Wiccans and Witches... calling Pagans...?

Question

I ask this question to practicing Wiccans, Witches and Pagans because only you can give the answer I am seeking. I mean no disrespect to other religions or faiths.

My question is... what does being a witch mean to you? If someone brand new to the path asked you, “What is a Witch?” what would your heartfelt response be?

I ask this question over and over through the years and love some of the amazingly beautiful answers I receive. Several years ago when I wrote my book, I asked the same question, “What does being a witch mean to you?” and I placed some of the most eloquent answers in my book, with permission from the people that supplied the answers.

I am in the process of revising the book for a new print in a new edition and thought it would be wonderful to have some new responses as to “What is a Witch” from some folks today.

So, what is a witch you? In your words, what is it to be a witch, what does it mean to you on many different levels?

Thanks for your in-depth and heartfelt responses in advance!

OH… and if you would be willing for your response to be in the newest edition of my book, please let me know and make sure that there is a way I can contact you, even if that means you contact me first via my email.

Warm Blessings

Answer 1

We are a mixed bunch and this question will be answered by each of us in entirely different ways, which is how we experience our path. But! Above all else we agree on one small sentence, we seek to harm none. That means no one, including ourselves, others and the world around us. So we don’t cast spells that affect the free will of another , as this is equal to harm. We don’t hex or curse people, contrary to popular belief! We seek to become mindful of the fact that we alone are responsible for how we live our lives, and we alone will account for how we grow and deal with our life's lessons, Most people falsely believe we use Satan's magic...but, we simply do not believe he exists which means we don't have that " the devil made me do it" excuse for our bad deeds. So we are very careful with our actions, ever minding the rule of three, which states three times bad and three times good.


We seek to harm none. That means no one, including ourselves and the world around us. So we don’t cast spells that take away the freedom of another or interfere with their right of choice. We don’t hex or curse someone but take steps to recognize our responsibility for the difficulties between us. And then we seek to change our behavior because we know that we are responsible for our own actions and not those of another.

Sure, sometimes a witch may cast a spell for personal gain or to help someone at their request. But more often, witches raise energy to be used to heal.I believe all who walk this path were born to heal. Because magick requires that we take energy from one place and direct it to another, we use magick sparingly so as to not cause harm. We realize that the Goddess given gift of magick is not something to be toyed with, and use it wisely.


The biggest personal change in me and one i still struggle with on occasion is to be accepting and tolerant of anyone else's belief system. Just as all Christian faiths are not the same, not all pagan paths are the same. However, regardless of the name used,Wiccan Witch or Pagan, all of us are seeking to grow spiritually. We strive to do this in order to become closer to our God/dess. We also endeavor to understand that everyone sees deity differently and that may paths lead to the same place.We strive to be respectful of other religions because there is no one true path.

So, is being a witch a lot of hard work? Yes. It is difficult to be a witch because it begins with changing your mindset from focusing on the physical to moving into the ethereal. It requires belief when the mind screams that what is occurring is beyond the realm of possibility. It requires daily dedication to master techniques of meditation, divination, and control. There is a lot of reading and writing involved. And it takes practice, practice, practice.

Being a witch means that you can walk outdoors and feel the divine all about you. It’s connecting with elemental forces that inhabit the earth with us. It’s being aware of the ethereal as well as the physical. It is the ability to be indoors and still feel the brush of the wind on your cheek, the warmth of the sun on your face, the sensation of rushing water cascading your body, and the scent of the earth in the air.

The charge of the Goddess commands us to "let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honor and humility, mirth and reverence" within each of us. Ours is a celebration of life and love, as seen in our rituals. We celebrate the continued turning of the wheel with each Sabbat. We celebrate the transitions in our lives and the lives of those we love. Our public rituals allow us to join together in celebration whether we are solitary practitioners or members of covens. All come together to celebrate and feast, to catch up on what’s new, and to meet new friends.

Being a witch means that even death is a cause for celebration. As we mourn our personal loss, we also celebrate the life that was shared with us. We rejoice knowing that our companion has crossed over and will be reborn again. And so their wheel of life continues. And in time, we know that our wheel will also continue. For we are witches.
To me becoming a Wiccan Witch, was something so powerful, a realization of the things i had always known. A homecoming.
Blessed Be!
~*Ariel Brigalow Moon-dust*~

Answer 2

I found out I had been a witch in another life from a psychic. I didn’t believe in either until then. It hit my heart hard, she was absolutely right. From that day I've believed in reincarnation, that’s changed my entire life for the better. I discovered what some of my past incarnations had been, and it released me from fears that were not from this lifetime. Through meditation, I've discovered I have many psychic abilities I never knew about. I love the belief of, “Do what you will, but harm no one.” If you read the Principles Of Belief written by The Council of American Witches, it explains why I love the Wiccan religion so much. I am a solitary practitioner, so I am very careful. I happen to be a Witch who worships the Christian God, but not the Old Testament one. The One that is in all the religions I studied, just a different tag on Him/Her. I put what touched my heart from each religion I studied, and added all of them together. I ended up with a living religion that grows and matures as I do. There’s so much I’d like to tell you, but I fear my space is used up. I would dearly love to be published. I wanted to be a minister, but couldn't find a religion I could stand up for, or believe 100% of the time. Now I have it.

Blessed Be

Answer 3

Being a witch is understanding that all life is connected, having the ability to connect with ones higher and lower consciousness, and knowing that one can manipulate the energies surrounding him/her to influence their surroundings. On a personal level, it means I am not just a creation of the god(s), but actually a PART of the divine, as all living things have spiritual energy, and all living spiritual energies are actually just a manifestation of the "All", be it Diana, Zeus, Hecate, the Horned God, whatever you call GOD. And since I am PART of the world, CONNECTED to the rest of the world (and not just stuck here until my soul goes somewhere else), it is my responsibility to do my part in taking care of the rest of the collective "me", and promote and disperse positive energies out into the world whenever possible. I do believe that there is some kind of grace or forgiveness for my misdoings, I am solely responsible for my actions and what I do.
Blessed Be!

Lazerus

You can use any or all of this in your book if you want
[e-mail]

Answer 4

I was raised in a Christian church. From the beginning I believed that God couldn't just be one, or a man. Also if there were all these 'other' religions, how could it be that a good person, of another faith, goes to hell, over a bad Christian person that says 'I'm sorry' and 'I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior', on his death bed? I struggled with this for a while but, continued to go to church, then to other churches, searching for something that 'fit' with what I was feeling. I finally just stopped going after a while. I, like my Mother, decided I was Agnostic.
Shortly after my Mother died I found Scott Cunningham's ~ A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner. Finally I had found my 'fit'.
I had found a religion that didn't make me feel like a hypocrite, that let me be me. I can go at my own pace, be my own Priestess, not listening to someone else telling me how they believe I should be living my life. I am on a continuously growing, learning path.
I feel a connection to the earth, that I never felt before becoming Wiccan. It grows stronger all the time. I am free and happy in my heart and soul as I never was before.

Feel free to e-mail me through my profile page. Good luck with the book, please let me know the name and when it's coming out.

)o( Blessed Be!

Answer 5

It's about hope. I'm not a very religious person. I don't spend my time thinking about un-answerable questions or looking for connections. I'm probably a pretty normal person, all around.

But I look around me and I see how disconnected everything seems. People who don't look at each other, places where thousands of people go that are uncared for, plants and animals being squeeze out of their habitats, overuse of resources. Basically the economic idea of scarcity.

It takes so little to change some of these problems, to make a better world. Picking up litter, opening doors for people, adopting animals out of shelters rather than buying breeds, buying fair-trade or organic. And I see people doing these things every day and it gives me hope.

Magic, witchcraft, is all about change and growth. It's about personal responsibility and doing the best you can with what you have. Being a witch to me means that I am aware of what is around me, and I'm looking at ways that I can help. It's about volunteering, making small changes, and learning how I can help myself and everyone else.

Answer 6

To me, Wicca is about growing up and taking full responsibility for life. Knowing that we are a part of Nature and not separate from it is an awesome responsibility. And being a part of the Divine only adds to that. We all make manifest the world around us through our actions or lack thereof. We must work with Mother Nature to fix our world so what we leave for the next generation is not a legacy of problems. We must do what we can to live in harmony with ourselves, our brothers and sisters, and with Nature.

Bright Blessings )O(

additionally, feel free to use this if you so choose, if you want to contact me further you can email me through here.

Answer 7

Magic and sorcery are Condemned by the Bible..it urges faith, prayer and trust in Jehovah as the protection against unseen wicked spirit forces and all their related activities, including magical influnces. Eph 6:11-18 In Psalms the righteous pray for the deliverance from evil; Jesus taught us to pray for deliverence from the wicked one. Mt 6:13...and iin deut 18:10-12 Jehoavh calls these thing DETESTABLE and says on account of them he is driving them away from before you.

Answer 8

To me, being a Witch means understanding that I am not outside of the world, I am part of it. It means that I am not afraid to embrace the feminine side of my nature along with the masculine.
Being a Witch to me means that I do not blame outside influences for my behavior, because it is my choice to allow them to affect me.
Being a Witch to me means that I can find that place of stillness within me and feel the heartbeat of the world and the song of the universe.

my e-mail connection is always open
Bright Blessings

Answer 9

MM! So much has already been said, I don't need to say much...to me, being a Witch is simply an extension of all that I am! BB!

Answer 10

I’ll tell you my views here. No other Witch will have the same view.

Honestly I initially became interested in Witchcraft as a form of rebellion against the Pentecostal lifestyle of my family.

Of course this is the WRONG reason to investigate Wicca, but there I was. I’ve been plagued by many of the misconceptions of my youth and unfortunately like many Pagans of the 1970s I’ll be in part shaped by the trauma of my fight for personal freedom. Sadly this leaves one angry and frustrated.

Now about being a modern Witch:

First off we’re just human like everyone else. Some of us don’t particularly like certain interpretations of some individuals in Wicca. For instance I have a bit of trouble with the Gothic/Vampire flavored Wicca. I think they’re being exactly what outsiders (Christians) want or expect us to be. I’d never confront someone over this since it’s their right to express themselves anyway they wish, it’s just not my cup of tea. But I confess that sometimes I want to say, “Please tone it down, you’re scaring the Christians”, but silence is golden. I’d just prefer not to be reactionary.

Next thing, the use of Magick: I doubt I’ve tried to cast spells more than twice and that was way back when I first became interested in Wicca and learned that it was different than Witchcraft as understood by the public. Many Wicca people find spell casting more useful than I do, and I say more power to them. The magick in my life comes from knowing when to break the rules, or do something completely different. To me Magick is going to work in the morning then half way there having a hunch, changing directions going somewhere else where you meet a person that offers you a job starting the next day that pays twice as much as the job you had. Of course the magic isn’t getting the hunch but having the courage to follow it.

Now a bit about Ritual: Ritual is vital, it gives my faith direction. Ritual isn’t about casting spells; it’s about merging myself with nature. I do this by using the symbols that have the most meaning for me. Witches speak much of “The Goddess” but I don’t believe the concept her many forms represent is in fact anthropomorphic. In effect the God and Goddess of Wicca never actually becomes flesh in the way Christians believe their God did. We’d be foolish to be literal with our pantheons and find anyone so literal foolish. This doesn’t diminish the power of the God or Goddess, for their power is conceptual and they have survived since before the Ice Age against odds that the new religions couldn’t contend with.

Finally what Wicca does for me personally: It allows me the freedom to fearlessly explore any concept whether taboo to modern society or not. It allows me to feel my inner power and the wonder of circumstances that conspire to make me prosper in a world full of people that hate me. I feel the validation of nature every day, the life giving force of sunlight, and the comfortable safety of the dark night. My dreams merge with my life and when touched by the forces of life I can feel the power speeding up my spine. I have the power to change anything about my life. After being overweight for ten years I decided one day to slim down, it took three months to loose fifty pounds to my optimum weight and stop smoking. Being able to change yourself IS power.

Blessed Be.

Edit... Feel free to quote, but I doubt it applys to many.