I decided that I would sit and have a little chat about our witchy world and that invisible yet oh so annoying divide between the Witchcraft and Wicca Paths. This could be quite a touchy subject for some, and I definitely do not want to cause any offence by anything I write (they are only my own personal opinions after all) so please don't turn me into a toad! lol.

I don't know where this divide between the two paths originated from or why it even began in the first place but I have noticed across the years I have been practicing and studying witchcraft, that there is a clear divide between the two branches of the craft. It is like there has become this unwritten, unspoken rule that certain paths are not as 'real' as others and that certain traditions are better or more legitimate.

While this isn't necessarily a bad thing as lots of other religions etc out there all have 'set' ways of doing things and that all works fine for them and the people practicing, this divide does tend to cause friction within the magickal community. Sadly there are always people who use division as a way to make others feel inferior or make them question their own knowledge and practices. Something which in my opinion is just damn wrong on so many levels!  Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, or any other name you want to give it, is NOT a path to prescribe how people should live their lives. Far from it actually, they encourage introspection so people can learn for themselves the path they are best suited to walk.

The only prescriptives associated with witchcraft come from the religion of Wicca. The Wiccan Rede is a long poem/piece of text that pretty much explains the basics of Wiccan magick and what is used to practice it. It also explains that there is one kind of 'rule' that Wiccans follow which is: 'An you Harm Non Do As You Will'. There are many different versions of this 8 word, shorter version, and there is also the Long version (well worth a read as it is actually a really nice piece of text). I am not specifically Wiccan, yet I have both versions in my witchy folders where I store all my information and the Wiccan Rede is a principle that I do genuinely believe in. (But only to a certain degree, as I am not adverse to some hexing/binding/banishing magick etc if somebody hurts me or my loved ones.) The general guidance that I have always taken from the Rede is that as long as my magick doesn't physically harm another or go against another's free will, then all is good!
 
Wiccans also follow the 'Rule of Three' which is the belief that anything put out into the universe will come back to them multiplied by three. So the thinking goes that if they put negative energies or castings out there it will come back on them but three times as bad. I get what they mean by this as a negative aspect, but in regards to positivity I don't really see how this would necessarily work, as I personally have put more positive and good deeds out into the Universe yet I have had more than my fair share of bad experiences in life so far, so I don't necessarily agree with Wiccans on this one. 
 
Here is a bit of info I found about the difference between the two more well known paths, Wicca and Witchcraft.

The main difference between Witches and Wiccans is that Wicca is a religion and Witchcraft is a practice. This raises the question of what is a religion and what is a practice. A religion is a spiritual belief system, such as Christianity, Islam or Wicca. It is a sense of beliefs, based around observance to or worship of Deities and/or spirits. A practice is something that is done, such as prayer, meditation or magick. Simply put, magick is a practice and Paganism is a religion. Wicca is a subset of Paganism and Magick/Spell casting is the main goal of Witchcraft.  It is of course possible to practice magick without being a Witch. There are other forms such as Ceremonial magick and magick can also be part of a religion as some argue that prayer is a version of magick and that the Wiccan Circle is enacted prayer. The difference between Wicca and Witchcraft comes with the differences in intent. The purpose of Wicca is to honour the Lord and the Lady, observe the turning of the Wheel of the Year and to pay attention to ones spirituality.  Wicca is intimately tied to ones relationship with the divine, by whatever faces they choose to show to us. Witchcraft on the other hand, does not have to involve Deities, instead it uses Spells and Herbs to achieve a desired end - Healing, Love and protection etc.

Because Witchcraft is a practice and not a religion, it is possible to be a member of just about any other religion and also be a witch. The openness of Wiccans and other pagans towards magick and the unexplained makes it all the more likely that they could be drawn to witchcraft. But be aware that not all Wiccans are Witches. Many do not cast spells of any type, instead, they focus solely on their relationships with the divine and on their quest for spirituality. There are some Witches who will say that Witchcraft is also their religion. But it is possible to cast a spell without calling upon a Deity. (instead one focuses the power within themselves or within Nature) There are also Wiccans who claim, that all Wiccan are Witches. It is easy to become confused about the differences between Wicca and Witchcraft , many books aimed at beginners tend to use the terms Wiccan and Witchcraft interchangeably and focus just as much on religious holidays (such as Sabbats) as they do on magick and spells. Remember, Wicca is a religion and Witchcraft is a practice. Not all Witches are Wiccans, nor are all Wiccans Witches. The focus of Wicca is on the Lord and Lady, The Wheel of the Year and spirituality, the focus on Witchcraft is on the casting of spells and magick.  
 
Even though both Wiccans and Witches essentially have very similar practices and beliefs etc.there is always a divide between them. There are Traditional Witches who criticise Wiccan witches for their structured beliefs and practises and Wiccan Witches who criticise Trad witches for being too focused on the past instead of moving forward with new ways of working as a witch in the modern age. I personally don't see why the magickal community gets so hung up on definitions. I mean part of the Wiccan Rede is all about doing as you will as long as it harms non...so why is it such a bad thing for somebody to want to be a Wiccan Witch? If witchcraft is a practise and not a faith then surely a person of any religion could also legitimately practise as a witch?

To me the main appeal about Witchcraft/ Paganism/Occult/Spirituality (whatever label you want to give it) is that you get to do things your way, and in a way that fits with who you are as a person and how you live your life. So, if it is in fact part of the Wiccan belief that you can't be a witch on any other path, alongside being a Wiccan, then for me personally, it would render the Wiccan Rede as obsolete. As the whole point of the Rede is about actualising yourself as an individual and following a path that fees true to you while all the time ensuring others are not harmed by your choices. I can't see why this doesn't apply to beliefs equally to how it does the casting of magick,.

This weird divide between paths makes it really hard for people who are practicing or just starting out as it can be confusing as hell and more than a little daunting.  Especially in the online world, as people can be extremely judgemental. I have had it happen to myself, where I have been told I am "playing" at witchcraft,  because I am too young to be a true witch (I turned 30 this year and have been practicing since I was about 10/11yrs old). I have also been told that 'real witches' practise as part of a coven and criticised for mixing parts from traditions together to make a path that works for me.  

Where did this whole "Wicca v Witchcraft" feud even begin? And why? I came across the typical description of how Wicca and Witchcraft are different all together, and how one is classed as a religion and one a belief system (although to me my witchcraft is not just a belief system...its a way of life and to me it IS my religion.), and about how Wicca was founded back in the 1950's....but nothing on WHY. Why this strange divide exists and where it comes from. Or why people are so insistent that it is adhered to. 

I personally don't subscribe to these divisions. To me people can believe/ practice whatever they wish. I have friends from all different kinds of religions and there have never been any issues between us, probably because we all accept that even though we may not necessarily follow the same religions, we all still have the right to live our lives the way we want. 

Witchcraft was not always something that was so accepted, mainly due to the stigma attached to it from the past. People who practiced Witchcraft were said to worship the Devil (which is not even a concept in witchcraft) and any time any illness or negative incident befell anybody in the village/town, it was always blamed on the witches. So Witchcraft has always had a bit of hazy reputation and has only recently become more accepted and understood. It is a shame that just as society starts to understand and accept witches the magickal community starts to embrace these divides and divisions that stigmatise different types of witches all over again.

I class myself as a Wiccan as well as a Witch as I follow lots of different traditions/paths that I kind of scoop up and mix all together to make my own path (and I love it! It works perfectly for me and my life)....I also find it fascinating at the same time as it raises lots of other questions, and really gets me thinking about it all.

Being a Witch is not something to hide anymore and being a Wiccan witch shouldn't be either. Other witches don't discredit Egyptian Witches or Celtic Witches, or Gardnerian Witches....or any other tradition/path that is out there...so I seriously don't get why anybody that chooses to use the title Wiccan...should get shunned for it. For me that goes against what being a Witch or Wiccan or Pagan is all about! Acceptance of others....fully....no matter who they are or what they practice/believe. 
 
Lots of Love & Bright Blessings!
Barb xx
 
 
 
 

 I was speaking to a friend the other day about how I live as a witch and it got me thinking, so I thought I would write an article about all the different ways that we can bring magick into our lives. Whether you are just starting out on your journey along this path or if you have been practicing for many years, there are lots of ways to add a bit of a magickal touch to our lives. And seeing as it has just been a Full Moon, I thought that this would be the perfect time for this little chat....so grab yourself a nice hot drink, get yourself comfy and lets talk all things magickal and how we can add a little witchyness to our daily lives!
 
Living a Witchy life can be so very easy and simple to do! A lot of people think that there are lots of certain objects that you need and certain daily spells and rituals etc to follow to be a Witch, and whilst this can be true, this is also not always the case. You don't need all the fancy objects that are claimed to be needed like Athames, Cauldrons, fancy Book of Shadows etc. These items can be substituted for other things that you already have that will serve the exact same purpose. Take a Witch's tools for example, I technically have each item that is stated as 'needed' for our witchy practices...yet they are not the 'official' ones!

I use a lovely ivory handled butter knife in place of my Boline (white handled ceremonial dagger used for inscribing candles,runes etc), I use a lovely silver vintage style letter opener for my Athame (black handled ceremonial dagger used for directing energies during spell casting and rituals like Casting a Circle), My wand is a small part of a tree branch that I found on the floor whilst walking in my local woods, and my Altar is all made from things that I already had lying around my house.(I also have another altar in my kitchen that is made from things I already had too) and it works perfectly for me! I love how they not only cost me next to nothing,as the only things I actually paid any money for is my crystals and other bits like that, but that they also hold my own individual personality and style too (especially as they have a bit of a vintage edge to them) I use crystal wine glasses in place of the Chalice, little crystal bowls as offering bowls and I even found a gorgeous little crystal bell in a charity shop which only cost me 50p and is just perfect for my Altar!

I love coming across gorgeous little finds like in charity shops. I love going into them and having a look at what I can find and pretty much always coming out with something unexpected or something I never even thought of buying but which I find to be utterly perfect (like my crystal bell). Great for the environment too as things are getting reused and given a new purpose.

All the tools needed to practice witchcraft can be made from scratch by yourself (if you are lucky enough to be gifted with the ability to make beautiful things)). Others can be bought from specialist occult/spiritual stores or online stores (Ebay is my favourite online place to find bits and bobs for relatively cheap prices). Alternatively you can do what myself and many other people do and use things already around the home that will serve the purpose of what you need them for. Just because we are witches doesn't mean that we have to pay a fortune to have all the things that we need! 

As well as the different tools used to practice our daily witchcraft, another way of bringing a bit of magick into our lives is through Manifestation. 'The Law of Attraction' is the process of putting out into the Universe what we desire and giving it the opportunity to come to us. In a way this is kind of like making a wish and waiting for it to come true. Ways to manifest things into our lives are talked about all over the internet and in books and magazines. The well known book The Secret is all about manifesting the things we want into our lives to make our lives more authentic to our true purposes/desires. Manifesting can be easy once you get the hang of it. It is not as simple as lighting a candle and making a wish but it can work well for people who follow the path.
 
Manifesting is all about putting out into the Universe what you truly want in your life. Happiness? Love? Money? A new home? Career? Whatever it is you are seeking for in your life, manifesting can help bring it into reality for you. This is done by not just wishing for it, or praying to the Universe to send you what you want...but by already visualising yourself with it. So if you are wanting love, visualise yourself already in the relationship and happy - imagine feeling the way it would do and thinking the way you would within that relationship. If it is a new home you are wanting, then visualise yourself already having that home, picture where all your furniture would go and see yourself wandering about in the house doing your daily life just as you are now, but in your new home!

Manifestation works by 'seeing' yourself already living your life with whatever it is you are asking for. By doing this, the Universe knows what to send you. Focus only on the positive things you want within your life. The Law of Attraction can work both ways, so if you are constantly focusing on all the negative things you have happening in your life, like debts, failing relationships, an unfulfilling job etc...then you will continue to be stuck in that negative cycle. Like attracts like... So keep your visualisations and thoughts as positive as you can and you will soon begin to notice the difference. 

You can also add a magickal touch to your daily life by bringing in some regular witchy practices. like daily protection spells for yourself, your loved ones and your homes. These can be as simple as closing your eyes and asking the Universe/Angels/deities to watch over and protect you or lighting a white candle and focusing on the flame for a few minutes. You can use Daily Affirmations to help you keep your thoughts and moods in check. Nothing can get you in a good mood more than repeating a positive affirmation to help with all sorts...from confidence issues right to specific topics like finding love, changing your career or self love etc. Affirmations can be used at any time during the day (or night) and can be as long or short as you want them to be. You can use ready-made ones you have found online or in books or you can go ahead and make up your own.

Crystals are also a fun and very easy way to add a touch of magick to our everyday lives. They are especially good for people who are just starting out or who are uncertain what to do in a particular situation. There are literally hundreds of different crystals with all sorts of uses. the main crystals that tend to pop up everywhere are ones like Rose Quartz, Clear Quartz, Amethyst, Tigers Eye, Selenite, Obsidian, Hematite, etc. These are all really simple and easy to use too, so you can easily incorporate them into your daily lives.. Crystals are a subtle way of making changes in our lives or within ourselves as we can pick the crystal most suited to our need and either use it within a simple spell or carry it with us. Some people like to use crystals within special 'spell pouches' where they add the relevant crystal (or crystals) along with herbs, spices and other objects like Rune stones or Sigils.

Crystals are very versatile. There are literally hundreds of ways that you can use them within your lives, from things like Healing, and peace baths to spells and rituals. You can also put certain crystals around your home, for things like protection, dispelling negativity or adding calming energies to each room. I have a black obsidian crystal hanging over the doorway of every room, I have Tiger's Eye and Clear Quartz crystals on each window sill and I also have a selection of assorted crystals on my mantleplace. I keep crystals on my bedroom and kitchen altars and also just generally dotted all around the home for decoration (I have a slight obsession with crystals..and books. I have them all over my house! A girl can never have too many of either!) 

 Another way of bringing a bit of magick into our lives other than crystals, spell work and home decorations, are Tarot Cards/Oracle Cards. These can be used in lots of ways, from full multiple card spreads, to simple one card readings. There are lots of different types of cards, from traditional Tarot decks, Angel oracle cards and unusual more bespoke decks like the Gothic Faerie deck. The cards can be used to gain insights into situations currently happening within our lives and to find out what the Universe has in store for us. I absolutely love using my Decks.(I have lots and more are on my wish list) I do daily card readings each morning, where I sit and shuffle the Tarot deck I am drawn to, pick the cards that call to me that day and turn them over to see what the message/advice for that day is. I also like to do this with Angel Oracle cards, as I like to tune in and see what message or piece of advice the Angels would like me to know for that day/week/situation. 

There are literally hundreds of other ways to bring magick into our lives. But the most important thing with any magickal practice is to do what feels right for you.  Find your passion for something that you can do daily and do it!  Magick is all about finding your own way and finding whats perfect for you and your life. If you can dust yourself off, laugh at your mistakes  and try it all over again...you are certainly cut out for a magickal life!

​So go have some fun creating one! 
 
Lots of Love and Bright Blessings!
Barb x

Image https://www.deviantart.com/art/pagan-poetry-735089337
 
  

QUESTION - Have you ever been in a rut where it felt like none of your magic is working? If so, how have you dealt with it?

It always just seems like my magic just doesn't work no matter the different ways I try. I don't want to give up, I'm just not sure how to get out of this rut.


ANSWER – I don’t think there is a witch alive who wouldn’t identify with this to some extent or other. Sometimes we feel inspired and motivated and sometimes we don’t. Magic isn’t really that different to any other skill set. I often sit at a blank page and get very frustrated because the ability which I know I have (to write) just isn’t working that day. And the same with magic, sometimes I design a spell that looks great on paper but then turns into a total damp squib when I execute it.

I think that when magic flops it pays to ask yourself a few honest questions. The first thing I consider is how much effort have I actually put into making the magic work. Have I thought through what I want to achieve, am I clear in my own mind what my objectives are? If no, then it is possible a spell is suffering from a lack of direction.

The second thing I look at is how I am approaching the magic. This is a weak area for me. I can go weeks without meditating or doing any of the basics that keep my spiritual strength buoyed up and then expect to step immediately into a complex spell and pull it off with minimum effort. Look at how prepared you are as a magic worker for the spell you want to achieve. Are you at your magical peak or are you flagging, tired, drinking too much alcohol and/caffeine, not sleeping enough and in a spiritual rut? (Which happens to us all). If this is the case then do some work on your foundations and get yourself into the right headspace for working magic.

Look for patterns as to when your magic works well and when it doesn’t. This could be the seasons of the year, the moon cycle, your own menstrual cycle, different times of the day or week. These will differ from witch to witch but if you can get a good handle as to when working magic is best for you then you can start to tailor your work around it. I rarely cast spells late at night for example because I am too tired. I’d prefer to cast in Summer than Winter, I’m fine with alcohol but caffeine gives me a jittery head space and I’d rather save my workings toward the end of the week when I have finished my day job and can give them the attention they deserve. As I say, witches will differ so this is an important part of your individual getting to know you process.

Look at the magic you are attempting. Is it realistic and plausible? Often spells don’t work because they are too linear (Don’t cast X to achieve Y. Magic likes to zig zag around the rest of the alphabet first…). Are you casting spells where you genuinely want the outcome? A lot of hexes flop, for example, because the caster isn’t sufficiently committed to the intention of the planned result.

​And finally are you trying too hard? When I sit looking at that blank piece of paper it does me no good to sit there getting agitated. I have a break, go for a walk, look at some nature and come back to it in a different mood. The same thing works for magic. Take a break, come back to it refreshed and look at your spell work with a newly rested attitude.
 
 

QUESTION - I have always struggled to share my stories, especially through the internet, but with recent events I am finally seeking an answer. I have seen what I have believed are spirits for as long as I can remember.

It first started when I was 2 or 3. I had went to bed early one night and the next morning my mom came to my room to wake me up, only to find I was extremely exhausted. She asked why I was so tired and I told her "I went to paint the moon and the stars with Grandpa (last name) ". My mother was frozen in fear and absolutely terrified. Her father had died when she was 18 and I never knew him. I had seen one photo of him and asked "who is that?" and her response was "that's my dad". I described him, his dog, and his truck perfectly, and the weirdest part was knowing his last name.

For years after that I remember shadows in my room. A lady speaking to me from the foot of my bed. My room being engulfed in flames. As any child would, I told my parents, but they always told me it wasn't real. I told my mother for years that "monsters" came out of the corners of my walls.

It wasn't until I was 14 that I started having real paranormal experiences. I became obsessed with the other side. Each day I was more intrigued with talking to the spirits rather than humans.

The first time I made something move with my mind I was 7. For years I thought it was my imagination. I thought I was crazy and still honestly question my sanity.

I began trying magic to reach for further answers. This soon turned dark and those around me began to have an evil presence.

I want to start this by saying I was not religious... After having nearly every one of my fears trying to kill me, I heard a voice tell me to open my Bible that my great grandfather had given me. When he gave it to me he said, "You will need this someday". I put it on my bed and the pages began to turn. I read the scripture off the pages that we're shown and all spirits were gone.

For years I felt peace, until recently. Something doesn't feel right. There aren't any spirits, but there is something within me that doesn't feel right. I have had dreams that have come true or I have asked someone something thinking we had the conversation, but find out it was something they were about to ask me about.

I have never felt "normal". I feel like there is this rage inside of me that I cannot control. I would never want to hurt anyone, but I feel the constant urge to get out this rage and strength.

I have asked my family and my mother thinks I am crazy. My paternal grandmother has only told me to stay away from that kind of darkness, but that was all. There has always been secrets with her. There are parts of my past that I believe may have been blocked with witchcraft by my grandmother. After having an experience with a spirit at 14, some of these memories came back, but I have been unable to retrieve the rest since then. There have been scars that seem to have appeared during this time as well, from the past that I cannot remember.

I am trying to figure out what I am. I fear that if I cannot figure this out and my family will not speak of the topic, I will never truly find peace.

Could you provide any guidance or knowledge to this?

ANSWER – There are a fair few dimensions to your question so I feel the best way to approach it is to go through each different element at a time.

Interacting with the spirit world is not uncommon in childhood. There is much speculation that this is due to the fact that children have not yet learned the scepticism of adult hood and have not developed the mental blockers that allow them to dissociate from spirit activity. It is even more common for spirit encounters to be close members of the family so perhaps unsurprising that you were visited by your Grandfather. Some people are naturally more in tune with spirits than others and it is likely you are one of those who finds it easier to make contact than others. This does not have to be a ‘dark’ or a negative thing, your early experiences in the main sound upbeat and positive so I would not consider these encounters to be problematic for you.

A basic level of telekinesis is rare but I’d certainly not doubt the capability of individuals to move objects with their minds. Again I would say this is more likely in childhood when the mind is more open to possibilities and doesn’t have to overcome learned scepticism. This is not a known symptom of any mental health disorder and in my opinion at least this does not make you crazy or unwell in any way. I would be interested to know if this ability stayed with you but I strongly suspect that it didn’t last past your early teens as is most often the case.

Your journey into the world of magic sounds to have complicated a lot of these issues for you. While witchcraft and the spirit world do have a lot of overlap there are many witches who have nothing to do with spirits and many sensitives who have nothing to do with the craft or practising magic. You do not go into a lot of detail about the kind of magic you attempted but I get the impression you were dabbling in things that frightened you a bit and that this soured some of your spirit encounters that originally seemed easier to cope with.

Magic is a neutral force but one that can be manipulated by both spirits and humans alike. Often spirits take an interest when magic is practised and some spirits will seek to manipulate an impressionable youngster working with magic for the first time. My guess would be that your magic felt dark because you were a bit out of your depth and not entirely comfortable with what you were doing. I had a similar experience in my early teens long before I embraced witchcraft as an adult. The guilt and fear of my young self made the craft feel very sinister in a way that it didn’t when I was able to approach it more rationally in my older years.

The religious experience with your grandfather is very interesting. Was he a religious man? If he was then it is perhaps not surprising that he believed the Bible would help you. Even as a non Christian I acknowledge the Bible as a powerful metaphor for good and one that does make spirits sit up and take note. I have no problem believing that the combination of his faith and your trust in his faith was enough to convince any mischievious spirits to seek a new person to pester.

​‘Normal’ is a misleading term. We only know how others behave, we do not know what they think inside. Think of what goes on in your own mind and how little of that you project outwards into the word. Everybody else is doing the same. We are all complicated, confused chaotic beings projecting an image of steadfast sanity to the wider world. The world is a much less isolating place when we understand that we are not all that different from everybody else.

Do I think you are crazy? Not at all and I don’t think pinning a label like that on you is very helpful. I think you have had some genuine experiences but that your worrying about them is doing far more harm to you than the experiences themselves ever could. My advice would be, rather than trying to label yourself, just see where this journey takes you. Your peace will not come from pigeon holing yourself into a neat definition of ‘what’ you are but through living your life and evolving naturally into ‘who’ you are.
 
 Image https://www.deviantart.com/art/Ghosts-424907600
 

There is so much asked of us these days. We have to have a flawless body, be the perfect person, have the ideal house, car, shoes, job, pet, children... But what are we getting in return for this? Very little, it seems to me.

As Pagans we tend, as a community, to be stereotyped as non-conformists but we all have those aspirations to the perfect life - perfect just seems to mean something different to us...  But as a community, I feel there are things that we’re missing, that other faith communities have.
. 
For starters, our circle is very patchy. For the most part, we rarely meet up on a regular basis and we have so many solitaries that it’s not like we can just go to church on a Sunday and touch base with our clan... But it also goes slightly further than that.

Most faith groups have systems in place to campaign for the rights of those in their community, to take spiritual care of their vulnerable and disabled, to offer help and support to their children and families... As a faith at large, we don’t have that!

Or do we?

The rights, freedoms, and indeed; credibility, of the Pagan population at large are still being, mostly, ignored by the rest of the world. The most likely reaction you’ll get to telling your employer that you’re Pagan is a “knowing” smile that indicates that he thinks this is a bit daft. In some more dramatic cases it can affect the way you do your work because people stop taking you seriously. I’ve heard of this happening a lot and it’s happened to me personally on a fair number of occasions, professionally and socially. The rights of my children, two of whom have decided that Paganism is for them too, are being ignored and my assertions of their religious freedom has caused a lot of stress in previous schools, though luckily their current school is very good about it.

But who do we turn to, to fight for our rights, to educate the masses on the truth of our practices, to be a point of contact in the press instead of allowing any loon in a pointy hat to claim to be a voice for all of us. Who takes care of the spiritual health of our vulnerable and disabled? Who reaches out to the children and families? Who sits in endless meetings with inter faith groups, in education board meetings, in government debates, in legislative discussions; who represents us in the world?

So many people say that no one has the right to speak for us, that there’s this wrong with this organisation and that wrong with that one... But surely, not lending your support at all is doing us as individuals and as a faith group, a real disservice?

I’m not sure about other places in the world but here in the UK we have the Pagan Federation (England & Wales), Pagan Federation Scotland, The Druid Network, the Pagan & Heathen Symposium (which is actually a group of organisations who have come together for the good of the community)... 

These organisations need your support if they are to carry on! Numbers show that membership of these organisations is dropping and the hard work they do is being jeopardised by this!

Let’s put aside the politics of this Local Coordinator or that District Manager and look at the bigger picture... Volunteers come and go but the work of these coalitions needs to go on!

So, if you have the time, look into the groups that operate, or possibly are hoping to operate, in your area and if you don’t have the time or inclination to volunteer yourself, membership doesn’t cost much and it goes a long way to funding their vital work, work that helps us as a faith community and you as a person who identifies as Pagan, Witch, Druid, Heathen and other labels within the Pagan umbrella.

Some of these organisations come with fab personal perks. Not only are you funding vital work and showing support to your community’s voice but, for instance in the Pagan Federation, membership comes with subscription to their fabulous magazine, Pagan Dawn, which is published quarterly and is chock full of great articles, recipes and reviews. Some of the districts even have their own newsletter and you can sometimes use your membership to get discounts at some of your local Pagan style stores (this differs depending upon your district obviously).

It is time that we, as Pagans, started working together in a way that we never have before. Supporting those who can be our voice before our song is completely drowned out once again by the thundering storm that is the rest of the world. 

These are difficult and often terrifying times we live in and there may come a time where organisations, like those linkd below, become extinct because the lack of support whilst they deal with the unbelievable pressures of defending our rights and freedoms  just becomes too much to bear.

Please consider adding your voice to the chorus, before we little birds are swept away.

xXx Blessings xXx
xXx Debi xXx

https://paganfed.org/
http://www.scottishpf.org/
https://druidnetwork.org/
http://pagansymposium.org/

Image ​https://www.deviantart.com/art/La-Dame-Aux-Oiseaux-667691628

​The other day my seven year old had a bedtime story about a witch. She decided that she loved the story so much that she was now a witch. I made a joke;  “What, you read one book and now you’re an expert?” “Yep”, she replies...

We all know people like this, right? They read one book or watch one film -- you know the one I mean! ;) and they think they’re an expert, that’s their job done, they’re now Pagan and no more is needed.

If you are one of these “witches” then what the heck, dude?

There are organisations all over this world dedicated to the seemingly impossible task of getting Pagans taken seriously and, guess what; you’re fucking it all up!

When you go out there, telling folk you can simply wave a magic wand to make things happen and generally acting like a delusional, teenaged attention whore, you’re making those of us who take our faith seriously look as ridiculous as you.

Now, I don’t like to belittle the beliefs of others but your actions are belittling mine. You’re making a mockery of everything I’ve spent years trying to accomplish!

There is, however, a very simple way to remedy this. Pick up a book. Or Two. Three. Four... A whole library! There are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Pagan authors out there just begging you to pick up their books and lose yourself in their research and thoughts, to compare their experiences with your own, to learn from them and even let them learn from you!

Being Pagan isn’t something you do; it’s something you are. It’s a lifelong journey that takes over your very being and opens you to the world around and within you in a miraculous yet inherently natural way...
The Hollywood version of “Witchcraft/Paganism” that you claim to practice is, frankly, insulting and immature and it makes the life of people who try to get us taken seriously, even harder!

Now, this may seem like I’m being overly harsh and perhaps I am but even the Love and Light Brigade can only take so much before they lose their temper... And I’m far from a member of that group!

This website has a fantastic list of books but there are even more out there for you to access! Ignorance may be bliss for the ignorant but for the rest of us; it’s a pain in the ass!

Witch Bitch rant over...

With the Solstice upon us I’ve been reflecting a lot on my faith and how it’s affected my life. I began identifying as Pagan when I was around thirteen and I have to admit, and I know others did this even if they don’t admit it, that at first, my family and friends were entirely justified when they said it was just another way for me to get attention or to shock people.

I went around telling people I was a witch and I could do spells and I had a magic wand and all sorts of other things they made me look as ridiculous as I wanted to look! It did me no favours but what troubled teenager ever does anything right the first time around, right?

​It wasn’t until I was pregnant with my oldest, almost dead (literally!) and bed bound that I started to really think about my faith in any real way. I was confronted by my own mortality and it terrified me. The thought I was about to die, my baby could die, and I didn’t know anything about anything. What did I believe? Who was I? Did I still have the time to figure all that out?

Well, it turned out that I did! Time and to spare, it would seem! Ten years on and I finally feel that I know who I am, spiritually if in no other way. I think I like the person I am! And who I am right now, a lot of that is down to my beliefs.

The more I researched, the more of myself I found. One of my favourite things about being Pagan is that, if done correctly, it’s mostly a journey into the deepest parts of you. Into your mind, your soul, your heart. If you don’t discover more about yourself, you need to re-evaluate the path you’ve taken and the way you’re walking it.

I highly recommend a good tarot deck for this. Tarot, for me, isn’t about divination, it’s another way to discover as much about yourself as possible. Everyone has their own preference, I personalyl couldn’t do without my Wildwood Tarot deck. It takes the reader on a journey into oneself that truly must be experienced to be believed.

I suppose with these ramblings what I’m trying to say is that if you’re going to do something like this, do it fully! Don’t just read one book or one blog and think that’s enough because to do that is a disservice to yourself.

Since fully embracing my faith I have become a person, not the half person I felt I was before. I now have a purpose, a calling. I’m not saying that you have to have a faith to find yourself, some people don’t... But you’ll never know yourself truly until you look at all sides of yourself and if one side of you is Pagan, one book, one open circle, one Pagan Pride march or two aren’t going to help you discover your true self and everything that Paganism has to offer!

You are the most important person in your life because without you, you have no life! And it’s ok to be selfish sometimes, especially if your time is spent discovering yourself, especially especially (yes, that was deliberate, I’m trying to be cute, is it working?) if you find something new about yourself that you like!
We live in a world where loving or even liking yourself is seen as conceited, at the same time as being told that we should love ourselves! Such contradictions aren’t just confusing and hypocritical but they’re not very helpful when we’re trying to discover ourselves.

​So, shut the world out, go on your journey of self discovery and just wait and see what life has in store for you on the other side.

“Infinite” is defined by the dictionary “Too great to be measured on any imaginable scale”. If we ascribe this definition to God we are conforming to the traditional Classical Theist image of the deity. Christianity, Judaism and Islam are monotheistic religions, the nature of which is belief in a single creator of the cosmos.

There is only a problem with the existence of evil if there is belief in God. An atheist with belief in a non created cosmos can define the problem of evil as a characteristic of the world that needs no further explanation. Similarly, a religion with belief in more than one God can explain the problem in terms of opposing good and evil gods. The theist, believing in God as the creator has to come to terms with the problem that there is evil in the world and if God is the infinite creator it must be God who created it.

The problem of evil is concerned with reconciling the omnipotence of God to his goodness. The problem only exists if God is perceived as being both good and omnipotent. The existence of evil can be explained by a good God who is not omnipotent as God would not will suffering but would be unable to prevent it.

The existence of evil can also be explained if God is omnipotent but not good as the suffering in the world could directly be attributed to the will of an evil deity.

Philosophers view the omnipotence of God with conflicting interpretations. Descartes in the Meditations claimed that God is capable of performing the logically impossible. God could act against the Law of Non Contradiction or even add up 2 + 3 to equal 4. This view would be strongly contested by followers of Thomas Aquinas who believe God's omnipotence is limited by the constraints of logic. Aquinas uses the example of the absurdity of God committing suicide to illustrate this. As God is beyond time it would be beyond possibility for him to stop existing.

A third perspective would be to claim that God transcends the human concepts of logic and existence. If we talk of God in terms of a being we are automatically constraining him by our own limited concepts. To say that God is capable of breaking the law of Non Contradiction is futile as we cannot imagine him being able to both open and close a door at the same time. However we would be wrong to take this limited concept of our cosmos based logic and apply it to God who by his very nature is beyond our understanding.

There are two fundamental types of evil:

1. Moral Evil
2. Metaphysical (or natural) Evil
 
Moral evil is the evil inflicted on human beings by each other. It comes into being through choices made by humans.

Metaphysical evil is derived from our experiences with the physical cosmos. An earthquake is a metaphysical evil as it has not been  influenced by the actions of humanity.

The first major consideration in assessing the Problem of Evil is to ascertain whether evil actually exists in the world. In his book Summa Theologie, Thomas Aquinas presents good as being the fulfilling of a substance's intended being. Aquinas does not see evil as being a substance in itself “evil cannot be a thing, since God made it,” but rather as an absence of good which he believes comes directly from God. He defines evil as “The absence of good in something we would expect to have this good.” So, a human being without sight would be evil because it is not fulfilling the purpose of its nature. A human being without sight in the dark however would not be evil as it is not missing something expected in the human design. Aquinas advances this argument to say that as nothing could ever entirely fail to fulfil its nature nothing can ever be truly evil. This can most clearly be illustrated in the fact that to exist at all is good so anything that exists cannot wholly be evil.

Aquinas also advances the view that “If one opposing force is infinite, the other must be excluded absolutely.”On this basis, if we take God to be the infinite force of goodness it follows that evil cannot exist.

In the Summa Theologie, Aquinas delivers his belief that everything is designed to desire its own perfection for in doing so “Everything is desiring God himself, for the perfection of all things somehow resembles diving existence.”

This only considers the perfection in the general terms of the perfection of the nature of the substance. It does not allow for the fact that individuals exist within nature groups. In Genetics, scientists have found that the structure of our DNA is a determining fact in the preference of our individual natures. So, if my DNA is structured so as to give me a desire to eat coal, even though I am not fulfilling the nature of what it is to be a human I am fulfilling my individual nature.

Aquinas could argue that my DNA is defective and I am not a prototype human, so consequently I am unable to fulfil the perfection of what it is to be human. This argument entails the belief that God would have made a human incapable of acting in accordance with its own nature. To argue this, Aquinas would have to contradict his theory that everything is designed to desire its own perfection as a God who designed humans to seek something they could not achieve would not be consistent with the theistic belief that God is good.

Swinburne believes that, due to the need for regulated physical laws there will always be “victims of the system.” Metaphysical evil occurs as a consequence of these natural laws and is therefore unavoidable.

In the Dialogues of Natural Religion, Hume writes that “The observance of general laws, or some such reason is the sole cause which controlled the power and benevolence of Jupiter.” This is a suggestion that God was restricted by the matter he was working with. Our knowledge of Geography which tells us that our world could not exist without the movement of tectonic plates, the cause of earthquakes, illustrates this. If it was not logically possible for God to create a world without tectonic plate movement he has no moral blame for this metaphysical evil. This argument is flawed in the sense that it limits God's power, although to follow the interpretation of God given by Aquinas, the constraints of a logical impossibility do not limit the power of God.

Although we could accept that an infinite God working with limited matter may create natural laws with negative consequences to some extent, it is unlikely that an infinite God would be as limited as the metaphysical evil in the world suggests. The extremity of the natural laws suggests these not to be design faults but deliberate creations.

Philo in the Dialogues claims “A being who knows all the secret springs of the Universe might turn all accidents to the good of mankind and render the whole world happy.” Omniscient God knows the secret springs and by nature of his omnipotence is able to change the cosmos. The fact the he has chosen not to is an indication that metaphysical evil is an integral part of his creation.

Swinburne would say metaphysical evil exists to perform the function of teaching humanity about evil as “humans need to understand evil in order to reject it.”

In order to overcome the problem of natural laws and Swinburne's “victims of the system,” Philo suggests God could “conduct everything by particular volitions.” This would produce a world in which the laws of nature would frequently be broken. There would be no consistency in the cosmos and humans would have no need to judge the consequences of their actions as any negative consequences would be superceded by divine intervention.

Philo's world of particular volitions would also have a detrimental effect on the relationship between humans and God. Humans would be turning to God as a plea for intervention and not out of genuine love for him.

In order to remove the blame for natural evil from God completely, philosophers and theologians, in particular St. Augustine who claimed that evil was ascribable to “non human beings,” have tried to lay blame at the door of the Devil.

The main objection to this is namely that we consider man to be the highest point of God's hierarchy so by implication the Devil must be a lesser being. If man is unable to create natural laws it is unlikely that lesser beings than man would have this power. This objection is not sufficient to dismiss the Devil completely as lesser beings than man have the power to fly or breathe under water. It is not logically impossible the the Devil could not affect the natural laws.

If we take the Devil to be infinitely evil, Aquinas would be committed to denying the Devil's existence as he claims that as any creation of God must be good a creation of infinite evil could not come into being. Aquinas' argument: “If one opposing force is infinite, the other must be excluded absolutely,” also refutes the idea of the Devil. We know God to be infinitely good so we are obliged to discount the Devil on this basis and seek an explanation for natural evil elsewhere. Modern theology which has dismissed belief in the Devil would also be inclined to seek an alternative explanation for metaphysical evil.    

Aquinas claims that natural evils are only perceived by humans to be evil and from the perspective of God are just natural results of his creation. This argument rests on the fact that humans see God as a moral agent capable of making moral choices. Many philosophers would argue that if God is a moral agent and there is still evil in existence he is a failing moral agent.

The first possible objection is that God is a moral agent but allows metaphysical evil into the creation in order to fulfil the nature of the cosmos as a whole. Evil could be a necessity in the sense that through suffering humans become more developed spiritually and more able to forge a relationship with God and attain happiness in the afterlife. God cannot be a failing moral agent if evil is a necessary means of achieving eventual happiness.

This argument is similar to the Porch argument raised by Hume in his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. He presents a metaphorical analogy that this world is a porch leading to the main building where eventual happiness is achieved. Hume dismisses this argument on the basis that there is no evidence to prove this is the case. Hume states that as there is no distributive justice in this world we have no reason to assume that there will be a further world in which justice is distributed fairly.

In arguing that this world is a stepping stone to a better afterlife we are aligning the omnipotence and goodness of God as we are seeing God as willing the eventual happiness of humanity. The fact that humans suffer along the road to happiness is irrelevant in the argument as it is a necessary component of eventual happiness.

This provides an answer to the logical dilemma raised by David Hume:

“God's power is infinite
But neither man, nor animal is happy
Therefore he does not will their happiness.”

Hume's argument is not logically sound as the second premise and the conclusion are set in a different time frame. The fact that man and animals are not happy now cannot be used to prove logically that God does not desire their eventual happiness.

Hume's argument also fails because it is a contentious statement that “Neither man nor animal is happy.” Hume is oversimplifying the situation of the cosmos with this claim. His argument could equally be reworked to state:

God's power is infinite
Happiness always exists in the world
Therefore God wills the happiness of humanity.

Both this argument and Hume's are equally fallacious as the second premise in both is incorrect. Neither argument makes mention of the fact that at any given time both happiness and misery exist in the world. Hume is basing his conclusion on a false premise so the logic of his argument fails.

To argue that God could have eliminated the 'porch' and solely created what we perceive to be the afterlife would be futile as without the suffering of the first world we are not spiritually mature enough to relate to God. If God had given us this spiritual maturity from the beginning we would be turning to God because we were programmed to do so and not because of genuine love for God. In such a world we would be no better than robots.

The second main objection to seeing God as a failing moral agent is to deny that he is a moral agent at all. Aquinas states that “Since God is literally timeless, God has no potential.” This is a development of the Doctrine of Divine Simplicity which states “God is what God does.” This avoids the problem of seeing God as a moral agent making choices about what to do. On this view God is actuality itself. If God does not make choices, he does not make moral decisions so God is essentially amoral.

Philosophers disagree about whether God could have created another world if he had so chosen. Aquinas who speaks of God lacking potential holds the belief that God could not have made choices about which world to create. If this is the case, God's goodness and omnipotence are both intact and we cannot look to God as a source of evil as God is fulfilling the nature of his existence perfectly by creating the world that it is his nature to create.

Hume sees the limitations of the world as an indication that God is limited. His Inference Problem is that we can only know God through his creation so the fact that his creation shows signs of limitation must lead us to the belief that God himself is limited. Philo in the Dialogues makes the claim that the image of God we can infer from the physical world can be either good or all powerful but not both.

A challenge to Hume's argument would be to argue that the products of the creator are not an indication of the nature of the creator. If I was an excellent seamstress and had produced many well made garments during my career but one day made an inferior skirt and a person inferred from this single garment that I was a bad seamstress this would not be a correct inference. In order to make a true inference about my ability, the person would need to see a broader sample of my work. This same argument can be applied to Hume's Inference Problem. We do not know if God has created other worlds and achieved perfection in them, nor do we know if what we as humans perceive to be limitations are actually constituents of the perfect cosmos.

Following the arguments of Swinburne, God could have chosen to make any one of an infinite range of worlds and chose to make this one. Swinburne believes that this is not the best of all possible worlds and even if it was “God would be under no obligation to create it.” This argument is based on the belief that God, being the creator of the world, has more rights than the products of his creation. If God has the right by nature of the fact that he is the creator to make humanity suffer then this is not an immoral action.

Hume is in agreement with Swinburne that this is not the best of all possible worlds. The evidence he gives for this is that we can imagine how the world could be improved and even improve it ourselves.

We can imagine only with regard to the immediate good. For example, I may be able to prevent a small child from witnessing death, but my action, although and immediate good could be bad in the long term sense that the child would have been changed by the experience to the extent where they were inspired to do good deeds in the world. Our human imaginations are not sufficient to imagine the intentions of God.

Swinburne states that “God has no obligation to non existant things.” He means this in the sense that God has no obligation to create a better world than the one in which we live because before there was any creation there were no beings for which God held responsibility. This is an extreme position to take. Surely I have a moral obligation even before conceiving my child to ensure I can feed and shelter it. The obligation begins at a point before the being comes into existence. To apply this to God, surely the obligation toward his creation began when he decided to create.

Even if we can mitigate moral blame from God's decision to create this world and absolve him from the blame of metaphysical evil either with Swinburne's necessity for human suffering or Hume's theory of God working with limited matter, many theologians feel the problem of evil still exists in the form of moral evil.

The intervention of God in this world is particularly relevant to the issue of moral evil. The main defence to the presence of moral evil in the cosmos is the free will defence. This is the defence that humans all have freedom to make their own choices and any bad consequences that arise from these free choices are the responsibility of the agent and not God. So, if I choose to torture someone, it is wrong to blame God for my evil action as I could equally have chosen not to do it.

There are two ways in which to look at the free will defence. The first perspective is to see the cosmos as a finished creation in which God has passed over to humanity to rule. From this viewpoint any intervention from God would be immoral as to intervene would break God's promise to let humanity rule itself.

A good response to this argument would be to say that God intervening in individual cases of suffering is not an infringement on free will. To prevent an ill man dying of cancer would not take away his freedom, particularly as the man is not choosing whether or not to die. But to intervene in a situation where a person was attempting suicide would be an paternalistic infringement of his will. Divine intervention would be a direct conflict with human rights, the boundaries between what does and what does not infringe upon human rights causing great discrepancy.

A weak argument might suggest that God could choose to act in one case and not another, in, for example, the case of the man dying of cancer. This does not take into account the fact that God loves all members of his creation equally and would not intervene to help some and not others. To intervene in just one case would be giving a certain individual or group of people a priority. A good God would not value one group of people over another. With one act of intervention, God would be committed to others. This would lead to the situation mentioned earlier where God would be committed to conducting everything by Philo's “particular volitions.”

Free will must be considered in relation to humanity as a whole and not to individuals. If we see free will as something God has bestowed on humanity, to intervene in the world even in one individual case would be a betrayal of all of human kind.

The second perspective that can be argued is that God must retain some responsibility for the cosmos because he is the creator and in cases of extreme human evil must take it upon himself to protect his creation.

The free will defence aligns omnipotence with God's goodness because it allows for the fact that God could intervene in the world but chooses not to. God is by nature perfect and therefore his decision to give humanity free will was the perfect decision. It follows from this that God cannot intervene in the world even in the pursuit of preventing evil as it would conflict with the perfectness of his nature as an implication that he was wrong to bestow free will on humanity.

Free will is necessary to humanity if it is to turn God from desire rather than obligation. If human choices were preordained by God there would be no reflection of God in the cosmos. The greatness of God is reflected by the fact that humanity with its free will chooses to turn to him.

Free will must take into consideration the fact that God is omniscient and knew in advance of the creation the choices that humanity would make. Knowing the evil that would result from these choices, God still chose to give humans free will. This indirectly makes God responsible for creating the suffering as to not give humanity free will would have been to eliminate the sufferings induced by moral evil.

When considering the defence of free will it is critical to consider whether free will can actually exist. An omnipotent God would be capable of creating a deterministic cosmos in which all human choices were predetermined. If humanity has no free will but makes predetermined choices and those choices are evil this is evidence that God himself is not good as he is directly causing humans to inflict suffering. In a deterministic cosmos it is harder to mitigate God's responsibility as he has planned all the moral evil in the world.

“If God has planned from eternity the evils of the world that is the deepest evil.” (D.Z. Philips)

The only possible way to align the fact that God has deliberately chosen there to be suffering in the world with the fact that he is good is to show that all the evil in the world is justifiable and necessary to humanity. This is the essential problem of evil. Many theologians and philosophers agree that a percentage of evil in the word is justifiable but do not believe that all evil in the world is necessary.

The evils of the world can be justified by a comparison to the alternative. A world in which we were not free to inflict suffering upon one another would be a world in which we had no freedom. Surely a free world even with moral human atrocities such as the Holocaust is preferable to a world in which we are nothing but robots?

J.S. Mill's Utilitarianism could justify suffering if the eventual happiness outweighed the suffering. A logical development of this argument is that the happiness of the afterlife will last for infinity whereas the miser of the cosmos will only last for approximately the biblical “three score years and ten,” so the amount of suffering humans endure in the first world is considerably outweighed by the pleasure of the next world.

Mill could also justify suffering in the world if the happiness produced to some people by the suffering of others was more substantial than their suffering.

It is clear that the approach Utilitarianism takes to the problem of evil does not provide a satisfactory answer. A God who believed in Utilitarian principles and for example allowed the Titanic to sink and claim many lives so an enterprising museum could raise it up and make profit from sightseers of the wreck is clearly immoral. The immorality still exists even if the pleasure of the museum making vast profits was greater than the suffering of those who lost relatives.

John Hick believes “The existence of evil is necessary for the perfect development of human beings.” By inflicting evil upon each other and having evil inflicted upon us our souls develop enough to have a spiritual relationship with God. The existence of moral evil in the world does not reflect the evil nature of God but rather the necessity of suffering in the physical world for happiness in the afterlife.

Hume suggests that the cosmos should operate on “pursuit of pleasure,” instead of pain. Hick replies to this “We describe the unpleasant as a lower degree of the pleasant.” So even if God removed all the unpleasant things in the world and left us to strive for the pleasant things, there would still be a hierarchy of pleasure as things we find pleasant now would become unpleasant. On this view it would be logically impossible to create a world with no suffering in it as some experiences are always going to be at the bottom of the hierarchy of pleasures.

If Hume, as J.C.Gaskin suggests, is actually seeing “dimunition of pleasure,” as an alternative to actual pain this would seem to be an idea of a more perfect cosmos. Swinburne would argue, saying Hume was asking for a “toy world.” This does not address the idea that suffering is necessary in the world. It is a moot point that dimunition of pleasure amounts to suffering, but Hume fails to consider that if dimunition of pleasure was a satisfactory alternative to pain, surely an omniscient God would have thought of it!

If God attempted to limit suffering in the world and, for example, removed the ability to torture from all humans, another evil action would take the place of torture as being the most extreme form of suffering. This would lead to a problem of regress where no matter how much evil God took from the world humans would still suffer as the things we do not consider to be evil now would soon become atrocities. It is perfectly plausible that God chose not to create a world with much more terrible atrocities than humans of this world can imagine. Humans can only appreciate the problem from the perspective of how much we suffer. When we ask why God lets us suffer so much perhaps we should ask instead “How much suffering have we been spared?”

Leibniz takes a different starting point to his argument and says that God is by nature perfect abd this is the world he created “ This must be the best of all possible worlds.” This is consistent with Aquinas' claim that God cannot do the logically impossible. It may be fundamentally necessary to suffer before reaching spiritual perfection and God was working within the limitations of this when he created the physical world.     

Even if we can attribute a percentage of the suffering in the world to Hick's soul making, many would argue that it is difficult to reconcile the vast amounts of suffering with the goodness of God. In particular it is hard to see how genocide and other evils on a massive scale can be merely categorised as soul making. The argument can either follow the line that the death of so many people cannot justify any amount of soul making or the line that such events cause too much suffering to a section of humanity and none to others.

In objecting to this it is necessary to see genocide as something that affects people, who are not directly involved. Anybody who has heard or read about the Holocaust has suffered to the small extent that they have encountered a true example of real human evil. It could be argued that horror on such a massive scale is necessary if it is to both reach all of humanity and deliver the impat it does. Humans not directly connected to the Holocaust are being introduced to evil by example and therefore by allowing these terrible examples to occur, God is limiting the necessary for suffering on an individual scale, thus limiting suffering in the world. If we believe the premise that some suffering (in the form of awareness of evil) is necessary this aligns suffering with the goodness of God.

If we believe that suffering is good because it is a necessity of human development, then it follows that suffering can only be justified if people are aware of it. If a tramp with no relatives, friends or acquaintances died of cold and starvation in the middle of a wood and his body was never discovered, this is an example of suffering where there are no people to develop better souls by witnessing this suffering. It is perfectly plausible for a theist to claim that suffering is for the sake of the soul of the tramp in order to have spiritual perfection in the afterlife. But if we compare the suffering of this long painful death to the death of an elderly person who dies painlessly in their sleep, we must ask why is it necessary for one person to suffer more than the other?

This imbalance in suffering is a difficulty but can partially be answered by the free will defence, namely that we choose the way in which we live our lives and consequently this has an effect on how much suffering we receive. So it is not God making us suffer it is a result of the free actions we choose to make.

This argument is dangerous as it basically amounts to saying that we reap from life what we sow. It may not be due to the tramp's free will that he has nowhere to die except a wood. Free will does not answer the imbalance of suffering entirely.

An objection raised to justify suffering is punishment for our human wrongs. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” (Corinthians 1:21) This argument must be considered in terms of the free will and determinism problem. If we do not have free will, then the suffering in the world cannot be a punishment because God would be punishing us for doing something he has created us to do. Even if we do have free will, God is not in a position to punish us because he has given us the freedom to choose what we will do, with full knowledge of the choices we will make and the actions we will perform. To humanity, punishment would constitute intervention, discussed earlier in the free will defence as a non viable option to God.

The problem of evil is beyond the intellectual comprehension of humans. This is partly because we as humans cannot know the nature of God and are applying human terms such as “good” to God in comparison to the “evil” in the world. This is wrong because God is good in a sense that transcends human concepts.

We are unable to find an answer to the problem of evil because we can only view the world from the limited perspective of our cosmos and are unable to see the whole picture. To reconcile the evil in the world with the goodness of the infinite creator we would have to understand God's own justification for evil and any human attempt to understand God is by the very nature of our being, destined to be futile.

Although witches often refer to the period between Samhain and Beltane as the dark half of the year it would be wrong to assume that there isn’t still a fair bit of magic going on while the earth is asleep. The dark and cold Winter months provide many unique opportunities for using the transformation of nature in casting and spell work.

Winter brings about many changes in the weather which in turn provide their own unique function in magic. Nothing says Winter more than a sprinkling of snow over the Earth and nothing says magic to the witch in Winter more than a drift of snow. Frosted crystalline Winter has a magic all of its own, a magic that lends its sparkle to those wishing to practise their craft in these cold months.

Snow is the weather we associate most with the Winter and snow can be a powerful ingredient in magic at this time of year. A forward thinking witch however will not limit her use of this ingredient to the cold months. Snow can be bottled and stored until the warmer weather – it can even be kept frozen in the household freezer for use later in the year. The use of snow in Summer can be very effective in cooling spells and workings to influence the ambient temperature of the immediate environment.

Snow can be used to many different effects in magic. It is often used to invoke the cold and traditionally the cold can be used in workings that involve slowing down or reducing the impact of something. An old watch placed in a pot of snow for example can be utilised in time magic to slow down the perception of time. In a similar respect snow can be used to slow down the effects of time - in much the same way as the house fridge and freezer are used as preservation aids. I know of several witches who wash their face directly in the snow in the sincere belief that it will hold back the years.
 
The beauty of snow doesn’t lessen its ability to be used in more aggressive magics. Snow can be piled up around the poppet of a competitor (a work rival perhaps) to slow down their performance and make the going harder for them. It can be used to kill affection – to freeze the heart – particularly useful for a witch who wants
to dissuade a hopeful suitor or to force a contender for the object of her own desire to lose interest.

The common phrase “to put something on ice” has a literal meaning in witchcraft. The freezing process 
is a powerful tool in protection spells - this can be either defensive or aggressive - you can freeze the essence of yourself to create an ice shield around it for protection or you can place a taglock or an image of the aggressor inside a block of ice to create a shield around them blocking their negative inclinations from escaping. Ice shards make useful weapons for piercing a wax poppet to cause targeted damage.
Freezing the saliva of another person and then smashing the ice cube will reduce the influence they have over you.  Ice blocks can be formed and then carved with runes/spell wording and then left to melt into the earth to activate the intention inherent in the spell. A variation on this is to carve the name of somebody you wish to assume power over into the ice and then hold it, allowing the ice to melt between your hands and visualising the individual yielding to your will.

Snow and Ice are not the only useful elements of Winter weather. For those lucky enough to get a shower of hail stones I would strongly suggest bottling a few.They may lose the structure of the initial shape but the power and force will remain bottled and can be a powerful addition to spell work to give it an extra oomph.
All in all, a good time of year to get working that magic!

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One of the issues that seems to crop up a lot on Ask a Witch a Question is the problem of combating depression. I’m often asked for ways that witchcraft and more specifically magic can be used to tackle depression and other mental health related illnesses. As regular readers will no doubt have noticed most people asking for mental health related help on this site are advised to seek assistance from their GP or a counsellor. Mental health is a serious business and people who suffer from depression need to have their illness treated with respect and given the appropriate health care. It would be irresponsible and egotistical of me to offer advice relating to medical depression when I have no health or counselling qualifications.

That said, there is a distinct difference between genuine clinical depression and low mood. In instances where a person believes they are suffering from depression it is always the best course of action to seek medical guidance. If however a person is not depressed but suffering from a drop in mood – or the blues as the songs like to title it – then there are ways in which the practise of witchcraft and/or magic may assist.  It is these mood boosting ways of employing the craft that I would like to discuss today.

However I do feel it important to first point out that attitude can play a big part in your own mood. One of the things that concerns me greatly about the spectrum of mental health is how quick so many people are to write themselves off with the label depressed. For some the label even becomes the excuse not to fight for a positive mood which - in turn - perpetuates the depressive state itself. Many of these people are not suffering from depression, they are suffering from a drop in mood or simply having a normal reaction to one of life’s rougher patches. I think it is important to recognise when this is the case and to understand that periods of low mood will pass and normality will be restored. Giving into it or being too quick to reach for the label is ignoring the universal truth that everybody, without exception goes through hard times on occasion.

I also think it is crucial to make every effort to avoid the one-upmanship battle that mental health seems to have become. I have (seriously) seen adults fighting over the millograms of Prozac prescribed to them in a bid to be seen as “the most depressed.” This is most certainly not the state of mind you want to be in to ward off low mood. Instead of fighting for sympathetic recognition from others, fight for happiness in your own head. If you are not as depressed as somebody else then that is a positive. Go with it and be glad about it.

That said – and with the full understanding that we are looking for ways to combat low mood and not clinical depression – let’s look at some of the ways this can be achieved. The first and probably the most important point is that hiding away from the world is unlikely to help. Maintaining a routine encourages you to get washed and dressed and to undertake your daily tasks. Allowing yourself to get behind with your jobs will only make you feel less out of control and promote the sense of failure that you are falling behind with the things that need to be done. If at all possible – work through it and soldier on.

Important as it is to maintain a routine and keep yourself occupied it is also crucial that you give your mind a chance to process anything that is causing the low mood. Keeping yourself so busy that you can’t tackle what is going on in your mind will catch up with you eventually and you will simply wear yourself out.  Try setting aside 15 minutes to just sit and focus in silence on all the things that are worrying you or playing on your mind. Sometimes an anxious state of mind can be brought on by the understanding that something is bothering you which hasn’t yet been addressed by the front of your conscious mind. Tackling these worries head on can often reduce the worry they inspire.

Worries that impact on the mood can feel like baggage that has to be carried around all the time. Chronic worriers often have a sense of dread that if they stop focusing on the worry it will somehow become worse while their attention is diverted from it. This constant holding of a worry in the mind can be exhausting. One of the best ways to combat this is to write down everything on your mind. You can use a worry notebook or - for the more magically inclined - the preference might be for a worry jar. Write down every current concern that a 15 minute meditation has generated and then fold up each piece of paper and seal them up in a jar with herbs like lavender and chamomile to promote calmness. The worries can be accessed at any time and are stored “safely” but having brought them to the forefront of your mind and recorded them you no longer have to bear the constant weight of them. It is the preference of some witches to take direct action with the recorded worries and to burn them to banish and destroy the subject matter of the issue.

In much the same way as recording the worries with pen and paper you may choose to utilise cord or knot magic to record your thoughts and combat your mood. Try taking a piece of thread and focusing on each worry as you tie a knot in the thread. Infuse your anxiety into each knot until it has transferred from yourself into the thread. The thread can then be locked away, burned or cast to the winds to rid you of the source of your worries.

If the low mood isn’t caused by a tangible worry then you might want to consider a working to allow the essence of the low mood to leave you. One of the simplest ways of doing this is to take a jar with a tight sealable lid and to breathe deeply into the jar while visualising all the negativity, misery and anxiety leaving your body with the released breath. Seal the jar and store safely. (For those of you inclined to the more aggressive magics this can be an excellent ingredient for future hex work!)

Meditation can be an extremely positive way of combating low mood. Setting the scene with candles and incense will help you to relax and make it easier for your mind to immerse itself in the meditation. Meditation as an exercise of stepping from one world into another can be a total rest for the mind. Think carefully about what type of meditation you are going to use. Try and make it as visual and as realistic as possible. This is classic “happy place” territory. Imagine yourself somewhere where you know you will be at peace and focus on the sights, sounds and smells of the place your mind has gone to. The more you can direct your senses into focusing on the object of your meditation, the less of your thought processing is being used to fixate on your worries. Think of it as holidaying for the mind…

Taking a bath can help to clear your mind and one of the best ways to use a bath is to stay inside it when the plug has been drained. Lie back and concentrate on the lightening weight of the water as it drains down the plughole taking with it all the worries and stresses absorbed by the water from your body. As the bath drains you will feel a very definite sensation of getting lighter and by the time the bath has drained completely and your worries have all washed down the plughole you will feel a positive sense that a great weight has been lifted from you.

Magic can play a part in lifting the mood but I'll reiterate my first point - your own attitude is the major player in choosing your state of mind. Think down and you'll stay down. Fighting for happiness with every power at your disposal is the best way to beat back the blues for good.

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