One of the things that I am sure will be a question posed to me some time or another is why be a Christian Witch and not just a Wiccan and isn't that impossible for you to do? Believe me, I have struggled with that question and while I have not come up with any sort of concrete answers, I know that I have made one of the most important decisions of my life.
When I embarked on my journey, I encountered many people who call themselves Sophia Christians and Christo-pagans and I don't have a problem with their view point, it is their choice, but I decided fairly early on that I didn't feel their path was necessarily my path. For those of you who don't know what a Sophia Christian is or a Christo-pagan, a Sophia Christian believes that in addition to the male divinities of Christ and God as Christians believe, there is also a female divinity called the Sophia or Wisdom. A Christo-pagan believes in the Christian concepts of God and Christ but also embraces the divinities of the Pagan cultures as equal divinities.
Modern Witchcraft has deep feministic views that eschews the male dominated priesthood of Judeo-Christian and Islamic views of God. They believe that in order for there to be balance there has to be a feminine divinity equal to God. This Goddess is the co-creator of everything and works hand in hand with the male divinity. This, they believe, is the way to bring harmony in all things in nature and the supernatural and the various opposites that create energies that are the foundation of the Craft. They tend to overlook strong women of scripture who play important roles in the Christian faith because they see them as some how hampered by society or by orthodoxy or by modern religion.
For me, the feminine is represented by Mary, the virgin mother of Christ. She is, I feel the only female archetype. She was a young girl visited by an angel and overshadowed by the spirit of the living God and through her all prophecies were fulfilled and the promise of salvation was delivered to us. But is she a "goddess"? No, but she is blessed on earth and in heaven and she is the mediator to the world and hears the prayers of God's people. She is described in the Bible as the woman with the moon at her feet and wearing a crown of twelve stars. She is caught up in the heaven of heavens and sits before the throne of the Lord and her Son, Jesus Christ. She is the new Eve, redeeming woman for the perceived crimes of temptation.
My Wiccan and Sophia Christian and Christo-pagan colleagues see her as a defeated woman because she remained sexual virgin. But I would remind my brothers and sisters in the Craft that there are many female divinities in antiquity who remained virgins and had great power.
Because I could not give up my Christian beliefs, but believed in the power of the Craft, I began a course of study and found that though there are many things I cannot reconcile myself to, there are many things I can. And as so many of the books say that I have studied, the Craft is elastic and can be molded to accept change. But what about other Christians, what do I say to them? This is what I say. The Bible is full of the Craft. It talks about seeing angels and mixing herbs for healing and ritual cleansings. It speaks of dream interpretation and exorcisms and the laying on of hands. It contains rituals that call for cymbals and bells and incense and candles and food offerings. It has the supernatural powers of the bronze snake and it has the rod of Moses which is thought of as a wand. There are even times when women will prophesy and testify and will even act as the priest of the hearth. There is even astronomy and astrology. Astrology, for instance when the three magi went in search of the Christ Child, they followed the star. The star not only led them to the place he was born, but told the magi the type of person born under that star. That is astrology.
Does that mean that if I read my horoscope and it tells me that I will have bad day that I will cower under my bed? No, but I will be careful in all that I do. If I lay out a tarot spread and it it looks like a gloomy future ahead, will I give up? No, but I will try to avoid the things that will be obstacles in my path. The Craft isn't about calling up demons and blood sacrifices, it is about embracing the nature God gave us and the nature God lives in and understanding it to the betterment of those around me. I have heard it said thet casting spells is "praying with props" and in some ways that is true and while my colleagues who follow other magikal disciplines call upon their divinities, I will be calling on mine.
For my next blog, I will discuss divinations, spells and the use of candles and poppets in the Craft.
Blessed Be
Aslinn Dhan
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