is the basic instructions to the Rite of Initiation. This Rite does not dis-connect you from your religion of choice, if you do not wish for a disconnection. You can go on to continue practicing your religion as you always have. All we ask is that your religion be one that embraces 'all-good' and that you renounce 'all-evil', including any deity names mentioned in ANY religion that represent malevolence.
INITIATION INSTRUCTIONS: This initiation must be done on the night of a FULL MOON, NO EXCEPTIONS. It would break tradition to perform it at any other time, and because the magic you will be given access to is stored in the light of the Full Moon, the only time you can access this magic through initiation is on the night of the Full Moon.
WHAT DOES AN INITIATION INTO COVEN 1658 MEAN?
In short, it means you are a witch, exclusively dedicated to the COVEN 1658 Tradition and to no other Coven. We realize we can not force anyone to be exclusive with us, but it is important to us and we ask you to please be exclusive. We have many reasons for asking this. For one thing, we are an historical coven, and we need to have people be fully dedicated to rebuilding this coven, which is still recovering from the burning times. 400 years have gone by, approximately, and we are only now gaining the bravery to share this knowledge with others. Sharing this knowledge is a big step for us. We hope you will take this seriously, and help us re-build this coven with your full dedication to us and no others. For another thing, when people participate in several organizations its very easy to say, "Well, how we do it in the other place is...." and then replace our traditional, historic procedures with those of another group - a group that may be modern, and have no link to the era of our origins. For this reason, we wish to keep our procedures pure. We are 'Sovereign' for a reason - we are unrelated to any other group of Witches and have remained so since 1658. Now is hardly the time to begin changing things. In fact, we desire to keep things as they have always been. that's what makes us a 'tradition' that is 'historical'. We appreciate your dedication to helping us accomplish this in advance - THANKS!
HOW TO PERFORM THE INITIATION INTO COVEN 1658
1. By initiating into COVEN 1658, you are committing to be EXCLUSIVE with Coven 1658 and NO OTHER COVEN. This is because other covens may teach things that are in conflict with COVEN 1658 principles. Further, we do not want you to bring into our coven practices any other practices, since it is our goal to keep Coven 1658's methods historically pure. To work with any other Coven will eventually cause people to bring in different methods and then Coven 1658 will not be a pure tradition any more. We only ask of you 2 things - to be exclusive to our coven, and to only work magic for the purposes of good.
On the night of a full moon, collect a goblet of apple juice, and a plate of white, circle shaped cookies of your choice. Set them upon a table near a wall mirror, or if you don't have one, a standing, table mirror will suffice. If you wish, you can perform this Rite outside beneath the FULL MOON. This initiation must be done on the night of the FULL MOON after dark. It will not work on any other night. Upon the table, also lay a silver pendent that is in the shape of a 'Triskele' (a Celtic 3 pointed knotwork design); this Triskele is your symbol of initiation into COVEN 1658; it can be any Triskele design you like so long as it does not depict any form of evil. It should be silver, or at least silver colored. You will ALSO need to 'MAKE' a necklace that contains the numbers 1658; you can make this necklace from beads that have numbers upon them. You can, of course order numbers from an on-line bead wearhouse, or you can paint the numbers on beads until you have the time, or money, to purchase numerical beads. The '1658' necklace is your connection and commitment to be a member of COVEN 1658 exclusively, and to never join another coven. Coven 1658 gives you great freedom, and only asks you to align with all-good. It is the best coven to be a member of. It is also one of the few truly historical covens that offers membership to everyone FOR FREE. This is because COVEN 1658 is a genuine coven - we are not out to 'cash in' on you. We really, truly need to pass on this initiation so that the magick we gained from the benevolent Fairies can continue on. This is the most important reason our current High Priestess is responsible for COVEN 1658. Passing on this special endowment is not about money. It is about preservation of this historical coven. Upon the table also have a white pillar candle and matches. Also have a wand. You may purchase any wand you like, or you can go out into the back yard, or a park and pick up a natural wood branch that is approximately 22 inches in length and about 1 inch in diameter. You can leave it completely natural if you want, or you can sand it, shellac it, paint it with glitter, and glue on gem stones, to it. You can wind fabric, or ribbon around it, and you can even carve your name in its side and your date of initiation if you want to. Yes, there are many 'mystical' alphabets out there, but for initiation, you have not been introduced to these things, and so, using your own alphabet and your own language is just fine. the purpose of the wand is to operate as a transport device of the magick contained in the moon's light to you during your initiation. A 'meaningful' color for this wand is silver, because, that is the color the scepter was when the Fairies first initiated Bessie Dunlop. But all of this is completely unnecessary. If you can but acquire a branch of the designated size, you can become initiated into COVEN 1658.
2. Take a 'preparatory' bath. This bath represents your willingness to enter into benevolence and healing practices using the power the Fairies have given COVEN 1658 access to have. The water should be pure - don't put any bubble bath in it, do not float herbs in it, or any other such thing. When you disrobe to get into the bathtub (not shower), you are removing your connection to the bad deeds you performed from that moment backwards. You are, in essence, renouncing evil when you take off your street clothing. Get into the tub, and give yourself a good scrub down. But think about not only scrubbing the daily dirt of the physical experience, but also the mental 'dirt' of your attraction to evil and bad deeds, which everyone is attracted to. You don't have to think about specific evils you have done, only focus on your desire to stop the attraction to doing wrong, whatever it is. Focus on how you will make better choice not to bring harm or unhappiness to the Divine, Self, Others and our Earth, and make a special commitment to recognizing when harm comes to others because of your choices. Realize that part of choosing to do good, is to recognize harm and choose to stay away from it, which can be difficult at times. When you get out of the tub, and dry off, wear a robe you have selected to represent your initiation into COVEN 1658. As an Elizabethan Era Coven, we recommend a simple, long, black gown. To better picture this gown, look up 'Morticia Addams' on the internet. She was a character in an American comedy program in the 1960's, and her attire is 'classic witch'; there can be no better depiction of a classic witches attire than hers. This gown is your attire when you attend Esbats (full moon re-empowerments), as well as Sabbats (the Celtic Feasts), and also when you work to help clients who come to you. Because Witchcraft is a vocation, you must dress professionally, and 'this' is the professional attire of a classic witch. It is also a very affordable outfit, and does not show stains or wear. Further, if you are on a budget, it is a classic enough pattern, that some people might be able to make it. If you are a man. You may wear an all-black men's gown or robe, or a man's professional black slacks, white business shirt, and dark tie. A COVEN 1658 Witch is not expected to wear this attire to their job. Dress normally when you work, go shopping, go to restaurants and so on.
3. When you are done dressing, groom yourself nicely. Witches are well groomed and professional looking. Even if they practice solitary (alone). Then go and stand before your table. Light your white candle with the matches.
4. Looking into your mirror, pick up your wand, and your Triskele pendent, and your '1658' necklace; holding them up together with both hands, raise the wand and triskele pendent, and '1658' necklace upward and point the tip of the wand to the Moon. This act channels the magic contained in the moon to you, giving you access to this magic, with the permission of the benevolent Fairies. This act also charges the wand so that it can transfer this benevolent magick to your other witches tools as you acquire them, and it also seals this magick into your Triskele and '1658' pendants, which is very, very important.
5. Look straight into the mirror and say, "I commit to practice the Art, Metaphysical Science, Vocation and Culture of Coven 1658 Witchcraft, using benevolence in all my thoughts, words and actions from here forth in my use of magic powers, as endowed to me this night by the benevolent Fairies initiated Bessie Dunlop, and through whom the Hierophant, John Guillieland and his High Priestess, Violat Guillieland, it was handed down through an unbroken link until today. I ask permission to have access to this magic which is stored in the moon's light, knowing that, should I ever use this power for any malevolence or evil at any time, it will be retracted from me at my own choice, until such time as I genuinely renounce evil; only then can I return at the next Esbat to become re-empowered with this magic. That said, I commit to returning at every moon, in every month, to re-commit to doing good with this magick and to become re-empowered with this benevolent magic which the Fairies endowed to all who are dedicated to Coven 1658 exclusively. this night I have become a Traditional Witch of Coven 1658, practicing Celtic White Witchcraft. I thank the current High Priestess Moon Goddess, who has given this initiation to me for my good and benevolent use at all times. I further take on the ethical regulations to 'Do what I will and harm none', recognizing that 'what I do will return to me multiplied', and therefore I take these regulations seriously in regard to the Divine, Self, Others and the Earth. I am a Witch this night in the profound and exclusive, historical COVEN 1658, So Mote It Be.
6. Lay the wand down on the table. Pick up the goblet of apple juice. Say, "This goblet of ale represents the Celtic symbol of immortality. May I always live to do good and not evil. Let my drinking of this Goblet seal unto me my initiation into COVEN 1658, So Mote it be." Then drink the contents of the goblet in full.
7. Take a round, circle-shaped cookie from the plate and say, "This cake represents the Moon above me, where in is stored the magic of the benevolent Fairies, who have given COVEN 1658 the privilege of sharing it through this initiation process. By eating this cake, I agree to use this magic for benevolent and good purposes only, and seal my commitment to this use of magic for good purposes only, So Mote It Be." Eat the Cake.
8. By eating the cakes and ale, you have asked to have the best kind of benevolent magic endowed to your access and use. You have committed to using your best and most benevolent acts in every day life as well as in Magic and spell-working procedures. there has been an exchange made - an agreement between you and the Fairies who first initiated Bessie Dunlop, and through whom it was given to the Hierophant John Guillieland, and his High Priestess, Violat Guillieland, who sacrificed much to keep it alive and pass it down to this era. You have promised the current High Priestess of Coven 1658 that you will use this magic for good only. But most of all, you have promised yourself that you will use magic to help and not harm at all times, and you know that should you attempt to use this magic for evil, it will be retracted from you until you can genuinely renounce evil in mind and action; only then can you return to the Esbat/Full Moon and re-empower. You are expected to return to the Esbat/Full Moon every month for the sole purpose of becoming re-empowered with this benevolent Fairy Magic. Should you miss an Esbat, your magic will grow weak. If you remember to re-empower on the Esbat/Full Moon, your magic will grow stronger. You are also allowed to help others become initiated into COVEN 1658. They must also abide by the same commitment to be exclusively dedicated to COVEN 1658, and no other coven, just as you have, and to wear the two amulets - the triskele and the '1658'; these amulets are 'keys' to your access to power through the month until the next moon and without them, you will not be able to gain access to the power of the benevolent Fairies.
9. Put on the Triskele pendent, and the '1658' necklace- these, have now become AMULETS (and are not pendants any more) - they are now protective, charged objects that contain the power of the moon in them, and the benevolent Fairy Magic is held inside each of these AMULETS. These AMULETS will protect you from negative energy, and will help you remember to make good decisions to do good and stay away from evil. You must wear them at all times because they are your 'keys' to keeping this benevolent power with you. If you loose these AMULETS, or if they become stolen, their power will automatically be cut off, so no one else will be able to accidentally use the power that was given to you alone. You will have to get another pendent and charge it at the next Esbat/Full Moon, in the re-empowerment rite.
10. The Initiation Rite has ended. You may go and do other things, for example, if you have attended with other persons, you may enjoy refreshments. If you are alone, you may wish to work a spell, or read for your educational purposes about magic.
11. At the next full moon, repeat this initiation - it is your re-empowerment Rite. Perform it exactly as written. It can not be changed or altered. If you have any other persons wishing to become initiated, you must give them access to this blog so they can perform it; you may help them perform it as well. You may re-empower at the next Esbat as a Solitary practitioner, or you may re-empower with others who are sincere in being exclusively dedicated to COVEN 1658.
REVIEW: This concludes instructions for the COVEN 1658 initiation process. Please remember that ANY act of malevolence will weaken or even prevent your access to the benevolent Fairy powers. But that you may re-empower and have renewed access to them at the next full moon, provided that you genuinely renounce evil and malevolence. Further, you are expected to re-empower, using this same rite at every full moon. To neglect to do so will weaken your powers; to re-empower at every Esbat keeps your powers strong; they will grow over time as you learn to use them better and better. You must wear your two AMULETS every day - the Triskele, and the '1658' pendents that have been charged with 1658 Magic; they are 'KEY' to your access to power at all times. If you loose them you will have to get new ones and charge them at the next Esbat. No one else will be able to use the AMULETS that were charged for your use, not even another COVEN 1658 MEMBER. You have committed to doing only good with your magic, and to only represent COVEN 1658. You have great power and great freedom in your quest to use magic for good. Welcome to COVEN 1658!
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Spell Crafting and Casting 101
How does a Traditional, Celtic, White Witch in Coven 1658 craft a spell? Its actually very simple. Traditional Witches usually have a much easier means to craft and cast spells than those practicing Wicca, which is filled with more ceremony, because it is a religion.
We skip the 'religious' aspect, and reserve our religious feelings for times we attend church, synagogue, or other religious places we might attend. We remember that Christian faith is the religion that ultimately condemned us, but also ultimately saved us from the Witch trials in the long run...many persons practicing Traditional Witchcraft during the burning times, like our early High Priestesses, and Hierophant, Bessie Dunlop, Violat Guillieland and John Guillieland, were Celtic Christians, or eventually joined with the Presbyterian church. Scholars and many writers have discovered that many historical witches converted to the Presbyterian Faith as a means to escape the Witch Trials. Its very possible that this is what Violat did, since the family remained Presbyterian until this very day (some converted to Baptist, by the way, but in the 1600's Batpists were considered heretics and were given a very hard time, and some were accused of Witchcraft as well!)
Crafting a spell is the research involved in planning it. We take into consideration the following and may or may not use 'coordinates' in our spell work. 'Coordinates' are lists of items and what they 'do' with energy. Many Wiccans use coordinates in spell work because they feel it is very important to match the energy in one natural object with the energy in another natural object. While Traditional Witches find these lists helpful, we focus more on what has meaning for us personally. For example, a yellow rose usually means friendship. But it may symbolize something completely different for 'us' - it may be the symbol of a family member or romance partner, or it may symbolize something related to a job or other situation. Therefore, instead of reading a list and determining that we should only use a yellow rose for a spell related to friendship relationships, we may use its energy to attract the energies that bring together what is personal for 'us'. This means that the only real 'rule' is: what symbols have to do with the situation at hand for 'you'? Some people may not have much creativity in this matter, and therefore, COVEN 1658 does not discourage the use of pre-written lists of 'coordinates'. All we encourage our adherents to do is think of what is important to your spell before you use a pre-written list of coordinates, that's all.
Second, we use ELEMENTAL energy in spell work. This means we use the five elements - EARTH, AIR, FIRE, WATER, AND AETHER. Aether? What's that?!?!?! And what happened to 'SPIRIT'?
Everything on our earth and in our universe was once categorized by Alchemists in the ancient world into 5 categories - earth, air, fire, water and aether. Elements related to earth are soil, minerals like salt or iron, ashes, and this sort of thing. The element of Air includes anything that can form a vapor, thus things like smoke, incense, fragrance from perfume or flowers is considered air. Fire is an element related to anything when it burns, which includes just about any other element, but usually includes things that are characteristically meant to burn, such as wood, candles, incense, charcoal, and so on. Water is any liquid - water, milk, wine, juice, and anything else liquid. Aether is a word that literally means 'the greater cosmos' and thus refers to anything lying beyond our earth, including the moon, stars, sun, and the zodiac. As you can see, 'spirit' is not included as an 'element'. It is not included in COVEN 1658's understanding of the Five Elements. So what 'is' spirit then?
Spirit is your own intention - the part of you that can not be seen, your mind set, your attitude, your wishes...you intention. Spirit is the energy that you yourself put into the spell, and combine it with the other five elements. It is 'your' spirit, that combines with the energy you 'unlock' from the five elements, and send out to return with answers to your requests.
By 'Spirit' we do not mean the 'Divine' or the Ancestors. We do not forbid or encourage our adherents to include the Divine in their spells, because we do not teach theology. Even so we would like to point out that one can invite the Divine, but can never force the Divine to do one's bidding. Instead the Divine permits your intentions to be answered. Likewise we teach our adherents that extending an invitation to the Ancestors is acceptable, and their wisdom is to be honored. The things their life-stories can teach us is always considered invaluable. We must point out again that when we do use the term 'Divine' we only mean the benevolent Divine, and that any Ancestors that may come only bring peace and healing, never disruption, fear or harm.
The 'science' of crafting a spell is our own research in selecting what elements to use in a spell, and then finding objects in that element's category to use in our spell. Selecting objects, whether natural or man-made lie inside the personal experience factor, because objects retain personal energy from their user, as well as attract energy related to that personal situation. When one cannot think of an object to use that relates to the spell on a personal level, 'then' one can consult a 'coordinate's' list for ideas.
The 'art' of spell crafting is determining 'how' to set up the spell and then carrying out the spell's set up. Begin by writing a list of words down related to the intention - what is it you want to achieve? What is important? write a list of words that describe what it is you wish to accomplish - a new job? finding romance? having more organization in your life? having a better attitude? gaining harmony in the home? becoming a better cook? focusing on your health? Whatever it is you wish to accomplish, begin with a list.
Next, brainstorm ways you can and should achieve this goal 'without' using a spell. Magick often does not work until all other options have been exhausted. Miracles don't happen when there are perfectly good natural means to gain the result. If you wish for more money, can you honestly say that you deserve it? Are you a spend-thrift, and waste money at every turn? Maybe the universe would rather give extra money to someone who is good with money but hard on their luck, rather than let someone who is a spend-thrift waste the money on frivolous things. Do you need to work on your health? Perhaps you should make a decision to eat better, cut out salt, smoking or alcohol, and take up some gentle exercise like yoga or walking (with the advisement of your personal physician, of course!). Do you want more organization or harmony at home? (the two are often related...). Maybe you could make a choice to spend 15 minutes every day de-cluttering and taking a bag of used goods to the thrift store, which would make your life more organized and, with a less cluttered environment, bring harmony into your home, by helping family members have better environmental energy around them.
Once you have determined that you have done all you can to better your concern, write an incantation - a rhyming phrase which states, very briefly, what it is you wish to accomplish. If you can work in the objects you plan to use in the spell, and list them in the incantation somehow, even better. Get the incantation written first and work on it until it reflects your wish or desire as perfectly as you are able. This is a very important step. You may say the incantation many times in your effort to accomplish the spell's work. Make sure you are 'very' specific. If you are not specific, you may actually get what you asked for, and it may be very different from what you expected. Sometimes if a spell is not specific enough, you will not get what you asked for, and instead of giving up on it, you will need to go back and re-write the spell to be more specific, by asking what it was that you did not get, and then including that information in the spell.
Once the incantation is written, set the spell up. Set up objects that are a) symbols of what your concern is and how you intend to accomplish gaining and answer or resolution to that concern; and b) able to radiate energy outward, and which will operate as magnets to the energy which will draw in that which you want to achieve.
For example, if you want to gain extra money, you might need to give a reason why you need the extra money (perhaps you can not pay a bill on time); you should then include the exact amount of money you need, to the best judgment you can determine the amount, and also include a date by which you need that amount of money. You may also need to state that you need cash, otherwise you might get that dollar value in a jewelry item, groceries, coupons, or some other means that will be harder for you to exchange into the kind of value you can actually use.
After you have set up the spell, create a salt circle around the spell. You can use normal table salt if you like. Before you create the salt circle (sometimes called a 'Fairy Ring') around the spell, you might with to bless the salt by waiving your right hand over it and saying something like, "I bless this salt that it protects my spell from any energy that might interfere with the energies I am releasing to do a particular task. So Mote It Be."
Before you perform your spell, place yourself under protection as well. Say, "I place myself under the protection of....(and then fill in the blank with one of the following options as you are comfortable, such as: 'the Highest Divine'; 'Truth, Wisdom & Love'; 'Positive Energy Only'. Energy floats around and is attracted or repelled by other energies. When you work a spell, it attracts energy, which can not get into the casting area because of the protection of the Salt Circle, so, to protect yourself, you need to declare that you, also, are protected and do not want wandering energy to come your way. If you like you may also stand inside a salt circle, or wear an amulet made of fabric that contains blessed salt (which is the least messy option). You can also boil water together with salt (1 gallon of water to 1 teaspoon of salt), and include a written blessing, phrase or scripture that wards off evil or the interference of stray energy). Store this water in a safe place, and use it to sprinkle around yourself when you do a spell; The water should already be prepared such that its intention is to protect you from stray energy and other evils.
Perform the spell by lighting candles, holding special amulets over such things as pictures, incense, floral, moving things from one place to another, and so forth, while saying the incantation. You may wish to devise a certain amount of time to say the incantation in, such as 3 minutes, or 3 times, or, in true Celtic fashion, '3 x 3' (nine times, or nine minutes).
At the end of the spell, you may wish to: tear up the spell and toss it into the wind, release it into water, burn it in a fire place, or bury it with something related to the spell, such as seeds, or frame the incantation so its energy continues to radiate for a length of time. You may wish to keep the spell set up and repeat it on several nights before disposing of the incantation; or you may wish to take the spell down immediately and carry the incantation with you until the next full moon, your birthday, or some other special day.
You absolutely 'must' forget about the spell for a time. Your thought forms can interfere with the spell's energy after it is sent out and 'mess it up'. Forget it. You have done all you can, and now you must let nature take its course and accept what comes. Sometimes you can repeat the spell and try again, and other times you must accept what you get, and move on. Sometimes you will get results you did not expect, which may be beneath your expectations, different from your expectations, or far above your expectations. Working spells is not a specific science, but more like putting a recipe together differently every time. There is no such thing as a 'one spell fits all' circumstance. Yes, there are 'spell kits' that approach universal problems and these are fine, but their results may vary from person to person.
This is the basics of spell crafting and casting. As you read up on how other people perform spells, remember, that many people are out to sell you lots of stuff that costs lots of money. All you really need are things personally related to the spell and the right intention. You need time to design your spell and set it up, and you need patience to wait until results come in.
Working with Energy is fun, but it is serious. Do not take it lightly. Only work spells in emergencies, when you really, truly can not resolve the problem any other way. And never work a spell for personal greed, it will not work out properly. If you have an issue of personal greed, instead of working a spell, approach the Benevolent Divine and 'talk about it' with the Higher Powers. Ask for insight, and be honest. You never know if 'somebody upstairs' will decide that you need a bit of a boost and give you what you ask for even if you don't deserve it! At other times you will receive a lesson of insight, and gain a better perspective.
It is also worth mentioning that spells should never be performed to harm anyone, get revenge, or the like. Spells are for healing and helping, not for bringing harm. If good, positive energy is sent out, it will no doubt return, multiplied.
This concludes Spell Crafting and Casting 101.
We skip the 'religious' aspect, and reserve our religious feelings for times we attend church, synagogue, or other religious places we might attend. We remember that Christian faith is the religion that ultimately condemned us, but also ultimately saved us from the Witch trials in the long run...many persons practicing Traditional Witchcraft during the burning times, like our early High Priestesses, and Hierophant, Bessie Dunlop, Violat Guillieland and John Guillieland, were Celtic Christians, or eventually joined with the Presbyterian church. Scholars and many writers have discovered that many historical witches converted to the Presbyterian Faith as a means to escape the Witch Trials. Its very possible that this is what Violat did, since the family remained Presbyterian until this very day (some converted to Baptist, by the way, but in the 1600's Batpists were considered heretics and were given a very hard time, and some were accused of Witchcraft as well!)
Crafting a spell is the research involved in planning it. We take into consideration the following and may or may not use 'coordinates' in our spell work. 'Coordinates' are lists of items and what they 'do' with energy. Many Wiccans use coordinates in spell work because they feel it is very important to match the energy in one natural object with the energy in another natural object. While Traditional Witches find these lists helpful, we focus more on what has meaning for us personally. For example, a yellow rose usually means friendship. But it may symbolize something completely different for 'us' - it may be the symbol of a family member or romance partner, or it may symbolize something related to a job or other situation. Therefore, instead of reading a list and determining that we should only use a yellow rose for a spell related to friendship relationships, we may use its energy to attract the energies that bring together what is personal for 'us'. This means that the only real 'rule' is: what symbols have to do with the situation at hand for 'you'? Some people may not have much creativity in this matter, and therefore, COVEN 1658 does not discourage the use of pre-written lists of 'coordinates'. All we encourage our adherents to do is think of what is important to your spell before you use a pre-written list of coordinates, that's all.
Second, we use ELEMENTAL energy in spell work. This means we use the five elements - EARTH, AIR, FIRE, WATER, AND AETHER. Aether? What's that?!?!?! And what happened to 'SPIRIT'?
Everything on our earth and in our universe was once categorized by Alchemists in the ancient world into 5 categories - earth, air, fire, water and aether. Elements related to earth are soil, minerals like salt or iron, ashes, and this sort of thing. The element of Air includes anything that can form a vapor, thus things like smoke, incense, fragrance from perfume or flowers is considered air. Fire is an element related to anything when it burns, which includes just about any other element, but usually includes things that are characteristically meant to burn, such as wood, candles, incense, charcoal, and so on. Water is any liquid - water, milk, wine, juice, and anything else liquid. Aether is a word that literally means 'the greater cosmos' and thus refers to anything lying beyond our earth, including the moon, stars, sun, and the zodiac. As you can see, 'spirit' is not included as an 'element'. It is not included in COVEN 1658's understanding of the Five Elements. So what 'is' spirit then?
Spirit is your own intention - the part of you that can not be seen, your mind set, your attitude, your wishes...you intention. Spirit is the energy that you yourself put into the spell, and combine it with the other five elements. It is 'your' spirit, that combines with the energy you 'unlock' from the five elements, and send out to return with answers to your requests.
By 'Spirit' we do not mean the 'Divine' or the Ancestors. We do not forbid or encourage our adherents to include the Divine in their spells, because we do not teach theology. Even so we would like to point out that one can invite the Divine, but can never force the Divine to do one's bidding. Instead the Divine permits your intentions to be answered. Likewise we teach our adherents that extending an invitation to the Ancestors is acceptable, and their wisdom is to be honored. The things their life-stories can teach us is always considered invaluable. We must point out again that when we do use the term 'Divine' we only mean the benevolent Divine, and that any Ancestors that may come only bring peace and healing, never disruption, fear or harm.
The 'science' of crafting a spell is our own research in selecting what elements to use in a spell, and then finding objects in that element's category to use in our spell. Selecting objects, whether natural or man-made lie inside the personal experience factor, because objects retain personal energy from their user, as well as attract energy related to that personal situation. When one cannot think of an object to use that relates to the spell on a personal level, 'then' one can consult a 'coordinate's' list for ideas.
The 'art' of spell crafting is determining 'how' to set up the spell and then carrying out the spell's set up. Begin by writing a list of words down related to the intention - what is it you want to achieve? What is important? write a list of words that describe what it is you wish to accomplish - a new job? finding romance? having more organization in your life? having a better attitude? gaining harmony in the home? becoming a better cook? focusing on your health? Whatever it is you wish to accomplish, begin with a list.
Next, brainstorm ways you can and should achieve this goal 'without' using a spell. Magick often does not work until all other options have been exhausted. Miracles don't happen when there are perfectly good natural means to gain the result. If you wish for more money, can you honestly say that you deserve it? Are you a spend-thrift, and waste money at every turn? Maybe the universe would rather give extra money to someone who is good with money but hard on their luck, rather than let someone who is a spend-thrift waste the money on frivolous things. Do you need to work on your health? Perhaps you should make a decision to eat better, cut out salt, smoking or alcohol, and take up some gentle exercise like yoga or walking (with the advisement of your personal physician, of course!). Do you want more organization or harmony at home? (the two are often related...). Maybe you could make a choice to spend 15 minutes every day de-cluttering and taking a bag of used goods to the thrift store, which would make your life more organized and, with a less cluttered environment, bring harmony into your home, by helping family members have better environmental energy around them.
Once you have determined that you have done all you can to better your concern, write an incantation - a rhyming phrase which states, very briefly, what it is you wish to accomplish. If you can work in the objects you plan to use in the spell, and list them in the incantation somehow, even better. Get the incantation written first and work on it until it reflects your wish or desire as perfectly as you are able. This is a very important step. You may say the incantation many times in your effort to accomplish the spell's work. Make sure you are 'very' specific. If you are not specific, you may actually get what you asked for, and it may be very different from what you expected. Sometimes if a spell is not specific enough, you will not get what you asked for, and instead of giving up on it, you will need to go back and re-write the spell to be more specific, by asking what it was that you did not get, and then including that information in the spell.
Once the incantation is written, set the spell up. Set up objects that are a) symbols of what your concern is and how you intend to accomplish gaining and answer or resolution to that concern; and b) able to radiate energy outward, and which will operate as magnets to the energy which will draw in that which you want to achieve.
For example, if you want to gain extra money, you might need to give a reason why you need the extra money (perhaps you can not pay a bill on time); you should then include the exact amount of money you need, to the best judgment you can determine the amount, and also include a date by which you need that amount of money. You may also need to state that you need cash, otherwise you might get that dollar value in a jewelry item, groceries, coupons, or some other means that will be harder for you to exchange into the kind of value you can actually use.
After you have set up the spell, create a salt circle around the spell. You can use normal table salt if you like. Before you create the salt circle (sometimes called a 'Fairy Ring') around the spell, you might with to bless the salt by waiving your right hand over it and saying something like, "I bless this salt that it protects my spell from any energy that might interfere with the energies I am releasing to do a particular task. So Mote It Be."
Before you perform your spell, place yourself under protection as well. Say, "I place myself under the protection of....(and then fill in the blank with one of the following options as you are comfortable, such as: 'the Highest Divine'; 'Truth, Wisdom & Love'; 'Positive Energy Only'. Energy floats around and is attracted or repelled by other energies. When you work a spell, it attracts energy, which can not get into the casting area because of the protection of the Salt Circle, so, to protect yourself, you need to declare that you, also, are protected and do not want wandering energy to come your way. If you like you may also stand inside a salt circle, or wear an amulet made of fabric that contains blessed salt (which is the least messy option). You can also boil water together with salt (1 gallon of water to 1 teaspoon of salt), and include a written blessing, phrase or scripture that wards off evil or the interference of stray energy). Store this water in a safe place, and use it to sprinkle around yourself when you do a spell; The water should already be prepared such that its intention is to protect you from stray energy and other evils.
Perform the spell by lighting candles, holding special amulets over such things as pictures, incense, floral, moving things from one place to another, and so forth, while saying the incantation. You may wish to devise a certain amount of time to say the incantation in, such as 3 minutes, or 3 times, or, in true Celtic fashion, '3 x 3' (nine times, or nine minutes).
At the end of the spell, you may wish to: tear up the spell and toss it into the wind, release it into water, burn it in a fire place, or bury it with something related to the spell, such as seeds, or frame the incantation so its energy continues to radiate for a length of time. You may wish to keep the spell set up and repeat it on several nights before disposing of the incantation; or you may wish to take the spell down immediately and carry the incantation with you until the next full moon, your birthday, or some other special day.
You absolutely 'must' forget about the spell for a time. Your thought forms can interfere with the spell's energy after it is sent out and 'mess it up'. Forget it. You have done all you can, and now you must let nature take its course and accept what comes. Sometimes you can repeat the spell and try again, and other times you must accept what you get, and move on. Sometimes you will get results you did not expect, which may be beneath your expectations, different from your expectations, or far above your expectations. Working spells is not a specific science, but more like putting a recipe together differently every time. There is no such thing as a 'one spell fits all' circumstance. Yes, there are 'spell kits' that approach universal problems and these are fine, but their results may vary from person to person.
This is the basics of spell crafting and casting. As you read up on how other people perform spells, remember, that many people are out to sell you lots of stuff that costs lots of money. All you really need are things personally related to the spell and the right intention. You need time to design your spell and set it up, and you need patience to wait until results come in.
Working with Energy is fun, but it is serious. Do not take it lightly. Only work spells in emergencies, when you really, truly can not resolve the problem any other way. And never work a spell for personal greed, it will not work out properly. If you have an issue of personal greed, instead of working a spell, approach the Benevolent Divine and 'talk about it' with the Higher Powers. Ask for insight, and be honest. You never know if 'somebody upstairs' will decide that you need a bit of a boost and give you what you ask for even if you don't deserve it! At other times you will receive a lesson of insight, and gain a better perspective.
It is also worth mentioning that spells should never be performed to harm anyone, get revenge, or the like. Spells are for healing and helping, not for bringing harm. If good, positive energy is sent out, it will no doubt return, multiplied.
This concludes Spell Crafting and Casting 101.
So What 'Is' Witchcraft, Then?
In the last post, we learned that, while Judaism, Christianity and other western, monotheistic religions are 'against' certain activities that are labeled by the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft', these activities are really not defined very well, and when they are, there are equivalent behaviors in the Bible that show these same activities being engaged, but under 'acceptable' labels. Further, we have discovered that the term 'wicce' in the Anglo-Saxon language eventually became our modern word 'witchcraft' we really are not told, from the dictionary definitions, what exactly an Anglo-Saxon or Celtic Witch does. In fact, it seems that defining the term is 'open', and actually it has been treated as such in our modern world.
In fact, a lot of modern people have spent a great deal of time and effort defining the term to fit their idea of what Celto-British Witchcraft must be, only to find that, later in history, actual historians have debunked a lot of what has been said to define witchcraft in today's world.
For example, in the late 1700's, a man by the name Edward Williams, whose 'pen' name was Iolo Morganwg, 'claimed' to have found ancient documents penned by the Druids of the first century. He was known to collect ancient documents, and so he had a 'trust' factor with his general community. So he decided to do something the catapult him toward fame: The documents he said he found were not real - he 'invented' them, and then pretended to translate them. The result was a slather of documents he claimed were authentic records written by the 1st century Druids which told about their authentic rituals, beliefs and activities. If you read them however, you discover that these documents have a lot of modern Christianity woven through them, in a way that reveals they could only have been written in William's own era. Scholars who later investigated the documents debunked them as forgeries. No matter - a movement began that has since led into our modern Druid movement, as excited individuals gathered to restore the lost Druid rituals that they believed once belonged to the 1st century Druid priesthood. Extensions of these movements still exist today, and are very motivated to bring individuals closer to nature and environmentalism, which is a positive result, even though the movement began based on the fancy of a hopeful writer.
Then, in the early 20th century, a woman named Margaret Alice Murray, who worked as a professor of Egyptology at a British University, wrote a thesis about the religion of the ancient Celtic and British peoples. She theorized that those who suffered during the Witch Trial era were actually remnants of an earlier, pre-Christian religion which embraced a Goddess, engaged in particular rites and rituals, and performed magic spells. She wrote and sold books on this subject with great success. When her book sales increased, other scholars took note and looked into what she had said. They found several errors in her research, and some of these errors were deliberately dishonest. These scholars, who had their backgrounds in Celtic pre-Christian history, declared her work unacceptable, and refused to take her work or her thesis seriously. No matter - the public loved her work and soon, a modern witch movement began.
Finally, in 1950, a man named Gerald B. Gardner, who may have read these earlier writings, claims that he had met a family of elderly siblings, who feared that, because they had no descendants, their religion would die with them, and asked him to learn it and carry it on for him. He agreed, and after their deaths, he went public with what they had taught him, even though this was against their wishes. Scholars have had a very difficult time proving that these siblings had ever existed, and have tracked much of what Gardner claimed to have received from them back to earlier writers, men's fraternal organizations and the work of other writers. Gardner called the religion he was promoting 'The Wica', (spelled with one c), and placed an ad in the news paper, asking others to join him. Soon, he had a functioning religious organization that taught his followers that the ancient Celtic and European people had once worshipped a Goddess and a God, and had engaged in particular rituals and feast days.
Since this time, several university scholars of British and Celtic history have ruled out much of what Gardner taught as history. Even so, many people still adhere to his teachings for many reasons all their own.
The most reliable sources for what actually happened in Celtic and European religious history comes from two sources:
1. Dr. Ronald Hutton, a professor and scholar of British and Celtic antiquities - he has been featured on the History Channel, has written several books on the subject, and works at a large, public university where his work must be accurate in order for him to retain his job; Dr. Julian Goodare, who put together the web page, called the 'Survey of Scottish Witchcraft', a sight which tells what actually occurred during the Witch Trial era (http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/witches/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.search); Other University scholars of Celtic, British, and European history, especially in regard to their religious beliefs.
2. Individual persons who have historical ties to the era through a hereditary link. While persons such as this may not be capable of telling you the accurate history of this era as a history professor can, he or she can share what has been passed down to her, which reflects the movement as it changed over time, and also as it continued to remain the same, and adhere to certain factors. In the case of this blog, this is me. Most people who have a tie to this type of thing, don't realize it. Their families may practice things that don't seem out of the ordinary to them, and they may have grown up in a church, and in a regular community that seems similar to everyone else's around them, but they have that link because things done in the family have continued on since times past.
So what Witchcraft is NOT, as far as COVEN 1658 is concerned...
1. COVEN 1658 does not teach anyone to 'raise the dead'. The dead have gone on and they must rest. Disturbing the spirits of the deceased is rude to say the least. If they bother us, that's a very different story and we must send them on or exorcise them in one way or another so we can live normally, but we do not 'conjure them'. Even so, we can 'know' that they are safe if a dream or vision is sent to us, but 'calling them up for a chit chat' is not done. We respect those who have crossed the veil. We know that those living on the other side will get in touch if and when they need to and it is not up to us to pester them.
2. We do not call on demonic entities to 'do our bidding' at any time. We don't mess with evil, period. We may be Witches, but we are just as uncomfortable with these forces as anyone else is, and recognize, possibly far more than the average person, just how dangerous these entities can be. We leave them completely alone. Further, we don't claim that 'the devil isn't real' or that 'there's no devil in the craft'. There is - he was center stage in our accusations during the Burning Times. He was real to the Christians, and thus his work was real for us. What I'm trying to say is, that we, as witches, do not lay claims on the religions of any group outside our own - if a particular religion has a history of a particular entity, they have this belief for an important reason. This belief is their history, and we have no right to claim that it is a false belief. It may well be true, and we have no right to disparage such beliefs from other faiths. In the case of Christians during the Burning Times, they genuinely believed in the Biblical Devil, and because of this belief, havoc reigned. Instead of claiming that we have all the answers about the religions of other groups, we respect what they say about their own beliefs. We don't know everything, and should have a healthy respect for the long history of any number of religions, without making a decision that part of their faith 'isn't true'. It may be a belief we ourselves do not choose to embrace or acknowledge, but the entity in question could in fact exist. For this reason, COVEN 1658, does acknowledge that the religion of Christianity does have a Devil, and this entity is real and fierce. We don't renounce the existence of such, but rather, stay as far away from this entity as we can.
3. Coven 1658 members are free to choose the religion of our choice, or not choose one at all - provided our adherents choose a religion or philosophy that embraces no evil at any time, as defined by any religion, any personal invention or by any other means. Our Coven is a healing, helping Coven. However, we do not 'mix up' religion with witchcraft, which we consider an art, science, vocation and culture.
4. We focus on natural energy and its use in creating positive change through spell casting, and we do not define the term 'spell' as 'curse', but rather as 'energy transformation for positive outcome'. We define spell crafting and casting as a means to access natural energy. (it should be noted that the term 'spell' has several definitions, for example to 'spell' out a word, or account for a period of time. But one word that we do not accept is that of Germanic origin which links the term 'spell' with the idea of 'cursing' - we do not use energy work to curse or harm others or ourselves at any time.
In the next post we will get into the specifics of how Traditional Spell crafting and casting operates. And no, its not all about casting a circle...in fact, its very far from it.
In fact, a lot of modern people have spent a great deal of time and effort defining the term to fit their idea of what Celto-British Witchcraft must be, only to find that, later in history, actual historians have debunked a lot of what has been said to define witchcraft in today's world.
For example, in the late 1700's, a man by the name Edward Williams, whose 'pen' name was Iolo Morganwg, 'claimed' to have found ancient documents penned by the Druids of the first century. He was known to collect ancient documents, and so he had a 'trust' factor with his general community. So he decided to do something the catapult him toward fame: The documents he said he found were not real - he 'invented' them, and then pretended to translate them. The result was a slather of documents he claimed were authentic records written by the 1st century Druids which told about their authentic rituals, beliefs and activities. If you read them however, you discover that these documents have a lot of modern Christianity woven through them, in a way that reveals they could only have been written in William's own era. Scholars who later investigated the documents debunked them as forgeries. No matter - a movement began that has since led into our modern Druid movement, as excited individuals gathered to restore the lost Druid rituals that they believed once belonged to the 1st century Druid priesthood. Extensions of these movements still exist today, and are very motivated to bring individuals closer to nature and environmentalism, which is a positive result, even though the movement began based on the fancy of a hopeful writer.
Then, in the early 20th century, a woman named Margaret Alice Murray, who worked as a professor of Egyptology at a British University, wrote a thesis about the religion of the ancient Celtic and British peoples. She theorized that those who suffered during the Witch Trial era were actually remnants of an earlier, pre-Christian religion which embraced a Goddess, engaged in particular rites and rituals, and performed magic spells. She wrote and sold books on this subject with great success. When her book sales increased, other scholars took note and looked into what she had said. They found several errors in her research, and some of these errors were deliberately dishonest. These scholars, who had their backgrounds in Celtic pre-Christian history, declared her work unacceptable, and refused to take her work or her thesis seriously. No matter - the public loved her work and soon, a modern witch movement began.
Finally, in 1950, a man named Gerald B. Gardner, who may have read these earlier writings, claims that he had met a family of elderly siblings, who feared that, because they had no descendants, their religion would die with them, and asked him to learn it and carry it on for him. He agreed, and after their deaths, he went public with what they had taught him, even though this was against their wishes. Scholars have had a very difficult time proving that these siblings had ever existed, and have tracked much of what Gardner claimed to have received from them back to earlier writers, men's fraternal organizations and the work of other writers. Gardner called the religion he was promoting 'The Wica', (spelled with one c), and placed an ad in the news paper, asking others to join him. Soon, he had a functioning religious organization that taught his followers that the ancient Celtic and European people had once worshipped a Goddess and a God, and had engaged in particular rituals and feast days.
Since this time, several university scholars of British and Celtic history have ruled out much of what Gardner taught as history. Even so, many people still adhere to his teachings for many reasons all their own.
The most reliable sources for what actually happened in Celtic and European religious history comes from two sources:
1. Dr. Ronald Hutton, a professor and scholar of British and Celtic antiquities - he has been featured on the History Channel, has written several books on the subject, and works at a large, public university where his work must be accurate in order for him to retain his job; Dr. Julian Goodare, who put together the web page, called the 'Survey of Scottish Witchcraft', a sight which tells what actually occurred during the Witch Trial era (http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/witches/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.search); Other University scholars of Celtic, British, and European history, especially in regard to their religious beliefs.
2. Individual persons who have historical ties to the era through a hereditary link. While persons such as this may not be capable of telling you the accurate history of this era as a history professor can, he or she can share what has been passed down to her, which reflects the movement as it changed over time, and also as it continued to remain the same, and adhere to certain factors. In the case of this blog, this is me. Most people who have a tie to this type of thing, don't realize it. Their families may practice things that don't seem out of the ordinary to them, and they may have grown up in a church, and in a regular community that seems similar to everyone else's around them, but they have that link because things done in the family have continued on since times past.
So what Witchcraft is NOT, as far as COVEN 1658 is concerned...
1. COVEN 1658 does not teach anyone to 'raise the dead'. The dead have gone on and they must rest. Disturbing the spirits of the deceased is rude to say the least. If they bother us, that's a very different story and we must send them on or exorcise them in one way or another so we can live normally, but we do not 'conjure them'. Even so, we can 'know' that they are safe if a dream or vision is sent to us, but 'calling them up for a chit chat' is not done. We respect those who have crossed the veil. We know that those living on the other side will get in touch if and when they need to and it is not up to us to pester them.
2. We do not call on demonic entities to 'do our bidding' at any time. We don't mess with evil, period. We may be Witches, but we are just as uncomfortable with these forces as anyone else is, and recognize, possibly far more than the average person, just how dangerous these entities can be. We leave them completely alone. Further, we don't claim that 'the devil isn't real' or that 'there's no devil in the craft'. There is - he was center stage in our accusations during the Burning Times. He was real to the Christians, and thus his work was real for us. What I'm trying to say is, that we, as witches, do not lay claims on the religions of any group outside our own - if a particular religion has a history of a particular entity, they have this belief for an important reason. This belief is their history, and we have no right to claim that it is a false belief. It may well be true, and we have no right to disparage such beliefs from other faiths. In the case of Christians during the Burning Times, they genuinely believed in the Biblical Devil, and because of this belief, havoc reigned. Instead of claiming that we have all the answers about the religions of other groups, we respect what they say about their own beliefs. We don't know everything, and should have a healthy respect for the long history of any number of religions, without making a decision that part of their faith 'isn't true'. It may be a belief we ourselves do not choose to embrace or acknowledge, but the entity in question could in fact exist. For this reason, COVEN 1658, does acknowledge that the religion of Christianity does have a Devil, and this entity is real and fierce. We don't renounce the existence of such, but rather, stay as far away from this entity as we can.
3. Coven 1658 members are free to choose the religion of our choice, or not choose one at all - provided our adherents choose a religion or philosophy that embraces no evil at any time, as defined by any religion, any personal invention or by any other means. Our Coven is a healing, helping Coven. However, we do not 'mix up' religion with witchcraft, which we consider an art, science, vocation and culture.
4. We focus on natural energy and its use in creating positive change through spell casting, and we do not define the term 'spell' as 'curse', but rather as 'energy transformation for positive outcome'. We define spell crafting and casting as a means to access natural energy. (it should be noted that the term 'spell' has several definitions, for example to 'spell' out a word, or account for a period of time. But one word that we do not accept is that of Germanic origin which links the term 'spell' with the idea of 'cursing' - we do not use energy work to curse or harm others or ourselves at any time.
In the next post we will get into the specifics of how Traditional Spell crafting and casting operates. And no, its not all about casting a circle...in fact, its very far from it.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Isn't Witchcraft Against The Bible?
The question always arises - "Isn't Witchcraft against the Bible?" This is a multi-layered question to answer. So stay with me on this.
The first thing we must establish is that the term 'witchcraft' comes from the Anglo-Saxon language, not the languages of the Bible - Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. So we must ask, "is the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft' actually in the Bible? Does the meaning of the Hebrew (or later, Greek) term used in the Biblical scriptures have the same meaning as the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft' does?"
Let's find out. To address this question we will need dictionaries in these ancient languages. Our Biblical Dictionary is none other than Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible by James Strong, L.L.D., S.T.D. James Strong was a scholar of Hebrew and Greek languages, and took painstaking time to catalogue every word in the Bible with its meaning, but also following all words backwards as far in time as possible to establish the root/earliest meanings associated with the word, so we a reader might better understand the terms origin and how it evolved to eventually mean what it meant in its particular use in scripture.
In the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures of the Holy Bible, there certainly are mandates against something...something that eventually was translated using the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft' during the King James era in the 1600's.
Lets first look at the scriptures that forbid 'witches' or 'witchcraft':
"Thou shalt not suffer a 'witch' to live..." Exodus 22:13 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3784)
"...of times, or an enchanter, or a 'witch'..." Deuteronomy 1:10 (Strong's Hebrew word #3784)
"...for rebellion is as the sin of 'witchcraft'..." I Samuel 15:23 (Strong's Hebrew word # 7081)
"...used enchantments, and used 'witchcrafts'..." II Chronicles 33:6 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3784)
"...Idolatry, hatred, 'witchcraft', variance..." Galations 5:20 (Strong's Greek word #5331)
"...Jezebel and her 'witchcrafts' are so many..." II Kings 9:22 (Strong's Hebrew word #3785)
"...I will cut off 'witchcrafts' out of thine..." Micah 5:12 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3785)
"...harlot, the mistress of 'witchcrafts'..." Naham 3:4 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3785)
"...and families through her 'witchcrafts'..." Naham 3:4 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3785)
These nine scriptures are total. This is the full number of times the Holy Bible mentions a Hebrew or Greek term that was eventually translated using the Anglo-Saxon term 'witch', 'witchcraft' or 'witchcrafts'. Of course, it is very advisable to read the entire chapter of each passage to get a full context of what was going on in that culture at that time...which would have been VERY different from what was going on in Anglo-Saxon culture at the same time...except wait a minute....Anglo-Saxon culture DID NOT EXIST YET:
" The Anglo-Saxons were the population in Britain partly descended from the Germanic tribes who migrated from continental Europe and settled the south and east of the island beginning in the early 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period of English history after their initial settlement through their creation of the English nation, up to the Norman conquest; that is, between about 550 and 1066.[1][2] The term Anglo-Saxon is also used for the language, today more correctly called Old English, that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England (and parts of south-eastern Scotland) between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century, after which it is known as Middle English.[3]" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxons)
Therefore it is preposterous to relate anything going on in Bronze Age or any Old Testament era of Hebrew culture to the Anglo-Saxons, simply because there WAS NO SUCH CULTURE AS ANGLO SAXON. Whoever resided in central Germany, Lower England or Celtic Britain was NOT Anglo-Saxon, had no knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons, and also had no knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek or Semitic cultures of the Orient (usually referred to today as the 'Near East'). It may even be possible to assume that during the Bronze Age, the root words that eventually formed the Anglo-Saxon language had not been rendered yet and even the language had not yet begun to develop:
"Old English (Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc) or Anglo-Saxon[1] is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southern and eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_language)
Therefore just from this information alone, it is impossible to relate an Anglo-Saxon term that developed purely in Anglo-Saxon culture which had never been introduced to Hebrew or Greek Culture, to a Hebrew or Greek term which developed in purely Hebrew or Greek culture, and language foundations. The cultures and the language that reflects the two cultures are very different.
On the 'flip side' sometimes there are 'universal truths' - things all cultures recognize as truths. for example, killing others seems to be culturally universal, even though, there have been allowances made for it in every culture, from human sacrifice, to capital punishment. From this we can assume that whatever the Hebrews were trying to forbid as 'witchcraft' may exist as an idea in another culture, which is reflected in that cultures language.
Now that we have considered these things, let's take a look at what these terms mean:
Hebrew word #3784 - KASHAPH: to whisper a spell (the term 'spell' remains undefined in Hebrew, but it actually originates in the Germanic language and eventually took on the meaning 'to curse'; hence we can understand that a person who whispered a curse was the type of person the Biblical scriptures were referring to in regard to the term 'witchcraft' as used in the Old Testament translation of the Holy Bible)
Hebrew word #3785 - KESHEPH, magick, sorcery, witchraft (referencing Hebrew word # 3786, which means magic, sorcery, but #3786 does not itself mention 'witchcraft'; further the specific actions of what witchcraft is (how it is practiced point by point) remains unmentioned, hence we do not know what it is that one does to perform an act or the several acts that can be regarded as 'witchcraft', except the above 'spell' which we have discerned must or may mean 'to curse')
Hebrew word #7081 - QECEM: a lot; also divination, including its fee, oracle; reward of divination, divine sentences, witchcraft
Greek word # 5331 - PHARMAKIAH: medication, pharmacy, by extension, magic, sorcery, witchcraft
It seems from a Biblical standpoint that witches are indeed in trouble....or are they. Wait just a minute. While the terms are translated as 'witchcraft', the deeds of witchcraft are not really made clear. In fact, everything that is mentioned in the above definitions were practiced by the Hebrews themselves, who considered these things permissible inside Hebrew culture. Scripture is full of examples of permissible lot casting, Prophets who spoke curses over other cultures or even their own people (actually they just announced God's curses over others), the use of herbs for food and medicine, and even symbolic acts of sympathetic action that would otherwise be called vicarious magic in other cultures. For example, what does the Hebrew culture mean when the term 'spell' is indicated? We know from searching the term 'spell' backwards that 'spell' is of Germanic origin, and that it means 'to curse', but is that what the original Hebrew text intended when it was translated using the term 'witchcraft' or 'to whisper a spell'? What is a spell in Hebraic ideal? Further, what does the Hebrew culture define as 'magic'? In fact, these terms are not in the Hebrew language and no specific actions are defined; we can not know for sure what the Hebrews meant when the terms they were using were eventually translated into the English term 'witchcraft'; On the other hand, when we ask what deeds were performed by Pagans in the cultures surrounding the Hebrews, we discover that some Pagan practices were very detestable to the Hebrews and most likely would also be detestable to modern, western peoples today. But the Hebrews could not comment about the Anglo-Saxons - they did not know of such a culture, which did not yet exist. The term 'witchcraft' itself has no Hebrew equivalent. What did someone who cast a spell in the Hebrew world do when they cast it? What were they whispering 'in a jar'? Did they whisper a curse or a blessing over an herbal remedy? or instead did they whisper in a large clay pot to deceive a client into thinking they were hearing the voice of a deceased loved one? The definition (to whisper in a jar) is given; but its actual action is still a mystery to the reader, in that we are not sure 'what' the Hebrews were referring to specifically. We do not know what the specific actions were that became condemned by the Hebrews. Some actions were heavily condemned and clearly defined by the Hebrews against their Pagan neighbors, such as placing infants in flaming fires as sacrifices to the god Molech, considered murder in Hebrew law (as well as most nations in our world today, and by most people); or, asking women to engage in religious prostitution, which was considered adultery and forbidden by Hebrew Law. Further, to whom did these people whom the Hebrews were referring to, cast such a spell? Worshipping gods other than the Hebrew God was considered idolatry and was condemned by Hebrew Law, and this may be one of the biggest complaints the Hebrews had about other nations, even though these nations were not introduced to the God of the Hebrews and could not make a choice to worship this God, even if they would have wanted to; In fact, the Hebrews were warned to stay far away from such cultures, preventing them from sharing their God or their religion with these Pagan cultures. Did the spell involve harming others? There were many mandates against bringing harm toward others in Hebrew Law. Even so, the Hebrews had certainly been ordered by their God to destroy full populations of Pagan cultures many times in their history. On the flip side, the Hebrew God is recorded in the Book of Genesis as a deity who approached Pagan people himself (Noah, Abraham, Moses) and inviting them to be is main 'representatives' on earth. If we consider this, God did not condemn the Pagans, he invited them in to know Him and they accepted.
These questions and many others are not answered in the translation of the Hebraic terms in question. So we are left to wonder what a spell is in regard to Hebrew culture...and what 'magic' was for the Hebrews, who condemned it. We do know how the Germanic peoples defined such terms, we may be able to discern how the Babylonians understood such terms, and we may be able to eventually discover how the Anglo-Saxons understood such terms, but in the Hebrew language, we have a limited knowledge of what these terms meant.
Further, the term 'witchcraft' is also used to indicate LOT CASTING, which is regarded as divination, including its fee. But this is very problematic, since the Hebrews used lot casting on a regular basis. In searching Strong's Exhaustive, it is evident that a very long list of scriptures mentioning Lot Casting practices exist as a permissible practice among the Hebrews.
The final and 'only' time the term 'witchcraft' is used is in the New Testament (and therefore the Greek language, indicating the culture of the New Testament): it is the term Pharmakiah, and indicates the use of medicine, which was considered magic and witchcraft at the time. Had the world continued on with this mindset, we would not be able to research cures for cancer, or medicate for strep throat. But it must be made known that the Hebrews themselves, as well as the Greeks, did use medicine, and such is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testament on occasion. Therefore one can only surmise that the use of the term 'pharmakia' in regard to the 'unacceptable' practice of 'witchcraft' as listed in the Bible, only indicates the improper use of medicine, since the Hebrew and Greek world indeed, did have a proper and acceptable use for medicine. It is a well known fact that ancient people did indeed use herbal concoctions to kill others, or otherwise bring harm, therefore it can only be concluded that the 'inappropriate' use of medicine was to bring harm and not help, whether by accident or on purpose.
As far as casting lots goes, the Hebrews did use lot casting on quite a regular basis; in fact the term lot, lots and lot casting comes up so much, the list is to long to type. Instead I will just indicate the Strong's #, and its meaning:
Strong's Hebrew #3876 (used 32 times)
Strong's Greek # 3091 (used 3 times)
Strong's Hebrew # 1486 ( used 60 times)
Strong's Hebrew # 2256 (used 3 time)
Strong's Greek # 2975 (used 1 time)
Strong's Greek # 2819 (used 2 times)
Strong's Greek # 2624 (used 1 time)
As one can clearly see, there are several DIFFERENT terms to describe different uses of Lot Casting in the Hebrew world, and which were eventually translated using the singular term 'witchcraft' that originated from the Anglo-Saxon language. This shows a very lax understanding of the Anglo-Saxon language, in that several different practices known to the Hebrew or Greek cultures was assigned the singular term 'witchcraft', a term that came from an entirely different culture and had no specific meaning as defined in any dictionary. The use of the term 'witchcraft' in the Bible can not be regarded as accurate as a term chosen for translation purposes. Thus, for our purposes we must get to the bottom of these meanings in Hebrew and Greek and see if they compare to anything similar in the Anglo-Saxon based term 'witchcraft'.
*Hebrew word #3876 means: The name of Abraham's nephew, "Lot"
*Greek #3091 means : the name of the patriarch, "Lot"
*Hebrew word #1486 means: GOWRAL, a rough stone or pebble used in lot casting; also, a portion or destiny (for example, an inheritance as given by lot casting, lottery; such an inheritance was given by the Patriarch named Lot, to Jacob (though it had been meant for Esau).
*Hebrew # 2256 means: CHEBEL, a rope, by implication, [to rope off] a district of inheritance; may also indicate a rope as used for a snare or trap
*Greek # 2975 means LAGEHANO, a root word, indicating a lot, meaning 'to determine'
*Greek # 2819 means KLEROS, from the idea of using bits of wood, as for a die [dice]; used for drawing chances or a portion, if so secured; a heritage, inheritance, lot, or part.
*Greek #2624 means: KATAKLERODOTEO, to be a giver of lots to each, to apportion an estate
By studying lot casting as it pertained to the Biblical culture of the Hebrews and the early Christians, we can discern from Biblical scripture that the Hebrews engaged in Lot Casting, and were only warned 'not to do as the Pagans do', when casting lots. The scriptures indicating this references that nearby Pagan communities to the Hebrews had used Lot Casting to gain money unjustly from their clients, or used the practice to scare others. Perhaps not all Pagan peoples did this, but enough did that the Hebrews were warned not to use the practice dishonestly. Thus Lot Casting, as a practice, was not forbidden to the Hebrews, but rather it was forbidden to use the practice to deceive, take advantage of others, or frighten them. We must be reminded that even the early Hebrew Priests entered into the tabernacle to cast forth the 'Urim & Thummim', on a lambskin casting cloth marked with messages written in Lamb's blood. The term 'urim' means 'light' or 'illumination', while the term 'thummim' literally means 'perfection'. Thus, the Hebrews went before their deity to gain perfect knowledge from their God in the exact same way other cultures around the world also did - by casting lots, whose placement after the lots landed was considered to be divine providence. In fact, one scripture states, "the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is from the Lord." (Proverbs 16:33). Therefore Lot Casting was permissible for the Hebrews, but only if they consulted their own God, and recognized that the lot was placed by the hand of their God and not the God of another nation.
Thus we can clearly see that 'witchcraft' as used in the Bible has been used to translate many different and unrelated words from Hebrew and Greek. These practices may have some similarities to the eventual development of the Anglo-Saxon culture, but the term 'witchcraft' was never part of Greek or Hebrew, and therefore is an inaccurate rendering of the terms in question as they find meaning in the Holy Bible. Instead of using the term 'witchcraft' as a generic catch-all term for several practices, it would make more sense and be more clear if the actual practice that was used was listed specifically, and the term 'witchcraft' was left out entirely. For example, the scripture that says, "Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live," should be better rendered "Thou shalt not suffer one who utters curses to live." Since the scripture speaks of someone who whispers in a jar, we might assume that the curse being uttered was spoken over a poisonous herbal concoction, but this is conjecture - we do not know this, and can only guess. If this would be the case, we might better render the scripture as "Thou shalt not suffer anyone who brings a about a curse through herbal poisons to live." Why would this be wrong? Because that person's intention was to bring about murder, and his or her intention was carried out in a deed that would result in actual death. As well as all this sounds, it is yet unclear what exactly the person was doing when he or she was 'whispering in a jar' in the ancient Hebrew world. We can only guess.
So what, then does the term 'witchcraft' mean in its own language, Anglo-Saxon? When checking an on-line, Anglo-Saxon to modern English dictionary put out by the university of Pennsylvania's on-line "concise Anglo Saxon Dictionary" (see the link here ... (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/oe_clarkhall_about.html)
we can determine what the Anglo-Saxons intended their own term to mean:
wic - a dwelling place or house, a lodging
wican - yield, give way, fall down
wicca - a wizard, magician, soothsayer, astrologer
wicce- a witch
wiccecraeft - witchcraft, magic
wiccedom - witchcraft, use of
wicclan - to use witchcraft
wiccraeft - either witchcraft, or skill with horses, (the translator could not read the central letters of the word in question, thus the term and its meaning is unclear)
wiccung - enchantment
wiccung craeft - witchcraft
These words all developed AFTER the Angles and Saxons came together in England, in the 500's C.E., when the Christians had already settled there. So now we must ask if these words developed from a purely Anglo Saxon standpoint of culture, or rather, if they developed as a means to give a term to ideas brought in by the Christians who had since come into the region from the first century onward. Needless to say the terms are definitely Anglo-Saxon in origin, but were they Anglo-Saxon words that gave Biblical ideas a useful Anglo-Saxon terminology? Or rather, were they already in use, and were later condemned by the Christians who came in, and who regarded the word and its related practices as 'sinful'? This may never be known. Further, the only truly specific word that has any precise meaning is 'astrologer'. We do not know what is involved in the ancient practices of wizardry for either the Anglo-Saxons or the Hebrews. Likewise, we do not know what a magician was apt to do - was his duty based on deceit and charlatanism? Or did he worship and pray to a non-Hebraic deity? What exactly a magician did, point-by-point, we do not know. A soothsayer is somewhat specific, in that a soothsayer is related to predicting the future, but usually, more often comforts a person's personal fears and anxieties (a counselor, perhaps?). But an astrologer, we know the specific tasks and undertakings of astrologers in the ancient world. They measured stars, they watched star patterns, they identified planets, and although their interpretation may have been combined with religious and spiritual beliefs, their knowledge was one of the earliest science-based systems known. Often times, religion is thwarted by science, and thus religious people are often times 'against' those that bring in scientific information, especially when what they learn seems to teach the opposite of the religion in question. In the Hebrew world, the known astrologers taught idolatry and the worship of many deities, which is indeed against the Hebrew world view and religious faith. So again, it is not the use of astrology, but rather the teaching about 'other gods' that offended the Hebrews. But the Anglo-Saxon term gives no such admonition. The dictionary merely and very directly tells us that a 'witch' is someone who practices a list of duties that includes wizardry, soothsaying and astrology, and only astrology can we be fairly sure of what was actually done.
Either, way, the terms in question in Anglo-Saxon still do not tell the specifics of what one does when he or she practices Witchcraft, except to translate the term 'wicca' as a wizard, magician, soothsayer, or astrologer- all things that the Hebrews did permissibly inside their culture, and only condemned the practice of when done by cultures 'outside' Hebrew culture, who encouraged the worship of 'other gods'. A wizard, soothsayer, future-teller, or magician might otherwise be called a prophet, miracle worker, healer, or one who has a divine gift of prayer inside the Hebrew world. So now, the main difference between the cultures is their religious beliefs, rather than their practices.
To conclude we must admit that there is no difference between what the Hebrews did and what non-Hebraic cultures did in regard to lot casting (divination), future telling (prophecy), miracle working (village wise man or woman), or healer (herbalist), except to report what deity the individual asked for this kind of help. Thus we must go on to ask what kind of religion the Hebrews and early Christians had, in comparison with the Celts and Anglo-Saxons.
The Hebrews, from early on, adhered to strict monotheism, and very specific moral and legal codes that were given by their God to Moses, and verified by other of their prophets. Any other god, law or moral code was strongly looked down upon by them. However, other cultures must also to have looked down upon them, and it is safe to say that all ancient cultures regarded what they themselves did as right and regarded outside cultures as 'wrong'. Such was the ancient world.
Meanwhile, the Celts had a very different and interesting spirituality developing. While modern religious trends attempt to convince us that the ancient Celts worshipped a Goddess, or a 'Lord and Lady' the facts are these: The Celts recognized an unidentified spiritual power behind the natural forces of earth, wind, fire, water and the greater cosmos, but never personified this power in any type of idol or form. In fact, when the pre-Christian Roman legions came into their lands, the Celts thought it quite peculiar to try to 'squish' this spiritual 'super-force' into a physical idol that depicted a human or animal form. The Celts were very taken aback by this idea, in fact, and had never considered such in their own antiquity.
When the Romans came in to the British, pre-Christian world, they built Romanesque temples all over Europe and placed Hellenistic-style idols in these temples, and tried to 'match' the names of Celtic (and Germanic) ancestor names to their Hellenistic idols. The Romans did this for one reason - taking over the land and people of Europe and the Celto-British world. The Romans understood one thing - and that is, if the minds and understandings of a people can be changed religiously, then a new government can also take over. The Romans later used the Christian religion for the same purpose, but in pre-Christian times, the Romans had already attempted to use this technique on the Celts and Germans, and it worked. Within a few generations, the Roman influence could been seen, as Celtic and Germanic peoples began to accept the idea that a divine 'All-Spirit' who was evidenced within nature, could indeed be squeezed into an idol which represented not only an ancestor that was dear to them, but also was believed to have power over some portion of the universe or natural world. And thus the Romans made headway into Britain, up to Hadrian's Wall. This was all accomplished in pre-Christian times, and the Romans heavily condemned the Europeans for their practices of many kinds. For the Pagan Romans, everything they did was about taking land and controlling the indigenous people. To say the Christians did this for religious reasons is in fact, an error. What actually occurred was that the Romans adapted the Christian religion to themselves so that they could 'take power' over foreign people groups under the guise of an organizing and unifying religion. Christianity was a good choice for the Romans to use after the first century because it required adherents to honor and worship one God in one place - church - and therefore this set up made re-training the masses of people 'easy'. And once a mindset of a people group is changed, ruling them is easy. Thus it was not Christianity that came trudging into Europe to change people, it was the Roman Government with its pre-Christian methods of conquering foreign people groups, who seized the Christian faith and used it to accomplish their means to an end. As time went on, the people who ran the Catholic Church were unaware of this and just did their jobs. We can see that Christianity was not the kind of religion that believed in forced conversions just by reading the New Testament. Jesus never forced any single person to 'convert' but permitted individuals to make their own choices. His disciples likewise, were told that those who do not want them were to be left alone, and they were to travel onward. Putting this practice to work, we can see that the Celtic world had already had been introduced to Christianity before the Catholic Church came into Britain, which surprised the Catholic missionaries of the middle 2nd century. But the kind of Christianity that was practiced was 'Insular' (sometimes called Celtic Christianity), and it was a very gentle, happy, and non-forceful kind of religion. Those who did not wish to convert to that kind of faith were treated kindly by the Celtic Christians, and most likely the reason for this was, the Christian converts into Insular Christianity were related to those who did not receive it, as family members. It is much different when a government uses a religion to change a culture, rather than an individual receives a religion and brings it home to loved ones and family.
What does all of this tell us? It tells us that the Hebrews of ancient times as well as the early Christians were fighting against Hellenism, just as the British Pagans were. Hellenism is the Roman and Greek ideaology, which embraces forced conversion and colonization to the culture and religion of the warring Romans, with no room for personal choice. Religiously speaking, Hellenism is regarded as the worship of many divine spirits inhabiting many different idol forms, and was certainly 'forced' on the Pagan British and Celts before the Christian era. We can clearly see this in the many Romanesque temples that were erected to 'convert' the Celts and British to a religion foreign to their own, prior to the Christian era by the Roman armed forces.
But it also tells us that what the Celts and Germanic peoples may have believed was closer to the Hebrew religion instead of farther away from it, and also that the Hebrews had absolutely no comment about what the Germanic or Celtic peoples believed in spiritually. In fact, the Hebrew or Greek Biblical Scriptures never broach the Celtic outlook at all and there is no mention of any idea that the divine exhibits itself through the forces of nature, as mentioned in the Bible. The Celts and Germans were so far away from the Hebrews as to not be mentioned at all in scripture. The New Testament may briefly mention them when speaking of the 'Galations', who might have been the inhabitants of southern France, also known as 'Gaul', but there were other peoples who might also be labeled as 'Galations' in that era and so we can not be sure that the Galations of the New Testament were the people of Gaul in Southern France.
While the Hebrews often compared the power of their Biblical God to natural forces, they did not, per-say, believe that their God was actually 'in' such forces, but on the same token, they never said their God was not 'in' these forces either. In fact, the Celtic idea of a divine force specifically displaying through natural forces like wind, rain, waves, fire and other natural events is a completely foreign idea to the Hebrews as well as the Hellenistic peoples who eventually accepted Christianity. The oriental peoples of the ancient near east were very focused on a belief that a human or divine spirit 'had' to dwell in a human shaped idol. the Egyptians believed this, as did the Greeks, Romans, Persians and so on. The Hebrews came up with a 'new' and very different idea: that there was only one deity and that this deity did not 'have' to dwell in an idol, but instead lived outside the cosmos and governed all things. Amazingly the Celts had a very similar idea. The Celts also honored their ancestors, in a similar way that the Catholics eventually suggested as 'saint' type belief. This may be the reason that people were comfortable converting to the Christian faith in some circumstances. History shows that many of the Germans converted specifically to receive protection from the Romans against forces that invaded against the Germans, so conversions to Christianity was not always about 'forced' conversion, but rather about chosen conversion to gain political help. Indeed, the religious worlds of these colliding cultures was a lot more complex than Christian missionaries coming into Europe and torturing people into conversion. This did occur, but then, the Pagan Romans did a lot of human torture of Christians as well - feeding thousands of 1st century Christians to the Lions and using live and conscious Christian converts as 'torch fuel' at their parties (yes this is true! and pretty horrible!)
Thus we can safely say that what the Celts believed in spiritually is neither in agreement with, nor in juxtaposition with, anything in the Bible. Instead, the spiritual concepts of the Celts and Germanic peoples were unknown to the Hebrews. And thus when Christianity came into the Anglo-Saxon world, they had to assize what the Celts and Anglo-Saxons did spiritually and only 'try' to understand their thinking and religious actions. And as we all know, when you only know a little bit about something, it is very easy to draw the wrong conclusion, or fully mis-understand what they mean, or are doing.
But we still have not answered the ultimate question - what is it that people 'do' when they practice 'witchcraft'? I have often asked my Christian friends this question: "If Witchcraft is a sin, then what specific actions are sinful? What specifically must one avoid doing to 'not' practice Witchcraft?" I get a blank stare. While people know 'witchcraft' is certainly a sin, no one can actually tell me what behavior it is that is 'witchcraft'. If Witchcraft is indeed against the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, then what specifically are they (witches) doing? The only answer we have is to consult the court records of history, which are given in a scholarly web sight, called SURVEY OF SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT (http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/witches/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.search), which details the court records of those accused of and found guilty for practicing Witchcraft. The sight states that many people were accused of worshipping the Christian Devil, but that in fact, they were not doing such. In fact, they were tortured into confessing to worship the Christian Devil, and only confessed as a means to end their torture. Most of them were using folk healing methods, some of which probably did not work very well, but in a culture with no modern medicine, the records show that people were desperate to try to heal others who were suffering.
What witches of the Medieval and Elizabethan era were not doing was worshipping a Goddess, or a "Lord and Lady". In the court records, there are no mention of the "Lord and Lady", or any such "God and Goddess". While earlier Pagan Europeans had many ancestors who had been given the status of 'god' or 'goddess', and while many people made offerings at natural altars to natural spirits, we also must define 'what' a god or goddess was. The Anglo-Saxon language does not clearly define this term for us, so we return to the classical languages of Greek to find out. The Greeks by the way were also Pagans, and their language is ultimately related to the Indo-European language group, but the culture again, was so far away as to make any comparison of such really out of the question. Even so, Greek is the only language which gives us any definition of the term 'god' at all. In Greek the term 'god' means 'ruler' indicating governorship, priesthood, or even king. It is not necessary a term indicating a deity per say, except to say that all ancient peoples recognized their kings as mediators between humanity and a greater divine being, who was above the priest or king and had appointed that priest or king over the people. In other words, a 'god' or 'goddess' was in fact a human ruler put in place by a 'higher' divine being. Thus it is safe to say that the deities of Europe may well have been the true and actual ancestors of the European peoples, but were their 'most important' leaders, much like Americans remember George Washington now. At any rate, the worship of these deities was part of a more ancient European world view that disappeared approximately 400 C.E. on the continent and later (800 C.E.) in the most northerly fringes of European society. by the Medieval era and the Elizabethan times, there appears to be no knowledge of such deities among the many accused witches, even those who readily confessed that they practiced witchcraft, like Bessie Dunlop, who was a healer of her day. Archeologically, there is absolutely no evidence for any household or group of people who revered any such types of beings - no household idols, no written records, no pictures of such and no hidden temples in back rooms, dungeons, or caves. If any groups of people had existed, or even if any individual person had indeed done such, the evidence would certainly exist. Scholars have searched heartily for such evidence, since it had been proposed by Margaret Alice Murray and later encouraged by Gerald Gardner, but there simply is no evidence that such existed.
Instead, there is much mention of fairies. And Fairies are a COMPLETELY FOREIGN entity to Hebraic, or Hellenistic thought. In other words, the Bible cannot comment on such entities because these entities are completely foreign to Biblical thought and its surrounding culture. The idea of fairy-type creatures is so different from anything in the Semitic world that the only true analysis is to say it is absent from Biblical thinking. People have, for centuries, tried to 'equate' fairies and the related 'creatures' of the Celtic and European world to demons as spoken of in the Bible, but in reality, the Bible gives us the origin of demons...and this origin has nothing at all to do with Fairies. Let us review the Biblical history of demons:
In Ezekiel chapter 28, Lucifer is listed as the Biblical God's 'favorite' angel, and the only angel permitted to enter into the Biblical God's circle of fire. The scripture goes on to describe how the Biblical God withheld NOTHING from Lucifer, and dressed this angel in every gemstone that had been created. The way scripture describes the relationship between Lucifer and the Biblical God, it almost seems like a romance. But then, Biblical scripture tells us that 'iniquity' was found in Lucifer. Scripture does not tell us what this 'iniquity' was, not in Ezekiel 28, anyway. But once 'iniquity' was found in Lucifer, he was 'cast out' of the Biblical God's presence. Moving on to Isaiah 14, we discover what it was that Lucifer attempted to do: climb up onto the Biblical God's throne and take the Biblical God's place, becoming ruler over God. This act would have 'unplugged' creation, because only the Biblical God is capable (according to Hebraic thought) of keeping life going. It is this God who is the 'electricity', the 'force' and the 'power' that gives power to all other things - including Lucifer. Therefore, attempting to 'unplug' the Biblical God, would have in essence, 'unplugged' everything that this Biblical God had created, and EVERYTHING would have died and ceased to exist - including Lucifer. Because the Biblical God thought his creation was "very good", according to accounts in Genesis, this act of treason was certainly a cause for schism between Lucifer and the Biblical God. And thus Isaiah 14 tells us that Lucifer was 'cast out' to 'die'; in other words, the Biblical God gave him exactly what he desired - death. Further, because Lucifer tried to master-mind the death of the entire universe, including the Biblical God, its creator, Lucifer became associated with death, dying, corruption, lies, deception, disease and everything else that causes death and downfall. Jesus is reported as stating that he himself "saw Lucifer fall like lightning from the heavens..." (Luke 10:18), and this fall is expanded upon in the Book of Revelation, as a 'war' that took place in heaven (Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:7), which states:
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
As we can clearly see, the act that Lucifer attempted (treason against his creator, the Biblical God), caused such an uproar, that a war broke out in heaven and was heavily fought. It states that this enemy of God, named Satan (which means accuser), and also known as Lucifer (which means light-bringer), was hurled down and out of heaven along with angels who had aligned with him. Some believe that up to 1/3 of the angels in heaven allied with Lucifer in this endeavor to 'take over' heaven, and thus the demonic 'kingdom' was formed, which is no kingdom at all, but rather a conglomeration of enemies who have lost their place, their power and their future. Biblical scripture tells us that when Jesus Christ returns, this war will continue until Lucifer is fully destroyed, and that he indeed will be destroyed along with all who align with him. Only then will a new heaven and a new earth be created by the Creator Deity of the Hebrews, known today as 'Jehovah'. This is the perspective on the Demonic world according to the Holy Bible. No where does it mention Fairies. Fairies are not part of the Biblical concept and is completely foreign to Semitic thinking altogether.
In fact the Bible is very clear about where these demonic forces came from, but Bible scholars labor to match any and all ancestors or deities of non-Hebraic people groups up with these demonic forces. However, this 'matching up' of unrelated cultures can only be done 'if' the Bible really tells the whole story of the Universe, and this is a matter of 'belief'. Further, even if it does, the Bible only tells the story of the Hebrew world, and never broaches on the other world cultures. So even if the Bible is completely true in its assessment, it never analyzes distant cultures and their systems of thoughts. But from an anthropological and historic perspective, one can not say that the Hebrews were assessing distant cultures, but only asizing their own 'world' of the ancient near east region. One must look at these cultures as fully UNRELATED, and when this is done honestly, one can not compare Fairies to anything listed in the Bible at all. This is because the world of the Celts and all that they believed in is SEPARATE from any ideas that were part of Hebrew culture. Suffice it to say, however, that Hebrew culture strongly condemned neighboring cultures of idolatry and worship of the wrong deities, and had they become acquainted with the Celts, they certainly would have condemned them for some of their beliefs as well, but possibly not their idea of deity.
But we must also take into consideration that the Celts may be descendants of the wandering tribes of the Hebrews, specifically, the 10 Lost Tribes, who, after their exile in Babylon, wandered northward and disappeared. There is much to compare between Hebraic culture and the Celts that is so similar it is uncanny - language similarities, dietary codes, the high regard for the law, and the mandate the Druids had for 'not' writing down any of their laws, when compared with the Hebraic mandate that the law never be written down from memory, but only scribed perfectly from another, already penned scripture, so that it could be compared, and if error was found in that scripture, it was immediately destroyed. Even the sound of the term 'Druid' and 'Judah' sound somewhat similar (Drew...Jew). while linguists and other scholars cannot yet prove that the Druids and Celtic peoples were indeed related to the Jews and their priesthood to the Levites, many people have noticed similarities that make this comparison almost impossible to discount. From this perspective, it seems that if the Celts had once been a part with the Hebrew Lost Tribes, this would explain why the ancient, pre-Roman Celts of the 2nd Century B.C. had ideas about the divine being to great to contain in an idol, and why they never wrote anything down. Even the Festivals of the Hebrews is comparable to that of the Celts in many ways, such as theme and season.
Because the Lost Tribes of the Hebrews left Israel around the time of the Bronze Age, when the lot casting system of Urim and Thummim were still being used by the Hebrew Priesthood, it seems sensible that they would have continued to use a lot casting system to 'get in touch with' their God. Certainly, they would have attempted to use herbal remedies from things that grew in their region, because this provision came in the Book of Genesis, which they would have been familiar with. Cursings and Blessings over medicines would have been likely, as the Hebrews were known for (and their scriptures are filled with) examples of spell-type activities that were well-known in other, non Hebraic, Oriental cultures in their region. For example, in Genesis, a woman suspected of committing adultery was required to drink water into which the ashes of a certain paper had been placed (and upon which a phrase had been written); if she died, she was guilty, if she lived she was innocent... a practice that certainly appears 'spell-like'; in a later scripture, the Hebrews broke bowls upon which the names of their enemies were written, and in the story of Esther, the name of the evil Mordechai has always been and continues to be, written on the soles of the shoes and walked on, to keep his memory and spirit destroyed - an act that is borrowed from surrounding oriental cultures and has long been regarded as a type of 'spell'; this practice was certainly considered a form of magic by those Semitic cultures.
Thus the term 'witchcraft' as used in Biblical scripture can not really condemn actions of anyone. The Jews of the Old Testament, and the Christians of the New Testament used the same activities, but in varying contexts; to concemn such would have caused themselves to become guilty of their own actions. Instead, the only real crime they condemned was doing these things in the name of another deity. This was the real crime.
Thus we can conclude that what the Hebrews and Christians condemned was not what the Celtic and European people were 'doing' but rather whom they worshiped. And this is always a matter of personal choice, that no one should suffer for at human hand. Rather, only the God of the Biblical religion can judge, and He Himself states that he will do so, and do so with justice. It is Jesus that brings mercy to the equation, as well as acquittal. Biblical Scripture tells us that Christians are 'not to judge others' period. Instead Christians are to LOVE others.
Those who do not believe in the Biblical God are free to make their own choice. However, using the term 'witchcraft' in the Bible scriptures is completely inaccurate, and must be updated so the scriptures reflect greater accuracy of translation.
The first thing we must establish is that the term 'witchcraft' comes from the Anglo-Saxon language, not the languages of the Bible - Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek. So we must ask, "is the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft' actually in the Bible? Does the meaning of the Hebrew (or later, Greek) term used in the Biblical scriptures have the same meaning as the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft' does?"
Let's find out. To address this question we will need dictionaries in these ancient languages. Our Biblical Dictionary is none other than Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible by James Strong, L.L.D., S.T.D. James Strong was a scholar of Hebrew and Greek languages, and took painstaking time to catalogue every word in the Bible with its meaning, but also following all words backwards as far in time as possible to establish the root/earliest meanings associated with the word, so we a reader might better understand the terms origin and how it evolved to eventually mean what it meant in its particular use in scripture.
In the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures of the Holy Bible, there certainly are mandates against something...something that eventually was translated using the Anglo-Saxon term 'witchcraft' during the King James era in the 1600's.
Lets first look at the scriptures that forbid 'witches' or 'witchcraft':
"Thou shalt not suffer a 'witch' to live..." Exodus 22:13 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3784)
"...of times, or an enchanter, or a 'witch'..." Deuteronomy 1:10 (Strong's Hebrew word #3784)
"...for rebellion is as the sin of 'witchcraft'..." I Samuel 15:23 (Strong's Hebrew word # 7081)
"...used enchantments, and used 'witchcrafts'..." II Chronicles 33:6 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3784)
"...Idolatry, hatred, 'witchcraft', variance..." Galations 5:20 (Strong's Greek word #5331)
"...Jezebel and her 'witchcrafts' are so many..." II Kings 9:22 (Strong's Hebrew word #3785)
"...I will cut off 'witchcrafts' out of thine..." Micah 5:12 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3785)
"...harlot, the mistress of 'witchcrafts'..." Naham 3:4 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3785)
"...and families through her 'witchcrafts'..." Naham 3:4 (Strong's Hebrew word # 3785)
These nine scriptures are total. This is the full number of times the Holy Bible mentions a Hebrew or Greek term that was eventually translated using the Anglo-Saxon term 'witch', 'witchcraft' or 'witchcrafts'. Of course, it is very advisable to read the entire chapter of each passage to get a full context of what was going on in that culture at that time...which would have been VERY different from what was going on in Anglo-Saxon culture at the same time...except wait a minute....Anglo-Saxon culture DID NOT EXIST YET:
" The Anglo-Saxons were the population in Britain partly descended from the Germanic tribes who migrated from continental Europe and settled the south and east of the island beginning in the early 5th century. The Anglo-Saxon period denotes the period of English history after their initial settlement through their creation of the English nation, up to the Norman conquest; that is, between about 550 and 1066.[1][2] The term Anglo-Saxon is also used for the language, today more correctly called Old English, that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons in England (and parts of south-eastern Scotland) between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century, after which it is known as Middle English.[3]" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxons)
Therefore it is preposterous to relate anything going on in Bronze Age or any Old Testament era of Hebrew culture to the Anglo-Saxons, simply because there WAS NO SUCH CULTURE AS ANGLO SAXON. Whoever resided in central Germany, Lower England or Celtic Britain was NOT Anglo-Saxon, had no knowledge of the Anglo-Saxons, and also had no knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek or Semitic cultures of the Orient (usually referred to today as the 'Near East'). It may even be possible to assume that during the Bronze Age, the root words that eventually formed the Anglo-Saxon language had not been rendered yet and even the language had not yet begun to develop:
"Old English (Ænglisc, Anglisc, Englisc) or Anglo-Saxon[1] is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written by the Anglo-Saxons and their descendants in parts of what are now England and southern and eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary register of Anglo-Saxon." (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_language)
Therefore just from this information alone, it is impossible to relate an Anglo-Saxon term that developed purely in Anglo-Saxon culture which had never been introduced to Hebrew or Greek Culture, to a Hebrew or Greek term which developed in purely Hebrew or Greek culture, and language foundations. The cultures and the language that reflects the two cultures are very different.
On the 'flip side' sometimes there are 'universal truths' - things all cultures recognize as truths. for example, killing others seems to be culturally universal, even though, there have been allowances made for it in every culture, from human sacrifice, to capital punishment. From this we can assume that whatever the Hebrews were trying to forbid as 'witchcraft' may exist as an idea in another culture, which is reflected in that cultures language.
Now that we have considered these things, let's take a look at what these terms mean:
Hebrew word #3784 - KASHAPH: to whisper a spell (the term 'spell' remains undefined in Hebrew, but it actually originates in the Germanic language and eventually took on the meaning 'to curse'; hence we can understand that a person who whispered a curse was the type of person the Biblical scriptures were referring to in regard to the term 'witchcraft' as used in the Old Testament translation of the Holy Bible)
Hebrew word #3785 - KESHEPH, magick, sorcery, witchraft (referencing Hebrew word # 3786, which means magic, sorcery, but #3786 does not itself mention 'witchcraft'; further the specific actions of what witchcraft is (how it is practiced point by point) remains unmentioned, hence we do not know what it is that one does to perform an act or the several acts that can be regarded as 'witchcraft', except the above 'spell' which we have discerned must or may mean 'to curse')
Hebrew word #7081 - QECEM: a lot; also divination, including its fee, oracle; reward of divination, divine sentences, witchcraft
Greek word # 5331 - PHARMAKIAH: medication, pharmacy, by extension, magic, sorcery, witchcraft
It seems from a Biblical standpoint that witches are indeed in trouble....or are they. Wait just a minute. While the terms are translated as 'witchcraft', the deeds of witchcraft are not really made clear. In fact, everything that is mentioned in the above definitions were practiced by the Hebrews themselves, who considered these things permissible inside Hebrew culture. Scripture is full of examples of permissible lot casting, Prophets who spoke curses over other cultures or even their own people (actually they just announced God's curses over others), the use of herbs for food and medicine, and even symbolic acts of sympathetic action that would otherwise be called vicarious magic in other cultures. For example, what does the Hebrew culture mean when the term 'spell' is indicated? We know from searching the term 'spell' backwards that 'spell' is of Germanic origin, and that it means 'to curse', but is that what the original Hebrew text intended when it was translated using the term 'witchcraft' or 'to whisper a spell'? What is a spell in Hebraic ideal? Further, what does the Hebrew culture define as 'magic'? In fact, these terms are not in the Hebrew language and no specific actions are defined; we can not know for sure what the Hebrews meant when the terms they were using were eventually translated into the English term 'witchcraft'; On the other hand, when we ask what deeds were performed by Pagans in the cultures surrounding the Hebrews, we discover that some Pagan practices were very detestable to the Hebrews and most likely would also be detestable to modern, western peoples today. But the Hebrews could not comment about the Anglo-Saxons - they did not know of such a culture, which did not yet exist. The term 'witchcraft' itself has no Hebrew equivalent. What did someone who cast a spell in the Hebrew world do when they cast it? What were they whispering 'in a jar'? Did they whisper a curse or a blessing over an herbal remedy? or instead did they whisper in a large clay pot to deceive a client into thinking they were hearing the voice of a deceased loved one? The definition (to whisper in a jar) is given; but its actual action is still a mystery to the reader, in that we are not sure 'what' the Hebrews were referring to specifically. We do not know what the specific actions were that became condemned by the Hebrews. Some actions were heavily condemned and clearly defined by the Hebrews against their Pagan neighbors, such as placing infants in flaming fires as sacrifices to the god Molech, considered murder in Hebrew law (as well as most nations in our world today, and by most people); or, asking women to engage in religious prostitution, which was considered adultery and forbidden by Hebrew Law. Further, to whom did these people whom the Hebrews were referring to, cast such a spell? Worshipping gods other than the Hebrew God was considered idolatry and was condemned by Hebrew Law, and this may be one of the biggest complaints the Hebrews had about other nations, even though these nations were not introduced to the God of the Hebrews and could not make a choice to worship this God, even if they would have wanted to; In fact, the Hebrews were warned to stay far away from such cultures, preventing them from sharing their God or their religion with these Pagan cultures. Did the spell involve harming others? There were many mandates against bringing harm toward others in Hebrew Law. Even so, the Hebrews had certainly been ordered by their God to destroy full populations of Pagan cultures many times in their history. On the flip side, the Hebrew God is recorded in the Book of Genesis as a deity who approached Pagan people himself (Noah, Abraham, Moses) and inviting them to be is main 'representatives' on earth. If we consider this, God did not condemn the Pagans, he invited them in to know Him and they accepted.
These questions and many others are not answered in the translation of the Hebraic terms in question. So we are left to wonder what a spell is in regard to Hebrew culture...and what 'magic' was for the Hebrews, who condemned it. We do know how the Germanic peoples defined such terms, we may be able to discern how the Babylonians understood such terms, and we may be able to eventually discover how the Anglo-Saxons understood such terms, but in the Hebrew language, we have a limited knowledge of what these terms meant.
Further, the term 'witchcraft' is also used to indicate LOT CASTING, which is regarded as divination, including its fee. But this is very problematic, since the Hebrews used lot casting on a regular basis. In searching Strong's Exhaustive, it is evident that a very long list of scriptures mentioning Lot Casting practices exist as a permissible practice among the Hebrews.
The final and 'only' time the term 'witchcraft' is used is in the New Testament (and therefore the Greek language, indicating the culture of the New Testament): it is the term Pharmakiah, and indicates the use of medicine, which was considered magic and witchcraft at the time. Had the world continued on with this mindset, we would not be able to research cures for cancer, or medicate for strep throat. But it must be made known that the Hebrews themselves, as well as the Greeks, did use medicine, and such is mentioned in both the Old and the New Testament on occasion. Therefore one can only surmise that the use of the term 'pharmakia' in regard to the 'unacceptable' practice of 'witchcraft' as listed in the Bible, only indicates the improper use of medicine, since the Hebrew and Greek world indeed, did have a proper and acceptable use for medicine. It is a well known fact that ancient people did indeed use herbal concoctions to kill others, or otherwise bring harm, therefore it can only be concluded that the 'inappropriate' use of medicine was to bring harm and not help, whether by accident or on purpose.
As far as casting lots goes, the Hebrews did use lot casting on quite a regular basis; in fact the term lot, lots and lot casting comes up so much, the list is to long to type. Instead I will just indicate the Strong's #, and its meaning:
Strong's Hebrew #3876 (used 32 times)
Strong's Greek # 3091 (used 3 times)
Strong's Hebrew # 1486 ( used 60 times)
Strong's Hebrew # 2256 (used 3 time)
Strong's Greek # 2975 (used 1 time)
Strong's Greek # 2819 (used 2 times)
Strong's Greek # 2624 (used 1 time)
As one can clearly see, there are several DIFFERENT terms to describe different uses of Lot Casting in the Hebrew world, and which were eventually translated using the singular term 'witchcraft' that originated from the Anglo-Saxon language. This shows a very lax understanding of the Anglo-Saxon language, in that several different practices known to the Hebrew or Greek cultures was assigned the singular term 'witchcraft', a term that came from an entirely different culture and had no specific meaning as defined in any dictionary. The use of the term 'witchcraft' in the Bible can not be regarded as accurate as a term chosen for translation purposes. Thus, for our purposes we must get to the bottom of these meanings in Hebrew and Greek and see if they compare to anything similar in the Anglo-Saxon based term 'witchcraft'.
*Hebrew word #3876 means: The name of Abraham's nephew, "Lot"
*Greek #3091 means : the name of the patriarch, "Lot"
*Hebrew word #1486 means: GOWRAL, a rough stone or pebble used in lot casting; also, a portion or destiny (for example, an inheritance as given by lot casting, lottery; such an inheritance was given by the Patriarch named Lot, to Jacob (though it had been meant for Esau).
*Hebrew # 2256 means: CHEBEL, a rope, by implication, [to rope off] a district of inheritance; may also indicate a rope as used for a snare or trap
*Greek # 2975 means LAGEHANO, a root word, indicating a lot, meaning 'to determine'
*Greek # 2819 means KLEROS, from the idea of using bits of wood, as for a die [dice]; used for drawing chances or a portion, if so secured; a heritage, inheritance, lot, or part.
*Greek #2624 means: KATAKLERODOTEO, to be a giver of lots to each, to apportion an estate
By studying lot casting as it pertained to the Biblical culture of the Hebrews and the early Christians, we can discern from Biblical scripture that the Hebrews engaged in Lot Casting, and were only warned 'not to do as the Pagans do', when casting lots. The scriptures indicating this references that nearby Pagan communities to the Hebrews had used Lot Casting to gain money unjustly from their clients, or used the practice to scare others. Perhaps not all Pagan peoples did this, but enough did that the Hebrews were warned not to use the practice dishonestly. Thus Lot Casting, as a practice, was not forbidden to the Hebrews, but rather it was forbidden to use the practice to deceive, take advantage of others, or frighten them. We must be reminded that even the early Hebrew Priests entered into the tabernacle to cast forth the 'Urim & Thummim', on a lambskin casting cloth marked with messages written in Lamb's blood. The term 'urim' means 'light' or 'illumination', while the term 'thummim' literally means 'perfection'. Thus, the Hebrews went before their deity to gain perfect knowledge from their God in the exact same way other cultures around the world also did - by casting lots, whose placement after the lots landed was considered to be divine providence. In fact, one scripture states, "the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is from the Lord." (Proverbs 16:33). Therefore Lot Casting was permissible for the Hebrews, but only if they consulted their own God, and recognized that the lot was placed by the hand of their God and not the God of another nation.
Thus we can clearly see that 'witchcraft' as used in the Bible has been used to translate many different and unrelated words from Hebrew and Greek. These practices may have some similarities to the eventual development of the Anglo-Saxon culture, but the term 'witchcraft' was never part of Greek or Hebrew, and therefore is an inaccurate rendering of the terms in question as they find meaning in the Holy Bible. Instead of using the term 'witchcraft' as a generic catch-all term for several practices, it would make more sense and be more clear if the actual practice that was used was listed specifically, and the term 'witchcraft' was left out entirely. For example, the scripture that says, "Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live," should be better rendered "Thou shalt not suffer one who utters curses to live." Since the scripture speaks of someone who whispers in a jar, we might assume that the curse being uttered was spoken over a poisonous herbal concoction, but this is conjecture - we do not know this, and can only guess. If this would be the case, we might better render the scripture as "Thou shalt not suffer anyone who brings a about a curse through herbal poisons to live." Why would this be wrong? Because that person's intention was to bring about murder, and his or her intention was carried out in a deed that would result in actual death. As well as all this sounds, it is yet unclear what exactly the person was doing when he or she was 'whispering in a jar' in the ancient Hebrew world. We can only guess.
So what, then does the term 'witchcraft' mean in its own language, Anglo-Saxon? When checking an on-line, Anglo-Saxon to modern English dictionary put out by the university of Pennsylvania's on-line "concise Anglo Saxon Dictionary" (see the link here ... (http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/oe_clarkhall_about.html)
we can determine what the Anglo-Saxons intended their own term to mean:
wic - a dwelling place or house, a lodging
wican - yield, give way, fall down
wicca - a wizard, magician, soothsayer, astrologer
wicce- a witch
wiccecraeft - witchcraft, magic
wiccedom - witchcraft, use of
wicclan - to use witchcraft
wiccraeft - either witchcraft, or skill with horses, (the translator could not read the central letters of the word in question, thus the term and its meaning is unclear)
wiccung - enchantment
wiccung craeft - witchcraft
These words all developed AFTER the Angles and Saxons came together in England, in the 500's C.E., when the Christians had already settled there. So now we must ask if these words developed from a purely Anglo Saxon standpoint of culture, or rather, if they developed as a means to give a term to ideas brought in by the Christians who had since come into the region from the first century onward. Needless to say the terms are definitely Anglo-Saxon in origin, but were they Anglo-Saxon words that gave Biblical ideas a useful Anglo-Saxon terminology? Or rather, were they already in use, and were later condemned by the Christians who came in, and who regarded the word and its related practices as 'sinful'? This may never be known. Further, the only truly specific word that has any precise meaning is 'astrologer'. We do not know what is involved in the ancient practices of wizardry for either the Anglo-Saxons or the Hebrews. Likewise, we do not know what a magician was apt to do - was his duty based on deceit and charlatanism? Or did he worship and pray to a non-Hebraic deity? What exactly a magician did, point-by-point, we do not know. A soothsayer is somewhat specific, in that a soothsayer is related to predicting the future, but usually, more often comforts a person's personal fears and anxieties (a counselor, perhaps?). But an astrologer, we know the specific tasks and undertakings of astrologers in the ancient world. They measured stars, they watched star patterns, they identified planets, and although their interpretation may have been combined with religious and spiritual beliefs, their knowledge was one of the earliest science-based systems known. Often times, religion is thwarted by science, and thus religious people are often times 'against' those that bring in scientific information, especially when what they learn seems to teach the opposite of the religion in question. In the Hebrew world, the known astrologers taught idolatry and the worship of many deities, which is indeed against the Hebrew world view and religious faith. So again, it is not the use of astrology, but rather the teaching about 'other gods' that offended the Hebrews. But the Anglo-Saxon term gives no such admonition. The dictionary merely and very directly tells us that a 'witch' is someone who practices a list of duties that includes wizardry, soothsaying and astrology, and only astrology can we be fairly sure of what was actually done.
Either, way, the terms in question in Anglo-Saxon still do not tell the specifics of what one does when he or she practices Witchcraft, except to translate the term 'wicca' as a wizard, magician, soothsayer, or astrologer- all things that the Hebrews did permissibly inside their culture, and only condemned the practice of when done by cultures 'outside' Hebrew culture, who encouraged the worship of 'other gods'. A wizard, soothsayer, future-teller, or magician might otherwise be called a prophet, miracle worker, healer, or one who has a divine gift of prayer inside the Hebrew world. So now, the main difference between the cultures is their religious beliefs, rather than their practices.
To conclude we must admit that there is no difference between what the Hebrews did and what non-Hebraic cultures did in regard to lot casting (divination), future telling (prophecy), miracle working (village wise man or woman), or healer (herbalist), except to report what deity the individual asked for this kind of help. Thus we must go on to ask what kind of religion the Hebrews and early Christians had, in comparison with the Celts and Anglo-Saxons.
The Hebrews, from early on, adhered to strict monotheism, and very specific moral and legal codes that were given by their God to Moses, and verified by other of their prophets. Any other god, law or moral code was strongly looked down upon by them. However, other cultures must also to have looked down upon them, and it is safe to say that all ancient cultures regarded what they themselves did as right and regarded outside cultures as 'wrong'. Such was the ancient world.
Meanwhile, the Celts had a very different and interesting spirituality developing. While modern religious trends attempt to convince us that the ancient Celts worshipped a Goddess, or a 'Lord and Lady' the facts are these: The Celts recognized an unidentified spiritual power behind the natural forces of earth, wind, fire, water and the greater cosmos, but never personified this power in any type of idol or form. In fact, when the pre-Christian Roman legions came into their lands, the Celts thought it quite peculiar to try to 'squish' this spiritual 'super-force' into a physical idol that depicted a human or animal form. The Celts were very taken aback by this idea, in fact, and had never considered such in their own antiquity.
When the Romans came in to the British, pre-Christian world, they built Romanesque temples all over Europe and placed Hellenistic-style idols in these temples, and tried to 'match' the names of Celtic (and Germanic) ancestor names to their Hellenistic idols. The Romans did this for one reason - taking over the land and people of Europe and the Celto-British world. The Romans understood one thing - and that is, if the minds and understandings of a people can be changed religiously, then a new government can also take over. The Romans later used the Christian religion for the same purpose, but in pre-Christian times, the Romans had already attempted to use this technique on the Celts and Germans, and it worked. Within a few generations, the Roman influence could been seen, as Celtic and Germanic peoples began to accept the idea that a divine 'All-Spirit' who was evidenced within nature, could indeed be squeezed into an idol which represented not only an ancestor that was dear to them, but also was believed to have power over some portion of the universe or natural world. And thus the Romans made headway into Britain, up to Hadrian's Wall. This was all accomplished in pre-Christian times, and the Romans heavily condemned the Europeans for their practices of many kinds. For the Pagan Romans, everything they did was about taking land and controlling the indigenous people. To say the Christians did this for religious reasons is in fact, an error. What actually occurred was that the Romans adapted the Christian religion to themselves so that they could 'take power' over foreign people groups under the guise of an organizing and unifying religion. Christianity was a good choice for the Romans to use after the first century because it required adherents to honor and worship one God in one place - church - and therefore this set up made re-training the masses of people 'easy'. And once a mindset of a people group is changed, ruling them is easy. Thus it was not Christianity that came trudging into Europe to change people, it was the Roman Government with its pre-Christian methods of conquering foreign people groups, who seized the Christian faith and used it to accomplish their means to an end. As time went on, the people who ran the Catholic Church were unaware of this and just did their jobs. We can see that Christianity was not the kind of religion that believed in forced conversions just by reading the New Testament. Jesus never forced any single person to 'convert' but permitted individuals to make their own choices. His disciples likewise, were told that those who do not want them were to be left alone, and they were to travel onward. Putting this practice to work, we can see that the Celtic world had already had been introduced to Christianity before the Catholic Church came into Britain, which surprised the Catholic missionaries of the middle 2nd century. But the kind of Christianity that was practiced was 'Insular' (sometimes called Celtic Christianity), and it was a very gentle, happy, and non-forceful kind of religion. Those who did not wish to convert to that kind of faith were treated kindly by the Celtic Christians, and most likely the reason for this was, the Christian converts into Insular Christianity were related to those who did not receive it, as family members. It is much different when a government uses a religion to change a culture, rather than an individual receives a religion and brings it home to loved ones and family.
What does all of this tell us? It tells us that the Hebrews of ancient times as well as the early Christians were fighting against Hellenism, just as the British Pagans were. Hellenism is the Roman and Greek ideaology, which embraces forced conversion and colonization to the culture and religion of the warring Romans, with no room for personal choice. Religiously speaking, Hellenism is regarded as the worship of many divine spirits inhabiting many different idol forms, and was certainly 'forced' on the Pagan British and Celts before the Christian era. We can clearly see this in the many Romanesque temples that were erected to 'convert' the Celts and British to a religion foreign to their own, prior to the Christian era by the Roman armed forces.
But it also tells us that what the Celts and Germanic peoples may have believed was closer to the Hebrew religion instead of farther away from it, and also that the Hebrews had absolutely no comment about what the Germanic or Celtic peoples believed in spiritually. In fact, the Hebrew or Greek Biblical Scriptures never broach the Celtic outlook at all and there is no mention of any idea that the divine exhibits itself through the forces of nature, as mentioned in the Bible. The Celts and Germans were so far away from the Hebrews as to not be mentioned at all in scripture. The New Testament may briefly mention them when speaking of the 'Galations', who might have been the inhabitants of southern France, also known as 'Gaul', but there were other peoples who might also be labeled as 'Galations' in that era and so we can not be sure that the Galations of the New Testament were the people of Gaul in Southern France.
While the Hebrews often compared the power of their Biblical God to natural forces, they did not, per-say, believe that their God was actually 'in' such forces, but on the same token, they never said their God was not 'in' these forces either. In fact, the Celtic idea of a divine force specifically displaying through natural forces like wind, rain, waves, fire and other natural events is a completely foreign idea to the Hebrews as well as the Hellenistic peoples who eventually accepted Christianity. The oriental peoples of the ancient near east were very focused on a belief that a human or divine spirit 'had' to dwell in a human shaped idol. the Egyptians believed this, as did the Greeks, Romans, Persians and so on. The Hebrews came up with a 'new' and very different idea: that there was only one deity and that this deity did not 'have' to dwell in an idol, but instead lived outside the cosmos and governed all things. Amazingly the Celts had a very similar idea. The Celts also honored their ancestors, in a similar way that the Catholics eventually suggested as 'saint' type belief. This may be the reason that people were comfortable converting to the Christian faith in some circumstances. History shows that many of the Germans converted specifically to receive protection from the Romans against forces that invaded against the Germans, so conversions to Christianity was not always about 'forced' conversion, but rather about chosen conversion to gain political help. Indeed, the religious worlds of these colliding cultures was a lot more complex than Christian missionaries coming into Europe and torturing people into conversion. This did occur, but then, the Pagan Romans did a lot of human torture of Christians as well - feeding thousands of 1st century Christians to the Lions and using live and conscious Christian converts as 'torch fuel' at their parties (yes this is true! and pretty horrible!)
Thus we can safely say that what the Celts believed in spiritually is neither in agreement with, nor in juxtaposition with, anything in the Bible. Instead, the spiritual concepts of the Celts and Germanic peoples were unknown to the Hebrews. And thus when Christianity came into the Anglo-Saxon world, they had to assize what the Celts and Anglo-Saxons did spiritually and only 'try' to understand their thinking and religious actions. And as we all know, when you only know a little bit about something, it is very easy to draw the wrong conclusion, or fully mis-understand what they mean, or are doing.
But we still have not answered the ultimate question - what is it that people 'do' when they practice 'witchcraft'? I have often asked my Christian friends this question: "If Witchcraft is a sin, then what specific actions are sinful? What specifically must one avoid doing to 'not' practice Witchcraft?" I get a blank stare. While people know 'witchcraft' is certainly a sin, no one can actually tell me what behavior it is that is 'witchcraft'. If Witchcraft is indeed against the Hebrew and Greek scriptures, then what specifically are they (witches) doing? The only answer we have is to consult the court records of history, which are given in a scholarly web sight, called SURVEY OF SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT (http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/witches/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.search), which details the court records of those accused of and found guilty for practicing Witchcraft. The sight states that many people were accused of worshipping the Christian Devil, but that in fact, they were not doing such. In fact, they were tortured into confessing to worship the Christian Devil, and only confessed as a means to end their torture. Most of them were using folk healing methods, some of which probably did not work very well, but in a culture with no modern medicine, the records show that people were desperate to try to heal others who were suffering.
What witches of the Medieval and Elizabethan era were not doing was worshipping a Goddess, or a "Lord and Lady". In the court records, there are no mention of the "Lord and Lady", or any such "God and Goddess". While earlier Pagan Europeans had many ancestors who had been given the status of 'god' or 'goddess', and while many people made offerings at natural altars to natural spirits, we also must define 'what' a god or goddess was. The Anglo-Saxon language does not clearly define this term for us, so we return to the classical languages of Greek to find out. The Greeks by the way were also Pagans, and their language is ultimately related to the Indo-European language group, but the culture again, was so far away as to make any comparison of such really out of the question. Even so, Greek is the only language which gives us any definition of the term 'god' at all. In Greek the term 'god' means 'ruler' indicating governorship, priesthood, or even king. It is not necessary a term indicating a deity per say, except to say that all ancient peoples recognized their kings as mediators between humanity and a greater divine being, who was above the priest or king and had appointed that priest or king over the people. In other words, a 'god' or 'goddess' was in fact a human ruler put in place by a 'higher' divine being. Thus it is safe to say that the deities of Europe may well have been the true and actual ancestors of the European peoples, but were their 'most important' leaders, much like Americans remember George Washington now. At any rate, the worship of these deities was part of a more ancient European world view that disappeared approximately 400 C.E. on the continent and later (800 C.E.) in the most northerly fringes of European society. by the Medieval era and the Elizabethan times, there appears to be no knowledge of such deities among the many accused witches, even those who readily confessed that they practiced witchcraft, like Bessie Dunlop, who was a healer of her day. Archeologically, there is absolutely no evidence for any household or group of people who revered any such types of beings - no household idols, no written records, no pictures of such and no hidden temples in back rooms, dungeons, or caves. If any groups of people had existed, or even if any individual person had indeed done such, the evidence would certainly exist. Scholars have searched heartily for such evidence, since it had been proposed by Margaret Alice Murray and later encouraged by Gerald Gardner, but there simply is no evidence that such existed.
Instead, there is much mention of fairies. And Fairies are a COMPLETELY FOREIGN entity to Hebraic, or Hellenistic thought. In other words, the Bible cannot comment on such entities because these entities are completely foreign to Biblical thought and its surrounding culture. The idea of fairy-type creatures is so different from anything in the Semitic world that the only true analysis is to say it is absent from Biblical thinking. People have, for centuries, tried to 'equate' fairies and the related 'creatures' of the Celtic and European world to demons as spoken of in the Bible, but in reality, the Bible gives us the origin of demons...and this origin has nothing at all to do with Fairies. Let us review the Biblical history of demons:
In Ezekiel chapter 28, Lucifer is listed as the Biblical God's 'favorite' angel, and the only angel permitted to enter into the Biblical God's circle of fire. The scripture goes on to describe how the Biblical God withheld NOTHING from Lucifer, and dressed this angel in every gemstone that had been created. The way scripture describes the relationship between Lucifer and the Biblical God, it almost seems like a romance. But then, Biblical scripture tells us that 'iniquity' was found in Lucifer. Scripture does not tell us what this 'iniquity' was, not in Ezekiel 28, anyway. But once 'iniquity' was found in Lucifer, he was 'cast out' of the Biblical God's presence. Moving on to Isaiah 14, we discover what it was that Lucifer attempted to do: climb up onto the Biblical God's throne and take the Biblical God's place, becoming ruler over God. This act would have 'unplugged' creation, because only the Biblical God is capable (according to Hebraic thought) of keeping life going. It is this God who is the 'electricity', the 'force' and the 'power' that gives power to all other things - including Lucifer. Therefore, attempting to 'unplug' the Biblical God, would have in essence, 'unplugged' everything that this Biblical God had created, and EVERYTHING would have died and ceased to exist - including Lucifer. Because the Biblical God thought his creation was "very good", according to accounts in Genesis, this act of treason was certainly a cause for schism between Lucifer and the Biblical God. And thus Isaiah 14 tells us that Lucifer was 'cast out' to 'die'; in other words, the Biblical God gave him exactly what he desired - death. Further, because Lucifer tried to master-mind the death of the entire universe, including the Biblical God, its creator, Lucifer became associated with death, dying, corruption, lies, deception, disease and everything else that causes death and downfall. Jesus is reported as stating that he himself "saw Lucifer fall like lightning from the heavens..." (Luke 10:18), and this fall is expanded upon in the Book of Revelation, as a 'war' that took place in heaven (Jude 1:6; Revelation 12:7), which states:
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
As we can clearly see, the act that Lucifer attempted (treason against his creator, the Biblical God), caused such an uproar, that a war broke out in heaven and was heavily fought. It states that this enemy of God, named Satan (which means accuser), and also known as Lucifer (which means light-bringer), was hurled down and out of heaven along with angels who had aligned with him. Some believe that up to 1/3 of the angels in heaven allied with Lucifer in this endeavor to 'take over' heaven, and thus the demonic 'kingdom' was formed, which is no kingdom at all, but rather a conglomeration of enemies who have lost their place, their power and their future. Biblical scripture tells us that when Jesus Christ returns, this war will continue until Lucifer is fully destroyed, and that he indeed will be destroyed along with all who align with him. Only then will a new heaven and a new earth be created by the Creator Deity of the Hebrews, known today as 'Jehovah'. This is the perspective on the Demonic world according to the Holy Bible. No where does it mention Fairies. Fairies are not part of the Biblical concept and is completely foreign to Semitic thinking altogether.
In fact the Bible is very clear about where these demonic forces came from, but Bible scholars labor to match any and all ancestors or deities of non-Hebraic people groups up with these demonic forces. However, this 'matching up' of unrelated cultures can only be done 'if' the Bible really tells the whole story of the Universe, and this is a matter of 'belief'. Further, even if it does, the Bible only tells the story of the Hebrew world, and never broaches on the other world cultures. So even if the Bible is completely true in its assessment, it never analyzes distant cultures and their systems of thoughts. But from an anthropological and historic perspective, one can not say that the Hebrews were assessing distant cultures, but only asizing their own 'world' of the ancient near east region. One must look at these cultures as fully UNRELATED, and when this is done honestly, one can not compare Fairies to anything listed in the Bible at all. This is because the world of the Celts and all that they believed in is SEPARATE from any ideas that were part of Hebrew culture. Suffice it to say, however, that Hebrew culture strongly condemned neighboring cultures of idolatry and worship of the wrong deities, and had they become acquainted with the Celts, they certainly would have condemned them for some of their beliefs as well, but possibly not their idea of deity.
But we must also take into consideration that the Celts may be descendants of the wandering tribes of the Hebrews, specifically, the 10 Lost Tribes, who, after their exile in Babylon, wandered northward and disappeared. There is much to compare between Hebraic culture and the Celts that is so similar it is uncanny - language similarities, dietary codes, the high regard for the law, and the mandate the Druids had for 'not' writing down any of their laws, when compared with the Hebraic mandate that the law never be written down from memory, but only scribed perfectly from another, already penned scripture, so that it could be compared, and if error was found in that scripture, it was immediately destroyed. Even the sound of the term 'Druid' and 'Judah' sound somewhat similar (Drew...Jew). while linguists and other scholars cannot yet prove that the Druids and Celtic peoples were indeed related to the Jews and their priesthood to the Levites, many people have noticed similarities that make this comparison almost impossible to discount. From this perspective, it seems that if the Celts had once been a part with the Hebrew Lost Tribes, this would explain why the ancient, pre-Roman Celts of the 2nd Century B.C. had ideas about the divine being to great to contain in an idol, and why they never wrote anything down. Even the Festivals of the Hebrews is comparable to that of the Celts in many ways, such as theme and season.
Because the Lost Tribes of the Hebrews left Israel around the time of the Bronze Age, when the lot casting system of Urim and Thummim were still being used by the Hebrew Priesthood, it seems sensible that they would have continued to use a lot casting system to 'get in touch with' their God. Certainly, they would have attempted to use herbal remedies from things that grew in their region, because this provision came in the Book of Genesis, which they would have been familiar with. Cursings and Blessings over medicines would have been likely, as the Hebrews were known for (and their scriptures are filled with) examples of spell-type activities that were well-known in other, non Hebraic, Oriental cultures in their region. For example, in Genesis, a woman suspected of committing adultery was required to drink water into which the ashes of a certain paper had been placed (and upon which a phrase had been written); if she died, she was guilty, if she lived she was innocent... a practice that certainly appears 'spell-like'; in a later scripture, the Hebrews broke bowls upon which the names of their enemies were written, and in the story of Esther, the name of the evil Mordechai has always been and continues to be, written on the soles of the shoes and walked on, to keep his memory and spirit destroyed - an act that is borrowed from surrounding oriental cultures and has long been regarded as a type of 'spell'; this practice was certainly considered a form of magic by those Semitic cultures.
Thus the term 'witchcraft' as used in Biblical scripture can not really condemn actions of anyone. The Jews of the Old Testament, and the Christians of the New Testament used the same activities, but in varying contexts; to concemn such would have caused themselves to become guilty of their own actions. Instead, the only real crime they condemned was doing these things in the name of another deity. This was the real crime.
Thus we can conclude that what the Hebrews and Christians condemned was not what the Celtic and European people were 'doing' but rather whom they worshiped. And this is always a matter of personal choice, that no one should suffer for at human hand. Rather, only the God of the Biblical religion can judge, and He Himself states that he will do so, and do so with justice. It is Jesus that brings mercy to the equation, as well as acquittal. Biblical Scripture tells us that Christians are 'not to judge others' period. Instead Christians are to LOVE others.
Those who do not believe in the Biblical God are free to make their own choice. However, using the term 'witchcraft' in the Bible scriptures is completely inaccurate, and must be updated so the scriptures reflect greater accuracy of translation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)