The Modern Witch and the Use of Witchcraft

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The Modern Witch and the Use of Witchcraft

"I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!" The Wicked Witch of the West...

One of the most notorious and stereotypical witches in all literature.

She had green skin, a big wart- covered nose, and a wide-brimmed black hat. She summoned a legion of monsters, stirred evil brews in her black cauldron, and generally made life difficult for the fun-loving citizens of Oz. She, and her fellow "hags" tend to be seen in a rather comic light, despite their appearance, and are usually seen around Halloween. They are one of the two ideas that most people hold of who witches are and what they do. The other is that of the "devil's whore" of Medieval Europe and Colonial Salem who were charged with killing babies, celebrating "black masses," and having sex orgies with Satan. The modern Wiccan; a practitioner of the religion known as Wicca, Witchcraft, or simply The Craft; resembles these "Witches" as much as a straw broom resembles the Dirt Devil Upright. The Craft is a religion based on the worship of a supreme divine creator, the practice of magic, and a reverence for the earth and all her inhabitants.

Deity Concepts and Worship Practices

"All religions are structures built on reverence of Deity. Wicca is no exception. The Wicca acknowledge a supreme divine power, unknowable, ultimate, from which the entire universe sprang," (Cunningham, 9). This is a Witch's concept of the Divine. However, it is a distant, powerful image that is not easily understood. For the purpose of worship, the Wicca recognize the duality of this power. It is both male and female, good and evil, and therefore is worshipped in the form of a Goddess and a God. These are the primeval gods o...

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...everence for nature--define the modern witch. Witchcraft is not devil worship or a cult of sex orgies and drug abuse, but is simply "...a way of life for hundreds of thousands--perhaps millions--of well adjusted adults who simply share a view of nature that is different from that of the majority," (Cunningham, xi). This is who witches are and what they do. Witches are good, moral, law-abiding people. Even those from the west.

Works Cited

Cunningham, Scott. The Truth About Witchcraft Today. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1994.

Cunningham, Scott. Wicca: A Guide of the Solitary Practitioner. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1988.

Moura, Ann. Green Witchcraft. St. Paul, Minn.: Llewellyn Publications, 1996.

Walker, Barbra G. The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects. San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 1988.

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