Witchcraft & Wicca

What is Witchcraft?

The term witchcraft is controversial and has a complicated history making it difficult to define. Witchcraft is viewed differently in every culture. Every culture in the world has its own definitions of concepts dealing with magick, healing, spirit work and earth and animal magick. Some have been revered, some have been called evil and feared. The word "witchcraft" is broadly used to refer to the practice of magic, and has a similar connotation to sorcery.

There are many things associated with witchcraft but probably the most universal one is the spell-casting aspect. Spells can be cast by many methods, including meditation, burning of candles, chanting or reciting incantations, performing physical rituals and making herbal preparations. Sometimes quite simple and mundane actions can constitute the physical casting of a spell, and it is a common belief amongst modern witches that the intention behind the actions is at least as important as the actions themselves. Methods are many and differ from witch to witch.

Other practices associated with witches are: Meditation, seeing auras, medium-ship, communicating with plants or animals, chanting mantras, divination such as tarot, rune astrology etc, and the manipulation of energy.

What Is The Difference Between Wicca And Witchcraft?

There are many types of witchcraft and not everyone calls themselves a "witch". There's a lot of variety out there and people call themselves pretty much whatever they want, for their own personal reasons. There is also a difference between "Wicca" and "Witchcraft". Generally speaking, forms of Wicca are more ceremonial and have a more "religious" feel that forms of neo-pagan witchcraft.

Wicca is a modern pagan religion whereas forms of witchcraft focus more on the folk magick of old; with particular emphasis on herbs and spells, but with much less emphasis on ceremony. Witches use simple ritual with very little ceremony at all, whereas Wiccans are extremely ceremonial. Many who practice witchcraft as opposed to Wicca claim their belief system is more ancient than Wicca, and that real witchcraft never involved worship of deities at all; they focus more on personal responsibility and do not believe in any deity. this is an argument that is often heard among those who are Wiccan and those who are Witches.

The reason why it becomes so terribly confusing is because some Wiccans call themselves Witches; whereas a Witch would never call themselves a Wiccan - as they don't follow the religion. There are basically three categories of Witches: Religious - (Wiccans); Traditional (Focusing on self responsibility); and Eclectic; those who don't follow any particular form of witchcraft at all, and just take what they like, and perform as they like.

What Are The Different Types Of Witchcraft?

Here is a list of belief systems that are all related to witchcraft - not all of them are listed, because there are so many different types of Witchcraft in the world today it would be almost impossible to list them all. These are the most widely recognised and known forms of Wicca and witchcraft.

Gardnerian Wicca - this is the most widely recognised form of witchcraft. Wicca is a pagan religion and was founded in 1953 by Gerald Gardner, hence the name. Members call themselves wiccans or witches, and recognise the Goddess and the Horned God. Worship is centred on nature, the seasonal cycles, polarity in all things and the never ending cycle of death and re-birth. This religion is mostly coven based and covens are always presided over by a High Priestess; there are some solitary practitioners but most of the ceremonies are designed for group work, so many would say that it isn't possible to be a Wiccan without being in a coven. There are three degrees if initiation. Magick is very ceremonial and ceremonies are often performed outdoors "sky-clad" which means naked. Eight seasonal sabbats are celebrated. Gardnerian Wiccans take an oath to harm none, and would never use magick against another person for any reason because they believe in the Threefold Law, that is, what is done comes back to you three times over.

Alexandrian Wicca - This form of Wicca was founded in England by Alexander Sanders in the 1960's, hence its name. It is an off-shoot of the original Gardnerian Wicca, but it does have some major differences. Alexandrian Wicca focuses more strongly upon ceremonial magick, such as the Qabalah. This religion is also coven based, with a hierarchical structure. Alexandrian wiccans usually prefer to perform ceremonies sky-clad, but they aren't as secretive as the Gardnerian Wiccans; they do allow non initiates to attend circles but usually as a "neophyte" which means a person who is undergoing basic training in circle work prior to being accepted for a 1st degree initiation. Alexandrians use the same essential tools as Gardnerians, but sometimes use them differently. There are differences in the philosophy of the craft, but as the years go by the differences between Gardnerian and Alexandrian are closing up.

Dianic Wicca - Dianic witchcraft is broken into two different types. One type accepts both sexes into its covens, but believes heavily in feminine power, worshipping the Goddess and her Horned Consort. This is the older form of Dianic witchcraft and is sometimes referred to as "Old Dianic". It was founded in Texas by Morgan McFarland and Mark Roberts. The second type is sometimes called "Feminist Dianic Witchcraft" and focuses exclusively on the Goddess. The covens are women only and don't have a strict hierarchy. Most are politically feminist and this form has a high proportions of gay witches.

Georgian Wicca - This form of Wicca is the most eclectic. It was founded by George E Patterson in 1970. They worship the Goddess and celebrate the eight sabbats, and generally practice sky-clad. The material used to study by members is Alexandrian but its not necessary to stick to that one path; its fine to study other paths too. The founder is said to have a saying that went, "if it works then use it, if it doesn't, then don't."

Traditional Witchcraft - traditional witchcraft does not believe in or follow any deities at all - traditional witches respect the earth, not Gods or Goddesses. It has to be emphasised here that they *respect* the earth, they don't *worship* the earth. It is a nature based belief system and doesn't have anything to do with the religion of Wicca. Magick is very practical to traditional witches; and they have no law of harming none because they believes in personal responsibility. In other words, do what you will but be prepared for the consequences. This means that a witch may choose to cast spells on other people if they are prepared to deal with the fallout of that action. Its fine to be a solitary practitioner, that is, no coven is required, but there are covens as well; the covens are appointed a leader who is chosen by majority and their willingness to be a leader - there is no hierarch or degree's of initiation that Wiccan's have. Many traditional witches do not have a Book Of Shadows; in ancient times, a witch would never have written down her secrets and spells for fear of death. Many traditional witches have a lineage of witchcraft in their families.

Celtic Witchcraft - This form of witchcraft encompasses many different forms of pagan beliefs. There are many different forms of "Celtic Witchcraft" and they are based on druidism, Celtic shamanism, Celtic Wicca (known as Witta) Celtic Christianity and the Grail Religion. Celtic Witchcraft focuses upon nature and healing and honouring the earth. Most Celtic paths are very eclectic meaning they can be very different from each other. Most however, hold to Celtic myths, rituals, magic and divinities. Celtic witchcraft is extremely popular as many people feel drawn to its rich earth magick and worship.

Eclectic Witchcraft - Eclectic witches take what they want and discard what they want - in other words they fit all manner of neo-pagan beliefs into their own unique faith and belief system. Because of this its impossible to define an eclectic witch. Most combine new age concepts and theology and traditional witchcraft, and may adopt some of the practices or deities from other religions. Some simply call themselves a witch and cast spells. There is a branch of witchcraft gaining popularity called Christian Witchcraft or Christian Wicca; as witchcraft goes totally against all Christian teachings, and most practitioners are solitary, it can be classified under eclectic.

Faerie Witchcraft - This branch of witchcraft work with the fey (fairy folk). Faerie witches attune themselves to the fairy realm as well as to the earth; There are several different spellings for this form of the craft: Fairy, Faerie, Faery, and Feri. Some forms of this craft are based on Celtic mythology and witchcraft but not all of them are. The Faerie path does not generally have common Wiccan rules such as the Rede or the Threefold Law. Practitioners enter into an enchanted state when practicing Faerie Magick; that means the person becomes "ecstatic". Some branches includes sexual msyticism. One popular Faerie tradition, called Feri Wicca, was founded by a man called Victor Anderson and further developed by him and his wife Cora.

Shamanic Witchcraft - This form of witchcraft is based on tribal shamanism from traditional pagan cultures throughout the world. A shaman combines healing, spell-crafting and medium-ship, as well as various other things such as working with spirit guides and entering altered states of consciousness to produce and control psychic phenomena and to travel to and from the spirit realm. Shamanic Witchcraft emphasizes serving the wider community through rituals, herbalism, spellcraft, healings, counselling, rites of passage, handfastings, Mystery initiations, etc. The distinguishing element of Shamanic Witchcraft is the knowledge and sacramental use of psychotropic plants to effect transitions between worlds.

Further Learning

Dreamers Online firmly believes that when studying spiritual topics and the esoteric, you can never have too much information. We urge you to read as many books and information on the topic as possible if you truly wish to become adept in the art of witchcraft. Most of all, let it be fun and enjoy yourself!

Dreamers Online Recommended Witchcraft Links!

http://www.spiritual.com.au/witchcraft.html

http://www.witches.com.au/

http://www.paganawareness.net.au/laws.html

http://www.witchcraft.com.au/

http://www.themodernwitch.com/

http://www.whitemagic.com.au/

http://www.bewitchingways.com/main.htm

http://www.wicca.com/

http://www.crystalinks.com/wicca.html

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