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Witches are ugly old women who wear pointy hats and ride around on brooms. Witches come in many different shapes and sizes. Young and Old. Beautiful and not so beautiful. Male and Female (yes, there are male witches out there. The word 'Warlock' is not used by witches as it actually means "oath-breaker.") The witch's black hat is actually a symbol of the cone of power. In times of old, menstruating women walked around field, astride a broom (or besom) to promoted fertility in the land. Witches always wear black. Witches wear whatever colour they feel like wearing. Black is a favourite during rituals because it is the best colour to attract energy. However, I'm rather partial to purple. Indeed, I wear rather a lot of purple, although I must admit I like black (because of it's ability to make you look slimmer ;)) Witches worship Satan. There is no negative opposite to deity in the Wiccan religion. We believe there is a balance of good and bad in everything, and to call something 'evil' is to give it power. 'The Devil,' 'Satan' and so on are actually a Christian concept and nothing to do with Wicca. This misconception may arise from the fact that gods such as Cernunnos are depicted with horns to symbolise that they are gods of the wild. In the past, these deities were said to represent 'The Devil' in order to bring people away from the pagan religions and their gods. Witches have black cats. As a nature-based religion, many Witches feel close to animals, and so many have a familiar, and animal with whom they feel very close. A familiar can be any animal (for example a mouse, a dog, a cat, a cockatoo. Whichever animal(s) the witch feels close to.) Witches practice Black Magick. There is no such thing as 'Black Magick' or 'White Magick.' Again there is a balance of the two extremities in magick and it is the intent of the magick user that causes the magick to do good or harm. In most instances, Witches do not use magick to harm because they will receive three times the magick they send out (see The Threefold Law) Witches may use magick to protect themselves and others from harm, afterall, no one wants to be a sitting duck if they are being harmed. To be a Witch you have to have all the right tools. Tools are merely items on which to focus your energy. You do not need them in order to practice the Wiccan religion. For example, in the place of a wand, the index finger may be used or in place of an athame a bread knife will do. Many tools are expensive so it may not be economically viable for some people (especially teenagers whose income tends to be from pocket money or weekend jobs) to get all of these tools. Remember, you hold the magick, not the tool. Witches sacrifice animals and people. As a nature religion, Witches revere life and so do not believe in sacrifice of animals and people. As the God and the Goddess flow through all living things, it wouldn't be a good idea to kill a living thing as their essence runs through it. Wicca is all about spells and spells solve everything. I must say that this is one of the most irritating misconceptions around. Wicca is about learning to live in harmony with nature and to revere the Deities. A Wiccan does not have to practice spells at all if they do not want to. Spells do not solve everything and sometimes they do not always work as you expect them to. We have to sort out any problems we have as any other human being. Wiccans hate Christianity. On the contrary, I see a lot of sense in what is written in the Bible. If you take out the miracles and the 'There is only one God' parts and you have a book of common sense and good guidelines (if a little idealistic.) Some of my closest friends are Christians and some of them are very devout. I admire their devotion to their faith and am happy they have found something they can believe in and take comfort in. I have no animosity towards Christianity, save the fact that some members of that faith continue to harrass Wiccans ~thinks about numerous Christians spamming the pagan chat rooms with exerpts from The Bible ~ and that they refuse to believe that there is only one God when 'God' is seen in different ways by many other people. It is beliefs like this that cause unnecessary suffering for others. Contributed by SilentCat |