Jessica Lindsay Friday 15 Jan 2021 3:28 pm. Magick, which witches like to spell with a "k" to differentiate it from stage magic, is real, too. My grandma Trudy was a librarian at the West Long Branch Library, which meant I got to spend many an afternoon lurking between the 001.9 and 135 Dewey decimal–sections, reading about Bigfoot and dream interpretation and Nostradamus. He reveled in his description as "the wickedest man in the world." We lose our tooth fairies, walk away from our wizards. Yes. The second is an act of reclamation, an expression of autonomy and pride. Witch is a feared and very misunderstood word. We had a small patch of woods in our backyard that abutted a horse farm, and the two were separated by a wisp of running water that we could cross via a plank of wood. Should a Christian fear witchcraft?" Instead, when confronted with those who have given themselves to evil, I recommend skipping meals on Fridays, praying a few extra Rosaries, and invoking the holy angels -- especially St. Michael. Calling someone a witch or wizard hasn’t always been a very nice thing to do. But there are. The fact that the resurgence of feminism and the popularity of the witch are ascending at the same time is no coincidence: the two are reflections of each other. I learned that women could lead a revolution while wearing lipstick and combat boots — and sometimes even a cloak. Father Dwight Longenecker is Pastor of Our Lady of the Rosary parish in Greenville, South Carolina. All of these things are true. She is now as likely to be the heroine of your favorite TV show as she is its villain. The beliefs about the mark differ depending on the trial location and the accusation made against the witch. Father Dwight Longenecker. I do know this for sure though: show me your witches, and I’ll show you your feelings about women. These woods are where I first remember doing magic — entering that state of deep play where imaginative action becomes reality. Followers of Wicca are not benevolent New Agers who just happen to be vegetarian, sandal-wearing bearded weirdoes. They claim to draw on the powers of nature to heal people, foretell the future and put people in touch with their departed loved ones. Followers of Wicca profess to be modern pagans. Witches have always walked among us, populating societies and storyscapes across the globe for thousands of years. A witch, quite simply, is a wise woman. She may have psychic abilities, or feel that the dead are existing close by on another plane. Evidence of the witches' mark is found earliest in the 16th century, and reached its peak in 1645, then essentially disappeared by 1700. He died in Hastings, on the south coast of England, in 1947. That is what makes her dangerous. Magic is made in the margins. Both of these aspects of the archetype are important to keep in mind. A scarlet-lipped seductress slipping a potion into the drink of her unsuspecting paramour. He is the author of books on apologetics, conversion stories and Benedictine spirituality including: Praying the Rosary for Inner Healing, Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers, More Christianity, Challenging Catholics: A Catholic Evangelical Dialogue, St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule & the Little Way, Mary: A Catholic-Evangelical Debate, and The Path to Rome. A true witch understands what true power is and where it lies. Now, I identify both as a witch and with the archetype of the witch overall, and I use the term fluidly. She is our downfall. I use it with equal parts sincerity and salt: with a bow to a rich and often painful history of worldwide witchcraft, and a wink to other members of our not-so-secret society of people who fight from the fringes for the liberty to be our weirdest and most wondrous selves. Inside the Lonely End of the Trump Presidency, The History of Lincoln's Chaotic First Inauguration, J&J's 1-Shot COVID-19 Vaccine Shows Promise. The numbers are doubtless far greater now. While the witch often conjures depictions of aging, ugly, hook-nosed women hunched over their cauldrons and inflicting toil and trouble on the masses, history tells us that the witch’s origins are far less sinister. My older sister, Emily, and I called this spot our Magical Place. A few members of the youth group and I fasted on Fridays. That it would vanish and then reappear only added to its mystery. Are witches real? I’m not unique in this trajectory of pivoting away from organized religion and toward something more personal: as of September 2017, more than a quarter of U.S. adults — 27% — now say that they think of themselves as spiritual but not religious, according to Pew Research Center. In many cultures, practising magic was looked down on or thought to be evil. Though she has often been deemed a destructive entity, in actuality a witchy woman has historically been far more susceptible to attack than an inflictor of violence herself. Are witches real? I was raised Jewish but found myself attracted to belief systems that felt more individualized and mystical and that fully honored the feminine. She is perhaps the only female archetype who is an independent operator. From Circe to Hermione, from Morgan le Fay to Marie Laveau, the witch has long existed in the tales we tell about ladies with strange powers that can harm or heal. Basically, whatever is cheap or readily available, they use. It was a space that felt holy and wild, yet still strangely safe. Witches are real: They're people who practice magick. Living just around the corner from the ancient parish church was a coven of witches whose leader claimed to be the successor of Aleister Crowley. That’s perfectly fine: the witch belongs to you too. As with other “terrifying” outsiders, she occupies a paradoxical role in cultural consciousness as both vicious aggressor and vulnerable prey. But for photographer Frances F. Denny, the word "witch" carries a more relatable and cordial connotation. Do they attend an academy called "Hogwarts," play a form of hockey on their broomsticks and battle mythical beasts? But we need to start by having an idea of what witches are. Answer: The Bible has a lot to say about witchcraft. Initially, Banquo questions the Witches about whether they are real or possibly a hallucination he and Macbeth both share, but throughout the rest of the play both men seem to accept the Witches as physical beings. I started frequenting new age shops and experimenting with mass-market paperback spell books from the mall. He was a shameless self publicist, a fraud and a charlatan, but he was also an educated, intelligent and willful diabolist. They commune with the spiritual realm, freely and free of any mediator. And although people of all genders have been considered witches, it is a word that is now usually associated with women. An unexpected error has occurred with your sign up. The witch owes nothing. "Are Witches Real?" That said, this current Witch Wave is nothing new. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn commission. The Bible expressly condemns all forms of witchcraft. To subscribe to the National Catholic Register call 1-800-421-3230. These witches and wizards aren’t real, but they are based on people who are. Most likely not. I Know Because I Am One. They’re floating down catwalks and sidewalks in gauzy black clothing and adorning themselves with Pinterest-worthy pentagrams and crystals. As a young priest involved in the Christian youth work in the town, I came across several young people who had been involved with the coven of witches. Witches have long been portrayed in popular culture as dark and sinister beings — often with warted noses, green skin, and shrill voices that can make your blood curdle. The witch has a green face and a fleet of flying monkeys. Of course they are. Calling someone a witch or wizard hasn’t always been a very nice thing to do. The word witchcraft is formed using two words: with and craft. Within six months the coven had moved out of our geographical parish, and within the year they had moved out of the town altogether. Are they skinny old women with green skin, pointy chins and warts on their noses, who cackle over cauldrons? Well yes, they do exist, and they are quite active in the modern world. Witchcraft (or witchery) is the practice of magical skills, spells, and abilities. Often when people claim that witches don’t exist, they are really claiming that magick doesn’t work, but I know it does because I have experienced the life changing effects of my spells. Each informs the other and always has. But whether or not there were actually women and men who practiced witchcraft in Rome or Lancashire or Salem, say, is less interesting to me than the fact that the idea of witches has remained so evocative and influential and so, well, bewitching in the first place. C.S. Real witches are the … Honestly. Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble!! The witch is the ultimate feminist icon because she is a fully rounded symbol of female oppression and liberation. In other words, the fact and the fiction of the witch are inextricably linked. That got us thinking about the real Salem Witch Trials, which are commonly cited as the source of the phrase “witch hunt." People can want to believe in it all they want, they can even pretend it's real, but it's not. Father Longenecker studied for the Anglican ministry at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford and served for ten years in the Anglican ministry as a curate, a chaplain at Cambridge and a country parson. Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. Of course not. They lived in a kind of hippie commune, and their leader -- a lecherous man in his 50s -- frequented all the bars and pubs. Did people actually believe in magic? As St. Paul says in Romans 1:21, 24 "... their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.". Eventually I found my way to modern Paganism, a self-directed spiritual path that sustains me to this day. Are they skinny old women with green skin, pointy chins and warts on their noses, who cackle over cauldrons? What, exactly, are they? Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power, marching in the streets with HEX THE PATRIARCHY placards, Yes, Witches Are Real. "This official Church teaching outlines the danger of the New Age movement and lists the various (seemingly harmless) New Age practices that can lead true believers into the occult. 1735 marked a turning point; Witches were still prosecuted and punished, but as charlatans and frauds, selling fake … I was newly ordained as an Anglican priest and was heading to my first parish. This is about real witches. He constantly complained about hearing the child cry, so I asked if could try to help. Over the past 150 years or so, however, the witch has done another magic trick, by turning from a fright into a figure of inspiration. You may feel attracted to her symbolism, her style or her stories but are not about to rush out to buy a cauldron or go sing songs to the sky. In fact, I find that the more I work with the witch, the more complex she becomes. No-one has to know that you are growing into the true expression of the real you: the witch that is desperate to emerge. They metamorphose, and they make things happen. CLEANSING SPELL “A friend of mine recently lost his two-month-old to SIDS. Today, more women than ever are choosing the way of the witch, whether literally or symbolically. This is not a fairy tale. Therefore, what is the best thing to do when confronted with someone involved in the occult? One of the symptoms of occult involvement is a kind of spiritual, moral and intellectual blindness. According to witch-hunters during the height of the witch trials, the witches' mark or devil's mark indicated that an individual was a witch. I would spend hours out there, creating rituals with rocks and sticks, drawing secret symbols in the dirt, losing all track of time. The original Christian view of witchcraft in the Middle Ages was that it wasn’t real and could do no serious harm because it didn’t exist. In the first case, it’s often an act of degradation, an attack against a perceived threat. It's a belief like any other. If a person is involved in fortune telling of any kind, tarot cards, Ouija boards, séances, crystal healing, channeling, and astrology, they are involved in the occult. She might show up in the form of your Wiccan coworker, or the beloved musician who gives off a sorceress vibe in videos or onstage. The "witches" were well-known in the town. It will not only bring down the witches in full flight -- it will also do your spiritual life a world of good. Many of them build homes out of clay and straw mixtures, bricks, and in some cases, logs. Why, yes, you’re reading the words of one. Please attempt to sign up again. I spent countless hours in my room, learning about witches and goddesses, and I loved anything by authors like George MacDonald, Roald Dahl, and Michael Ende — writers fluent in the language of enchantment. What did we do about the coven in the town where I was priest? This article is reprinted with permission from National Catholic Register. They are change agents whose primary purpose is to transform the world as it is into the world they would like it to be. Between the years of 1484 and 1750, over 200,000 'Witches' were burned or hanged across Western Europe; 'Witches' because few of them were actually practising Witchcraft, many just old, poor women; punished for their perceived transgressions with the gamut of medieval torture devices. She is also a vessel that contains our conflicting feelings about female power: our fear of it, our desire for it and our hope that it can — and will — grow stronger, despite the flames that are thrown at it. Included in the series are self-proclaimed green witches, white witches, sex witches, kitchen witches, and space witches. These witches and wizards aren’t real, but they are based on people who are. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our. That's why the preparation for Christian baptism involved careful catechesis over a long period of time with numerous exorcisms. At any given time, I might use the word witch to signify my spiritual beliefs, my supernatural interests or my role as an unapologetically complex, dynamic female in a world that prefers its women to be smiling and still. I was a teen in the 1990s, the decade that brought us such pop-occulture as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed and The Craft, not to mention riot grrrls and third-wave feminists who taught me that female power could come in a variety of colors and sexualities. To be clear: you don’t have to practice witchcraft or any other alternative form of spirituality to awaken your own inner witch. In addition to those who are consciously involved in pagan witchcraft, there are a huge number of Americans who are involved in New Age behaviors that (while not openly identified as witchcraft) are nevertheless identical to occult practices. And that is what makes her divine. Year after year, articles keep proclaiming, “It’s the Season of the Witch!” as journalists try to wrap their heads around the mushrooming witch “trend.”, Why do witches matter? The 2001 census in the United States revealed 134,000 people who claim to follow the Wiccan religion. All Rights Reserved. I don't know if it was our prayer and fasting that drove them out, but the Gospel says that a certain kind of demon only comes out through prayer and fasting. Witches will most likely be living in some sort of earth made structure if not a regular home. A perfectly coifed suburban housewife, twitching her nose to change her circumstances at will, despite her husband’s protests. Witch Test: Are You A Real Witch? Many of these monikers refer to a kind of outward-facing healing modality. Lewis commented on the foolishness of summoning up evil spirits, saying that if they were called we should not be surprised if they arrive on our doorsteps. They praise. Find out whether or not you are a real witch with this fun quiz and embrace the magic inside of you! Please try again later. Share this article via facebook Share this article via twitter Share this article via messenger. They most certainly did and still do. Here, six real-life witches share the success stories of their own spells—including one that went a bit too well. No matter what form she takes, she remains an electric source of magical agitation that we can all plug into whenever we need a high-voltage charge. A lot of witches don’t have regular jobs and simply practice their witchcraft and live off the land. The early Christians understood quite clearly that the pagan gods and goddesses were demons. They may seem like contradictions, but there is much to glean from their interplay. Is "Samantha," a pretty middle-class suburban wife with magical powers and a gaggle of kooky and spooky family members, a witch? Witchcraft is alive and well in our modern, secular age. They allowed me to fly to other realms where anything was possible. She lurks in the forests of fairy tales, in the gilded frames of paintings, in the plotlines of sitcoms and YA novels, and between the bars of ghostly blues songs. Copyright © 2019 by Pam Grossman. They are quite real. (And why the hell won’t they go away?). It was a portal to the unknown. In 1982 I moved to Bexhill-on-Sea, a town one step along the coast from Hastings. One afternoon I witnessed an old priest deal successfully with what seemed to be demonic infestation of a 15-year-old girl who had been spending time with the witches. Witches have power on their own terms. Whether they're more on the low-key side, dabbling in the occasional ironic crystal tilt, or they're out and proud about being in touch with their mystic side, these stars have publicly spoken about their connection and commitment to the occult, and the wonderful witchy things that come with it. And although people of all genders have been considered witches, it is a word that is now usually associated with women. I get asked such things over and over, and you would think that after a lifetime of studying and writing about witches, as well as hosting a witch-themed podcast and being a practitioner of witchcraft myself, my answers would be succinct. Only a handful of witches were ever burnt on stakes in real life. Of course not. Can they really cause problems in peoples' lives? The vague attractiveness of the New Age movement as well as its spiritual danger is explained well in the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue's document called "Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life. © 1996-2019 Catholic Education Resource Center | Privacy Policy | Disclaimer | Sitemap, Jesus Christ, the Bearer of the Water of Life, Challenging Catholics: A Catholic Evangelical Dialogue, St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule & the Little Way, Christian Conscience in the Secularist State. She is our deliverance. But my own witchly awakening came at an even earlier age. The Witch or Devil's mark was … 1) Are the Witches in Macbeth real? 'Concrete Rose' Challenges Cult of Masculinity, Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know now on politics, health and more, © 2021 TIME USA, LLC. In 1995 he and his family were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. To put it bluntly, pagans worship the gods and goddesses of the ancient world. 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