As someone who was raised in a heavily Christian household, this isn’t a subject I thought I would ever write about. The mention of Paganism of Witchcraft brought forward ideas of devil worship, blood, darkness, and evil. However, as I have learned, that is not an accurate representation of the spiritual practices related to paganism nor witchcraft, and that’s definitely not how I got here. For me, it was a path of discovery, of opening to Self, it was finding God in Nature... but there I go getting ahead of myself. So without further ado, let’s take a nice, slow, deep breath and jump in!

What does it mean to be a witch?

Getting down to the roots

“Pagan” outright means someone whose religious beliefs are ‘other than’ the Judaic religions, or more specifically a non-Christian. The non-Christian bit is part of an old derogatory slur dating back to before the crusades. At the origin of the word, the old Latin ‘pagus’ meant country or villager, denoting the rustic time and place of individuals. Later the Christian Latin developed from ‘pagan’ to heathen.

“Heathen” is a person “who does not belong to a widely held religion” or a follower of a polytheistic religion. Oxford Languages continues to define Heathen as 1) not worshiping the God of Israel (non-Christian), and 2) an individual who is unenlightened, lacking culture or moral principles. Again, the term historically meant one ‘inhabiting open country’ or heath.

Based on these definitions Buddhists, Daoists, and other Eastern religions are consequently pagan and their followers, heathens. It’s not a secret that Native Americans were called pagans and heathens as a slur against their morals and intelligence by early colonizers touting “manifest destiny”. Instead of persecuting indigenous cultures and beliefs, it would be better to recognize the universal beliefs held by ancient traditions around the globe, but I digress.

Beliefs and practices.

A widely held belief in Paganism is that nature, and the cycles of life (from birth to death), are sacred. They see human beings as a part of nature, along with other animals, plants, and the Earth. This is a more holistic and ecological perspective that recognizes the connection and interconnection of all life. This can be a jarring perspective for some who believe that humans are superior to other species or that the world was created entirely from them… Here I am not throwing shade at Christians (well maybe just a tad)... I’m simply pointing out that Pagans, untethered to a specific religion, can worship any Deity they please - even multiple, recognizing the Divine in a way that resonates with them, and the energy is not required to be masculine or feminine.

Wicca is the most famous religion of witches. Wiccans worship the Lord & Lady and are pagan, but not all pagan witches are Wiccans. Now let’s talk about how you can be a Christian witch. I said it! Due to the open choice of which deity and spiritual practices a pagan may choose they can be (and there are) Christian witches. My mother, who is a devout Christian, would probably be pretty surprised to find out that I consider her to be somewhat of a green witch (yes, there are different types of witches) due to her love of plants, holistic medicines, and finding peace in nature. Of course, it is up to her to determine this for herself.

Pagan practices are widely varied because just like in life, each individual’s path is different from the next but some common practices include prayer, meditation, rituals, communion with others, and celebration of seasonal festivals especially those prescribed by the Wheel of the Year.

Clearing up misconceptions.

Let’s talk witchy misconceptions:

• Witches are always women - False, anyone can be a wxtch.
• Wxtches worship the devil - False, the devil is a Christian concept.
• Wxtches are evil and scary - False, actually witches have often been healers and especially Wiccans have a code against harm (of self or others).
• Are covered in warts - I mean, that depends on the individual…

History of Wxtchcraft

It’s likely you’ve heard of the infamous Salem witch trials, but these were a small piece of a much larger witch hunt that began with the 1487 print of Malleus Maleficarum, a.k.a. the Hammer of Witches written by Catholic clergy who described witchcraft as devil worship. Although many people practiced folk magic and were familiar with holistic healing practices, fear was sparked and in 1532 Charles V created a code that required witchcraft practitioners to be punished by death. This was followed by the witchcraft law created in 1542 by Henry VIII which, along with performing harmful magic, banned “behaving badly towards Christians”. At this point I’ll mention that the clergy authors wrote Malleus with outwardly misogynistic currents, describing women as incapable of thinking for themselves and unable to refrain from their sexual nature, etc. Scholars have since looked at their sources which showed an utter lack of awareness or understanding of what we would now consider basic science. For example, they held the idea that women were passive in the reproductive process, and men were solely responsible for children, and that men were the automatic sex and women, held as inferior, were caused by southern winds.

The trials in Salem were a very short period of less than 2 years 1692-1693, which ceased when the governor's wife was accused. Governor Phipps called a meeting where they deemed “spectral evidence” insufficient. These spectral claims of seeing or being attacked by a ghost of the accused was a leading cause of determining someone guilty. This decision marked the end of the trials and executions, with a total of 19 people (15 women & 4 men, 1 man died from torture) and 2 dogs executed in Salem, Massachusetts. A small number in comparison to the total that came from Europe although, it should be noted the actual number of how many people died during the witch hunt period is unknown. Estimates range from 10,000 to 11 million. Historian Anne L. Barstow estimates the number to be under 200,000 although she concedes that this number still is hard to establish due to records missing trial verdicts, it also would not take into account those who died (or were murdered) in prison, tortured, or killed themselves from despair. These numbers are also looking at individuals who were convicted and do not include that, in the terror of finding witches and ridding society of them, whole towns would be burned down and slaughtered.

There’s much more to say on this fear-based purge that lasted a few centuries but I’ll stop here with an invitation to you to research the victims who suffered from a fear of bold, outspoken women and the power that men would lose if women were to be treated as equal.

Why is it important?

Previous to the witch hunt that crossed the globe people lived life in all sorts of ways and it was accepted. For example prostitution, homosexuality, and magick were overwhelmingly accepted. However when witchcraft was condemned as defined in the Witches’ Hammer much of this changed as Silvia Federici describes in her book ‘Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation: “Of particular significance is the relation the witch-hunt established between the prostitute and the witch, reflecting the process of devaluation which prostitution underwent in the capitalist reorganization of sexual work …both sold themselves in order to obtain money and an illicit power, the witch (who sold her soul to the Devil) being the magnified image of the prostitute (who sold her body to men).”

Let’s stop here and reflect. If the witch is a mirror of the prostitute, selling her soul to the devil, are the men paying for the body of the prostitute not a representation of the devil?

Silvia references Maria Mies’ ‘Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale’ where she “argues that the witch hunt was part of the attempt by the emerging capitalist class to establish its control over the productive capacity of women, and first and foremost over their generative powers…” And it continues today, as recently as 2010 people have been persecuted and executed for being real or accused witches.

Again and again, we see the poor, the desperate, the misunderstood incriminated for nothing. Or perhaps I should say because others have the ability to take advantage of these individuals. Another way to look at it would be that because of an inability or willfulness to misunderstand, hysteria continued and with it intolerance, violence, and persecution. If history repeats itself, let us look at the words we are using, the history of where it comes from, and understand so we may identify where it is perpetuated in our society, be it the same fear or abuse under a different name.

Reclaiming Wxtch

Witch was used in a state of fear to remove power from people, namely womxn, widows, and others on the edge of society. There is a movement, an undercurrent, of wxtches rising up and taking back the word “Witch”. Similar to how women have been reclaiming the word b*tch to take back their power from the pejorative slur.

Wxtchcraft truly is open for anyone, but women are leading the way of reclamation. The women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s used WITCH as a moniker to establish a campaign against radical feminists, advocating for allyship with left-wing causes. In the 1979 book ‘The Spiral Dance’, Starhawk wrote “To reclaim the word witch is to reclaim our right, as women, to be powerful.” In 2015 Rapper Azealia Banks tweeted herself out of the broom closet and probed black American Christians asking if they considered “WHY they are Christian” and what their ancestors believed before coming to the Americas. Karen Stevens wrote WITCH as an acronym: Woman In Total Control of Herself, and although the book is not well known, the idea of self-empowerment is gaining momentum.

What’s with the X in Wxtch?

In August I held an event titled “Wxtchy Full Moon Retreat” and people began to ask me “What’s with the X in Wxtch?” My answer is that anyone can be a witch; the term has no gender although it has been heavily assigned to womxn. If you google ‘witch’ it will relate it specifically to women and will carry with it stereotypes such as "an ugly woman, a bewitching woman, or one who casts evil spells". I, however, find this definition to be most accurate: “A practitioner of Witchcraft”. That’s it! No need for gender specifications, classifying the types of spells cast, oversexualizing, or making it about men vs women.

The X in Wxtch is part of my commitment to an inclusive environment and acknowledgment of Gender Neutrality. It’s likely you’ve seen mxn or womxn before. This gender-neutral marker (x) was popularized and then taken on by the US government as a step toward legal recognizing non-binary individuals in 2017. However, let us be clear that non-binary and two-spirit people have lived on earth as long as we have identified as humans.

My experience

My introduction to paganism came from friends in Middle School. We were a motley crew of kids with varying beliefs and I didn't really know what paganism was except that my friends who were interested in it seemed like hippies to me. They had a great knowledge of plants and animals and loved to drink tea and walk in the woods. We bonded over our love and respect for nature around campfires and while exploring local trails. I might also note that they were strong feminists, who believed in the power of women and I too was interested in that.

As I got older I mostly put paganism out of my head, recognizing that it was nothing dark or dangerous but rather reminded me of playful Forest nymphs, and I liked that image very much.

As I learned more about witchcraft, I saw the connection between energy and the individual, the connection of nature and to the Self. I loved finding new ways to celebrate the seasons and to embrace my being while respecting the Sun, Moon, and Earth. Acknowledging that I am them and they are me. Personally, I am happy to label myself an eclectic witch but in truth, my spiritual practices lean towards Druidry. Druidry however, is less known, understood, and a blog for another time.

Labeling oneself has its limits

I am a firm believer in the importance of one telling their own story, using words they understand to define themselves. That being said, labels are helpful until they aren’t. It is empowering for one to claim themselves as they seem fit, and it is against the best interest of our highest consciousness to judge someone else, no matter how they define themselves. I ask you to avoid division, to choose love over fear and hate, to focus on the being - not the container. We are all One.

I hope this blog was insightful for you, please message me below with any thoughts, input, questions, or references. Going forward, breathe deeply, be kind, and blessed be.