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Your walking through the woods and realize how late it is as you look up at the golden ball hanging above threatening clouds. As your eyes become fixated on the moon’s brilliance, you notice a red ring encircling it. An odd feeling of fear takes over your legs as they quicken their pace. Was that laughter behind you? You turn around and see nothing, just blackness as thick as molasses. Again, you continue on. It’s closer, you could almost feel the laughing on the back of your neck! Now fear has consumed your whole body! Your heart beats faster than you can possibly run, branches grab at you as if trying to hold you back, and with every second your waiting for the one grab that will pull you into the blackness. As you run, you look up to the sky and freeze in horror to the sight of a cackling witch flying across the moon upon her broomstick! Pretty good right? Something you might see on television? Maybe. Witchcraft is misunderstood by many to be the work of the devil and consequently, an Old Religion becomes tainted by myths and false accusations cause by ignorance in the Media. Witchcraft, the practice of Paganism, is perceived to be the belief of Satanism. Therefore, Pagans are not only scrutinized by the media, but by religions, such as Catholicism and Christianity, that preach all those who are Pagan is “servant of the devil.” However, what many don’t realize is that within Pagan beliefs the devil is fictitious. Therefore, how can one be a “servant of the devil?” Witchcraft teaches you to love and respect all that lives. It is away to become one with nature and to enjoy life’s gifts. Some take this the wrong way because witches don’t feel the need to hide what life has given them, and the media grasps this as a “ticket-ride” for entertainment. For instance, sexuality is a part of nature and to enjoy life’s gifts, Pagans treat “the body as a temple in which there is nothing unclean, a shrine to be adorned for the ritual of love,” as Margot Adler states in her novel Drawing Down the Moon. However, in other religions, this act is considered a sin if performed before wedlock. In Catholicism and Christianity, sex is a spiritual bond between two, which is also shared by Pagans. However, Pagans also see sexuality as a time of pleasure shared between two as a gift from the Divine, but not to be abused or used to hurt another. The media pushes on and exaggerates that witches can seduce the opposite sex into intimacy. However, within Witchcraft, all witches follow a main rule called The Reed, similar to a Commandment. It states, “An’ it hurt none, do as thou wilt.” This simply means, that it would be wrong of a witch to bend someone’s free-will to satisfy their own wants. So, if a witch happens to like someone, it would be going against The Reed if he/she decides to try magick for love; as it would be to go against one of the ten Commandments. Then again, trying magick for love, is just another media exaggeration. This Old Religion began in ancient Spain and Gaul during the early Christian Era. As stated in the 1994-1999 Encyclopædia Britannica, this practice and belief was condemned as evil and superstitious. Many severe laws were passed, by Charlemagne and other Frankish rulers, that involved the death penalty. At the same time Church councils and leaders declared Witchcraft as an actual evil that must be suppressed.
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