Misconceptions of Witchcraft

Most of us are not "creepy evil devil worshippers" at all, we actually bear more resemblance to the characters of My Little Pony. (Witches who think I'm dissing us should go watch the show. And maybe make kind of apple dessert.) It's easy to say that people in my religion are "evil," but just because it's easy doesn't make it true or right. There is an ancient Hermetic principle that all magic and Witchcraft (and indeed any lifestyle) runs on that translates easily into programmer lingo: garbage in = garbage out. The scarier you think Witchcraft is, the more you should scrutinize the person in the mirror. I will admit that my religion is pretty much one big superstition, but if you're in any religion with more than 5 members, chances are, so is yours. 5/26/23 In fact you should know that among all real Witches, there are a significant subset of us who don't as a general rule hate anyone. Except for people who work black magic. That is an ancient hatred and even your precious "devil" or any of the Higher Powers won't help you if you stir it up. (ire not intended for all satanists, which I don't actually understand tbh beyond personal experience with kind and intelligent ones and some horrible ones that live down to the stereotype; ire intended for idiots), Surprise! :D

Note to all "prayer warriors," Christian Occultists, and others who work magic whether you realize it or not: you'd better be phrasing your prayers and workings to harm only those who work black magic, and not "all Witches" or you will pay the price, and pay dearly. Most of us are actually the good guys. Well, believe me or don't, but fail to heed my guidance at your own risk. This isn't something you need to worry about from me but from the Universe itself, and it goes way deeper than karma. Ask Jesus or your Higher Power if you don't believe me. Ask the Saint of your choice. Ask the Angels. Stop your evil behavior. And on that note, on Beltaine and Samhain Witches have been known to burn lists of negative tendencies or symbols of what they want to banish from their lives. This is very old folk magic. So guess what a book burning is? You guessed it - magic. Usually black magic. But "Christianity is the only right and true way and all other nonbelievers are steeped in sin and going to hell etc. etc." you know what? If you really believe that, I suggest you strike up a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus and give yourself to Him body and soul, become born again. That is the only comparable thing in Christianity to the initiation process of a good Witch that links us up with the Deities. Have fun! Good luck!

First, please read this. Tempest Smith was only twelve years old when her classmates bullied her into committing suicide due to her faith. There are many vulnerable people in the Witch community, and there are kids and teens in this community too. The bigotry is unacceptable. Tempest Smith's Suicide If you are a new Witch or looking to become one, I also suggest you read the entirety of this page. Much of the bad reputation of the Craft comes from people trying things out without knowing wtf they're doing and then wondering why everything went wrong.

Why even bother explaining the Craft? Isn't there an unofficial rule in the Craft that people have to come to it on their own? Well, yes, and they do. But unfortunately it's often through the worst sources, like TikTok. And often in the worst ways, like when they're still under 18 and don't have their own place, a stable mindset or lifestyle, or loving parents. In the Craft this is called "hearth and home." *note* I do NOT recommend that anyone under the age of 18 actually attempt magic, at least not without parental permission and guidance from at least one very experienced Witch, but learning about the Craft before then is fine. This page exists to make things easier for subsequent generations of Witches so that no one ever has to commit suicide because the pressure got too great for them. It is already hard enough to learn the Craft without having everyone misunderstand you and what you do on top of the training. If you already are a Witch, ask yourself, what kind of example am I setting for younger or less experienced Witches? What kind of reputation am I giving the Craft? Because the answers to these questions are important.

Talked to a fundie once that insisted that the sources he read were credible. No, fool, you were talking to other Christians, get over yourself. Better to read these.

Pooka Pages
Ivy's Pentacles
Teen Witch
Wicca.com
Karma A brief explanation, but a very big deal in the Craft
For the Witches written by yours truly, information intended for Witches and the curious
Positive Magick by Marion Weinstein
Embracing the Moon and Dancing With the Sun by Yasmine Galenorn
The Chocolate Rabbit Ritual
The Sinister Stick 2000
The Kvetch Of The Goddess Yeah, you might need to spend some time at a synagogue or a bubbe's (Jewish grandma's) house to understand this one. I had to look up some of the yiddish myself, LOL
Just because I feel like it, here is Loke E. Coyote's Wiccabilly Circus

New addition 4/8/23 some websites I like to browse because they are both inspirational and helpful. Note that these will tend to not have any official labels on them due to the difficulty of describing any given spiritual path that involves honoring the Earth, Paganism, or anything even remotely related. This includes any and all flavors of magic, the Occult, Witchcraft, even Astrology (and voila, now you know why you may find that older folks at Pagan Pride festivals don't describe themselves as Witches necessarily; it's kind of a weird term). You could lump it all under the subheading of "new age" but that's borderline disrespectful (or in some cases actually disrespectful) as it sometimes conveys a meaning that it's "just about the money," and with these resources, ohboy it really and obviously isn't.

Deleted for containing black magic. Serious apologies did not know that was in there. Anger at author.
Beth Owl's Daughter

The most important thing to understand is that the horrors of bad magic, of bad Witchcraft, are justifiably reviled, but for all of society's disgust at Witchcraft, which it thinks is "only bad," that doesn't hold a candle to the level of horror and disgust every good Witch feels for the misuse of our religion. To society, it's considered a spooky Halloween horror film thing in league with the "devil," but for us, it is a perversion of everything that is sacred, pure, and holy. Good Witchcraft is a mother's love, a child's laugh, healing, the touch of the Goddess, happiness and hope, becoming a better person, and one's most cherished ideals and beliefs, in other words it is love. That love turns savage and protective when seeing someone abusing the innocent, especially with the Craft and with magic - we hold these things to be sacred, never to be perverted.

The number one difference between Witchcraft and unethical (likely inaccurate) interpretations of orthodox religion is the value Witches place on life and on living. The emphasis is on the here and now, and on living life to the fullest, and on respecting sentient living beings' right to exist. There is very little emphasis placed on the afterlife, or what it can provide, or on trying to negate one's life experiences in order to get rewarded in an afterlife. And there is no hierarchy in the Craft; all life is seen as precious... and equal. This respect for life and living as well as the survival instinct seems to be a value system shared by most sentient beings, actually, not just humans. It seems to be partially instinctive, as a biological drive, and partially as a result of one's conscience. Most children share this value system until someone indoctrinates them into some belief system or other. Obviously, this is not just something limited to the Craft. The logical implications of such a belief system include, but are not limited to, being forbidden from taking life unless it is absolutely necessary. What is a conscience, anyway? Well, only experience can really dictate if it's worth listening to one's conscience, so it's worth giving it a try. Tempt yourself into goodness and all, right?

Other differences include the value placed on truth and the value placed on freedom. Oddly enough, these are values that seem to be shared by the oldest versions of large monotheistic religions but were somehow distorted over time.

Some more common misconceptions...

First, I want to point out there are two Commandments in the Bible that apply here. They go, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," and "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain." So if you are hearing any of the following from any source whatsoever, they're breaking their own rulebook. People like far-right pundits, certain radio talk show hosts, Steve Russo, Catherine Sanders, Focus on the Family, and other so-called experts are perpetuating the same age-old Blood Libel that got Witches burned at the stake. Other sanctimonious religious people, especially certain kinds of so-called Christian, like to claim all kinds of horrible stuff about people of other religions too - Islam, Santeria, Asatru, Druidry, Wicca, Judaism, Native American religion, and pretty much everything that isn't exactly their denomination, even Catholicism (the irony). They often practice hatred in the name of Divine Love. It is not okay. In fact it's evil, which is probably why there are two Commandments against it. For a good example of this see this page - TRIGGER WARNING and this nutty thread "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate is the path to the dark side." Yes. Yes indeed, Yoda.
Garbage in, garbage out. You get out of Witchcraft what you put into it. Abundant effort to do the right thing (or wrong thing) leads to consequences of your actions. There are no "secret ingredients," no power sources from Deities (or bad shit like demons or egregores like the Christian Devil) that you do not specifically ask for and invite in, no inputs into magic that YOU did not specifically put there. If your magic fucks up, it's your fault and none other. Better know what you're doing, eh?
There is fundamentally only one difference between good Witchcraft and indeed all good modern Neopagan beliefs, and monotheistic religions. That difference is that good Neopagans refuse to worship anything that is unethical, or does evil. We define evil as (at least) causing extreme suffering to the innocent. We also believe that no being is exempt from the rules of morality, and that to worship something that commits any act of evil is wrong - and also that anything demanding to be worshipped but that commits any evil action is most assuredly not Divine. Since many scriptures contradict themselves in exclaiming that their Supreme Being/s is/are perfect and good and infinitely loving but also that said Supreme Being/s commit war crimes, genocide, acts of black magic (cursing), and other such to innocent undeserving beings (usually with the so-called "justification" that these beings deserved it because they weren't believers in that particular Supreme Being), that is the ONLY reason why good Neopagans aren't into that. If original translations of the sacred texts are less brutal and bloody, less barbaric and unethical and indeed evil (and crazy) and self-contradictory, good. I hope that people find them.
NO, the Craft is NOT Satanism, although at least a couple of different sects of Satanism were literally created by people who determined that the supposed God of the Bible is actually quite morally and ethically defunct (in the King James Version of the Bible at least) and is evil and they wanted to go with the "other" guy who they surmised must logically be good. You see this a lot with people either converting to Satanism or to Christianity from one or the other, because it's all "no u" all over the place and both groups seem to think that everything else stems from these Two Super Important Religions (hint: no). It's a logical fallacy, and one the Craft does not take part in. Most Witches see Satanism as being an offshoot of Christianity. Some, however, don't understand the roots of the Craft in Paganism, folk magic, ecstatic practices, Druidry and the like, all of which are far older than Christianity, and think that the past 2000 years or so are relevant to the Craft, and so they like to blur the lines between the Craft and Satanism in an effort to match up with popular opinion. That is Hollywood Witchcraft and not the true Craft. People often look to pop culture and misunderstand this, so call themselves "Satanic Witch" because Witchcraft is deemed to be a practice and not a religion. No. It actually is a religion. There is debate on this topic, but for the purposes of this argument on this page, I'm going to say that Witchcraft is actually a spirituality and a religion, and not just a nondenominational craft and I'll define magic and work in the Occult as the nondenominational stuff. Admittedly there is confusion but I ask all Satanists to please refrain from calling themselves Witches because I have found enough evidence that the Craft stands on its own as a spiritual path with lots of lore, traditions, and spiritual practices (aka it really is a religion) and not just a bunch of methods for working magic. And I ask all who are merely using the magical part of Witchcraft and none of the spiritual or religious aspects of it to please call themselves Occultists and not Witches. I must have read hundreds of books on the Craft and worked through many of them), plus the myths and legends associated with many, many Deities and cultural practices of folk magic in various countries to come up with this claim so take a look and see what you find. 7/18/22 I would like to apologize for being a hypocrite here after all I've said about people saying "do your own research" and not citing my sources. My current and past reasoning is as follows: some parts of the Craft are only explainable through direct experience, aka UPG (unverified personal gnosis) and are referred to as "the Mysteries." And many other parts of it can be misused in the wrong hands. I am currently trying to find those parts of it that explain the religion of it, without exposing the parts of it that are only for true seekers of good Witchcraft to see and use. You're damn right I'm gatekeeping, I've seen this religion abused too much. For now, please refer to Dancing With The Sun and Embracing The Moon by Yasmine Galenorn, and Enchanted: Titania's Book of White Magic by Titania Hardie. I don't consider these to be the best evidence but they are workable and usable for my purposes right now. Will be finding as much good evidence in future as possible. Here's the page where I'll update on the progress: Finding the Evidence
5/13/23 It has come to my attention that a lot of Pagans and other religious folks do not understand what the Devil is. An egregore. This is a thought form created by enough people believing in it and feeding energy into it and believing it has power, until it develops a sentience of its own, and subsequently some abilities. It's from a branch of magic called chaos magic, and human beings naturally make egregores of many sorts, often without realizing it. This "devil" ain't a fallen Angel either. I work with Angels, and I mean a lot. They do not keep their powers if they use them unethically. They also are no longer Angels if they use their powers unethically. And that is all I am willing to say about that. Take it or leave it. If you want proof, ask your own Guardian Angel and All That Is Truly Sacred and Good in the Universe, or the Higher Power of your choice, for proof. You'll probably get it.
The demonization of Judaism by Christians in particular is one thing I'll never understand. Jesus was a Rabbi. That is what all Jews refer to Him as. His Parents were also Jewish, particularly his mother, which means by Jewish tradition that He started off as a Jew. Rabbi in Hebrew means spiritual teacher, anyway. Yes, I speak Hebrew. Every Christian holiday and most of its religion is straight up built off of Judaism as the framework. Shavuot -> Pentecost as one example. The Old Testament? That's Judaism. The Mishnah and the Talmud are additions to it, but not strictly necessary unless you're Orthodox Jewish, and now you understand the Jewish confusion about why Christians dislike them, you're welcome. Also, having grown up Jewish, I know exactly what it's like to be constantly and excessively mistreated by people because they felt justified in their mistreatment due to what they thought of as "Christianity." You would not believe the amount of hatred I have seen practiced in the name of Jesus. In particular, I've been kicked out of Christmas dinners because I wasn't Christian, convinced to attend a church service at 7 years old by a supposed friend who only wanted my conversion so she'd gain brownie points from her church and from Jesus, tricked into eating nonkosher food because my religion wasn't considered valid, forced to sing Christmas carols, told to go to church by a doctor instead of medical treatment, repeatedly told by Catholics at a young age (around 8 to 10) that I was worthless and absolutely going to hell unless I converted, repeatedly told that original sin and hell were real at a very young age despite the wishes of my parents, and told I was going to hell when I was 8 years old because "my people killed Jesus." Considering that the Romans killed him, and that His parents were Jewish, that's... not nice. Bear in mind until I had a crisis of faith at 17 I was very pious about being Jewish; it was extremely important to me. So I wrote off Christianity as a valid religion until I met the first genuine Christian in my life, a truly nonjudgmental and compassionate person, and well, I'm marrying him. I've grown to seriously suspect that most calling themselves Christian are only going to church for the sake of assuaging their narcissism, for a free buffet, for social and business networking, to try to gain entrance to Heaven through faith instead of personal responsibility and effort, and to destroy other peoples' lives for personal gain because those 'others' aren't Christian and so can be exploited. And these guys only care about "other Christians," like this friend I once had who could not be persuaded to give up his weekly prayer and Bible Study group in favor of working at a soup kitchen or otherwise helping people (because that is actually what the Bible says you should be doing if you give a damn about Christianity, not performative religion - and yes, he always brought up the subject) and kept disparaging my religion, harping about what he thought God wanted, God this, God that, and telling me that my chronic pain was part of God's will. In particular people seeking lots of wealth and social acceptance can easily convert to Christianity while pushing everyone who isn't Christian under the bus and get lots, and lots, and lots of money, Doreen Virtue as a good example and the megachurches and televangelists of your choice as another. In fact people have made Christianity into an industry, putting the "brand" of Christianity on everything from hospitals to bookstores to colleges, all in the name of Christ, but who is collecting the money? Less obviously who is collecting the social benefits (particularly the gifts, stuff stolen or extorted from nonbelievers particularly work from underpaid employees, preferential treatment, 'what believers do for one another' etc.) while taking out their frustrations on everyone else? You can't be Christian and an asshole, but people continue to try. So you can imagine why I would like to cancel this charade masquerading as real Christianity. Help me out here, real Christians, because if you don't stand up to this shit in your churches, families, and communities, everyone else suffers and suffers greatly. We're fighting it, but we can't actually get through to people in the community because they only listen to other Christians. Christian? Not like that? I love you.
"Witchcraft is terrifying and super powerful" - calm down. The Powers That Be, including any Divine Entity such as Thor, or the God of the Bible, or Allah, or literally any other Divine One, eat human efforts for breakfast and spit them out. Witches are human. No one and nothing can countermand the will of the Powers That Be. If you're worried about it and religious pray a bunch and try to have some more faith.
"Witchcraft has one big Grand Grimoire, an equivalent to a religious text in some other monotheistic religion" - no. Witchcraft is experiential, which is why hearing people faff on and on about the Occult and about magical conspiracy theories when it's obvious the people rambling about that have never experienced jack shit in the Occult is so infuriating for many of us. You can't just read the books and pretend you understand the Craft. It's impossible, and actually experiencing the mysteries is impossible to describe. Kind of like adequately describing love. You can't do it. And the mysteries are the mysteries because you only experience them when you are ready. An old aphorism is that "the teacher appears when the student is ready to learn." That's why so many of the secrets of the Craft remain mysteries, not because they're bad or creepy, but because you wouldn't be able to handle the knowledge until you mature. I'll tell you one secret: the magic is in life itself, and in transitional times of your life, such as going to high school for the first time, going to college, graduating, and falling in love. Our rituals and initiation ceremonies are much like those transitional times.
"Witchcraft is Satanism." No. I grew up Jewish and have the advantage of knowing that since Judaism has no devil or hell and Christianity is built off of Judaism (which itself has strong parallels to Ancient Greek religion), Christianity is the first religion after Zoroastrianism* that references a "devil," thus the devil is a Christian thing; probably a Christian invention. Witchcraft is older than all three, therefore has no "devil." As far as I know, most branches of Witchcraft are actually Goddess religion that pay homage to the Mother of all Life. For the vast majority of Witches, what we do is completely unrelated to Satanism. I can't really say if it's "opposites" because I don't know that much about Satanism, because guess what? It doesn't interest me. Unfortunately, some dishonorable cretins like to call themselves "Satanic Witch," dishonoring the Witches who died in the Burning Times by claiming they both work with something literally created by the medieval Christian Church to terrify Pagans into conversion (Satan) AND practice Witchcraft. That, in my opinion, makes them Satanists who work magic, not Witches. See here: LearnReligions and here: Religious Tolerance and here: Blood Libel. Also here: Golden Rule. What the medieval Catholic Church did was amalgamate the Horned God of nature, life, death, and fertility and Pan, the God of vegetation, wilderness, and play, into a caricaturized, blasphemed "devil" that was quite literally a scapegoat and intended to create mass hysteria so the faithful could steal the land and wealth of the Pagans. It worked quite well and the Catholic Church is extraordinarily wealthy and powerful to this day. They stole a whole lot more while they were at it, including the rituals of Easter, the Christmas tree, and many, many Pagan traditions. And then they decided to kill off most of the midwives, herbalists, and wise women, Witches or no. While they were at it they did a Crusade here, and an Inquisition there, committed genocide, and then later down the line committed lots of child abuse. Although the Catholic Church has a lot of good in it, it's got problems. I will also point out that despite their practitioners' tendency to look down upon my religion and generally be absolute snobs about it, the reputation of Catholicism for being the Witchiest kind of monotheistic religion is certainly well deserved, although the practices of spiritual cleansings, blessings, baptisms and so on fall strictly under the heading of 'white magic,' so at least they have that going for them.
"Witchcraft has no morality." No. There's no bogeyman in Witchcraft to blame all of your problems on. YOU are the human with all of the potential for the most horrible evil, and all of the most wonderful good, and it is YOUR responsibility to do the right thing or pay the price. You don't get to feel good about yourself if you are a horrible person because all of your 'bads' "can be blamed on external factors." You don't get to hunt down those you deem to be 'the evil ones in league with the Devil' you blame for all your problems in order to feel like some kind of superhero while avoiding personal accountability. You learn humility the easy way or the hard way but you are forced to via life lessons. And in the Craft, you fuck up, you pay dearly. This religion provides you with extra responsibility, extra power sure, but extra consequences as well. If you have the power to change things with magic, that power just as easily bites you in the ass. Why? Because actions have consequences and Witchcraft speeds up the 'actions' part. Translation: your life will fall apart if you don't do Witchcraft in a rational, sane, ethical way. I have seen people attempt to cobble together the life they wanted so desperately with "I'll get what I want no matter what" not-quite-ethical magic... and they were miserable.
There are some who claim that Traditional Witchcraft; aka the oldest version of the Craft, gets its power from the Devil. They are helping to perpetuate the libel of the Catholic Church and to smear the Horned One, Cernunnos. The blood of our Witch forebears lies heavy on my heart and they would mock them. Shame! There is no way to describe their disgrace!
For the record, even literal Satanism is in most cases not what evangelicals think it is. Most of the Satanists I've met have been extremely nice people. Really. I've known Satanists with happy, loving families who treated me (and everyone else) with respect and kindness when no one else would - and mind you this was in a very "Christian" place full of hateful jerks. Do I get it? Nope, and I probably never will. To my mind Cernunnos is the OG/superior, plus the devil has too many ties to Christianity - I don't have the time for that fearmongering bullshit. I have time for most Satanists because they are usually quite nice but their religion itself is just kind of at odds with mine. But don't think that just because someone is a Satanist that they are a bad person. In my experience most times that just isn't the case. Unless they also call themselves Witches or Traditional Witches, in which case yeah, they are bad people or at least doing us some serious wrong. In a world where being transgender or a minority is often a death sentence what do you think they'll do to us, huh? Plus it's not pleasant being misunderstood like that.
"Paganism is satanism/evil/goat sacrificing/creepy/exactly like what's in the Bible or Quran." Wrong! Wrong on every count! There are many different kinds of Paganism, most of which simply worship multiple Gods instead of just one. Important distinction from popular belief: the Gods of Pagan belief are NOT evil or human-made or even like humans at all. They are the Divine version of what force of nature they embody. For instance, Aphrodite is Divine Love. Ares is Divine, Just War. Yemaja is the Goddess of the Ocean and a Goddess of motherhood, which makes sense given the ocean is where all life on Earth originated. And so on. Most forms of Paganism also have a very strong emphasis on honoring the Earth, which is also seen to be Divine. That is my own experience dealing with a couple thousand Pagan people. You should also note that Paganism is not actually a religion because it is a blanket term for various different kinds of worship of the Gods.
"Witchcraft is evil." Actually, it is a neutral term for working magic, generally from a Neopagan, Earth-centered, Female Divinity-oriented perspective. I wish to change this definition to reflect the rich history of lore, traditions, and practices I found which indicates it is also a distinct religion or set of religions with commonalities (these are known as the Traditions, such as Strega, Dianic, Cabot, and so on). Some claim it has its origin in Europe, and some claim it is from everywhere. No one really knows where Witchcraft came from, or what it is exactly. What we do know is that the roots of the word "Witchcraft" may come from "Wit" and "Wisdom." Also, one's personality going into the Craft is exactly the same as it is in the Craft.
"Witchcraft or magic is a way of making your life go exactly the way you want it to." Nope. People generally find this out from experience.
"Magic is bad, or supernatural, or just plain weird." Incorrect. It is a part of everything and everyone in the universe. Falling in love, for instance, is magic. You could call it the Force, or vibes, or whatever; it's still magic.
"There are no negative consequences for working bad magic." Let me make this clear: working bad magic is a crime in the eyes of the Universe and the Universe itself prosecutes it as such. There is such a thing as Universal Law. Screw up, and you won't like the results. Furthermore, any magic that causes harm, even in self-defense, is unfulfilling, unpleasant, and depressing to work. I speak from personal experience. I highly doubt that any Witch worth their salt is unwise enough to actively seek out such work. There are two kinds of Witches: good ones and stupid ones. There are no exceptions.
"Working magic is bad or imaginary." Actually, it is a way of manipulating natural energies to create desired change. Ways of doing this have been passed down throughout the ages and refined so that they actually became effective. Magic is both sentient and linked to the forces that run through the Universe, including Deities. Anyone who misuses magic, such as by causing harm to the innocent, is severely penalized by the Powers That Be in various ways, such as karma, alienating allies through worsening personality, 'getting the wish you never should have wanted' and extreme dissatisfaction with life. These are the most minor consequences. Although Witches generally do not believe in hell, it is generally accepted that some fates are just as bad.
People really like to take some things out of context and sensationalize them: usage of blood in magic, ritual ceremonies done in the nude, the ritual knife known as the athame, cursing/hexing, confusing fairy tales and Hollywood with the legitimate Craft, the belief that Witches are somehow 'The Biggest Baddest Awesome Glamorous.' like these guys One by one now: it is acceptable to use one's own blood, one drop, in spells for positive purposes only and with strict adherence to hygiene. Gardenerian covens tend to work in the nude; it's not necessary for a Witch to do their work in the nude. The athame is used to direct energy and never to cut anything. Cursing or hexing is acceptable if done in self-defense or for a just cause after much consideration, and never to harm the innocent. If it sounds like something that came out of a RenFaire, odds are it's probably got nothing to do with the Craft. Witches are literally just people; if they're trying to cultivate a mystique that just means they lack self-esteem. And of course the Witches depicted in the Bible are completely different from the Witches of today. They don't do the same things or believe in the same things.
"Witchcraft makes your life easier." If going through a brutal initiation process orchestrated by the Powers That Be for three to ten years (or longer) in order to force you into becoming a far better person means "easier," yeah sure.
"The pentacle is the Satanic pentagram." No. For starters, they flip it upside down just like they do with the cross, and often stick a goat head picture on it. Kinda different. Also, the right-side up pentacle, aka the five-pointed star thing with the circle around it and the Texas Lone Star symbol, is in many places, such as sheriff's badges and many state seals. It's also in natural things like rowan berries, and has a link to the golden ratio. It seems, to the best of my knowledge, to have come from the Western Occult tradition / ceremonial magic. It doesn't actually seem to have anything to do with the older folk magic/Pagan sources of Witchcraft except for the fact that Gerald Gardner made it associated with Wicca, and now it's also associated with the Craft in general. I have no fucking clue what it's doing in my religion but I wear a pentacle so that people can ask for help from a Witch if they need my help. It's a label to me. But if you're into pentacles, they represent the five elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and the Spirit of the human being surrounded by the Holy Spirit/the Force/the Universe's Mystery/whatever you wanna call it. There is just one thing you should know about them, however: wearing one is, in my experience, a label for the Universe to also call you up and say "hey, you gotta do a job now." They can and will protect you but also boost your psychic abilities and essentially put you on the spiritual yellow pages as a person interested in the Craft, so I really don't recommend that you wear one as a fashion statement.
"Witchcraft has no rules." It has no WRITTEN rules. Experienced Witches have learned that there are rules indeed, ones you do not break. The most common one is "do not harm the innocent," thankfully I have never done that except by harming myself, which is dumb but hey, I learned (I think). Another rule is "create only positive changes." Any spell or working that is not specifically intended to create positive change only has, ahem, "side effects." Another is "common sense still applies in Witchcraft the same way it does in real life." Another is "do not break oaths to the Gods." Those who break their oaths are known as "warlock." In the Burning Times warlocks "outed" Witches to inquisitors. So anyone calling themselves "warlock" in the Witch community is looked at askance, to put it lightly. Breaking the rules results in Karma 2: Electric Boogaloo. It may also result in you losing all your friends, your job, and your sanity, simply because becoming a bad person tends to do that.
"Witchcraft either doesn't work or isn't dangerous at all." False. One of many reasons why I do not recommend dabbling in the Craft before turning 18. Dangers primarily stem from the fact that little previous life experience prepares one for working magic and without expert guidance you are running blind. There is also the fact that Witchcraft by definition causes enormous, unpredictable life changes, often within a short period of time. If you aren't very wise and well grounded to begin with it's a recipe for disaster. However, the most practical danger in the Craft is the plethora of bad information on it. You can't learn the Craft from Tumblr, from TikTok (ugh), from most books on the market today, or even from a lot of people who claim to be "Witches." It takes something like five years to safely find and use the resources that help you without harming you, and that's if you manage to avoid the temptation to try things from questionable sources during that period. Bad information is worse than no information. If you have this dilemma, then you can hit me up on the MacRev Discord server and I can point you to some resources that don't suck. If I feel like it. You can also try www.pookapages.com and www.pentacle.swankivy.com.
"Witchcraft is a low commitment way of life that doesn't involve exerting personal effort, or really any work at all." Some see it that way and then wonder why things go badly for them.
"Witchcraft is not spiritual." Again, some believe that. It usually doesn't last long. Although each Witch tends to have a different take on spirituality, you can't stay in the Craft for very long without formulating some spirituality that works for you.
"Witchcraft can be handled by anyone, and everyone is a Witch." Although people all have magical abilities, only a very small portion of the population is disciplined, ethical, and wise enough to handle the responsibilities of being a Witch without completely destroying their life in the process. Not only is it not for everybody, but even people who are called to the Craft as a spiritual way of life do not have an easy time of it. It is a full time job and a lifetime (or eternal) commitment. In fact, a lot of the time it isn't even that fun (but fulfilling for sure). It's a calling. That's it.
"Witchcraft is homogenous. There is one book, one set of practices, one way of doing things." No. However there are some things that define Witchcraft to keep it from being lumped in with everything else: 1. The working of magic 2. The respect, reverence of, and acknowledgment of nature as a sentient force or forces - yes, it's animist 3. The acknowledgment of and acceptance that one's actions have consequences 4. The acknowledgment that Satan was created by Christianity and has nothing to do with the Craft. The last one is controversial for some social justice warriors who would probably say that I am gatekeeping. I hate them. Indeed, I think they are pretty close to a modern-day version of the warlocks of days gone past, though most of them probably swore no oaths to the Gods. What they claim to work with, Satan, is modern... and Witchcraft is anything but modern. If this is you, then I implore you to choose the Horned God and claim your title as a Witch or just go with Satanism and say you are a Satanist. You can't be both. As for anyone claiming the Horned God IS the devil, well, I don't have words vile enough for you. Is the genocide of the Burning Times not enough for you? Must you destroy the legacy of the Craft as well?
"Witches hate Jesus." Actually on the whole, no. Most Witches think he's cool and a good example for people that we really wish Christians would actually follow.
"Witches are special/exceptional/insert-label-here." No. Just people.
"Witches do Witch stuff all the time." You have any idea how freaking exhausting that would be? Yikes!
"Witches can't be trusted and never tell the truth." Well, that isn't the Witches that I know. This is a very diverse bunch of people, with different beliefs, but it's been my experience that we're a very very very honest bunch, to the point of being annoying and really in your face. It's more likely you'll have a difference of opinion with a Witch, or get the silent treatment, than be outright lied to. There is a reference to this, "ma'kheru" being defined as the state of constantly telling the truth, in Positive Magick by Marion Weinstein. It's a cultural thing in many Witchcraft sects to believe that the less truth there is in your words, the less power they have, which is bad when you use words to cast spells.
"If you do nothing wrong in the Craft and are a good person, you will be safe from negativity. If any comes into your life anyway, that's just your karma and you deserve it and you are fucked." Absolutely, completely wrong. Plenty of perfectly nice, innocent people aren't even in the Craft and get victimized by various kinds of psychic garbage, be that just plain ill-wishing or a straight-up curse. However, if you get into this religion, chances are you are already more vulnerable to that kind of thing thanks to being what's called a 'sensitive' to magic and spiritual energies, because that helps you actually do the work right and it is a spiritual gift, and you will need LOTS OF FUCKING PROTECTIONS. Protection. Protection. Protection. Don't get into this religion without knowing how to set up and maintain protections. Roll around on this site enough and you'll find a Discord server; bother me about the info if you need it. Otherwise research it for several years yourself before trying anything.
"Witchcraft has to do with any of these: Dungeons and Dragons, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, Digimon, Stevie Nicks, yoga." No, no, no, no, no, no. God, people are stupid. It does have to do with falling in love, imagination, intuition, freedom, virtue, honor, and one's spiritual values. Wow, look at that, it's not about power or Satanism but about trying to do the right thing. No shit sherlock.
Witchcraft is glamorous and cool. *laughs*

*Zoroastrianism referenced a bogeyman called "Ahriman" which was supposedly the bad guy. Other religions that referenced a "bad guy" with supposed big old powers included Egyptian (Apep), Babylonian (Tiamat), Mithraic (kind of unclear), and various other stuff that originated in Mesopotamia, Sumeria, Babylonia and the Fertile Crescent. However, historians often fail to realize that the Fertile Crescent, source of White People Beliefs, was not the center of the goddamn universe and that it was not the only source of religion on Planet Earth. Consider: Chinese (Taoist) pantheon, Native American pantheons, Japanese pantheon, African pantheons (Africa being the cradle of civilization as far as we know), Aborigine beliefs. It gets complicated. I don't know if the oldest religions referenced a "bad guy" but as far as it seems, nothing indicates that pre-Neolithic Revolution hunter-gatherers believed in any such thing. It seems to have been an invention of the Neolithic era for some reason. And for the record, no one knows where the Craft came from, just that it has definite rituals, traits, traditions, and beliefs which match up with beliefs older than Christianity, and for the same reasons is probably older than Egyptian religion. Archeologists, ya there?

Cultural Differences Between Witchcraft and Monotheistic Religions

Witchcraft is not just a way of life, a practice, and a religion, it is also a bunch of cultural beliefs. Here is how they stand out.
Probably the biggest difference is that every other major religion disrespects women and doesn't have much of an emphasis on any kind of Goddess. Even the most feminist person of another religion tends to have role models that kind of suck, are narcissistic, or are really quite powerless when you look closely - Miss Piggy and other "I am woman, hear me roar" aka "I am woman, now grovel and serve me because I can't take care of myself" icons. Not so in the Craft. Many Craft Goddesses were so feared by monotheistic religions that they became labeled as demons: Kali-Ma, the Morrigan, Hecate, Lilith. None of these are demons, but Deities that encourage you to own your own power, respect yourself, take responsibility for your actions (subversive and bad for authority, obviously) and they are some of the Craft's sacred role models not just for women but for every Witch. If the Craft was a movie, it would be V is for Vendetta. Dig? It's about freedom.
Love is the heart of Witchcraft. All that is Divine is a different variation on Love, and all that is Divine is the heart of the Craft. You can't escape from this fact in the Craft, no matter how much you might try to convince yourself that debauching the religion into some sort of power-mongering 'power over others' thing is somehow legitimate. Because that's not Witchcraft, it's a power trip.
There is no central dogma. There is no sacred text, unless you believe that nature can be considered a sacred text. Witches often have an individual diary of their personal experiences with spirituality called a Book of Shadows. That's it. And of course, Witches do not believe in the sacred texts of other religions, including the Quran, the Bible, the Vedas, etc. Therefore there is nothing in the Craft that disallows being LGBTQ+, having respect for women and nature, valuing the Earth, being sex-positive, or working magic. Most notably there is nothing in the Craft that encourages fear at all, or blind obedience. In fact it seems many of the other religions' sacred texts were specifically written to terrify their adherents away from doing anything related to the Craft, and to encourage them to kill Witches, for reasons known only to the scribes.
Witches tend not to worship or work with anything that is unethical but calls itself Divine. To a lot of Witches, what is written about in various sacred texts seems more like a demon than an infinitely loving Deity, mostly because a lot of Witches actually have had experience banishing demons, which is as unpleasant as it sounds. Other Witches believe that a perfect, infinitely loving Divine still works its will through those sacred texts and religions. And yet others don't know.
A lot of Witches have been seriously traumatized by their experiences with other religions. The hurt runs deep. For extreme examples of this see High Magick by Damien Echols and Tempest Smith's Suicide. It really hasn't been that long since we've been burned at the stake - which by the way is a negative, harmful magic ritual and done to an innocent Witch is technically classified as black magic. And Witches do not have the monopoly on sending bad energy, oh no. Energy follows intention, and with enough intention, hatred can be felt and it can hurt, and it is evil. Now that you know, I hope you personally do not focus too hard on hatefully wishing someone ill. Witch or no, you can hurt someone that way... and you will reap the karmic consequences. Luckily the opposite is true and merely by being loving and positive you can create some good karma for yourself while blessing others.
Historic activities associated with Witchcraft according to my research: midwifing, herbalism, honoring the forces of nature, healing, counseling, learning and literacy, serving the Divine in one way or another, gardening, bathing, housekeeping, general clergy duties such as handfastings and funerals. Many of the older folk magic charms that survived until the present day had to do with protecting one's family and home. If you have a family superstition that "just makes you feel better," it may be a relic of an older Pagan religion or of the Craft. For instance, an evergreen wreath on the door during Yuletide is placed there for protection and luck, and Easter eggs are also ancient charms for both protection and fertility.
Witchcraft doesn't define magic as that "harry potter" explosions and fireballs stuff. Honestly it's more like "kissing a boo boo to make it better," "add a pinch of love to this meal," and "hugging trees" type stuff. Or sometimes banishing nasty ghosts. Or kissing your mate. Most magic is done with the help of the Divine. Actually, ritualistic prayers are a kind of magic. One good example of this is the wedding ceremony. Since magic is seen to be both real and important, and originating from one's mental state, Witches are taught to control their thoughts, intentions, energies, and mental health early on in order to prevent snafus.
There is no intermediary between a Witch and the Divine; no priest or rabbi or clergyperson. The Witch IS the clergyperson. Usually this results in a daily large amount of both prayer and confusion. The nature of the Craft seems to require sincere communion with the Powers That Be, often. How, exactly, a Witch goes about it is their business. The Craft requires lots of experimentation as well, because reading about it from a book teaches you absolutely nothing, you have to actually try the rituals and be brave and do your best every time. The Craft also requires deep introspection, at the very least so you can figure out what is sacred to you and what your ethical boundaries are.
At heart Witchcraft is about one's own personal, spiritual truth, which is actually a lot harder to figure out than you'd expect. It is not dictated to you from outside of yourself. You have to figure it out yourself.
Witches do not believe; they know from experience. Frankly if they blindly believe they're doing it wrong.
The consequences for not working on yourself and doing your best to be a good person seem to be a lot more obvious in the Craft than they are in other religions. This effort has to continue day in, day out, 24/7, 365. Remember what I said about Karma 2: Electric Boogaloo? Yeah... that's why.
Witchcraft welcomes psychics, especially those who were born with similar abilities. Monotheistic religion doesn't really have a way of dealing with that except to make psychics into clergy who can then put those talents to good use in communion with Deity. At worst, however, monotheistic religion can treat people with psychic abilities as if they are crazy or possessed, or it can claim that those abilities are imaginary. For anyone who has ever had any psychic talent, they can tell you it sure ain't imaginary, and it really isn't that convenient or fun unless you know how to deal with it!
Monotheistic religions demand goodness. Witchcraft heavily suggests it, as a result of simple observation of the laws of cause and effect. It is often seen as both desirable and wise to do one's best to embody positivity, goodness, love, and one's highest ideals in the Craft.
Monotheistic religions often stifle original expression in an attempt to prevent evil. Witchcraft actually has a habit of dragging its practitioners through something called "shadow work," where you face your worst tendencies head-on, learn from them, get rid of what you don't want and learn from what is good, and even gain power from your dark side. In the Craft, dark is not evil unless you make it that way. Also, shadow work is generally seen to be beneficial, creating both wisdom and a prevention of literal evil in the Witch. If you know someone who perpetually insists on "lace and kittens" everywhere but has the worst personality you've ever seen, or know a bunch of metalheads that are gentle and sweet when not headbanging, then you understand this concept.
Have you ever heard of animism? Yeah, Witchcraft is an animist belief system. Herbs, crystals, the Earth Herself - these are believed to be sentient and deserving of the utmost respect.
There is no concept of original sin in Witchcraft, nor of anything that saves you from the consequences of your actions. Therefore since there is nothing that forgives you or absolves you of the consequences of your actions, there is little tolerance for making poor decisions. Discipline and devotion to personal ethics are a must in the Craft.
Neither nature nor women are seen as evil or inferior but in fact are considered divine. You must respect your mama in the Craft.
Mothers are seen as reflections or embodiments of the Goddess in many sects of Witchcraft, and motherhood is considered very sacred. Consider this: mother's cooking is special. Home at mama's place is special. The love of a good woman is special. Instead of relegating that to subservience and treating women as inferiors, we treat women like the Goddesses they are. Or at least we should. Most sects of the Craft, except for Dianic Witchcraft, also treat men like the Gods they are.
Sex is not seen as evil, but as sacred. It is also approached with a serious emphasis on consent, informed decision-making, and making sure that no one gets hurt. Oddly enough, this sex-positive attitude makes it so sex is not as obsessed about or as big of a deal to a lot of Witches. So in other words, no, we're not "easy," and no, we don't get into sexual depravity as a part of the religion. Kind of like how alcoholism is not as common in the Jewish faith because Jews have to drink a little bit of wine every Friday night from the time they're four years old and every Purim you have to get drunk if you're male - sexual debauchery is actually less common to Witches for the same reason. It's not taboo, so it's not sought out as some kind of forbidden fruit or whatever.
Reincarnation and life after physical death are very common beliefs in Witchcraft, mostly because a lot of us can actually see ghosts, or have other psychic abilities. And a lot of us can remember our past lives. Tied into these are very often deeply held beliefs about Deity, and how that Deity relates to birth-and-death transitions. Therefore it's usually seen as important to honor and respect the Dead.
It is not seen as good to subvert your will to a higher power in the Craft. Thinking for yourself is emphasized before "surrendering to a higher power" mainly because no one knows if you're actually surrendering to a higher power or to some spirit that wandered in and decided to interrupt your channeling. In the Craft it is generally supposed that we should think for ourselves and logically reason out how to do things; stand on our own two feet; instead of be slaves to an invisible force or being, even if it calls itself the master of the universe. Personally I have also noticed that the Gods and the Lord and Lady (female and male Divine; very close concept to God of the Bible/sacred highest power of the universe) don't seem to like it when you try to have them make all of your decisions for you.
Monotheistic religions have all the answers; you do not need to experience anything, but just follow along with the one sacred textbook. Witchcraft is experiential. You don't understand it at all unless you experience the rituals yourself; call on Deity yourself; try things. Then you really know you don't have all the answers.
Monotheistic religions are each the "one and only true religion." Witchcraft is decidedly not. In fact, it is forbidden to recruit anyone into the Craft and even people who wish to become Witches must first learn all they can about it for the traditional year and a day. Also, there is no sense of superiority for being a Witch, because it is not seen as the "best religion ever," just the best path for that particular person with their unique needs and quirks.
Monotheistic religions have a large list of ways in which their adherents must conform. There is little relevance for or demand for personal freedom. Witchcraft's main emphasis is on personal independence, freedom, and choice. All of these are cherished core values.
Truth is another core value in the Craft. Therefore, Witches generally get as much education as they possibly can, reading through libraries' worth of stuff. Dogma is anathema to the religion, particularly if it happens to be false, or a half-truth, or something like that. Skepticism comes with the territory.
Monotheistic religion has a large emphasis on fear. Adherents follow the rules out of fear of punishment, as well as desire for reward. Although Witchcraft does have some emphasis on fear, it is based on practicality derived from personal experience, the experience of another Witch, or common sense. It also is a gentle religion that is extremely focused on tempting adherents into goodness. Positive change only is the name of the game, both for one's personality and spirit and for one's outer life. Witchcraft is quite relaxing for the spirit if you're doing it right. It should feel like a warm cozy blanket and a hug all at once. As a matter of fact, many mothers manage to make their homes so warm and welcoming that they create a very noticeable energetic change in the place - and that is Witchcraft.
Monotheistic religions have a value system that defines morality for their adherents. Each Witch creates their own and adapts it to changing circumstances based on experience and hard-earned wisdom. For many Witches, their value system, or what they personally believe to be right, and/or what they personally cherish and hold to be sacred, is worth more to them than any threat of punishment or promise of reward. This is not always a bunch of guidelines created by personal experience; in fact sometimes it is straight up dictated to the Witch by a Deity or even a pantheon. There is also a very heavy emphasis in the Craft on rituals for personal improvement, which usually involves the Gods in some way. And any contact with the Gods will improve one's personality if you let it.
Monotheistic religions often use magic and yet claim it is evil. Witchcraft uses magic and accepts it as an intrinsic part of the religion. Admittedly magic is not misused as often by those in monotheistic religions as it is by poorly-trained or ethically questionable Witches.
Witchcraft sees divinity as something that pours through every other legit religion, and accepts other religious paths, and is a part of other paths in many ways. However, monotheistic religions recoil in horror from the Craft and claim it is evil, etc. for whatever reason they see fit to peddle today, usually in order to gain money. Hopefully that changes soon.
In other words, yes, monotheistic religion is absolutely chock full of divine magic (see the bottom portion of Nondenominational Spirituality for an explanation of allowing the Divine to work magic for you aka miracles). People often come into the Craft because they want reassurance, safety, a little more power in an uncaring world, and so on, when that's completely unnecessary. Monotheistic religio View Share ns already have all that if you actually follow their practices and delve into them a little more to understand the why and how. So does a lot of other stuff, such as (really) being very into science. Magic = miracles. Miracles = magic. Magic gets demonized, miracles get canonized, there is absolutely no difference, that's the way it goes.

All The Ways People Have Screwed Up Witchcraft

Witchcraft is certainly not perfect. From historic crackpots like Aleister Crowley to Gerald Gardner's special brand of crazy to the tumblr social justice warrior Witch of your choice, it's been twisted and contorted too often. There's an old Arabic proverb that goes something like 'the louder the rattle, the emptier it is.' Watch out for hot air.
Feeding the Stereotype: Running around claiming that you hex the innocent and curse the innocent, that demons are really daemons and are perfectly cuddly, that the devil has anything to do with Witchcraft, that it's okay to hex the moon (REALLY?!), actually believing that Witchcraft is 'a religion of darkness' and we all want to take part in the Christianized Hollywood distortion depicted in the media, and being generally a terrible, evil person isn't just a way to get yourself hated. It fuels the negative stereotype around the entire Witch community and gets the most vulnerable among us killed. Fuck you. And furthermore, you are not original.
Craving Power and Control: This is not the way. Many years ago I got addicted to the notion that as a Witch I could have anything I want, and I wanted it all, right then and there. I was still Wiccan at the time (converted to Witchcraft only recently) and thought obeying the 'harm none' rule was enough but I pushed too hard for everything and got greedy for goodies; I was still working what was technically ethical magic. Well, the Universe threw me for a loop by getting rid of my desire to work magic for a good couple years, and if you're a Witch you know how disconcerting that can get since magic is a part of you. It was not good because I was human, not Divine, and I didn't know what I truly needed. In a word, the Craft is about the Sacred, not craving for power and domination and control, and if you become too imbalanced towards the latter, too focused on working magic for every little thing you want, everything will start to fall apart. There's a reason Laurie Cabot states that Witchcraft is a religion of enlightenment; you need to strive for wisdom in order to do it correctly. It took a lot of crazy stuff happening for me to realize that I wasn't such hot shit, and that the Craft is a spirituality first, a religion second, and a practice third. So if you don't figure out the spirituality and religion part first and - importantly - the ethical boundaries and foundation that comes with that - you won't have a foundation to stand on and the whole thing will go to shit. Better to not work magic at all than to try to do anything you aren't totally feeling that 'this is right' feeling about.
Failing To Think Things Through: Because actions have consequences and with magic, those consequences are far-reaching, potentially devastating if you make a mistake. There is no room for error. NONE. See why I say the Craft is not for everybody?
Confusing Freedom with Freedom From Responsibility: There's a lot of toxicity in the Witch community. For one example, you see this a lot with Feminist Witches (obviously not all of them). The projecting. Oh, boy, the projecting. So you're allied to the Goddess and like being a badass. Great, but your freedom to move your fist ends at my face and oh ho, there are consequences for going further, mainly (ironically) from whatever powerful Witch Goddess you claim to worship. Lots of Witches think that because they're under the patronage of a certain Deity or they're Super Powerful that their Patron or the Universe or their own power will shield them from the consequences of their actions, no matter how shitty, and believe they're entitled to abominable behavior because of "how oppressed they are" or something. It doesn't work that way. Then they get upset because things aren't going right for them in life and they still fail to put two and two together, whoops.
Playing Pretend and Saying It's Witchcraft: a major reason why no one takes the religion seriously. Indeed, you can LARP all you want, but that's not Witchcraft. It's the difference between imagining a change and directly causing a change. If nothing changes no matter how vividly you imagine something, you aren't practicing the Craft. You're just daydreaming.
Power Tripping: yes, a lot of people join up because they think they'll get Ultimate Power Over The Universe. That's not how it works, but they are insufferable assholes until they learn that indeed, that's not how it works.
Using Witchcraft as a crutch for poor self-esteem: Just like using anything else as a crutch, like a yacht, lots of money, crushing the hopes and dreams of people you interact with, and so on, it doesn't work for improving your life. Just gives you even more midlife crises down the line and makes you start blaming everyone else for your problems. O no.
Bloated Ego: this needs no explanation.
Performative Witchcraft: because sharing your Craft on social media for the world to see can be done for one of two reasons 1. you want to help people and 2. you want to be praised. Attention-seeking Witches give us all a bad name, for heaven's sake, please stop it.
Fluffy Bunnies and the Anti-Fluffy Bunnies: one side of the spectrum is the stereotypical New Age person that can't handle anything that isn't dainty and perfect, the other side of the spectrum is the person who is allergic to the first type and often enjoys being an insufferable edgelord, perhaps even fully embracing the stereotype of "big bad spooky Witch." They both give us all a bad name, for heaven's sake, please stop it.
Social Justice Warrior: takes cancel culture to new and improved levels to the point of trying to bring about the world of 1984, complete with newspeak, censorship, and playing whack-a-mole with any person who isn't so 24/7 plugged into social media that they don't know about the new flavor of "woke" they're supposed to be today. They give us all a bad name, for heaven's sake, please stop it.
Using Witchcraft as a replacement for mental health care: this is just sad. Witchcraft will guaranteed make any mental illness worse, unfortunately. I know from experience.
Using Witchcraft as an excuse for criminal behavior: doubly stupid. 1. Karma will kick your ass 2. It proves that you really suck at magic, because using criminal behavior as a crutch for working magic means you don't know the real techniques for doing magic at all. I d i o t.
Bastardizing the Craft by mixing it with other stuff that is incompatible or via excessive cultural appropriation: nope, it isn't a good idea to invoke a different Deity every day, nope, it is not compatible with Islam or most kinds of Judaism (Kabbalah is a notable exception but, having been raised Jewish, I question whether Kabbalah is even Jewish at all; I left Judaism behind out of respect when I converted to the Craft).
Misusing the Craft: harming the innocent in any way, forcing someone to "love" you, or interfering with someone innocent's free will are all major reasons why the Craft has such a bad reputation in the first place. Also, it'll make every other Witch declare open season on you to force you to stop.

Little-known facts about Witchcraft

Every human has psychic abilities and the ability to work magic. In fact, many have worked magic without even realizing it. The question is whether you deliberately develop those abilities or not, and whether you are mature enough to handle them without ruining your life and the lives of everyone around you. Gundam's 'newtype' idea actually does apply to every human so yes, you also could be a Witch. But every psychic gift comes with a major drawback. Do you really want to have that kind of responsibility? That kind of burden? Could you really handle it? The stories abound of people who fucked it all up. In fact, the initiation process into the Craft is infamous for its difficulty. You think you're just dabbling but... uh oh, oh no, now you have to become a better person in order to do this Craft stuff properly or everything will go to shit in your life. And then you blame the Craft and it gets a worse reputation, thanks a lot. This also applies to every other magical tradition because Actions! Have! Consequences!
People often crave magic in their lives in order to fill a void of some sort. Boredom, depression, ingratitude for one's blessings, assorted mental traumas and mental problems. Problem: adding magic while you are mentally unwell or unethical in any way can and will blow up in your face.
I cannot say this enough: casting a spell to get what you want is very rarely the answer to your problems unless you're very, very good at differentiating your true needs from your wants.
Set your heart on goodness and love before doing any kind of Witchcraft, think it through logically and about the consequences, and know in your heart that you are doing the right thing. Be certain about it. That way you avoid mistakes.
New Age and conspiracy crap which revolves around magical thinking, "faith," "belief," and so on often has very distant ties to actual magic and thus to Witchcraft. The difference is that real magic takes hard work and effort, and most importantly TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS. These dipshits think that if they believe hard enough, all of their wildest dreams will come true, all of their problems will be solved without any effort on their part, and nothing will ever be difficult again (usually with an "if only They would stop keeping us down" threat narrative). Real magic is the opposite. The more impressive the goal, the harder you have to work, and the more you have to give up (time, energy, bad personality traits, habits, even material stuff like incense and candles). Magic isn't your fucking free lunch. And even if you start out by doing it only for yourself, over time you come to realize it's not for yourself at all but for the benefit of the whole universe. That's a whole lot of responsibility.
This is not so much a religion as it is a job. Every Witch is their own clergyperson. People tend to underestimate how much work this involves.
The Craft will take your negative personality traits and iron them out the easy way or the hard way unless you bail out early or refuse to notice what the universe is trying to tell you in order to get you to change. Want to be a bad person in the Craft, including to yourself? Okay, let the pain begin! However, don't think this is an indictment of your personal character if you're genuinely doing your best to be a good person. All you can do is do your best, and that's enough. What this refers to is people who crash through every roadblock on their path saying "Stop, you're making a bad decision!" and just keep going.
The 'don't hurt yourself' rule is also serious enough to warrant a proper crash course in self-esteem to every beginner student. Fail to do this and even logic dictates nothing good can come of it. This especially refers to making enough mature life decisions to be in a stable life situation, at least mentally, and also to avoiding every kind of addiction. What happens when you add addictions or poor cognition to the Craft? Crazy manifests more crazy. So in every case serious effort on becoming mentally stable is a prerequisite to being in the Craft. I don't care who you are, if you're going into the Craft without a very strong background in mentally taking care of yourself and knowing as much as you can about psychology and maintenance of mental health, and physical health (which ties into it more than you'd think), you're playing with fire.
You can skate by without being a doctor in the Craft. However, I will repeat: you cannot skate by without having as much mental health knowledge as you possibly can in the Craft. In fact, getting a degree in psychology would not be a bad idea, as would reading an equivalent amount of books and counseling a ton of people if you're good at it. Shrinks don't have to deal with as much weird shit as a Witch does, and besides, as your own shrink you'll need to be on call for yourself 24/7 to prevent yourself from making dumb decisions. If there's anything that could chemo the toxicity in the Witch community these days, this would be it.
People in the Craft often go through cycles in their lives, and sometimes these cycles get tough. It is important to remember that bad times when you are a good Witch never last forever, and to hold on for dear life and push through. After such cycles, improvement in one's life and the lives of everyone you care about takes off by leaps and bounds, rather like a spring that has been held back. More importantly, one can work to ensure that future cycles of crap are not nearly as bad, using the lessons learned, and thus the spiral continues in an upward direction.
People who dabble in the Craft, either short term by trying to gain instant gratification or long term by not taking it seriously, are in for a whopper of a surprise: if you don't do this right, all kinds of stuff can go wrong in short order. For starters, doing anything intentionally with magic is wildly noticeable to spirits and attracts them. There's also the fact that everyone has a Guardian Angel and ancestors watching over them, plus a slew of Deities that have taken an interest in them. And when you start to work magic it alerts every Deity that exists and they start to take a very active interest in what you're up to. Mess up, and you answer to them. Plus of course there is karma, and then there are other X-factors such as the other people that are involved, and more. It's chaos. There's a lot more going on spiritually when you cast a spell than just follow a recipe and hope it works. Get greedy, be impatient or unwise, do the wrong thing - and pay the price.
The Craft has long been a religion, and the last resort, of the poor, the disenfranchised, and the just plain unfortunate. When there are no other options, real magic does work miracles. I've seen it. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be in this religion. The trouble is that it has to be used for the highest, most positive purposes no matter how bad your situation is or it just makes things worse. More importantly, it takes a lot of effort and personal work to even be kind of good at it. It's not shake-and-bake, it's not one-size-fits all, and it's really difficult.

I know for certain that the Creatrix/Creator of all life, the Great Mystery, the Divine Being of All Things, is infinitely perfect in all ways, infinitely good, merciful, unconditionally loving, gentle, kind, infinitely wonderful, and above all infinitely loving. Infinite, unconditional love is my Goddess. I KNOW SHE EXISTS. There is no flaw in Her. Because She exists, I do not consent to worshipping anything less perfect than Her perfection. As a Witch oathed to the Lady and Lord (female and male aspects of the Creator/Great Mystery), I say this prayer often: "The Lady and Lord protect me. The Lady and Lord heal me. They help me in all the ways I need help. The Lady and Lord are infinite Love, infinite mercy, infinite goodness, and totally perfect. Therefore, I lay my life in Their capable hands now and forever. So mote it be."

Completely Un-Humble Brags about Good Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neopagan (but ethical) Religion In General

There is honor in this umbrella of religions for people who have had children out of wedlock and for single parents, and for people who are raising a family in not-cookie-cutter circumstances such as having a family with two moms or two dads, or raising adopted children on your own, or being divorced or separated and co-parenting, or even being a polyamorous family unit. Also for people who have had kids in high school. Honor. No shame.
Physical appearance, social status, minority status, and being LGBTQ+ means nothing. Your ethics or lack thereof mean everything.
You will not find people more eco-friendly and "green" anywhere.
In this umbrella of religions people will not shame you for "having the sex" or talking about sex, or being sex-positive overall. As long as no one is getting hurt, no one gives a shit.
Neither fear nor obedience nor desire for rewards are the reasons for ethical behavior in these religions. There's much more to it than the carrot and the stick approach.
All of these religions value the truth and seeking the truth more than being comfortable and feeling gooooood
Seriously. SERIOUSLY. None of these religions recruit. Ever.
In this umbrella of religions, enjoying yourself, material things, pleasures, fun, and enjoying your life are encouraged, not forbidden or discouraged or only allowed with more or less arbitrary strings attached
Having a one-on-one real, personal relationship with Deity and/or the Universe means your karma is sped up a bit. That's also a drawback, kind of.
You can be as weird and unique and different as you want so long as you're ethical.
The only dogma is the Universal Laws (some of which don't apply if you don't practice magic), the rule of karma (aka actions have consequences within and outside of you), and that's it. The rest is up to you.
Specifically for Wiccans and Witches, it's believed that lying - ever - reduces the amount of power you have in the Craft, not to mention your credibility and reputation with not only people but the Powers That Be. Therefore, much though sometimes Witches would like to sugarcoat things or otherwise spin facts, it's culturally considered unwise and dishonorable.
Here's a secret that's not well known. All good Witches and Pagans have more in common with good Catholics, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and all other good people of faiths than they do with those who cause harm to the innocent in the name of religion, or in the cause of black magic. It's weird, and it is not politically correct, but it's absolutely true. If all would put aside their fear in the pursuit of true understanding of one another, our differences could make us stronger together.

If you read through all this because you have more or less been called to the Craft even before you knew there was a name for it, know that you are loved, you are appreciated, and you are not alone. There are many more of us, in places you would never expect, and many of us are proud of you. Keep your chin up and always be true to yourself.

Why I am a Witch: I never have to lie to myself. There's no cognitive dissonance. If something isn't true, I don't need to pretend it is. I don't need to go for any kind of religion that speaks in terms of love but acts in terms of hatred and human rights violations. I can focus all of my energies on helping people, doing the right thing, and all that is wholesome and precious and good instead of doing mental loop-de-loops. Also it's the most ethical, the gentlest, and the least toxic religion I could find. Here are two books that I recommend: Embracing the Moon by Yasmine Galenorn and Dancing with the Sun by Yasmine Galenorn; they'll tell you everything you need to know about the Craft. Understand: they are textbooks intended to be put to use, not scriptures, but do not do anything from them unless you have studied the Craft for a year and a day and then dedicated yourself to it. Practicing the Craft carries with it extreme responsibility and accountability. IT'S NOT FOR EVERYONE.

Nondenominational Spirituality

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