Green witchcraft is a tradition, a path and a way of life but it is not Wicca. Green witchcraft is so named green because of the herbs that is used in the tradition, the Lord and Lady of the Forrest, It’s the color of the earth and its spirits and it’s an important color for those of the British Isles. The green witch follows the path that walks closely with mother earth. They use this color to represent green dye that they use to use. The men were allowed to go out and pick the plants but the women were the only ones allowed to use the plants to die the fabrics. Green Witchcraft is a natural magick path. Its all about nature, the Gods and all things natural. They also feel that they need to worship a Dualistic Deity. They see a Goddess and a God Deity separate. They also work with Green medications and herbal concoctions. Green Witchcraft has its own set of rules they follow. They really sound familiar to the normal set of rules for other traditions. The rules tell us to be careful what w do, with which who we trust, how we use our power. This all makes very good sense if you think about it. You always want to think about all of these things before you do any type of magick. Working magick isn’t a hard thing to do. Planning for it may be a little harder. You would most likely have a personal creed since the tradition is so open. This would allow you to adjust the creed to your set of beliefs and your way of life. I really didn’t find much on a large set of creed for the Green path. The one place I did find anything on a creed was Ann Moura’s Green Witchcraft. In her book Green Witchcraft she has her own personal creed. The rituals and spells of the Green tradition are as complex and as easy as you wish them to be. If you want ... ... middle of paper ... ...day, Dubnos November 6th Celebrating mother dragon 15. Feast of Musicians, Laochgael November 14th : Music festival 16. Festival of the Sun, Gagreine December 8th : Celebration of the light and warmth of the sun The elements are separated by animals. The salamanders are fire, Gnomes are earth, Sylphs are air, and Undines are water. Works Cited Green Witchcraft Folk Magic, Fairy Lore & Herb Craft Moura Ann (Llewellyn publications 2001) http://www.annmourasgarden.com/green.shtml http://www.kitchenwiccan.com/pagan-wiccan/types-of-witches/ The Druid Handbook, John Michael Greer (Weiser books 2006) http://www.druidry.org/druid-way http://www.religioustolerance.org/druid.htm http://www.angelfire.com/sd/shedevil/Dragonpath.html http://330531682655333130.weebly.com/4/category/draconian%20wicca/1.html Dancing with Dragons, Conway, DJ (Llewellyn Publications 1996)
What images come to mind when you think of witches? Many people immediately imagine a black pointy hat, bubbling cauldron, green warty skin, and Halloween. Usually the image that comes to mind is something scary and evil. Real witches do exist. Most modern witches go by the label Wiccan now. Wiccans practice Wicca, which is a nature-based religion with many different branches or denominations. The basic tenant of all Wicca is called the Three Fold Law. The Three Fold Law states that whatever you do will come back to you times three, good or bad, so do not cause harm or, in other words, “harm none”. It is kind of like the concept of karma in one lifetime. There is debate over how old the religion actually is with some saying that it is an ancient religion that pre-dates Christianity and some saying it is more modern, starting in the 1950’s with Gerald Gardener. Regardless of how old the religion is, Hollywood’s portrayal of witches often does have some kernel of truth, albeit sometimes it is hard to find.
Witchcraft had always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during (seventeenth) 17th century. Many People believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or using supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represents dark side of female present and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah whom believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion dealing with the occult. However the popular conception of a witch has not changed at least since the seventeenth century; they still caused panic, fear and variety of other emotions in people…………………….
Defined by Margot Adler, writer for Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History, “Wicca is the term commonly used to describe several different traditions of contemporary Paganism—an earth-centered religion that reveres nature; celebrates seasonal and lunar cycles; and worships a goddess, or many goddesses, or sometimes a goddess and a god” (637-638). It is a religion that focuses on worshipping an earth god or goddess, using their power and the earth’s elements for good. For a misunderstood religion it has much history behind it and a deep core belief system.
Wicca is a spiritual path, a way of seeing the world and Divinity, and our relationship to it. They believe that Goddess is imminent in the world around us. Goddess permeates every living thing, and most of them define rocks, soil, water, air, fire, and the plant herself as living things. "The God of Wicca is the Horned God, the ancient God of Fertility: the God of the forest, flock, and field and also of the hunt." He is Lord of Life, and the Giver of Life, yet he is also Lord of Death and Resurrection. http://www.interlog.com/~spawn/gods.html
Wicca is a religion and not just a religion with one God but the belief of many Gods. Wicca is an earth-based religion. I believe Wicca’s beliefs are similar to that of the Hindu religion. There are three topics in Wicca that stood out to me the most. The first topic that stood out to me was the Wicca’s belief in how creation came to be, the second topic is the many Gods and deities that the Wiccan religion believes in, and the last topic that was the most interesting to read about is the reincarnation beliefs of a Wiccan.
The religion of Witchcraft dates back about 25,000 years, to the Paleolithic Age, where the God of Hunting and the Goddess of Fertility first appeared. Out of respect for the overwhelming power of Nature grew a belief in beings, gods, who controlled the winds, the seas, the earth and the fires (Rinehart). People have been slaughtered for ages because they had different belief systems or they simply were not liked. Whether they were witches or not, hundreds of thousands of people have been burned at the stake, dunked in freezing rivers, or otherwise tortured because people accused them of being witches.
First, Wicca, the formal organization of witchcraft, is a mystery religion. Each practitioner is considered a witch, and practitioner of The Craft, which contains several different beliefs concerning theology and divinity depending on an individual because of their freedom to study what they seek. Members may choose to be solitary, or part of a coven, which is a group of Wiccans that share beliefs and conduct rituals together. Though different groups of Wicca may differ in certain viewpoints, there are few unambiguous attributes of the religion. These explain that “deity is inspiring, and immanent; Humans are a part of nature; Divinity is manifested in all things and is the central part of nature; God and Goddess images are recognized as higher forms of divinity.” (Church and School of Wicca). The main rule that the Wiccans abide by is the Wiccan Rede, which preaches: “An ye harm none, do what ye will.” (Church and School of Wicca). Magic plays a huge part in the Wiccan religion, with spells, rituals, ceremonies, healings, and divination, etc., among the fundamental practices.
Witchcraft has been shown onscreen as evil, black magick, rather than a faith, and most people see spells cast by wiggling the nose or pointing a finger to be valid of the witchcraft fable'. Is witchcraft a true, spiritual religion, and if so, are people willing to tolerate it? Many are uninformed of the religious aspect of the Craft, and those that are believe it to be false or wrong according to Jeffrey Mann. In today's society, religious tolerance of different groups of people or cultures is extremely important. By understanding and accepting the differences of real versus imaginary using witchcraft as the prime example, people will be able to see these groups as part of actual society and not just a fictitious, magickal portrayal in entertainment such as Bewitched, Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and The Craft. Hollywood's portrayal of witchcraft in movies and shows is invalid. Now on reruns, the television show, Bewitched, was once very popular. Samantha and Tabitha are shown casting spells nearly every other minute of the half-hour. The show brought forth a revival of the knowledge of witchcraft. In history, before Christianity, Paganism was a primary religion in Europe. Witchcraft is a form of Paganism, just as Wicca, Shamanism, and others are. When the Christian religion was being formed, many Pagan beliefs were still used. The Pagan tradition of Yule, the winter solstice holiday, was to bring a live tree into the house and decorate it with food, balls, and a star on top to protect the household from the evil spirits.
He described to be in all green which symbolizes the Pagans connection to nature which they believe to worship nature. Even the Green Knight 's chapel isn 't the typical chapel. It 's described more as a síd or a fairy mound where the two worlds of normal and the supernatural meet. The role of the Green Knight serves to bring out Gawain 's character and the differences in Christianity and Paganism. The Green Knight forces Gawain to realize his flaws as a man, but when the Green Knight catches him it isn 't a very worthy game because he traps him solely on the means that he lied to Bertilak. He also draws the lines between Christianity and Paganism by showing how the two ideologies from their points of worship. Christianity focus on God only and give thanks to him for the blessings while Pagans worship nature and give credit to the Earth for the blessings that the people receive. The Green Knight 's role is to show the difference not only between Gawain and him but also the two major religions of the time period.
A Religion where spells are acceptable, the earth is celebrated and nature is a basic mold of the major concepts, paganism. The word "pagan" originates from the Latin term paganus which is defined as country dweller, at one point any person not being an active Christian was considered to be a pagan. Pagan followers have a different view on life, such as they believe in the natural forces of the earth, and consciously try to live with it. Another example illustrating how unique this religion is the fact that pagans are polytheistic, but have the one chief god that rules over the others, it's contradicting that a pagan can also have no belief in any one god. An interesting concept about this religion is that you are not told a certain way, rather you decipher it for yourself and believe what you think to be true. For example most pagans do not believe in a Christian God, but are not against him and do not try to convince others to be against him. Rather the pagan idea on a Christian god is that he is that if that is the God that makes you happy, he is okay for you.
Witchcraft has been rampant in various parts of Africa. However, the practice of witchcraft has been on the decline in modern society as compared to the period before the rise of colonialism (Toyin 250). In most part of Africa, there is a conglomeration of tribal healers, sorcerers, and wizard considered having different forms of powers in controlling the fate of society (Toyin 209). Consequently, this has led to the emergence of thousands of practitioners in different parts of Africa. The magic practitioners claim to have enormous powers such as the ability to create rains in times of drought, power to expel evil spirits, to recover lost things, and even to make one healthy (Sanders 338). On the other hand, this has led to the believers by millions of Africans on the monotheistic faith. In fact, most of the Africans believe the magicians have power over nature by the use of a spell or hidden incantations (Petraitis 1). Consequently, this has led to some of the communities lag behind in terms of development as the practice continues to be entrenched in the systems (Green and Mesaki 343). Moreover, the practice has been associated with the poor state of the economy in places that it is widely practiced. The practice has remained prevalent in Africa and Tanzania society (Toyin 297). For example, in the last two decades, thousands of Tanzania have been accused on witchcraft and even murdered by citizens due to the archaic practices (Petraitis 1). In the region, the practice is widespread among the female octogenarians. Moreover, those who practice witchcraft are believed to have certain characteristics such as Red eyes (Petraitis 1). The mark has been used notably in Tanzania to lynch octogenarians believed to pract...
WITCHCRAFT: The word witchcraft comes from the word “Wicca.” Wicca means the wise one. Witchcraft is to be believed as a pagan worship and or religion, a stereotype as a “magical phenomenon. In 1000 A.D., the practice of witchcraft became a threat to the Christians and their beliefs. They believe that wit...
Russell, Jeffrey. A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans. New York: Themes and Hudson Inc. 1983.
The writings of some Greek philosophers may be considered to be among the very first chemical theories, such as the theory that all things are composed of air, earth, fire, and water. Each of these were represented by different elements, such as sulfur, salt, mercury, and, ideally, gold. Other ideas held by alchemists were that each of the known elements were represented by heavenly bodies. Gold was earth's representation of the sun, silver for the moon, mercury for the planet Mercury, copper for Venus, iron for Mars, tin for Jupiter, and lead for Saturn.
Witchcraft, Magic and Rationality. Social Anthropology seeks to gauge an understanding of cultures and practices, whether they are foreign or native. This is achieved through the study of language, education, customs, marriage, kinship, hierarchy and of course belief and value systems. Rationality is a key concept in this process as it affects the anthropologist’s interpretation of the studied group’s way of life: what s/he deems as rational or plausible practice. Witchcraft and magic pose problems for many anthropologists, as its supernatural nature is perhaps conflicting to the common Western notions of rationality, mainly deemed superior.