Witches on Witchcraft

by Damon Leff

Sunday, August 01, 2010

In its review of Malawi's Witchcraft Act the Malawi Law Commission asked eight questions for further discussion. [0] In this blog I'll answer the first two and last questions posed by the Commission from the point of view of actual Witches; Does Witchcraft exist? Does the law need to change the legal assumption that witchcraft does not exist? If the law recognizes the existence of witchcraft, would it mean that the law is legitimizing witchcraft?

"There are more Witches in the Pagan movement than there are other Pagan practices, but we are only one among a variety of religious paths that I think fall under the term Paganism". Aline O'Brien, better known to Pagans internationally as M. Macha NightMare, [1] describes herself as a Priestess and Witch. O'Brien is the President of the Board of Directors of a U. S. Pagan seminary, Cherry Hill Seminary. [2] "My religion is not a faith, as other religious persons define this term. It is experiential. In the world of interfaith relations in which I am active, we distinguish between revealed Abrahamic religions and experiential religions of the Pagan religious movement. In the context of interfaith, I call myself a Pagan. In the academic field of religious studies, Paganism is considered a new religious movement (NRM), meaning that it is fewer than 200 years old. We share this NRM category with Latter Day Saints, Baha'i, Scientology and others. I hasten to emphasize that we Pagans draw upon a rich heritage. However, as a sociological phenomenon that arose primarily from the counter culture of the 1960s and '70s, we are an NRM."

O'Brien is a founding member of one of the largest Witchcraft traditions based in North America. [3] "Reclaiming began as a small collective of Witches teaching and offering public sabbats and open Full Moons outdoors in San Francisco. Reclaiming expanded, primarily via WitchCamps, week-long intensives offered around the U. S., Canada and Europe. In that process Reclaiming inadvertently evolved into a recognizable tradition in its own right." Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft covens and groups are non-hierarchical and do not require initiation. Reclaiming places a strong emphasis on political, social and ecological responsibility and involvement. "Reclaiming's Principles of Unity express the essence of what it means to be a Reclaiming Witch." [4]

"Like most Witches of my vintage, I searched for years for a spirituality that made sense to me before I found the Craft. I encountered Witchcraft at the meeting point of three paths in my life, at the sacred trivia of the goddess Hekate. The first path was Second Wave Feminism; [5] in Craft I had my first experience of a feminine image of the divine. Secondly, my concerns for the environment (before I’d ever heard the word “ecology”) were accorded a theological foundation in Craft. Third was an acknowledgment and respect for intuitive ways of knowing. These concerns, spiced with the flavors of mythology and folklore, seeking knowledge of my personal ancestral heritage, and engaging constructively in society to help make a better world, continue to inform my theology and praxis."

Read the rest of this blog here:
http://www.newstime.co.za/article/DamonLeff/Witches_on_Witchcraft/73/199...