Hereditary Witches~ views please?

Question

I have noticed a bit of hostility lately between hereditary witches and other Pagans such as Wiccans.
Can you explain to me why i am getting the idea from some of the things i am reading that our path is not worthy or valid? Or as 'good' as your own path?~ Do you feel that Magick is something you must be born to?
Please understand i am not trying to antagonize you~ just trying to understand!
Be Blessed!
Ariel

Answer 1

I think the only advantage that hereditary witches have is that their abilities are nurtured from birth where as the rest of us have to learn to tap into that power ourselves. You can inherit all the potential you want in your genes, but you still need the discipline and concentration to develop it.

Answer 2

Because magic is a form of altering circumstances in conformity with one's will (1, 2) with supernatural means(3). Wicca is a religion that may or may not use magic. A coven may simply celebrate the seasonal milestones of the year and connection with the earth/universe, but it does not require them to use magic. EDIT--There are several pre-Wiccan schools of magic that the Wiccans draw from. One is Enochian magic, created by John Dee and Edward Kelley (4). There is the Western version of the Kaballah that became famous in the 19th century (5, 6). There is even the system of correspondences that was drawn up by the Golden Dawn (7) and expanded on by Crowley in Liber 777. Magic is not "Wiccan" in the sense that baptism is Christian. The occultism of the 19th century is something that Wicca borrowed from when it began in the 1940's. EDIT--Yes. Witches' beliefs are often contradictory with other witches' beliefs. This is only a problem if you assume that they have a unified doctrine. They do not. It's a very experiential and individual religion. There is no central holy book or creed that witches believe. Even the Wiccan Rede does not apply to all witches because not all witches are Wiccans.

Answer 3

Witchcraft is an art and a skill. It can be practiced by anyone of any walk of life or religion.

However - like many things in life - some have more natural talent for it than others. Some folks are seemingly born knowing how to drive. Some folks are really good at painting. Some folks can do math in their sleep.

Anyone can be taught these skills - and for some they will work hard at it and only gain limited success. Others will soar and excell with very little training.

However - most people (even ones with a great deal of natural talent) need at least SOME guidance and training. Those born into a family that has that culture/tradition will recognize the talent and teach the techniques to the person while younger - rather than shun that talent.

And I suspect, like with most learning - if you are younger when you start, it comes a little more quickly than trying to teach it to adults ;)

Answer 4

Young'uns always want to be "top dog." It's in the genes. When you or the "tradition" to which you give your fealty are fully developed and matured, you no longer compete.

A lot of the time on YA hostility appears to be plain frustration of those trying to compete with those who know more on a subject, There are also those who make up fine looking questions and answers when they know nothing of their subject. However they do mislead the innocent.

Ouija is an excellent example. The misleading claims that Witch families are ancient or always been is another. The use of the word witch in the old testament is quite misleading. Wicca is just a name given to a ditheist nature religion that has been needed for many years. Wicca, the label, will grow into respect as it ages and matures.

Oh toady stools and thorny berries.....I'm startin' in on a lecture. Time to go sip some Southern Comfort.

Answer 5

My Blessed Friend....hostility is a secondary emotion, fear is the primary emotion.
More then likely these people who "insist" that one be a so called "hereditary witch" to be a valid "witch" is most likely very superficial, not to mention an egomaniac with an inferiority complex!!
There are two ways to look at this,
if you are talking about this lifetime only, i am sure that most people would not qualify as "hereditary witches"....
But it is my belief that we have many lifetimes as we have many life lessons to learn. (Have you never had memories of days past??...before this lifetime?)
Therefore, who is to say one is a hereditary witch while another is not?
If you feel the passion of the spirit calling you to seek out the path, use your gifts, and genuinely live in the spirit of love, tolerance, and appreciation not only for life, but for our mother earth as well...if you are willing to help those who are in need, even if that person does not believe as we do, then these are the true traits of the craft....

You, my sister are a beautiful and caring soul...do not let anyone deter you from your truth, your love, your spirituality.....you are perfect just the way you are! And you need not question your validity!My goodness Ariel, your lil one plays with the fairies!

Bless the ones who seek to invalidate others, for they have no love for themselves or respect for that which they claim to believe...
lest they not feel the need to breakdown others and deter them from their path...just for the sake of making themselves feel better for awhile.

Bless them that one day they may gain the love and respect for themselves and the truth of the world and see it for the beauty it is....

Show gratitude that we do not have to live like those....for we are happy and comfortable in our own skin....

Bright Blessings And Love Ariel!
)o( Trinity

Answer 6

Der Ariel,

I agree 100% with Kallan. Certain people seem to be more sensitive to the voices of magic, but it doesn't make anyone a more valid Witch. There should be no hostility among us, as we are all pagans.

Witchcraft is more of a craft, Wicca more of a religion. I myself looked into WIcca for a while before deciding that it wasn't the path for me, but I made this decision with the utmost respect and love for all my Wiccan friends. I think that anyone who intimates that Wiccans are not as good as or as"magical"as hereditaries, or that they aren't real Witches or whatever,are full of shyt. Everyone walks a solitary path in a sense, bc your path is yours alone. No one can say anyone is more or less valid or magic than another.

The fluffy bunnies out there are the ones who are giving all us us a "fluffy" appearance, and IF fluffiness is more prevalent in Wicca, perhaps it is because it is more accessible to the greedy people out there who do not respect EITHER Wicca or Witchcraft and just want to make money. In any case, fluffiness makes a path seem less valid, and I think that may be partly the cause of this snobbery to which you refer.

Hereditary Witches still need to hone their craft, just like anyone else. And there should be no noses in the air. A true Witch is secure enough within herself or himself that such behavior is not only not necessary, it is considered highly inappropriate.

I don't think you have to be born into magic to be able to be in touch with magic, to use it, to appreciate it, and to understand it. If it comes more naturally to some, good for them. No one should flaunt a Goddess given talent over another person. How unseemly is that!

Blessings dear true Wiccan Witch of Light and Truth!

(((((Ariel)))))

Lady Morgana )0(

Answer 7

I think that we are all hereditary witches. Mama knows us all, right. Some of us are just born into families that don't remember, yet we still hear Her call and our soul remebers, and others are born into families that remember. We are none better than the other, we just have different paths to take to get to the same destination.
Light and Love--Hope that helped some.
Aradia

Answer 8

There are some great posts above, and I forced myself to go and re read the question so as it respond directly to it, and not to them.

I'm probably what you'd call a hereditary as much as you could call me a witch at all. My mother is a professional celtic story teller (bard to some) and I grew up on a steady diet of thought provoking myths, legends and fiction which I played with and experimented with on an ideas and fun level with Dungeons and Dragons. When I hit my late teens, I hammered into the occult on one side and developed a deep fascination with modern science on the other which I pursued through university always with an eye to science and spiritual integration.

I capitalized on connections which were available to me on a number of different ritual paths, including what some would call high magic, which invokes entities through naming, learned divination through runes, learned Akashic lore through deep and dark places, channeled Alexandria, begun to understand Elohim and the masonic pathways to Solomons old knowledge and the rituals of light.

Ive looked at wicca, and I don't look down on those who practice it, indeed many of the paths I have trodden are the same as those walked by self described wiccans.

The hostility that you experience, I think, is the snobbery and irritation with some of the following stereotypes.

"yet another girl who has seen the craft and decided, overnight that she is wiccan"

"Yet another person who buys every incense and every trinket in the shop, because real witches buy paraphernalia" (hope I didn't offend anyone there but why break the habits of a lifetime?)

"Yet another person who read a bit of Crowley and got a God complex and says they are wiccan but has gone about as close to the rede as crowley"

those are the generics.

My own specific peeve is people who quote, parrot fashion, "an harm ye none" and have NOT asked themselves "how can you know what harm will be done when you do not know all outcomes"

and a lesser peeve with those who can respond with

"the intent is what matters" - which is...well..i don't want to rant - stay focussed!

The next peeve is wiccans who act as if their religion has been around since the dawn of time, and haven't heard of Adler and Gardiner. Yes I know the traditions within wicca are ancient, some of them, but the wicca practice is not, and no conflating the source of the word wicca (which means witch) with the wiccan rede type of wicca doesn't get round this.

I personally don't give a fig how old wicca is, the source of magick is as available and vibrant now as it was in the time the ancients invoked Ba'El, and the giants (metaphorical and physical) shaped the psychic with creation resonances alluded to in the sephiroth. There are many branches to the same tree and we need New rituals of light to be beacons, and the old ways were trodden in old times, many of them are for old times.

But please those of you who do pretend the wiccan rede wicca is ancient - stop!

I believe Magick is something you are born to yes. The very act of being alive makes you a deeply Magickal being. Welcome to my democracy! Claim what is rightfully yours, gatherers, celebrants! From apes to sons (and daughters!) of God, let every act be sacred.

Blessed be.

Answer 9

I don't personally think anyone is born a witch.
Now do people have strengths? Sure. I am so intuitive of people I am close to that several insist I am empathic. I don't think so, I think it's just a strength of mine that I have always trusted. I call it my radar.
There are those gifted in healing and those gifted in divination. I don't think these are things that anyone can't have if they chose. We all have the makings for it persay. Some are just better then other or more open to the possiblities.
So no, I don't think you can be born a witch. I think it's something you earn and hone. It just comes easier to some then others. I can't do divination to save my life. I'm an "impressionist" nothing more LOL.
But that's just me.

Answer 10

I think the biggest issue is in terminology, Ariel. There are differing opinons as to what constitutes a witch. Wicca is a religious belief system and not witchcraft. The two are similar, but not the same thing.. Wiccan call themselves witches, but they engage in much more ritualistic practice than witches do, and conform to a standard of initiation by degrees.
I think there are snobs in every belief system, honestly. I've seen Wiccans who think that unless you've been initiated into their own standardized version of Wicca, you aren't a part of it.. I've seen hereditaries who behave as if the only magical people on the planet are witches.. I'm saddened by it, as this is what bothers me most about christianity, islam, and to a degree, judaism.. this better than.. we have the truth and you don't thing just irritates me to no end.
I wouldn't worry about it too much. If anything I've posted has hurt you, I do apologize- it wasn't my intent.
(((((((Ariel)))))

Answer 11

I was born of a hereditary sensitive and somewhere down the line of my mother was a shaman, but through those years alot was not passed down or shunned because of the people moving West and those that were not Xian were looked down upon. So, my great great grandmother, great Granny, Grandma (who didn't believe or didn't get it from skipping a generation), and my mother, did not know how to channel or explain it to me when I got it. Hences the 22 yr studying! No, I do not think that being "born" into it makes you the better Witch, it is what you have learned at an early age from your family, teachers, and experiences (the try and fail method lol).
Like the Crazy Cat said "It comes from those who have the need to feel better than others" like rich people like to be able to trace their family history to the first settlers or some sort of Monarchy to show that their money is old, in turn, is supposed to be better and, in turn, is supposed to make them better than others. It is stupid but there will always people like that.
Just be blessed that you have found your path and have become a very good Witch and Wiccan.