Witches…did you know?

WITCHES...... DID YOU KNOW??

Witches do not go about everyday (unless they want to that is) wearing pointy hats, making potions in a huge cauldrons, have horrible green warts all over their faces. Walk bent over with a cackling laugh and snearing look. These are only a few of the many absurd things that are believed about witches and witchcraft.

Basically the images created in movies are what a lot of people expect to see when you say you’re a witch.......This is, however is sadly a perception that will always stick. So.....

Here are a few actual facts about witches witchcraft to clear up a few misconceptions.

1 Witchcraft is practiced by both women and men.

It was believed for the longest time that witchcraft was mostly a female activity. But there are also many MALES and they are also called WITCHES!.

.Countless men and women have been persecuted throughout history in suspicion of practicing witchcraft.

2 Wicca is a new religious movement based on witchcraft.

Englishman Gerald Gardner created this religion and introduced it to the public in 1954. According to Gardner, Wicca emerged from a European witch-cult that was persecuted during the witch trials. The core of this religion is formed of ancient Pagan.

All Wiccans are Pagans and Witches. Not all witches are Pagan or Wiccan. Pagans can be witches but many aren't. Witches can be pagan and many are. Witchcraft is a craft, practice, and philosophy that can be applied to basically any religion or theology. While some religions like Wicca embrace witchcraft more than others, witchcraft can be practiced by any one of any religion, philosophy, or creed.

3 Unlike popular belief, Halloween is not the only time when all the witches come out.

Halloween is more fun to most people but for witches it’s our new year and we perform beautiful rituals to thank our ancestors and the universe. They are also celebrate the first day of May/Beltane and Midsummer's eve that coincides with the summer solstice. In fact, Easter is associated with witches in Sweden.We have many special dates in our calendars called the sabbath and they are ......

• Yule, Winter Solstice: December 20, 21, 22, or 23�Yule is the longest night and the shortest day of the year. Some Wiccans consider Yule to be either the year’s beginning or the end. This is the time to celebrate the return of the light. Yule is the solar turning of the tides, and the newborn Sun offers a fresh start and, literally, a new day. It’s a time of renewal and hope.

• Brigid, Imbolc, Candlemas, Imbolg, or Brigid’s Day: February 1 or 2�Brigid, or Imbolc, is a preparation for spring. At Brigid, Wiccans clean and organize their living environments, as well as their minds and hearts, in preparation for the upcoming season of growth. It’s a time to shake off the doldrums of late winter and light the fires of creativity and inspiration.

• Eostar, Spring Equinox, Ostara, or Oestarra: March 20, 21, 22, or 23�Winter is now over. Light is increasing. The day and night are equal in length at the equinox. Spring has arrived or is coming soon. Eostar is the time of fertility, birth, and renewal. The ice is thawing, and the growing season for plants and animals begins. Growth is the theme of the day.

• Beltane, May Eve, Beltaine, Bealtaine, or May Day: April 30 or May 1�Beltane is the time of the marriage and union of the Goddess as Mother Earth and the God of the Greenwood. It is an ancient fertility festival marking the beginning of the planting cycle. The festival was to ensure a good growing season and a bountiful harvest. Beltane is light-hearted and joyful.

• Litha, Summer Solstice, or Midsummer: June 20, 21, 22, or 23�Litha is the longest day and the shortest night of the year. Light triumphs, but will now begin to fade into darkness as autumn approaches. The crops are planted and growing. The woods and forests have reached their peak fullness. This is the time of abundance for wildlife, including people! The holiday is joyous.

• Lughnasad, Lughnasadh, or Lammas: August 1�For the ancient Pagans, Lughnasad was a time of both hope and fear. They held hope for a bountiful harvest and abundant food, but they feared that the harvest wouldn’t be large enough and that the cold months would be filled with struggle and deprivation. At Lughnasad, modern Wiccans also face their fears, concentrate on developing their own abilities, and take steps to protect themselves and their homes.

• Mabon, Fall Equinox, or Harvest Home: September 20, 21, 22, or 23�At Mabon, the day and the night are equal in length, in sublime balance. For many locations, Mabon coincides with the final harvest of grain, fruits, and vegetables. Mabon, also called Harvest Home, is the time of thanksgiving. The beauty and bounty of summer gives way to the desolation of winter, and the darkness overtakes the light.

• Samhain, All Hallow’s Eve, Hallowmas: October 31 or November 1�For many Wiccans, Samhain marks the New Year and is the most important Sabbat. It’s the time to remember the ancestors, and the time to celebrate the harvest and all that has been accomplished over the year.

4 Witches used broomsticks to fly..yAlmost.

It is one of the facts harder to believe but not if you take it figuratively. Practitioners of witchcraft experimented with herbs and potions. And in doing so, they might have used a mandrake plant, which has hallucinatory properties. It made people euphoric and even hallucinate at times. There were rituals that were performed in the nude and involved rubbing a herbal ointment that contained mandrake. After the ointment was put in the private parts, it caused a floating sensation. That sensation has been likened to that of floating on a broomstick. They would have also rubbed this ointment onto the broomstick and saddled the broomstick naked causing the floating sensation on their private parts.

5 Unlike popular belief, WITCHCRAFTS is NOT SATANISM.

Witchcraft is rooted in pagan beliefs. Most of the pagan belief systems are, well, not Christianity, (that is a whole other subject for another time) These pagan systems do not have any concept of Satan and hence, worshiping him would not make any sense. They definitely do not worship Satan.

Satanists, on the other hand, worship Lucifer. Satanism has existed for almost as long as Christianity has.

They don’t eat or sacrifice children either haha.

6 Hardly any 'witch' was ever burnt at a stake.

Only a handful of witches were ever burnt on stakes in real life. Even during the well-known Salem Witch Trials, 165 people were accused out of which 31 were imprisoned, of which 19 were sentenced to death. Out of those 19 people, 18 were women who were hanged to death. The one remaining was a man who refused to admit that he was a witch and was crushed to death with stones. So, immolation was never the primary means of execution as it was not permissible by law. In fact, in America none of the accused were burnt

The Pendle witches were also hanged and not burnt at the stake except for one who died while in imprisonment, Elizabeth Southerns (a.k.a. Old Demdike) died while awaiting her trail.

7 We don't know where the word "witch" came from.

It’s is often quoted the the word Witch come from Wicca and means “wise one”

But you may or may not be surprised to know that the word “witch” is of indeterminate origin. The closest and most obvious possible origin is the Old English word wicce, which means “female sorceress,” Another more specific possibility is a split meaning coming from the Old English wigle, meaning “divination” and wih, meaning “idol,” both coming from the Proto-Germanic word wikkjaz, which means “necromancer,” or “one who wakes the dead

8 Sadly in Saudi Arabia and other parts, witchcraft and sorcery can still be punished by the death penalty. There is stories of them being thrown into deep dark pits and left to die. It’s very upsetting to know that this kind of thing is happening just because someone chooses a path that people are still very ignorant to, they are totally uneducated or just ignorantly dismiss the actual workings and facts and continue with their narrow minded perception that witches are evil satanists. Even then they shouldn’t have the right to kill them especially in such brutal manners.

9 Unlike Saudi Arabia

The last alleged witches hanged in the UK were Mary Hicks and her daughter Elizabeth, aged 9, in 1716; the last in Scotland was Janet Horne in 1727

10 Potions and incantations

Often the ‘potions’ and ‘incantations’ that the witches used were used either for medicinal purposes or purely for culinary purposes, mainly good purposes. Common ingredients that witches used, like toe of frog, wool of bat, tongue of dog, lizard’s leg etc were mostly names given to common herbs and ingredients used for potion making or cooking, so as to keep the recipe from being stolen and used by another. Though, needless to say, such names only added fuel to the fear of witches. Honestly we use herbs, not actual toe of frogs etc.

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