53 replies to this topic

[Still Waters]

It is 400 years since the Pendle witch trials led to 10 people being hanged for witchcraft. But do modern witches still suffer prejudice?

He has carved out a successful career as an employment lawyer.

But the 38-year-old, who is sometimes known as Myrddin, also takes part in activities which he prefers to keep secret.

For Myrddin is the head of a witches' coven in Lancashire.

He said: "We don't do anything sinister like Devil worship and we don't make human or animal sacrifices.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...ashire-19211852

[Darkwind]

Nice article, but why did they have the picture of the women in black with a black flower. It paints a picture we are Goths.  Most witches you would never know unless they are wearing jewelry or are wearing ritual garb. I do run into the store in ritual garb for some last minute thing and get caught as a witch.  I really get some looks, mostly form Mexicans. I also have a lot of what I call marry meet moments when your sitting next to someone and you see a piece of jewelry or someones says something only witches say.  When I did jury duty for some odd reason three of us ended up sitting next to each other not knowing until we noticed our jewelry symbols. I think there are more witches out there than people realize. We are growing in great numbers. Our festivals get bigger every year.

[Beany]

Yes, we do. On the other hand, when I told some Jehovah's Witnesses at my door that I was a witch, they got a terrified look on their faces, and backed away from me, opened the gate, and scurried down the street throwing frightened looks over their shoulders, so there are compensations. BTW, as long as I lived at that address they never came back. An open declaration to born-agains works the same way. It's magic!

[rashore]

I'm not sure if I'm too thrilled with the way the article worked out. The pic of the chick all in black is probably part of the reason why people look funny at witches- that odd combo of tree hugger and goth usually puts people off.
I kind of didn't like the way witch and pagan was thrown together either. Kind of made it sound almost like all pagans are witches, or all witches are pagans, and that is not the case. I'm a pagan, and I'm not a witch. I'm not a druid, shaman, or of wicca either.

Just out of curiosity Darkwind... Why would you be caught out in public in your ceremonial vestments? Doesn't that screw up your cleansing? Or do you cleanse before? I realize that might be a moot point if you regularly travel to somewhere else for ceremonies. I'm fortunate in that I've always been able to practice at home and so don't have to worry about that. The few times I have traveled, it was as a participant rather than a practitioner so I didn't really have to worry then either.
I can't imagine walking into a store or anything else mundane like that right before doing something either, that's just an alien concept to me.
I'm not trying to slam you or anything... I just bet you and I go about things differently, and I'm honestly curious, no harm intended.

[Darkwind]

I don't see why it would, when I enter circle I am cleansed with smoke and of course I shower before I go. We circle out in the woods and it is kind of hard changing clothes.  Might scare the women folk.   Most people don't really pick up on it, but Mexicans seem to be able to spot a witch.

I have 3 really good friends who are JW's all know my religion and it doesn't bother them in the least. One was sick and couldn't drive, so I was driving her to Temple, but I couldn't sit inside. I tried, but the urge to jump up and tell they were all nuts was too great.  It really seems to scare the Baptist, I lost all my Baptist friends when I became a Pagan.

You are right though, not all Pagans are witches.  I was told, all Wiccans are witches, but not all Pagans are witches. I practice the craft, so I am a witch. Now  Wiccians have differed with me on that point saying you're not a witch if your not a Wiccan. You can imagine what I said back to that. Wiccans and their dogma can drive me nuts. I am in an eclectic circle, everybody does stuff a little different.  It is kind of like Baptists, JWs, Catholics, and a Jew all going to Church together.  I don't think it would work for Christians but it works for us.

[Simbi Laveau]

oh,there is absolutely still prejudice .
Say cor some reason,cops came into my home ...
I have an altar in two rooms . One has skulls all over it,one of which is organic (its 1000 year old Tibetan ritual Skull).

I have books and acoutraments everywhere .Statues ,bells,incense burners .
Snakes,feathers,shells ....

They range from Buddhist to voodoo ,and I always wear black .
It's a new York thing really .nothing to do with goth .
I would be branded a devil worshipper blah blah blah .

I mean if I was a zealot Catholic that killed kids to rid them of the devil insidethem ,it would be more acceptable .

You should see my kitchen .  old colonial bed warmers hanging on the wall,with an old fashioned cucoo clock ,that's orange, bats and spiders and witches all over it .
I have a plaque of a cauldron that says ,WITCHES INN .Est.1542,
Plushie ravens and witches on brooms ,bats ,talismen .

I have dolls of Santeria orishas and strands of their beads hang all over .
Athames and knives ....its in 3 rooms of the house .

I live alone so ...

Lady R has told me she still occ threatens to sue,if she's treated badly if its revealed what she is . This is nyc ....I think next to salem ,you have more witches,than anywhere else in the USA.
Then pagans . So prejudice is out there big time ,even now .

And all witches are pagans,but not all pagans are witches.
I had no idea all you guys were all family .

Edited by Simbi Laveau, 19 August 2012 - 04:49 AM.

[Darkwind]

1000 year old Tibetan ritual Skull!!!  How cool is that. How did you get a hold of it.  I just have a simple alter.  I have what is called locally a Florida crystal I found that has a Goddess shape to it. Some other assorted Crystals, a silver coin, a bird point arrow head my brother found, a snake I made from seed beads, incense burner I got at the dollar store, some feathers and a rabbit skin. It is messy right now, I have to get it ready for some blue moon magic at the end of the month. I have some willow I want to make into a wand. Willow is good for healing energy.

A witches best tool for magic, yourself.

Edited by Darkwind, 19 August 2012 - 04:54 PM.

[Simbi Laveau]

Darkwind, on 19 August 2012 - 04:51 PM, said:

1000 year old Tibetan ritual Skull!!!  How cool is that. How did you get a hold of it.  I just have a simple alter.  I have what is called locally a Florida crystal I found that has a Goddess shape to it. Some other assorted Crystals, a silver coin, a bird point arrow head my brother found, a snake I made from seed beads, incense burner I got at the dollar store, some feathers and a rabbit skin. It is messy right now, I have to get it ready for some blue moon magic at the end of the month. I have some willow I want to make into a wand. Willow is good for healing energy.

A witches best tool for magic, yourself.

Well my snakes are plastic or wood,but I like to have representations of them around .So many of my beloved,like snakes .
Saint Martha,Kali,Shiva,Marie Laveau .
And I like skulls. I believe in the whole skulls are powerful sympathetic objects,given they housed our intelligence .
I have crystal ones,all kinds of stones . I have two life sized articulated metal ones,made by a 19th century witch artisan .
They have odd energy .
My organic skull is a kapala .
Kapalas are traditionally supposed to be made out of a monk skull.
The art of making them,still goes on today.
Google kapala . There are skull caps,used just for ritual drinking ,and the made cups too.
Some are all inlaid with semi precious stones .
I actually do not lile those.
My kapala is just the skull,which is carved .
There are some with gods on them,or a Tibetan prayer wheel .
Mine has the 8 auspicious symbols on it.
It was found in a cave in Tibet ,in the early 20th century .
It was probably an item of worship,used by a monk .
A friend of mine is an archeologist,and she checked it out for me,and it is as old as I was told.
I got it at an auction actually.
I was a bit weirded out initially,as I never had anything like this before ,but it is beautiful.
I have photos,but I cannot upload them with my cell.
Let me find you an example of one like mine.

[Simbi Laveau]

And well,I have been practicing for many years now,so I have collected this stuff over decades.

[Simbi Laveau]

Ok,just magickally speaking ,monk skulls are used for meditations and auspicious events.
However,lore suggests that kapalas made of
1-a murder victim
2-a fetus or a child ,
Carry powers of a different nature .
You can use them in spells for more base reasons.
Money,power,revenge.
My skull,on examination,is that of a woman,so this was not a monk ,given the age of my skull,she was probably a witch ,or a murder victim ,or both .

My skull looks more like these.
She's a full skull,hand carved,no stones or metal inlay .
I do love her
http://boingboing.ne...rved-skull.html


http://skullapprecia...g/carved-skull/

Edited by Simbi Laveau, 19 August 2012 - 06:23 PM.

[Darkwind]

Careful with revenge spells, remember what you send out also goes inward. lol

[Simbi Laveau]

Darkwind, on 19 August 2012 - 06:42 PM, said:

Careful with revenge spells, remember what you send out also goes inward. lol

Oh no,I just wanted a real kapala. She is beautiful .
Actually,I was told she bestows money . Still waitin on that one

I was just saying,given its a female skull,there is no way she was a monk ,so she must have been a murder victim .

[Coffey]

Darkwind, on 18 August 2012 - 12:53 PM, said:

Nice article, but why did they have the picture of the women in black with a black flower. It paints a picture we are Goths.  Most witches you would never know unless they are wearing jewelry or are wearing ritual garb. I do run into the store in ritual garb for some last minute thing and get caught as a witch.  I really get some looks, mostly form Mexicans. I also have a lot of what I call marry meet moments when your sitting next to someone and you see a piece of jewelry or someones says something only witches say.  When I did jury duty for some odd reason three of us ended up sitting next to each other not knowing until we noticed our jewelry symbols. I think there are more witches out there than people realize. We are growing in great numbers. Our festivals get bigger every year.

Yeah my housemate wears fashion etc, the only small signs are the occasional pentagram etc.

Beany, on 18 August 2012 - 02:54 PM, said:

Yes, we do. On the other hand, when I told some Jehovah's Witnesses at my door that I was a witch, they got a terrified look on their faces, and backed away from me, opened the gate, and scurried down the street throwing frightened looks over their shoulders, so there are compensations. BTW, as long as I lived at that address they never came back. An open declaration to born-agains works the same way. It's magic!

Is that a bad thing though? I send my hosuemate to answer the door to them on purpose and tell them she is a witch... It's hilerious.

[starchild1976]

Not all Wiccans are witches. Wicca is a religion.

Edited by starchild1976, 30 August 2012 - 04:55 PM.

[Darkwind]

Yes indeed Wicca is a religion. I guess you would have to take it up who is and who is not with Gerald Gardner or Doreen Valiente.    They are the ones who got the whole Wicca thing going.