by James Pengelly

Written for the Newcastle University Conference: Encounters of Religion

I am the regional coordinator for the Pagan Federation (PF) for Humberside, North Yorkshire, and the counties that form the northeast of England up to the Scottish Borders. The PF was founded in 1971 by a group of Gardnerian Witches, its purpose being to counter what were perceived as popular misconceptions about Witchcraft.

The main reason for the existence of the PF remains largely unchanged, as the last few years have seen what can only be described as an onslaught by various fundamentalist Christian organizations. These groups have latched onto the unfortunate and deeply sad issue of child abuse, to which they have added the word “Satanic” as a means of attacking and defaming the occult in general, and Witchcraft in particular.

I will return to this matter later in this lecture, but I mention it now to illustrate the importance of our anti-defamation work. In addition, the Pagan Federation acts as a networking organization, putting people who share views on religious and spiritual matters in touch with one another, enabling them to meet, discuss, learn, and grow through experience.

The third important aspect of our work is to increase awareness of the spiritual and cultural heritage of this country. Given that many, if not most, of our customs and traditions have roots deep in our Pagan past, and that our countryside is rich in the physical remains of this heritage, we feel that a positive promotion of this inheritance is vital to a fuller understanding of who we are.

The topic of this lecture is Being a Witch in Britain Today. Now, I think that when one mentions the word “Witch” to the average member of the public, the image immediately conjured is that of a wizened old hag brewing an extremely noxious concoction in a bubbling cauldron, probably on some windswept moor. This is, of course, Shakespearean in origin, but unfortunately, whatever his intentions were when he wrote Macbeth, William Shakespeare did Witchcraft a considerable disservice, because that image has endured.

In addition, the public is still greatly influenced by the conditioning laid down in the Middle Ages by the Church, through heavily biased historical accounts of Witch trials. Consequently, it is hardly surprising that the image many people have is of nasty, evil, thoroughly wicked people riding around on broomsticks in the dead of night, creating havoc, poisoning people right, left, and center, and doing unspeakable things with goats — not to mention chickens, frogs, toads, cats, and various other animals. Altogether, not very nice people.

It is interesting to note that even in this day and age, many people remain highly superstitious when it comes to magic, the occult, Witchcraft, and similar matters. In addition to the historical misconceptions surrounding Witches and Witchcraft, I would go so far as to say that people still retain deeply rooted superstitious attitudes. While some may automatically dismiss the idea that Witches possess any kind of magical power, deep down the majority still harbor fears that such things may indeed be possible.

At a time when humankind has seemingly achieved so much in the field of science, when so little mystery appears to remain in life because everything has been rationalized, explained, and developed far beyond what our ancestors could comprehend, the fact that people still carry superstitions and anxieties about Witchcraft and the occult in general does not altogether surprise me. If one removes mystery from life, one is left with nothing to replace it, and so one turns to that which cannot be explained. The difficulty is that for countless generations, humanity has been frightened by what it cannot explain.

This is, in part, why we now live in a scientific age: because humankind has deliberately set out to explain that which it fears. Yet very little remains that cannot be explained. One of the areas that still resists explanation is, of course, magic, Witchcraft, and the occult.

Let us, for a moment, examine the term “occult.” Occult simply means “that which is hidden.” The term has been used for centuries to describe the general workings of the universe. The creation of fire would, at one time, have been regarded as magic. Why things moved when driven by powers such as steam would have been deemed magical before the principles were understood. Illnesses were once considered occult in origin. One might impose illness upon a neighbor or friend, if one possessed the magical power to do so.

But of course, none of these things were actually magical in any literal sense. The “magic” lay in the fact that many people did not understand what was happening. Those who did understand were perceived as possessing some sort of power. The biblical phrase, “Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live,” is quite revealing in this context, because in its original form, the word translated as “Witch” did not actually mean Witch at all — it meant “poisoner.”

There is little doubt that the original village Witch would, in her own way, have been a kind of doctor, in that she or he would have understood the uses of various herbs for both good and ill purposes. Such a person could quite probably have been paid to use that knowledge to achieve a desired outcome — to heal or to harm. Consequently, the village Witch was someone both feared and respected.

As the Christian Church gained power, the older Pagan ways came to be seen as something to be eradicated. I do not think this was especially a spiritual battle. It was a battle for power. It was simply one religious-political system seeking to gain control over another. And as Christianity grew in strength, largely through fear and oppression, the old ways were increasingly presented as evil, wicked, and intolerable.

This situation remained largely in place until 1951, when the last laws remaining on the English statute books against Witchcraft were repealed, and what is now commonly referred to as the British Revivalist Craft came to light. The fact that it had, in some form or another, managed to survive through countless generations was, in itself, remarkable.

We now know that what are often referred to as the Hereditary Craft and the Traditional Craft were, to a certain extent, passed down from generation to generation, either within specific families or within small, usually rural and farming, communities. It was this that the late Dr. Gerald Gardner is thought to have discovered and developed into what is today known as the Revivalist Craft.

His work was later developed by others, such as Alex Sanders, who founded the Alexandrian Craft, and more recently by Janet and Stewart Farrar. Their writings are very well known, popular, and widely available, and they have helped create what is sometimes jokingly referred to as the Farrarian Craft — a hybrid mixture of Gardnerian, Alexandrian, and their own methods of working.

Being a Witch in this country today is not necessarily difficult, but neither is it necessarily easy. There is still a great deal of superstitious prejudice and nonsense directed toward Witches. And this is fueled — and that is the only word I can think of — to a large extent by certain parts of our national media, especially the more lurid tabloid press, and, of course, Christian fundamentalist groups, who over the last few years have expanded at a rather alarming, and for many non-Christians, rather frightening rate.

The phenomenon of Christian fundamentalism is something that has largely been imported into this country from America, where it has been a populist Christian movement for many years. One only has to look at the news from the past few years concerning certain American fundamentalist leaders to realize that they are, basically, like so many of us human beings — subject to all the same little failings, and just as capable of being led astray as any of us.

The rising issue of fundamentalism is, as I say, quite frightening because it seeks to impose a set of standards, a set of behaviors, and a set of religious beliefs on everyone, none of which may be questioned. This is one reason why we are finding so many people now turning to Paganism in its broadest sense, and to Wicca in particular. Wicca, of course, being the commonly used modern term for Witchcraft.

People turn to us because they are disillusioned by the level of dogma and imposition they find within established Christian traditions, whether Church of England, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or some of the more extreme fundamentalist sects.

People seem now to be dividing into groups. There are those who are “the led,” who search for leaders. And when they find a leader prepared to tell them what to do, when to do it, how to think, and how not to think, they latch onto that and go on quite happily in their own way because they wish to be told. On the other hand, there are an increasing number of people who are prepared to listen to what others have to say, but then prefer to go away, make up their own minds, and work things out for themselves.

We are finding more and more that this is what Paganism in general, and Wicca in particular, provides. It offers people the means by which they can form deeply personal relationships with their own perceptions of deity. They can work with that perception, and they can utilize it within a framework that is, generally speaking, of a very high moral and ethical standard.

The idea that Witches are evil, nasty, wicked people who go around sticking pins into little lumps of wax shaped like a person and containing fingernails, hair, and various bodily parts, is increasingly being recognized as grossly untrue. We must remember that many of the popular perceptions of the Witch are, as I have already said, largely determined by historical records — records written by people whose interest it was to defame the Witch and portray her, or him, as an evil person. But even these narratives are now being challenged by more and more people.

So, as I have said, being a Witch in this country today is not always easy. On the one hand, you may encounter extreme prejudice; on the other, you may be met with equally extreme derision. A number of perfectly normal, sane, rational people I know think that the fact I am a Witch is a huge joke. I am very used to people asking me, “When can I come round to your house and take all my clothes off?” My usual response is, “Any time you like, provided I’m not having my tea or watching Coronation Street. But believe me, pal, you’re on your own.”

I personally find this to be the best way to deal with such things. If you can turn the question into a joke aimed at yourself, people are comfortable with that and tend to go away thinking that, basically, you are a decent sort of person with some rather unusual ideas. If, on the other hand, you become intensely defensive, the opposite can happen, because they will assume you have something to hide — something you do not wish to discuss. And we all know that when faced with that kind of situation, the human mind is capable of conjuring up all sorts of unpleasant images.

So I stand before you today proclaiming myself to be a Witch. I do not particularly like using the term, but it is a term with which most people are familiar, so within the context of this lecture, I am content to use it. And I stand before you here not as a wizened old crone dressed in rags and tatters, with a wart on the end of my nose, but, I hope, as a fairly presentable man in early middle age who has a respectable job. I have a house, a mortgage, a small daughter, and, like many people of my generation, I am separated from my wife for purely personal reasons. I am, to all intents and purposes, an ordinary person. And yet I stand before you here and tell you that I am a Witch.

What does this mean for me personally? Basically, like most Witches, I am a Pagan. I believe in the Old Religion — the religion that existed worldwide before Christianity, Hinduism, or Islam took hold over large parts of the world. Once upon a time, whether people care to admit it or not, the whole world was Pagan.

Paganism then was vastly different from Paganism today. There are those who go about saying they are practicing pre-Christian Paganism. I would say that, while they are not necessarily deluding themselves, they are misleading themselves. What we are practicing today is the spirit of ancient Paganism. We cannot possibly practice ancient Paganism in its original form, because if we did, we would be engaging in such things as blood sacrifice and other practices that form no part of modern Pagan tradition.

Witchcraft is a subsystem of broad Paganism. Most Witches regard it as the mystery aspect of Paganism. By “mystery aspect,” I mean that one searches for the spark of the ultimate divine source that is inherent within each of us, in the hope that one may find it, come to terms with it, and accept it as part of oneself.

Most Pagans believe in an ultimate creative source. Christians call it God. We believe there exists, somewhere in the greater universe, the source of all creation. We do not give it a name, nor do we give it a form. It is, in our understanding, entirely neutral. It is all things in one thing. It is all things, and it is nothing. It is largely beyond our reach. Some people aspire to attain union with the ultimate, but very, very few ever do. Consequently, most Pagans choose to leave it alone.

It is unreachable, and, because it is neutral in form, it is unaware of our existence. What we do instead is aspect it; we divide it into the various components that compose it. The most fundamental division is gender: male and female. If the ultimate creative source is all things, then it must contain both male and female aspects. Thus, the ultimate male aspect becomes the God, and the ultimate female aspect becomes the Goddess.

Below this, one may continue dividing into further aspects as one chooses, until one reaches the level of elementals, nature spirits, and so forth. The idea is that all natural things, coming from the ultimate creative source, contain a spark of that source, and therefore all things are inherently sacred.

We reject entirely the Christian concept that man is born sinful and must spend his whole life begging forgiveness for sins, real or imagined. We believe that it is precisely this attitude that causes humankind to do many of the things it does. If you raise someone and condition them to believe that they are inherently bad, they are likely to behave accordingly.

Pagans and Witches believe that a person is born inherently sacred, and that it is what he or she does with life that makes one good or bad. It has nothing to do with God, the Gods, the Goddesses, or anything else. Consequently, Paganism and Witchcraft are extremely responsible forms of religious practice, in that they teach that we are responsible for what we do and for the effects our actions have on those around us, both immediately and in the wider world.

We believe in what is commonly referred to as the ripple effect. Drop a stone into a pond, and it will create ripples that continue until they reach the bank and are forced to stop. If you regard the universe as a very large ocean, every action each of us takes creates a ripple effect. On a universal scale, those ripples may be imperceptible, but they are there nonetheless. If we regard life in this way, then we must immediately take stock of what we do and act accordingly.

Now obviously, it is not possible to take this philosophy to an extreme, otherwise one would literally do nothing. If one flushes the toilet, one is potentially contributing to sea pollution. If one turns on an electric light, one is potentially contributing to air pollution. Whatever one does is likely, somewhere along the line, to have a detrimental effect on someone or something.

The Witch or Pagan judges what he or she is doing with life and tries to determine the least harmful way of living. It requires a great deal of thought, a great deal of honesty and self-analysis, and no small amount of self-sacrifice. It forces one to look at how one relates to oneself and to the life around us, because we believe that all natural things in this world are sacred and are therefore to be treated with respect.

So, what then is our relationship with our perception of divinity? As I have already mentioned, we personalize aspects of the ultimate creative source. These personifications can be drawn from one or another of the existing Pagan pantheons, such as Norse, Greek, Roman, or Egyptian, or they may be created on a much more personal level, where the individual personalizes whatever aspect of divinity they wish to work with at a given moment.

Most Witches have the Great Goddess and the Horned God. The horns, incidentally, have absolutely nothing to do with the Christian concept of the devil having horns. They are usually personified in this country as deer’s antlers, simply symbols of power and strength. The Great Goddess is seen as the Mother of all things, and the Horned God as her consort, who is also frequently linked with the Sun as the All-Father.

Below that, we have the Triple Goddess, whose symbol is the Moon: the Maid, the Mother, and the Crone. Then there are countless other personifications, largely based on the preference of the individual or group carrying out whatever work is being done. This may seem an immensely complicated system, and indeed it sometimes requires a great deal of understanding. But one has to relate it to the natural seasonal cycle — the festivals that most Pagans, whatever their tradition, will follow.

The seasonal cycle basically follows the agricultural and solar cycle of the year. We have eight major festivals.

The first, and possibly the most important, is Samhain, spelled S-A-M-H-A-I-N, commonly known as Hallowe’en, and thought to have been the time when the ancient Celts celebrated the New Year. It marked the end of one agricultural year and the beginning of the next. It was the final onset of winter. It was also, as it is commonly regarded today, a festival of the dead.

The modern concept of ghosts and ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties and things that go bump in the night stems directly from the Celtic feast of the dead. This is not some necrophiliac attempt to summon spirits for evil purposes; it was, and still is, simply a time when one reflects upon the memories of lost loved ones and friends, and hopes to gain some insight into one’s own life from the lessons learned from those who have gone before. It is interesting to note that even in its Christianized form — Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve — it remains a festival of the dead.

The midwinter solstice is, of course, Yule, an Anglo-Saxon word so old that its meaning is now completely forgotten. It has been suggested that it could mean “wheel,” and within a Pagan or Wiccan context the year is often referred to as the “Wheel of the Year,” in that it turns on and on. Yule celebrates the rebirth of the Sun. It is indeed interesting that Christians should have taken this festival to mark the birth of Christ, when the historical evidence we have suggests that Christ was actually born in either March or September.

From there we move to Imbolc, Christianized as Candlemas, which represents the first stirring of spring and the gradual return of light. We then have the Spring Equinox, when the earth comes fully back to life, and which has become largely associated with Easter. Many people today do not realize that Easter is a movable feast because its date is set as the first Sunday after the first full Moon following the Spring Equinox. And if that is not a Pagan concept, I really do not know what is.

In fact, the very name “Easter” comes from the Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess Eostre, and many of the items traditionally associated with Easter, such as eggs and rabbits, are directly derived from Pagan ideas and symbols.

Then follows Beltane, which is interesting in that it is the only Pagan holiday without a direct Christian counterpart. This is probably because of its overtly sexual nature. It is interesting that children conceived at Beltane were often born on or around Imbolc, which is lambing time in the sheep farmer’s year. Ewe’s milk would once have been important in strengthening children for the last part of winter and helping them grow through spring and summer.

After Beltane, we have, of course, the Summer Solstice, or midsummer, which represents the Sun at its height. Solstices and equinoxes are all solar festivals — the union of Sun and Earth producing the harvest to come.

Lughnasadh, commonly referred to as Lammas, which literally means “loaf-mass” from the Anglo-Saxon, marks the start of the harvest. It is the time when we prepare to cut down that which the union of the Sun and the Earth Mother has provided for us.

The Autumn Equinox is the harvest festival — a time to rest and relax after the harvest has been gathered in. And then we come back again to Samhain, or Halloween.

So, as you can see, we follow a very natural cycle. Rituals and ceremonies can vary immensely from group to group, or from individual to individual. But each one, whenever it is performed, will consist of some sort of symbolic drama that reflects what we see happening in the world around us, and how we perceive the Gods and Goddesses of Paganism or Witchcraft as playing a part in that.

There is a lot of talk about the use of spirit powers and so forth, and many Christians perceive this as being inherently very dangerous. Spiritualism, as it is commonly understood, plays very little part in Wicca. It is not something we believe should be toyed with. We may invoke upon one another the spirit of a particular God or Goddess, depending on what we are doing at the time. But all we are asking that particular God or Goddess to do is imbue us with something of their power, something of their insight. It is basically an intensely psychological process.

As we all know, if one stands in front of a mirror saying, “Every day and in every way, I am getting better and better,” one is likely to grow in self-confidence. The concept is much the same.

So, as we can see, Witches are not horrible, evil people, but generally quite ordinary, decent people who have chosen to relate more closely to the natural things around us than to some far-distant, imperceptible god-form.

But what of magic? Witchcraft is obviously very closely associated with the use of magic. So what is magic?

Magic was once described as “the art of causing change in conformity with will.” Put more simply, this means mind over matter — causing something to happen through the strength of one’s own mind. This may be a little too far-fetched for many people to accept, but when one considers the nature of prayer, one arrives at a concept that is easier to understand.

For most Witches, an act of magic is simply a form of prayer. You seek the attention of a particular God or Goddess, and ask for assistance in accomplishing something you desire. Surely this is no different from someone going into a church or synagogue, kneeling down, and saying, “Please God, help me.”

It is true that Witches may dress this up and use items of equipment and paraphernalia that are alien to a church, mosque, or synagogue. But these are primarily psychological props — means by which the individual can focus attention on something. Appropriate tools, appropriate timing, supported by fitting colors and scents, are all ways of focusing the mind onto a specific aim.

Like anything else, acts of magic do not always produce the desired result. But we choose to believe that if something does not happen, it is because it is not meant to happen, rather than because we are somehow unworthy.

Many people speak of white and black magic. This is an entirely Christian concept; we do not accept the terms white or black magic. Magic is a neutral force that is used by the individual, and it is what the individual does with it that makes it “white” or “black.” But most Witches, in using the powers available to them, will consider the implications of what they are doing, and will think very seriously before undertaking any act of magic that could prove harmful to anyone or anything, and cannot be morally or spiritually justified.

If the Craft has any “laws” as such, they apply to the use of magic more obviously than anywhere else, and there are basically two such laws.

The first is more of an ethic: “An it harm none, do what thou wilt.” On the face of it, this seems to offer carte blanche to do whatever one wants, so long as no one gets hurt. But if regarded within the context of the ripple effect mentioned earlier, its relevance and importance become much clearer.

In addition to this, most Wiccans subscribe to what is usually referred to as the Law of Threefold Return, which basically means that the result of an act reflects back upon the instigator threefold. As you can probably appreciate, this is worth serious consideration if what one is contemplating is potentially or deliberately harmful.

Between the clearly “white” and “black” areas of magic, however, lies the “grey” area. This is difficult to define, as it depends largely upon the conscience of the individual. But whatever the shade, a Witch will never undertake any act of magic without serious consideration of all the questions and implications surrounding it.

To return to the matter of so-called Satanic child abuse: the suggestion that there exists some kind of organized conspiracy of Satanic-based child abuse is nonsense. It is a myth created entirely by so-called Christian extremists whose intention is to foment a modern Witch-hunt in much the same way that the Nazis fomented hatred against the Jews. There is no question of that.

Whilst I would not deny that there may be sick criminal perverts who use the cover of the occult in general, and Witchcraft in particular, to abuse children, these people are not Witches. They are sick and evil criminals who deserve the full weight of the law.

To specifically identify Wicca with child abuse is criminally irresponsible, as it brands a great many totally innocent people as potential child abusers. And given that this is such an intensely emotive issue, there is a real danger of provoking a lynch-mob mentality, with all the horror that implies.

If we are to judge an entire belief system on the basis of the actions of a few perverts, then one could equally point the finger at the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church, both of which have suffered publicity concerning members of their clergy being convicted of these very crimes. Recently, in this country alone, there have been several instances of Church of England and Roman Catholic clergy abusing children, and there is evidence to suggest that it is rife within the Roman Catholic Church in America.

I pass no judgment on the churches for that. That comes down to individuals, and once again, we return to the principle of individual responsibility for one’s own actions.

For a Witch to abuse a child is total anathema. It is contrary to everything we hold close to our hearts. Our children are our future. If we abuse them, we risk turning them into abusers. Apart from the fact that in abusing them we abuse that which is part of the sacred, the ultimate divine source. Children born in love and unity are sacred and should be treated as such. There is no evidence, other than in the minds of those making the allegations, that so-called Satanic abuse exists.

As to the future, and what we would like: basically, all we seek is the acceptance of society to be what we are, and to practice what we choose to practice. We do not seek to impose ourselves on anyone or anything. More than anything else, we wish to exist in harmony with members of other religions, who have every right to believe what they choose to believe. All we ask is that they afford us that same right.

Nobody has the right to impose their values upon another person, except in a purely secular social context where rules and regulations are necessary to prevent total anarchy.

On the spiritual level, the individual has the right to choose what form of religion he or she will follow, and how he or she will perceive their own God. When one looks around the world today, one can see that many of the conflicts in places such as Yugoslavia and Northern Ireland have a religious basis. They are based upon one group of people attempting to impose its religious form upon another. This, we feel, is entirely wrong.

Since the onset of Christianity, it has too often been the case that one religion has tried to impose itself upon another. Millions of people have died in modern times for this very reason. So much harm, suffering, and pain could have been avoided if humankind simply accepted that one person has no right to impose his religion upon another.

We do not ask for converts. We do not actively seek converts. All we ask is to be left alone in peace, to do what we feel is right. We would dearly love to work in harmony with members of other religions toward a greater good. Surely, although we walk different paths, our ultimate aim should be the same — to help create a world that can live in peace with itself.

We believe that our way is one way to achieve that. We do not say it is the only way; we say it is one way. Our paths may not meet, and they may not cross, but they can run in parallel. And if we can hold hands across the divides between us, surely the world will be a better place.

We have a great deal in common. Each religion professes a love of humanity. Each religion professes a love of the world around us. And yet so few of those religions that profess these beliefs actually do very much about them.

We do not say, as I have already said, that ours is the only way, the one way, or the true way. There is no one true way. The Arabs, I think, have a saying — though I may have it wrong — that there are a million ways to God, and it is for each of us to find our own. This, we feel, is a fundamental truth.

We believe passionately that the world would be a better place if half the people in it stopped trying to impose their will upon the other half. We have no desire to do this. We wish to move forward with others, whether or not they share our beliefs, toward a better world.

This paper may be freely copied or republished, provided it is copied or republished in its entirety without changes, and authorship is credited to James Pengelly, Pagan Federation.

James Pengelly
The Pagan Federation
BM Box 7097
London WC1N 3XX