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The Witches' Bible

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posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:06 AM
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It just occurred to me that I should advertise this awesome place I know of that some of you may be interested in.

Brushwood Folklore Center located in the beautiful foothills of southwestern NY.

They are open between May and October, with several festivals that some of you may be interested in, including Sirius Rising (which is going on right now), Starwood, Wellspring, a Women's Drum Retreat, as well as Beltane, Summer Solstice, and Samhain gatherings every year.

I know, I should be ashamed of myself for such a plug!


Edited to add:

I know you'll forgive me, cause you're such sweethearts!

[edit on 7/16/2009 by eMachine]



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:10 AM
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Great thread. Thank you Hazelnut. S&F

...and thanks to everyone who has contributed and posted links for more resources. I will be reading and learning.

I'm into Earth-based spirituality, but have an aversion to religion because it tends to get institutionalized. On the other hand, I once heard a speaker claim that 'religion' is the creation of 'community' - giving support and allowing people to celebrate their values in unity. Makes sense to me.

RE: The witch hunts. It's my understanding that the killings were part of the Inquisition, and designed to remove village healers who represented the last bastion of matriarchal power 'in competition' with the Catholic Church. Not coincidentally, the genocide allowed the creation of a new patriarchal power base through the development of capitalistic industrial medicine.

Blessed be,
sofi

PS. I don't claim to be a witch, but 'blessed be' is a phrase a I've used a lot with many friends in the past. Feels good to read it here, and write it myself.

PPS. I do agree that the Inquisition's genocide of witches and the ongoing suppression of Earth-based values illustrates one of the most significant conspiracies that helped pave the way for the global industrial-financial NWO.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:15 AM
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Evil, evil, evil...be afraid for the Lord will exorcise you all and conquer you with His light!

(I am joking of course!)

I never even knew I had an interest in Wica - until a fellow World Of Warcraft player told me the symbolism and stuff in the game. At first I was like "oh dear God, what the hell?' Then she explained that it is nothing evil just an alternative lifestyle. The more questions I asked, the more surprised I was by her answers. Even when she detailed the links between Witchcraft and Wica and all the symbolism, it did not seem as bad as I had initially assumed it to be.

[edit on 16/7/2009 by Dark Ghost]



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:17 AM
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RetinoidReceptor is partly right... Gardner was the first to use the word Wicca in his 1947 published book.. however he learned it from someone else...
June 1938, he joined the
newly opened Rosicrucian Theatre at Christchurch where it is
said he met Old Dorothy Clutterbuck.

Gerald Gardner claims he was initiated by Old
Dorothy into a practising coven of the Old Religion, that met
in the New Forest area of Britain.

In his own words, ""I realised that I had stumbled upon something interesting;
but I was half-initiated before the word, "Wica" which they
used hit me like a thunderbolt, and I knew where I was, and
that the Old Religion still existed. And so I found myself in
the Circle, and there took the usual oath of secrecy, which
bound me not to reveal certain things."
This quote is taken
from The Meaning of Witchcraft, which was published in 1959.

So RetinoidReceptor is partly right in that Gardner is credited with the word. but to say he invented Wicca is like saying Newton invented gravity... is was there long before he came along and is still there long after he turned to dust

Funny how you pick things up from your wife who also happens to be an archivist and academic for the local college


[edit on 16-7-2009 by DaddyBare]



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:28 AM
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when i was a teenager i got interested in paganism of all sorts, particularly the mythology to history element. having read quite a bit i think that a lot of the pagan stuff is...confused. there are a whole lot of strands and they all amount to individual conspiracies and misconceptions.

the romans weren't at all happy about druids and this prejudice obviously carried through into the catholic church. there is some difficulty telling myth from lies from historical fact but druids and druidism as we understand it doesn't seem to have been anything like modern pagans, pretty heavy stuff. animal and human sacrifice, crazy demi-gods, political power systems and a lot of memory feats.

then the church mixed in a lot of hellenistic stuff, jewish magical stuff, eastern mysticism and later on mathematics, astrology and alchemy.

even later the colonial europeans mixed in concepts from traditional beliefs in the areas they were colonising, native american, egyption, austrailian and african elements even going so far as highlights from confusionism.

so on one hand it looks as if the PTB at the time did act to conspire and issue negative propaganda against all the nature worship type beliefs that represented an opposing power structure but on the other hand, a lot of the information we have on european type paganism comes out of that same confused propaganda.

interesting subject OP, is there any negative beliefs in particular that annoy you?



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:32 AM
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Here is a little history on the origins of the persecution of witches.

Early medieval England's female clan leaders exercised matriarchal lawgiving and law enforcement. They were judges. Patriarchal religion and law gradually took away their power and respect by calling them witches to dispose of them.

The Pope made saints out of rich witches but burned the poor ones.. In support of this opinion, the French Chamber Ardente, involved many aristocrats and upper-class clergy in a witch cult. The servants of these "priveleged ones" were tortured and burned for their assistance while the masters working witchcraft were never tortured or executed for their practices. Authorities persecuted the poor as witches yet believed that witches could provide themselves with anything they wanted as reported by Reginald Scot, a disbeliever, was recorded as saying about witches ability to "transfer their neighbor's corn into their own ground, yet are perpetual beggars who cannot enrich themselves. Illogical?

Helen Jenkenson hanged in 1612 for bewitching a child. The record of her execution reads "Thus ended this woman her miserable life, after she had lived many years poor, wretched, scorned and foresaken of the world."

Witches were scapegoats for doctors who failed to cure their patients.
The Catholic Church named any woman who criticized church policies as a witch. Even though it was obvious that the Christian society deliberately humiliated and descriminated against women, causing some to become defiant. Adopting the witch's reputation and behavior was seen as a much preferable option by many oppressed women of the times.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:33 AM
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Witchcraft should be on a conspiracy website, as it is one of the tools of Satan who is lulling the gullible into his web.

The Bible (also freely available on the web) prohibits ALL forms of witchcraft, mediumship and occult shenanigans.

If the power is not from God, then that only leaves one source - Satan. Don't try and bluff people with 'good magic', or 'white magic' - all occultism is Satanic.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:40 AM
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reply to post by eMachine
 


Thanks for posting this. It's about a three hour drive for me but it seems worth it


~Blessings...



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:43 AM
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Originally posted by sinthia
Witchcraft should be on a conspiracy website, as it is one of the tools of Satan who is lulling the gullible into his web.

The Bible (also freely available on the web) prohibits ALL forms of witchcraft, mediumship and occult shenanigans.

If the power is not from God, then that only leaves one source - Satan. Don't try and bluff people with 'good magic', or 'white magic' - all occultism is Satanic.


First let me digress and say HAHAHAHA...
next I'll share with you a cute and very true story.. ever hear of Easter?

Early first century Christian practices revolved around the Jewish Passover, which is the tradition of the Bible when the word pascha is correctly translated as Passover. However, a mix between the will of emperors and the resistance of the people to give up their traditions and nature-worship for foreign anti-natural beliefs came to sway Judeo-Christianity towards the adoption of Easter.

The name Easter comes from an ancient European goddess of the dawn called Eostre by the Anglo-Saxons and Ostara by the Germanic peoples. She is also known as Eostra, Eostrae, Eostar, Eastre, Easter, Estre, Eástre, and Austra by various European peoples. Her name means "movement towards the rising sun" and is related to the Indo-European root word Aus which means "to shine". The English words estrus and estrogen are also derived from her name. She was considered the goddess of the growing light and spring, associated with fertility and celebrated with a festival of rebirth. One story has her entertaining children by performing a trick that changed her pet bird into a rabbit. This rabbit then laid colored eggs that she gave to the children.

So let me ask who's deluding who???



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:44 AM
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reply to post by sinthia
 


I've heard that too. But common sense and a little research dispelled that myth fairly early on. The lie is commonly believed however. Ones who are not afraid to dig for the truth will come to the understanding that witchcraft is not what has been said of it, eventually. Perhaps that is what the lie is for, to prevent proper understanding of history. One will never know until one discovers the facts for him/herself.

Personally, I don't believe everything I'm told. The Christian religion has its good points too, its just that I find them all to be extremely judgemental, superstitious and suffocating in their lack of logic.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:49 AM
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reply to post by DaddyBare
 


What a revelation!!!!

Despite my seemingly ignorant post, I am more than aware of the hi-jacking of pagan rituals by initially the catholic church, then by protestant churches.
Jesus wasn't born on 25th of December either.
As a Bible believing Christian, i'm not really bothered when the manmade church performs it's rituals.

Now we've got that out of the way, my point still stands. Satan is the only power in witchcraft.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:55 AM
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reply to post by Hazelnut
 


I'm sorry to hear that you've been so easily convinced. I don't suppose you could tell me which source you hold in higher esteem than the Bible?



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 10:55 AM
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reply to post by DaddyBare
 


Excellent tale, DaddyBare. I found out recently how the Church decides when Easter falls every year, and it's quite enlightening...

They choose the first Sunday after the first new full moon after the Spring Equinox........how pagan is that?!

And Satan is a Christian contruct, used as a device for controlling the illiterate (as they were then) masses. As Hazelnut pointed out in the original post, we don't need someone to regulate our contact with the divine...it is our responsibility and right to do it however we choose. The names of Satan and Lucifer have become almost interchangeable, despite being separate entities, and for the most part not even recognised, at least as far as Satan is concerned, let alone worshipped by pagans.

Sadly, I'm still waiting to talk to a Christian who is genuinely interested in another persons beliefs, without wanting to show them the error of their ways.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:00 AM
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reply to post by sinthia
 


Sinthia, again I thank you for your participation in this thread, however, you and I do not share common ground on this matter. I don't want to argue against your faith, it would be pointless. Vice-versa. I would however, love to discuss intelligently how witchcraft has been vilified by Christian leaders in the past and how that vilification continues (baselessly) today. Otherwise I would rather not be involved in a back and forth attack on either of our spiritual ideals, nor do I wish to bait or be baited into a demeaning, pointless argument.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:01 AM
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Originally posted by sinthia
reply to post by DaddyBare
 


What a revelation!!!!

Despite my seemingly ignorant post, I am more than aware of the hi-jacking of pagan rituals by initially the catholic church, then by protestant churches.
Jesus wasn't born on 25th of December either.
As a Bible believing Christian, i'm not really bothered when the manmade church performs it's rituals.

Now we've got that out of the way, my point still stands. Satan is the only power in witchcraft.


Christians created Satan...he holds no sway in my faith.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:02 AM
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reply to post by sinthia
 


Sinthia, I'm curious about which books and documents on witchcraft you've been reading to teach you that Satan is the be all and end all of what we do. Maybe you could point us in the right direction. If we are all saying...no we don't worship Satan, and barely acknowledge his existance....why do you argue the point? Do you think we are all lying to you, and everyone else?

Many people, myself included, feel that the Christian Bible is a incongruous, inconsistent, hate filled, devisive propaganda tool, written many hundreds or thousands of years ago, by scholars and others of dubious motivation, for political purposes as much as anything.....but it's fine if you want to take it on board. Just please don't tell me it's opinions make me wrong.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:04 AM
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reply to post by caitlinfae
 


I am a Christian, and for over 12 years was into the occult, mediumship the whole shebang. I can see your side of the coin, but am convinced that not only is Satan real, he is behind all of the occult.

I just hope that others will find Jesus before it's too late



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:06 AM
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Originally posted by cynthia
reply to post by DaddyBare
 


What a revelation!!!!

Despite my seemingly ignorant post, I am more than aware of the hi-jacking of pagan rituals by initially the catholic church, then by protestant churches.
Jesus wasn't born on 25th of December either.
As a Bible believing Christian, i'm not really bothered when the man made church performs it's rituals.

Now we've got that out of the way, my point still stands. Satan is the only power in witchcraft.


I'm really sorry to hear that... It must really bug you that your bible was commissioned, paid for and edited by the high priest of a sun worship cult...reason why modern saints are depicted with a halo around there heads their paying homage to their pagan patron Emperor Constantine.. the very same Pagan who ordered Council of Nicaea and voted the "word of God" into existence... so much for holy scripture


Truth is easy to find when you know where to look



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:10 AM
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Originally posted by sinthia
reply to post by caitlinfae
 


I am a Christian, and for over 12 years was into the occult, mediumship the whole shebang. I can see your side of the coin, but am convinced that not only is Satan real, he is behind all of the occult.

I just hope that others will find Jesus before it's too late


I take the other side of the coin. I was a Jew, Christian, Wiccan and Satanist and I can honestly say that the only power behind the occult and religion is human imagination.



posted on Jul, 16 2009 @ 11:12 AM
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reply to post by sinthia
 


Despite what you might think, and maybe I'm unusual in this, I actually find Jesus Christ as an ascended master and teacher, a powerful being to invite in, and work with. He can provide energy of love and protection like very few others. And there are others, but in my book, they don't include Satan. Satan is a figment...a contruct...a stick to hit the uninformed over the head with, and into submission. How can we fear, or worship an entity that we don't believe exists?

Some of the gods and goddesses we worship would mean nothing to you, as a Christian, because you don't believe that they exist? I hope this isn't too much of a generalisation for you. Most Christians take the "no other gods.." commandment literally. If this is the case, and I'm really interested inyour reply here, would you fear them? do you have fear for something you don't believe exists? If this is the case, why should I fear Satan. To me, he isn't there.



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