Witch:
Pagan or Wiccan?
BY MORGAN HAWKE (C)
2003
Answering
some Questions about:
- The difference between Wiccans & Pagans...
Let's start
with the meaning of the word 'witch'.
There are lots of views
about where this word comes from & what
it 'actually means', and even more books dedicated
to just this subject alone. I'll let you make
your own decisions as to where you think it
came from.
Boiled
down, a Witch is:
'A Person Of Power'.
Basically,
there are unlimited numbers of 'types' of
witches, & new ones are being invented
every day.
There are
Christian Witches who call the Quarters by
naming the Arch Angels asking for their protections,
There are 'Satanistic witches', (pretty self-explanatory,)
who also fall under the 'Christian Witch'
blanket. (The powers that both types of witches
invoke are all from the same universe / reality
tunnel.) There are Jew-witches who utilize
the Torah, & there are Voodoo practitioners
(basically African/Christian witches.) There
are several different types of High Magicians,
(a mixture of Christian Witchery & Free-Masonry,)
who don't even call themselves 'witch' but
hey, they're people too. There are also Pagan
Witches who use (read: mix & match!) the
Pre-Christian deity forms, (of their choice,)
to invoke the powers.
What
is the deference between a Pagan Witch &
a Wiccan Witch?
A Pagan, (or heathen,)
is someone who does Nature Worship. Pagan
Witches use (read: mix & match!) the Pre-Christian
deity forms, (of their choice,) to invoke
the powers.
According
to the established religions, a pagan, (or
heathen,) is anyone who doesn't follow the
established, (read: 'Their',) religion. Kind
of like the word 'infidel.'
Originally
the Greeks & Romans used the word Pagan
(or heathen,) to call someone a 'hick' or
'redneck'. Someone who wasn't sophisticated
or educated enough, to know who the Real (city)
Gods were.
Wiccans
are Pagans that follows the 'New Age' view,
(Love & Lighters, we call them,) on top
of Pre-Christian Nature Worship. These folks
also tend to be, what is commonly known as
'Dianic'. Strictly Goddess Worshipers, to
the exclusion of a male god-form altogether.
Don't get
me wrong, there ARE Wiccans who use the Dual
God / Goddess forms, but the God is usually
of less importance then the Goddess.
Would
a Druid be a Pagan Witch?
Yes. Just add some Celtic
High Magick to the mix & toss in a few,
(13 to be exact,) trees & a couple bushes
& you have a Druid.
Where
does 'New Age' fit in?
I personally, see 'New
Age' as a type of Yuppie Magick. It's a politically
correct type of paganism that is soft &
gentle, non-aggressive & safe for the
masses.
The term
'New Age' comes from the phrase, 'the Age
of Aquarius,' (which is supposed to begin
after the year 2000.) It's a term coined by
all those Hippies from the '60's' who were
forced to join the work force. (They were
in college during the '60's, & are now
running the country.) Unitarian churches are
'New Age'.
I
thought the New Agers believe that the gods
were IN them or that they ARE the gods?
The 'New Age belief
system, (when boiled down,) is this:
'The Spark of Life', that which makes something
Alive, (kind of like 'the Force'...) is possessed
by all living creatures. This is considered
proof of the Soul, therefore: All Living Things
have a Soul. The Soul is considered an extension,
(a spark) of the Divine, so therefore: All
Living Things are Divine & should be respected
& treated as such.
The Earth
is considered a Living (& conscious,)
Entity in her own right & therefore Divine
& worshipped as such.
I myself
subscribe to this belief, though I express
it differently from the average New Ager.
For example, I eat meat.
I
know that there a lot of paths you can take
and I'm trying to figure out were I need to
start reading.
Yes, there are a LOT
of paths. Not all of them are in the Light,
but all of them, even the 'established' ones
all agree that "...there is Something
out there. We are Not alone..."
My view
is that the 'God/dess' (or the Force,) is
kind of like a huge multi-faceted crystal.
Everyone stands in a different place from
everyone else, so everyone's point of view
is Going To Be Different because of where
THEY are Standing. One person sees one color
(or Mask of the Divine,) someone else is going
to see a different color (or Mask of the Divine,)
from their angle. This doesn't make their
view Wrong, just Different.
The
Divine is Still the Divine, whether He is
male with a long white beard, wearing white
robes & sitting on a throne in the clouds
or She is a huge black woman cradling the
world in her belly.
It is your right to believe as you see fit.
No one has the right to tell you that your
belief in the Divine is wrong.
No One.
