History of Witchcraft (part 4)

As  Christianity  became  a part of this nation,  there  is  much

evidence to show where the Christians of the time, and the pagans

lived peacefully together.

In  theology, the differences between early Christians,  Gnostics

(members  –  often  Christian – of dualistic  sects  of  the  2nd

century  a.d.), and pagan Hermetists were slight.  In  the  large

Gnostic  library  discovered at Naj’Hammadi, in upper  Egypt,  in

1945,  Hermetic writings were found side by side  with  Christian

Gnostic  texts.   The  doctrine of the  soul  taught  in  Gnostic

communities was almost identical to that taught in the mysteries:

the soul emanated from the Father, fell into the body, and had to

return to its former home.  

It was not until later in Rome that things took a change for  the

worse.  Which moves us on to Greece.

The doctrinal similarity is exemplified in the case of the  pagan

writer  and  philosopher  Synesius.  When the  people  of  Cyrene

wanted  the  most able man of the city to be their  bishop,  they

chose  Synesius,  a  pagan. He was able to  accept  the  election

without  sacrificing  his  intellectual honesty.   In  his  pagan

period,  he  wrote  hymns that follow the fire  theology  of  the

Chaldean Oracles.  Later he wrote hymns to Christ.  The  doctrine

is almost identical.

To  attempt to demonstrate this…let’s go to some  BASIC  tenets

and beliefs of the two religions:

                        Christian Beliefs

The 10 Commandments

1.) You shall have no other gods before me.

To the Christian, this means there will be no other God.  Yet, in

the bible, the phrase is plural.  I does not state that you  will

not  have another god, it says that you will have no  other  gods

before the Christian God.

In  the case of the later, it could be interpreted to  mean  that

whereas other gods can be recognised, as a Christian, this person

should  place YHVH ahead of all gods recognising him/her  as  the

supreme being of all.

2.) You shall not worship idols

Actually,  what it says in the New International Version is  “You

shall  not make for yourself an idol in the form af  anything  in

heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You

shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord  your

God, am a jealour God, punishing the children for the sin of  the

fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate  me,

but   showing  love  to  thousands  who  love  me  and  keep   my

commandments.

3.) You shall not take the name of the lord in vain.

This one is pretty self explanitory.  When a person is calling on

the lord he/she is asking the lord for guidance or action.  Thus,

the phrase “God damn it!” can be translated into a person  asking

the  lord  to comdemn whatever “it” is to hell.  The  phrase  “To

damn”  means  to  condem to hell.   In  modern  society,  several

phrases such as the following are common usage:

     “Oh God!”, “God forbid!”, “God damn it!”, “God have mercy!”

Each  of these is asking God to perform some act upon or for  the

speaker with the exception of “Oh God!” which is asking for  Gods

attention.

4.) Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Depending on which religion you are looking at (i.e. Jewish, from

which  the 10 commandments come; or Christianity,  which  adapted

them  for their use as well.) the Sabbath is either  Saturday  or

Sunday.   You  may also take a look at the  various  mythological

pantheons  to  corelate which is the first and last days  of  the

week…(i.e. Sun – Sunday.. Genesis 1:3 “And God said, “Let there

be  light,’  and there was light., Moon – Monday..  Genesis  1:14

“And  God said,”Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky  to

separate  the day from the night, and let them serve as signs  to

mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the

expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16

God  made two great lights – the greater light to govern the  day

and  the  lesser  light to govern the night.  He  also  made  the

stars.”  Thus the Sun was created first.  With the day of the Sun

being  the first in the week, then Saturday would be the  7th  or

Sabbath.

5.) Honor thy mother and thy father.

This  is  another that is fairly self explainitory.   It  is  any

parent’s  right  after spending the time to raise you  to  expect

that you respect them. 

6.) You shall not murder.

This does not say “You shall not murder…except in my name.”  It

says YOU SHALL NOT MURDER. PERIOD. Out of the 10 commandments,  I

have found that over the course of history, this one has been the

most  ignored.   As we look as the spread  of  Christianity  from

around 300 A.D. forward, we find that as politics moved into  the

church  and  those  in charge of man’s “souls”  were  given  more

control that this one commandment sort of went out the window.

We  see  such things as the Crusades, the  inquisition,  and  the

dominating fear that was placed into the Christian “psyche”  that

one should destroy that which is not like you.

Even  though  we here stories about the “witch trials”,  and  the

“witch  burnings” etc….There were actually very  few  “Witches”

tried  or  burned.   Most  of  these  poor  souls  were  that  of

Protestant  beliefs  (Against  the  Catholic  Church)  yet  still

maintained that they were Christians. But…more on this later.

7.) You shall not commit adultery.

You  can  look  up the meaning in the dictionary,  and  this  one

becomes  pretty self-evident.  What it comes down to is  that  no

person who has ever been divorced can marry again, and you  don’t

have sex with someone that you are not married to.

8.) You shall not steal.

Again, enough said. However…don’t go looking at Constantine  to

be  obeying this one!  The Pagan temples were looted to make  his

coinage.

9.) You shall not give false witness against thy neighbor

Again,  during the times of the inquisition, this also  went  out

the window.  Such tools as torture were used to pull  confessions

from  these  poor  people who then  signed  statements  that  the

inquisitors  had written up saying that they freely  signed  this

document.   Of course…the inquisitors stated that  this  person

was  not tortured, but it was his clever wit that  had  extracted

this confession. 

It  was  also  during this time that persons,  refusing  to  take

responsibility  for their own actions or accept that nature  does

in  fact  create strange  circumstances…(i.e.  drought,  flood,

etc.)  and  the resulting illness and  bug  infrestations.   Very

often,  as the Witch-craze developed stronger, the  one  neighbor

would  accuse another of Witchcraft and destroying the fields  or

making their child sick, or whatever.

10.)You shall not covet your neighbor.

On  the  surface, this one is pretty  self  explainitory.   Don’t

crave your neighbor’s possessions.  Yes…I can relate this  back

to  the inquisitional times as well since most of  the  accused’s

property   reverted   back  to  the  Catholic  church   at   this

time…there  were  several accused and convicted  of  Witchcraft

simply because they would not sell their property to the  church.

However…How  does  this effect persons today?  How  far  do  we

carry the “Thou shalt not covet…”?  This can be even so much as

a want, however is it a sin to want a toy like your neighbor has? 

If so…we’re all in trouble.  How many of us “want” that Porsche

that  we see driving down the road?  Or how about that  beautiful

house  that we just drove past?  Do we carry this commandment  to

this extreme?  If so…I pity the person that can live by it  for

what that would say is “Thou shalt not DREAM.”

                         Wiccan Beliefs

Since the religion of Wicca (or Witchcraft) is so diverse in it’s

beliefs,  I have included several documents here  that  encompass

the majority of the traditions involved.  Again, this is simply a

basis…NOT the be all and end all.

                           Wiccan Rede

                  Bide ye wiccan laws you must,

                in perfect love and perfect trust

                  Live ye must and let to live,

                   fairly take and fairly give

                   For the circle thrice about

                  to keep unwelcome spirits out

                To bind ye spell wll every time,

                 let the spell be spake in rhyme

                 Soft of eye and light of touch,

                  speak ye little, listen much

                  Deosil go by the waxing moon,

                  chanting out ye baleful tune

                   When ye Lady’s moon is new,

                  kiss ye hand to her times two

                 When ye moon rides at her peak,

                   then ye heart’s desire seek

                Heed the north winds mighty gale,

                 lock the door and trim the sail

               When the wind comes from the south,

                love will kiss thee on the mouth

               When the wind blows from the east,

                expect the new and set the feast.

                 Nine woods in the cauldron go,

                burn them fast and burn them slow

                    Elder be ye Lady’s tree,

                 burn it not or cursed ye’ll be

                 WHen the wheel begins to turn,

                 soon ye Beltane fires will burn

                When the wheel hath turned a Yule

               light the log the Horned One rules

                 Heed ye flower, bush and tree,

                     by the Lady blessed be

                  Where the rippling waters go,

               cast a stone, the truth ye’ll know

                  When ye have and hold a need,

                   harken not to others greed

                  With a fool no season spend,

                   or be counted as his friend

                   Merry meet and merry part,

              bright the cheeks and warm the heart.

                 Mind ye threefold law ye should

              three times bad and three times good

                    When misfortune is enow,

                   wear the star upon thy brow

                   True in love my ye ever be,

                 lest thy love be false to thee

           These eight words the wiccan rede fulfill;

                An harm ye none, do what ye will.

  One of the Pagan Oaths recognised nationally here in the U.S.

                 A Pledge to Pagan Spirituality

I  am  a Pagan and I dedicate Myself to channeling the  Spiritual

Energy of my Inner Self to help and to heal myself and others.

 

*   I know  that I  am a  part of  the Whole  of Nature.   May  I 

grow   in  understanding of  the Unity  of all  Nature.   May   I 

always  walk  in Balance.

 

*   May  I  always be  mindful of  the diversity  of   Nature  as

well as its Unity and  may I  always be  tolerant of those  whose

race, appearance, sex, sexual preference, culture, and other ways

differ from my own.

 

*  May I  use the  Force (psychic  power) wisely  and  never  use

it   for aggression nor  for malevolent  purposes. May   I  never 

direct  it  to curtail the free will of another.

 

*  May I  always be mindful that I create my own reality and that

I have the power within me to create positivity in my life.

 

*   May  I  always act  in  honorable  ways: being   honest  with 

myself and others, keeping  my word  whenever I  have given   it, 

fulfilling   all responsibilities and  commitments I  have  taken 

on to  the best of my ability.

 

*  May I  always  remember  that whatever  is  sent  out   always 

returns magnified to  the sender.  May the  Forces of  Karma move 

swiftly   to  remind me  of these  spiritual commitments  when  I

have  begin  to  falter from them,  and may  I  use  this  Karmic

feedback  to  help myself grow and be more attuned  to  my  Inner

Pagan Spirit.

 

*   May  I  always remain strong and committed  to  my  Spiritual

ideals in the face of  adversity and  negativity. May  the  Force 

of my Inner Spirit ground out  all malevolence  directed my   way

and   transform  it  into positivity. May  my Inner  Light  shine 

so   strongly  that  malevolent forces can not even  approach  my

sphere of existence.

 

*   May I  always grow  in Inner  Wisdom & Understanding.  May  I

see  every  problem that  I face  as an opportunity   to  develop

myself spiritually in solving it.

 

*   May  I  always act out of Love to all other  beings  on  this 

Planet — to other humans,  to plants,  to animals,  to minerals,

to elementals, to spirits, and to other entities.

 

*   May  I  always be  mindful that the  Goddess and God  in  all

their  forms  dwell  within   me  and   that  this   divinity  is 

reflected through my own Inner Self, my Pagan Spirit.

.pa 

*  May I  always channel  Love and  Light from  my  being.  May my  Inner

Spirit, rather  than my ego self, guide all my thoughts, feelings, and

actions.

                          SO MOTE IT BE

In  the  Wiccan Rede above, and scattered in the  oath,  we  find

words  such  as Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.  What  are  these

strange words and what do they mean?

Before  one  can analyse the meaning behind the  phrase  “Perfect

Love  and  Perfect Trust”, one must first define the  words.  For

this  purpose, I will use the Webster’s New World  Dictionary  of

the  American  Language  1982 edition. Perfect:  adj.  [L.  per-,

through  + facere, do] 1. complete in all respects;  flawless  2.

excellent,  as  in  skill or quality 3.  completely  accurate  4.

sheer;  utter  [a perfect fool] 5. Gram. expressing  a  state  or

action completed at the time of speaking – vt. 1. to complete  2.

to make perfect or nearly perfect – n. 1. the perfect tense 2.  a

verb form in this tense – perfectly adv – perfectness n.

Love: n. [<OE. lufu]  1. strong affection or liking of someone or

something. 2. a passionate affection for one of the opposite sex.

3. The object of such affection, sweetheart.

Trust:  n.[ON,  traust]  1.  a)  firm  belief  in  the   honesty,

reliability,  etc.  of  another;  faith b)  the  one  trusted  2.

confident  expectation,  hope, etc. 3.  responsibility  resulting

from  confidence  placed in one. 4. Care,  custody  5.  something

entrusted to one….

Using  these  definitions,  we  come  up  with  “Flawless  strong

affection and flawless faith.

Is this possible?  Those that follow the religion of Wicca  often

give  excuses for this just being words.  When this is the  case,

they are not obeying their faith….thus..they are not  following

perfect love and perfect trust.  But to the rest…the answer  is

a  resounding YES.  This does not ask that you “like”  a  person. 

It asks that you see the divine light and love within  individual

whether you like them or not.  Can this be done…YES. As to  the

perfect  trust…we  can always trust a fox to be  a  fox  right.

Therefore,  when we are entering circle, we can  honestly  answer

perfect  trust even if it is on shaky ground.  We may have  faith

that this person will act like any other human.

It  with these beliefs and doctrines that I state that  not  only

was   the  doctrine,  or  teaching  almost  identical,  but   the

vocabulary was extensively the same.