by Tapestry
Part Two of Two

It's amazing that the expression "When the student is ready, a teacher is waiting" is so very true. Shortly after talking with my customer, I ran across a book about Wicca in a used bookstore. I was absolutely awash with incredulity. HERE was the answer to ALL my QUESTions!

Do you remember studying in school for your final exams, and going over your class notes? As you read the notes, they jog your memory so that a simple diagram or partial sentence triggers off the entire concept of the day's lesson. THAT was how reading the book was to me. The author just had to say a few words, start to explain a concept, and I could fill in the gaps. I felt as if NOW, all the information that had streamed past me during my bizarre experience had suddenly stopped, and become written into the book in my hands! The feeling was incredibly intense as that realization washed over me. I felt like shouting, jumping, running out and telling the world. Except...

This was (shh...) Witchcraft. Ugly old hags with warts, toad's eyes, evil spells, and equally evil smells. Well, the only way that I could understand the difference between what I perceived, and what the rest of the world perceived was to actually talk to one. Hmm. I think I have my customer's name & phone number...Ah, yes, here it is!

I called my customer who was very glad to hear from me, and, yes, she DID remember our conversation. She then gave me the name and number of a lady who was supposed to know something about Witchcraft. With my heart in my mouth, I left a message on her machine. What WAS I getting myself into? The next evening, I received a call from a well educated, articulate lady who seemed, well,...rather normal. I asked a LOT of questions, and she answered each one honestly. Without dogma, without patronization, and without prejudice. I felt as if I had found a kindred heart. I even loved her wonderful, dry sense of humor. We talked for an hour or so. I couldn't wait to meet her.

A couple of weeks later, she called me to invite me to meet her and the rest of the coven. I was really excited. In preparation, I read some more books (ones that she had recommended), and was even more anxious to learn more about MY religion. I drove the 45 minutes to her condo and rang the bell. A very tall, rather plain looking (no warts, or long, hooked nose) woman opened the door, and I knew instantly that it was my friend. She held out her arms and hugged me. My face was buried in her boobs, she was THAT tall. She was just as sincere and honest as I had imagined her to be. (Remember, that after a "near-death" experience, one's psychic intuition is enhanced and augmented.) I barely had time to take off my coat and get a Coke when about 6 other people burst into the room. Of course, I felt out of place with a bunch of noisy, garrulous strangers, but each one had to introduce him/herself, and give me the same big, bear hug. They talked to include me in the conversation.

These were "touchy-feely" people. Pulling off shoes and boots, lots of hugs, backrubs to the person sitting on the floor. Good-natured, bawdy bantering (nothing really off-color), some "Craft" oriented jokes, and general good fun. Typical of people who were very familiar with and trusted each other. We talked about the "Craft" and I was greatly relieved that these wonderful people didn't even believe in "evil spells," wanting to "hex" anybody, animal sacrifices or orgies. They didn't have any dogma. In fact, they didn't even ascribe to the teachings of Gerald Gardner, the "grand old man" of the "Craft."

We did talk about nudism, and "ritual nudity." I explained that I understood the purpose of "ritual nudity" and really didn't object to it as long as it was simply that - ritual nudity - and didn't deteriorate into orgies. I got a good laugh at that one!

I felt as if I had suddenly discovered my "long-lost family," and had come "home." In fact, "home" is the closest description that I have with the Craft and with DawnBlaze Coven. I have been accepted and accept them as my best, closest and truest friends. An expression in the Craft is that you "come in perfect love and perfect trust." With these people, I do.

They call me when we haven't seen each other for several months. They "send energy" when I'm sick. We send greeting cards - often with little drawings or funny notes. Many of the people in DawnBlaze are artists or extremely artistic. We celebrate when one of us has had a personal or professional triumph, and we all commiserate, hug and try to help when one has a problem, or just down. There have been two divorces within the coven, and each of us has maintained a strong relationship with all four parties. In fact, of one couple, both parties have remained within DawnBlaze and even brought their new "significant other" into our circles. We are all on good terms.

One of us is Gay. An intelligent, articulate young man whose sister is also a member. He first "came out" to us because of our implicit trust, and was greatly relieved that we neither judged nor treated him differently because of his revelation. His next step was to confront his parents, and for that, he had a long heart-to-heart talk with me about it. I tried to take the place of his parents (he is only one year younger than MY son) and tell him what they might say and/or think. The upshot of this is that they were initially hurt and blamed themselves, then began blaming him, and finally are more accepting of him. After all, he is their son, and they still love him as such. He has become more visible in both the Gay and Straight communities and is even rather militant in demanding Gay Rights. He's right, of course, but he'll mellow as he gets older.

That's the people side of the Craft. On the philosophical side, I have pretty much explained that what I perceived as truth from the "other side," has been accepted. Each coven and indeed, each person in the Craft is autonomous. There is no dogma. There is no scripture. Whatever you believe, you believe, and it's okay. There are no absolute wrongs or rights. In fact, there is nothing about sin, hell, punishment or guilt. We experience only love in a wide variety of aspects. Not the "love" that Christians will tell you about the "loving punishment" of God, punishment is abuse - whether given the label as "loving" or not, and is not right in ANY aspect. (That's MY opinion.)

I have to smile when people have something bad happen to them, and they say that they "pray to God to know why this is happening" to them - or their loved one. There is no reason. It simply happens. We must muddle our way through it as if it were a test of our responses. In fact, that is exactly how I view things. If our responses to adversity result is some sort of unacceptable behavior such as crime or violence, we are doomed to have the adversity repeated until we can overcome it without resorting to violence. This seems to be one of the bits of information from the stream on the "other side." It is as if, when we die, we "attend classes" and review the life just completed. We then prepare for the "lab," and are reincarnated for our practice of the lessons learned and to pass or fail tests that are thrown at us by life. It is only when we become "almost perfect" that we don't need to incarnate again. Again, this is MY opinion. It is not any teaching or dogma of the Craft.

I think some clarification is also necessary with respect to the terms "Satanist" and "Witch." A Witch is who I am. A "Satanist" is another thing altogether and is not the same. Not even close. "Satanists" are what I call "Christian Reactionaries." These are people who were indoctrinated into Christianity, but for some reason decided that they would emphatically oppose the Church. Therefore, if the Church said that God was good and Satan was bad, they said that Satan was good and God was bad. If the Church said the Lord's Prayer one way, they said it backwards. If the Church held the cross upright, they held it upside down. If the Church said that Witches were bad, then the Satanists called themselves Witches. In other words, they did the opposite of everything the Church said. In addition, by calling themselves "Witches," they also added to the horrible misunderstanding that has existed and is still existing between "God fearing people" and Witches. In fact, I am constantly having to chastise my fellow workers for calling certain obnoxious women "witches." Even though it is only meant as a figure of speech, it is, nevertheless, incorrect and serves to perpetuate the ignorance, misunderstanding and prejudice about Witchcraft and Witches.

Perhaps I should also explain the absence of dogma and scripture. The absence of scripture is obvious in that during the Inquisition, ANY written material was interpreted as evil since people could not read or write. We rely upon myths, legends and stories. These are sneered upon by the "intelligencia" as "merely fantastic fables." To us, they explain a great deal of life on many levels. We understand the symbolism imbedded in them - even in many so-called nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Some of these are quite profound.

Ours is an experiential religion. Our philosophy is simple. Rather than listening or reading about one version of a single belief system, or philosophy; we read and experience. We don't restrict ourselves to any one dogma alone. We open our minds to a wide variety of ideas and philosophies, and select those which most closely match our own, and use them. If our ideas and opinions change - and they will - then we change them AND our philosophy. The strict adherence to only one belief system and insistence that it is the only RIGHT one for EVERYONE is enslaving. Some of us find ourselves gravitating toward the ideas of our genetic past. They find themselves immersing themselves in the ancient culture of the immortal people with whom they have identified. We may even find ourselves dreaming about it, visualizing things about it even, - as I have - finding ourselves experiencing flashbacks. These are not unusual. I have found that they are reincarnational and/or genetic memories being triggered. We don't fight them, but go with them and learn from the experience.

Many Witches are Feminists. Witchcraft is an ancient fertility religion which dates back 30,000 years (The Willendorf Goddess.) That is because we all worship the Triple Goddess - Maid, Mother, Crone. The Great Mother from whom we are all born, and to whom we will all return when we die. We will be buried in her, to be recycled and born again. We resent the usurpation of the feminine processes of childbirth, nurturing, menstruation, and menopause by the patriarchs. Men have belittled these noble conditions because THEY CAN'T CREATE NEW LIFE, and their male insecurity is threatened by them. The more one reads about the Craft, the more angry at the Patriarchy they become - and the more militant.

Because our religion is so old, it predates the Bible, and the patriarchal version of God. Even though the Bible states that God created everything; everything was there long before their God was created. The archeological evidence is clear on this: Goddess worshipping agriculturalists predated the conquering God worshipping patriarchal nomads. during those idyllic times, war, murder and theft were practically unknown. There was no hierarchy of chieftain, priestess or baker because all were buried alike. Most weapons were unknown except for limited hunting and walled cities were unknown. So who is to say that "what comes later is always better?"

We celebrate the changing of the Seasons, and the Phases of the Moon, we welcome the solstices and equinoxes. We watch for the migrating birds, the first green leaf, and our monthly flows. We relish the experience of life, and are not to feel guilty for any part of it. We have nothing but the deepest respect for every living thing, and look at them as brothers. We worship the activities of Mother Earth and Mother Nature. We actively try to maintain an ecological equilibrium on our beautiful planet. To quote Black Elk, a great Lakota Medicine Man; "Walk in Balance on the Face of Mother Earth." We think of the Earth as our "Church."

These thoughts are my own, and no one else's about Witchcraft. We have no centralized "spokesperson." No centralized "generator" of Press Releases. We have no "church" to support, nor do we have paid clergy. Each one of us is our own Priestess of the Goddess. We have no "tithes," "fund drives," or "collections." We hold our "circles" in our own homes, have pot-luck suppers and contribute only candles, a bottle of wine or a cake for the Ritual Circle. I cannot speak for anyone other than myself about the Craft. However, there are many who share my feelings about it. This can be disconcerting to many people, but we are comfortable with this lack of dogma, scripture and hierarchy.

The United States Government has recognized Wicca as a valid religion and included it in the Chaplain's Handbook for the U.S. Armed Forces. It includes many of our basic Rituals for the 8 major holidays of our year: Imbolc, Eostara (or Spring Equinox), Beltane, Litha (or Summer Solstice), Mabon (or Fall Equinox), Lughnasadh, Samhain and Yule (or Winter Solstice.)

We celebrate the diversity within the Craft, and recognize that all paths eventually lead to the same place. My path may not be the same path as yours or anybody else, but I am comfortable on my path, and you are comfortable on yours. It is wrong for you or anyone to insist that any ONE path is essential for everybody in order to reach the common goal. If a Catholic is comfortable on his or her path, that's wonderful. If a Baptist is comfortable on his or her path, that's also wonderful. If a Buddhist is comfortable on his or her path, that's wonderful as well, so too the Muslims, Hindi, Native Americans and Satanists. How dare anyone try to insist that THEIR path is the ONLY path for EVERY human on the planet! Nobody has patented the "TRUTH." To think that they have is arrogant and presumptuous. Everyone needs to deal with themselves and their spirituality in their own way, following their own timetable. It is the diversity of humanity that contributes to progress and "the spice of life." This applies equally to people's attitudes toward another's sexual orientation, or continuation of a pregnancy. Imagine how dull and boring life would be if everyone were "cookie-cutter people," and clones of one another.

Our "Golden Rule" is "An' it harm none, do what you will." That means simply this: you can do anything you wish as long as you harm nothing. YOU must determine your OWN place in the scheme of things. YOU must determine your OWN sense of ethics. If you eat meat, you kill the animal whose flesh you eat. If you eat vegetables, you kill the plants you eat. If you persuade someone to do something against his will, you harm that person. Many of us are vegetarians because they don't want even to harm the animals of the world. Thus, each person must come to grips with where they draw the line. Because if you don't even wish to harm plants, you harm yourself by starving. Thus, those people who say that we sacrifice animals or babies don't know what they're talking about. We don't do anything, even a healing, without the express permission of the receiver of the "working."

Finally, why do we retain the name "Witch?" As I have explained, we have nothing to hide. We are not "evil." We don't worship "Satan." We don't do drugs. We don't have human or even animal sacrifices. The name of Witch and Witchcraft has been given a bad name by others. Thousands of people have died in the name of Witchcraft. These are OUR martyrs. We are proud of those who have died in our name. We are proud of what we do. And we are proud of who we are: Witches. Why should we change OUR name if someone ELSE says it's evil? It's up to us to correct the situation and continue our proud heritage.

This is what it means to be Pagan. All Witches are Pagans, but not all Pagans are Witches. Learn about the Craft. A true Witch never stops learning.

* Margot Adler is a Correspondent for the New York City Bureau of National Public Radio, and a Wiccan High Priestess.

NOTE: Robert Graves, Marbara Mor, Monica Sjöo, Michael Harner and Joseph Campbell are/were not Wiccan.