Common Misconceptions Of Being A Witch

There are so many common misconceptions of being a witch and I am going to discuss quite a few.

Now this is quite tongue in cheek and not to be taken as a law, this is simply my thoughts before anyone gets their kecks in a twist and start screaming ‘YOU ARE NOT RIGHT’ in shouty capitals, or throw their phones in a fit of rage.

If you fancy getting angry over reading this? Well crack on my love. Don’t bother leaving me comments about how I am wrong or forcing a religion on me.

I am going to talk about some common misconceptions that us, as witches – face daily.

So eventually I will get round to writing more secular posts on origins, where the negative connotations came from but this is for another time and will be linked here eventually.

Common Misconceptions Of Being A Witch

Witches are the same, believe the same or do the same thing

Quite a common misconception, even in the circles of witches.

Each witch is different. Some are religious, some are not.

We are all very different in our beliefs, our powers and what we do.

For example – you may come across one witch who can read tarot fairly easily and naturally, then come across another that is adverse to reading the tarot.
Some may be kitchen witches, green witches, Wiccan and many more!

Paganism is such a huge branch of paths. We all walk our own.

From Eclectic witches, Green witches, Solitary Witches, Druids, Heathens, Hellenish, Wiccan, Kitchen witches. There is a path for everyone and believe me, that is not even a 10th of the list.

To find out what ‘type’ of witch they are or what they can do, simply ask. Don’t assume.

I’ve had many discussions with both witches and non witches about how varied we are in our beliefs.

Yes we have some pushy Wiccans that go mad if you say ‘Well, I don’t believe in 3 fold law’ which some actually don’t believe in. This is wrong.
On the other hand, non religious witches may push their non-beliefs on someone who has a belief structure going on. Again this is wrong.

You get this everywhere though, religious and non-religious pushing their views on others. No one should be doing this, ever!

On both sides of the coin, we should all be accepting of others and remember we are all different. We all walk different paths and we have our own ideologies.

If you believe something that another is doing is wrong, just leave them to it. The thing is that we all should remember, there is no right or wrong in Paganism and witchcraft.

The interpretation is down to the sole person, no one else.

Witches are Satanists/Devil worshippers

The most common misconception I have heard is that all witches are devil worshippers or Satanists. This is incorrect.

Yes there is Satanic witches however they are few and far between. Most Satanists go with the LaVeyan principles where they are actually atheist. The religion is coined as being materialistic and rejects any existence of supernatural beings, life after death and the such like. You can see more about this here.

A lot of witches are atheist actually, they don’t believe in a deity. The witches that are religious don’t see ‘God’ as one being, rather they have a God and a Goddess, some have more than one of each.
They will look to more Celtic, Greek and other types of deities. However they do not believe in the one true God or the devil.

Now with regards to Satan himself – this is simply a Christian belief. A very small amount of witches are actually Christian or Satanist so as believing in Satan? Highly doubtful.

Very rarely you will come across a Christian witch who believes in God and Satan. But they would not worship Satan.

This coined term was strongly misconstrued by King James the first, however it is in Christian teachings that this is the work of the devil. Of course, this is far from the truth.

We are not devil worshippers. In my case, I don’t even believe in the devil.

Total bullshit my loves!

Wicca is older then Christianity

Incorrect. Wicca was introduced around the 1950’s by Gerald Gardiner. Gerald travelled the world finding out many things about ancient belief systems and then created the Wicca movement.
At first, it was very secretive and you could only find out about it through a coven.

Across the UK, this started to become quite popular and around the 1970’s books were published by Paul Huson, Scott Cunningham, and Stewart and Janet Farrar.

From there, it really started to take off, travelling to the US and beyond.

I have seen written in many Wicca books that it is a very old religion, whereas the truth is, it’s not. Some ideologies are taken from other Pagan traditions but the actual religion Wicca, is relatively new.

If you want a more specific introduction to Wicca, of course bob on over to Wiccapedia or many websites that discuss Wicca.

Paganism though is older than Christianity. Any religion that is not Abrahmic (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) is coined as Paganism.

The term was first noted to be used by Christians who considered any other religion to be of Paganism, mainly people who practised polytheism. It was also a derogatory term in history.

This is a whole other subject and too long for one post.

Witches sacrifice living creatures and humans

Again another misconception, witches overall do not offer sacrifices in the modern day.

The sacrifices that a witch may offer would be a bowl of fruit, some feathers found on the ground, dead branches from trees.

In some cultures they may sacrifice animals and may have sacrificed humans in the very distant past, however so did other cultures that were not witches. This is more of a religious need rather than related to witchcraft itself.

Ancient Egypt was very well known for providing animals and even humans as a sacrifice to the Gods/Goddesses. They would also bury animals with people who had passed away as a sacrifice.
Ancient Greeks would also sacrifice animals on alters as gifts to again a God or Goddess.
Then Ancient Romans would also offer animals for sacrifice.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam again have tales of animal sacrifice.
You can read more about animal sacrifice here

Now getting into human sacrifice, this was quite a popular way to honour Gods/Goddesses in our pre-history.

So many cultures would offer humans as a sacrifice for a variety of reasons. From Japan whom buried maidens around the base of constructions to ward off attacks.
Aztecs sacrificed between 10,000 and 80,400 persons whom were prisoners under a ceremony.

Mongols, Scythians and early Egyptians would sacrifice their victims at a funeral to take them to the next world. Generally servants and the such like.

I would need a separate post alone on this because it is so indepth but you can read more here.

Witches are all in a coven

This is quite incorrect actually, quite a lot of witches are actually solitary practitioners. Usually covens of witches these days are mainly Wiccan. Also there is not many covens hanging about, if there is I highly doubt you will ever hear of them due to their secretive nature.

The overall majority of witches I have known are solitary with the odd one being linked to a coven at some point in their life.

As not all witches are religious or Wiccan, they don’t have a need to do more ceremonious work.

Finding a coven is literally like finding a needle in a haystack. Even as a witch myself, I only really hear of covens through word of mouth.

As covens are more on the religious side, they have strict rules and not everyone will agree with this. Hence why there are not as many covens as you imagine.

All witches have a ‘witches mark’

Again this was something that King James made up, claiming any witch will have a ‘witches mark’ however what a witches mark really is, no one has a clue.

I presume this was anyone with a birth mark, or a mole. Maybe a scar or pigmentation, indentation of the skin or anything that was considered as a ‘mark’. Which is why witches are depicted throughout modern day society with warts and all.

This is wholly unfounded.

There is absolutely no proof to say that any witch has a specific mark on them to guarantee they are a witch. I know many people with them who are not a witch and many without who are a witch.

It’s more genetics on whether we have birthmarks or moles, rather than something else at play.

Witchcraft use will open portals to hell

I recently heard this on a Facebook group and had a little chuckle to myself.

Now going back to ‘Witches don’t generally believe in Satan’ – How can a witch open a portal to somewhere they don’t believe in?

Not only that, this is absolute tripe! Yes a witch may have the power to open a portal to the other side, usually Mediums. However this doesn’t allow in ‘Demons’ and the like.

But not all Mediums are witches!

 

Some Mediums I have come across are actually Christian.

Doing a spell does not invoke evil. Doing a ritual does not invoke evil. Nothing we do will invoke evil.

I do all sorts of things and I have never had an evil entity in my home or attached to me. To be honest, my house is spirit free as I don’t allow passers by without permission. So my house is free of anything of the like.

Now there are ways you could open portals but let’s not go there on this post.

All witches are evil

 

Absolutely not true.

Wiccans for example believe in 3 fold law, what is put out there comes back 3 fold. Other witches may have a belief about things coming back from what they put out there.

Other witches do not believe in this, however this does not make them evil.

Very rarely a witch will only work on the darker side of the scale, some will do both and others will be on the lighter side.

A witch will not curse someone just because they can, some will have a real valid reason to do harm.

I am not one for doing harm, but there are times that someone needs to see the error of their ways. Sending back what they gave someone is quite common and not actually evil. More karma.

If you think of all the truly evil people in the world, leaders, serial killers and so on – are they witches? Well no. They have some form of psychological thing going on.

But of course, there are some that walk a different path but inflicting harm on others for no reason, doubtful.

We can cause natural disasters or illnesses

We can not create smallpox. Just so you know we can not create a huge storm to destroy millions of houses. Also we did not start the plague.

Although we were always blamed for this, we are not that powerful to start a random disease out of nowhere.

For example – witches would be accused of killing crops, causing wide spread famine and death. This was more so due to nature, rather than an outside force.

If you read any history, you will see that at some point throughout the years, witches were always blamed for anything bad that would happen. Especially around the 1600’s when there was widespread panic about witches.

To touch more upon this, witches were accused of killing an entire live stock, when the truth is this was some animal born disease.

Or crops would fail and die, this would be more the weather conditions or something in the soil/rain.

Obviously bad weather isn’t the outcome of a witches spell, this is just mother nature.

It’s almost like anything that happened they could not explain, it would be the work of a witch. Whereas now, we have scientifically shown the reasons for things going on such as crops dying and animal illnesses.

Don’t you think witches would be giving smallpox to people they don’t like? Maybe you need to go back and look into smallpox a little bit more. Impossible!

Witches will poison you, don’t trust a witch!

Another that made me chuckle. A witch will poison you.

Alright so some witches are deep into herbology and know quite a lot about plants that are healing, poison and so forth. But so do avid gardeners. Would you say they are poisoning people? Well, no. Didn’t think so.

I am not sure if you are aware, but poisoning someone is illegal. We’re not looking to spend some of our life in prison. So to answer your question – we are simply not that stupid.

So to say things such as ‘never eat/drink from a witch’ is absolute rubbish. I love herbal teas, okay so I don’t make my own as I am yet to set up my garden with plants and things. But what you will not find growing, is anything poisonous.

Maybe trust us a little more and we will be on hand to help you through a situation or such.

Witches are scammers

I hear this quite a lot, that witches are scammers.

Now I have to point out that there is a lot of people out there abusing our name, however that is not us.

There are scammers for everything these days, witchcraft included.

Selling wares online saying it will protect you, cure this and curse that. Some may be actual witches, but also some may not be. Research the seller before you purchase anything.

Some mediums, more so that we see on TV are known to be scammers. They are NOT witches. They are mostly Christian believe it or not!
That doesn’t mean I am saying Christians are scammers, just making you aware that there are scammers from all walks of life.

As Paganism and witchcraft becomes more popular, people will take advantage of this more often.

Ask a real witch if you are unsure, they will instantly tell you if someone is legitimate or not.

Also another point to add, not all witches (like me) make money from their craft. I don’t sell wares, I don’t charge for a reading. In fact, I work full time so I have my income coming from that. I don’t feel the need to make people pay for something I love doing.

I am not saying that every witch is a scammer at all, some want to help others and charge. That is perfectly fine. Just think of it as you buying a handmade teapot, you are paying for the time and materials. Same with purchasing anything from a witch.

Witches work skyclad (naked)

This is my favourite! Witches all work totally butt naked!

I am yet to come across a witch that does anything naked. It’s more so stories I have heard about a coven of witches running around naked and doing a ceremony or ritual.

Some witches won’t do anything outside either, generally it is in the comfort of their own home or in their garden.

Those that do, generally wear robes or something a bit more comfortable. But they aren’t naked.

Public indecency people – no one is going to be running about naked. Boobs flapping about. Nah.

A lot of films and TV shows as well as the media depict witches being naked. This is more for ‘Hollywood’ rather than the real world.

We’re not looking to have our tatas freeze off, burn our asses on a fire. Which brings me to my next point…

Witches dance around fires

Not many do this actually. Maybe a coven will have a little bonfire in a garden or something, but generally we don’t dance around the garden around a big fire. Burning some effigy. Thinking Wicker Man right?

Again, this is a rare sight to behold as we think more in terms of burning our beloved gardens. A witch with a garden – well isn’t it more realistic that they love their garden and do anything to protect it? So burning it is a big no.

Think fire safety people! We do too.

Witches own cauldrons

Some do, some don’t. You are very unlikely to see a huge cauldron in their house or garden, you might be more inclined to see a small one on their altar.

I have a very small cast iron one, more so for decoration than actual use. I prefer other ways of making things. It’s just in short – aesthetic.

It doesn’t make a spell stronger as it is all about the intention. We just like how they look.

Being a witch is like what is depicted on TV/Film

Oh so wrong.

We can’t do anything like what is depicted on TV or in films. We don’t run around changing people into a frog or moving furniture with a wand. If that was the case, our lives would be so much easier.

Witchcraft is so varied, a lot of our workings are actually olden day medicine. As an example, using herbs to treat conditions. We do that too.

We use a lot of crystals and energy for healing. Focusing on essential oils to help an array of conditions. Even something small as making food and adding ginger, garlic, rosemary. This could be considered as witchcraft if the intent there is to heal.

Quite a few witches can also use many forms of divination. Scrying, tarot, pendulums and even reading tea leaves. This too can be considered as a form of witchcraft – depending who you ask.

An every day witch will be using witchcraft for everything they do. Say they are cleaning their house, you know like normally? Well as they are doing it, they are using their intentions to also cleanse the house of anything negative or even an entity.

All witches are hereditary or stronger than non-hereditary witches

Nope, many witches don’t have any hereditary connections to another witch. Some find that this is their path.

Now some witches are hereditary but this does not make one better or more powerful. I have met some powerful witches who are not hereditary (Well, to their knowledge)

It’s all about your beliefs and how much you use it. The more you use it, the more powerful you are.

So no, being a hereditary witch doesn’t make you more powerful than someone that isn’t.

You also don’t have to be hereditary either. Some people are naturally gifted.

You can spot a witch by what they wear

Not at all! Some do aesthetically look like what you imagine a witch to look like, however many are just regular people.

No one would have a clue about me because I don’t exactly wear anything one would consider as ‘witchy’ apart from a small pentacle that is usually hidden under clothing.

Many also wear pentacles, pentagrams and other various jewellery/clothing and are not a witch. This is typical of fashions, sometimes with the ‘Goth/Metal’ scenes.

I can remember seeing people wearing t-shirt with a huge pentagram on, I would ask if they were a witch and the answer is no.

To look at me, you would have no clue at all. I wear jeans, t-shirts, hoodies and either converse or ugg type boots.

A lot of witches like to keep their practice a secret so will not be flamboyant with the aesthetic side of it.

Witchcraft isn’t real

I beg to differ. A common theme I hear is how it’s not real and there is no way a witch can heal or hex someone.

Just ask around, people have used reiki, crystal healing, herbs and so much more to help heal themselves in some way or another. Most that use this would consider themselves a form of witch.

You know that time you couldn’t sleep and you went to the pharmacy for something to help? Did you notice that it’s herbs/plants such as valerian root? Same with stress, Kalms for example is just herbs/plants. Nothing more.

When you think about it, many people use pre-modern day medicine without even knowing it.

Using bubble bath or shower gel for revitalisation, to aid sleep or muscle soaks. Well, this would be considered witchcraft if you explained that herbs were used in a bath.

Although I don’t quite see it as witchcraft, many do.

Yes I do cleansing baths frequently, but I wouldn’t exactly say this is witchcraft. More herbology. I can use the earth to help me with a situation such as sore limbs or stress.

In regards to hexing, this can actually happen. If you really upset a witch, they may be able to curse you. Although you won’t have a case of crabs or something, your life may be full of misfortune.
Things like losing your job is quite common.

Also there are ways to teach someone a lesson without doing anything on the darker side, such as throwing back your negativity, realisation spells and much more.

It’s not always so negative and let’s face it, some people do deserve to be taught a lesson sometimes. I am sure you have someone at one point in your life that you wish you could push back that intent they had on you and make them suffer in some form. Most people have thought this, it’s called revenge. Whether it is acted out or not, is another story.

Common Misconceptions Of Being A Witch

Now not everything you think or see will be true.

Media, films and TV shows like to depict another side of the craft that isn’t true at all.

I would highly recommend looking into the above and see for yourself that it’s all nonsense on the whole.

Many ideologies are created by people that were against it, usually for religious reasons.

We’re not bad people, but my opinion is – Don’t piss off a witch.