Why Christianity Hates Witchcraft

Being raised Southern Baptist I have always wondered why Christian churches preach so heavily against witchcraft, when it's a way to grow closer to the Divine, learn about yourself, and learn more about the world around me. Reading in the Bible I find numerous cases of leaders consulting mediums, diviners, and prophets. And often the prophets worked magic! So what is the problem? Power.
Power is, and has always been, the motivating force behind the Jewish and later Christian hierarchies. Tell the people the only way to communicate with the Divine is through a select few, and the people are dependent on you. They need rain for their fields and a blessing for their children? If they can't sacrifice to their god(s), bless, pray, or worship without the consent of a few, the people are powerless. All control over what they think, believe and are able to do is stripped away. This doesn't mean that a leadership structure isn't needed. A leadership structure should be there to help teach and train, to pass on knowledge. Not to be a dictatorship that restricts or forbids contact with the Divine.

1 Samuel 15:23 in the New King James version reads, "For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." In the time that 1 Samuel was written the Jewish people wanted a King of the Jews to rule them and unify them as a new nation. The Jewish leaders realized that to do this would destroy their relationship with the government, and they would no longer receive the protection and benefits of being citizens. So what do they do? Create fear. To do witchcraft - sacrifice to your god yourself without a priest, to divine your own future, and to pray to your god directly - is rebellion. How can you be unified if the people are rebellious? Look what happened to Moses. The people rebelled and God punished them. Believe you are right and become stubborn? Then you are a sinner and as bad as the idolaters who worship the gods of the ruling government as well as Y-HW-H, the Jewish god. All past stories for the Jews taught that those who worship false gods are the reason they've been enslaved. God will be mad at them for having different opinions and punish them yet again.

A good Jew would be very familiar with the books of the Law and Moses. Deuteronomy 32:35-36 reads, "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; their foot shall slip in due time; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things to come hasten upon them.’ ³⁶ “For the LORD will judge His people and have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their power is gone, and there is no one remaining, bond or free." Disobey and god will take vengeance. He will destroy you and your entire family; he will be sure all power is stripped from you. Power and fear.

Power remained the motivating force as the Holy Roman Catholic Church sprang up under the Roman Empire. Power dictates their command structure, their influence over people, and why their priests are raised above the "lay people". The priests were always from the highly educated. They studied history and the Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic texts. They knew that fear and power are the cornerstones for the control they lust after. Their priests were deemed the average persons way of communicating with the Divine. They teach that the Divine will not communicate directly with all people, only through Saints or their ordained ones.

But what happens when people, these witches, laugh at them and say they have direct connection with the Divine? That what the Church teaches is obviously wrong and the people can know this through their own experiences? Their power base is threatened. The whole reason they exist becomes obsolete. Persecutions, wars, and genocides ensue to terrorize the people and to create an iron fist for the Church to rule with. Don't follow the Church? Burn in eternal flames with no rescue. Commit a heresy (the definition of which changes every 50 years if not sooner)? Burn in eternal flames with no rescue.

Judaism, even though its prophets were diviners and Jewish mysticism is still a practiced form of magic, has always taught against witchcraft to maintain power over its people. The Catholic Church has continued this practice, and proclaimed the torture and slaughter of millions to maintain their power. Power and fear, that's why Christianity preaches against witchcraft.

You are have a spark of the Divine within you.

You can communicate directly with the Divine and experience the Divine in a number of ways. It is not wrong to worship, pray, and divine. Each person is an agent of free will on their own path of spiritual development. A High Priestess or High Priest can help you along your path by passing on knowledge and techniques to you.

They are never a replacement for your connection with the Divine; being a witch means you are responsible for yourself.

Imbolc, Candlemas & Winter's End

Imbolc, also known as Bride's Day, or La Fheile Bride (law ayl-uh breej-uh) in Modern Irish, is the celebration of the end of winter. While it was celebrated at the beginning of this month, the focus of this Moon continues. Soon the herd animals so vital to the survival of the Celtic tribes will be born; animals we still depend upon today. This is the time of year for setting protection wards over hearth and home to protect the new borns from disease and welcoming blessings for the new year. During this Moon bring light into your home with candles and celebrate the turning of the Wheel with poetry. Bridgett, the Celtic Goddess celebrated during this time, is the Maiden Goddess of poetry, divination and metal work. Seek inspiration from the changes in nature for your poetry, look ahead with divination to the blessings and challenges of this year, and work to strengthen yourself physically and spiritually as you move forward in life with purpose. A little Greek mythology for this time of year:

Why winter comes and how spring is brought forth

- a story of Demeter, Persephone and Hades

Demeter is the Goddess of the Earth and Persephone her young daughter. Persephone was a maiden with golden hair and supple body, whom Hades fell in love with when he spied her bathing. He lured her into the Underworld with him and took her as his bride. As Demeter searched the world for her daughter the land became cold and the crops withered. This is how winter begins, but a nymph tells Demeter that Hades has Persephone in hopes that Demeter will return the land to spring. Persephone had eaten 6 pomegranate seeds in the Underworld and was so bound to remain with Hades (much like the warnings that to eat in Faeryland will trap you there). As Demeter wept the Earth became cold and lifeless, falling into a deep winter. Seeing that the Earth was becoming bleak like the Underworld, Hades returned Persephone to Demeter, with the promise that 6 months out of the year Persephone would return to the Underworld with him. To celebrate, an altar adorned with six white candles is decorated with fresh spring flowers and a feast of the last ale and wheat of the winter stores is shared.

Facebook page "Women Witches"

As paganism once again booms around the world, more and more men are being drawn back to Goddess worship. The rivalry between male Wiccans and female Wiccans began when Gerald Gardner with Doreen Valiente founded the Gardnerian tradition and Zsuzsanna Budapest founded the Dianic tradition - the Gardnerians focus on both the God and Goddess, but founded by a man make some women uncomfortable; the Dianics focus on the Goddess and exclude the God with such vehemence that they've earned a reputation for hating men.


Gerald Gardner, Doreen Valiente and Z Budapest have all been phenomenal instruments of the Goddess to bring hope, healing and empowerment back to women, myself included. Unfortunately, through rediscovering that they are powerful and in control of themselves, many women have come to believe that this rebalance of power can only occur if all divinity and power is stripped from their male counterparts. Yes, counterparts.

Unfortunately the truely ironic thing is that a lot of people who become Wiccan do so to leave Christianity because Christianity has institutionally stripped the divinity from women over centuries and continues to do so. To separate one gender from their divinity is a horrendous act of degradation that has happened in Christianity and now some push for it to happen in Wicca, which is a religion meant to heal and restore natural balance.


This is a horrible imbalance which only harms. A person, regardless of gender, is a child of the Goddess and can connect and be empowered by Her. Groups such as the Facebook page "Women Witches" serve only to convince women that all men are patriarchal pigs who hate and degrade women. While some men may be this way, the evil acts of a few do not dictate the behavior of millions. The same is true of women. There are some horrible women who are abusive and demoralizing to everyone around them coining stereotypes, but the evil acts of a few do not dictate the behavior of millions. For every chauvinist, there is a gentleman. For every bitch, there is a lady.

A wise witch will seek to discover their own inner power,

their own inert ability to create and destroy, to nourish and to protect,

the God and the Goddess.