Curated By Cat Gina Cole
The Green Egg Forum is a lively hotbed of thoughtful discourse, moderated by Cat Gina Cole. In this column, Cat shares some of the most interesting and interactive posts and threads from the forum. Want to get in on the conversation? We would love to have you! Go to: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1069823176940972/ to join.
This week in the forum the conversation about Satanists continued with a member making this post:
“I’ve posted about this idea the world has that witches worship Satan, and earlier I was reading a comment that Phaedra Bonewits made that reminded me of this. I met the author of this book many years ago when she was invited as a guest to the Evangelical Church that my parents attended. She zeroed right in on me. She told me that I needed to read her book and give it careful thought and consideration. She said she could see that I wasn’t a believer and that her book would help me believe in Jesus and what the bible said. At the time, I couldn’t understand how any witch could turn away from witchcraft and become a Christian. I was struggling fiercely at the time to gain my freedom to not attend church with my family.
“Basically, this woman and I were headed in opposite directions, and she sensed that I was no Christian, that I was there under duress, and that what I professed to be at the church was a lie. A ruse to help myself appease my fanatically Christian family. I was too young then to clearly understand what I was, but I knew I had always been very different than my family. None of them would understand that I was born with a witch’s mark on my face. I didn’t even know then that the moles make a misshapen pentagram. It wasn’t until years later that a witch I met told me about my witch’s mark. I’ve always struggled with being so different.
“My parents wanted to cut off my moles when I was very young, and I cried and made such a scene of being terrified that they relented. Anyway, this author saw right through me and told me her book could help me to really know and accept Jesus, I told her I wasn’t in the least bit interested. She told me that Satan had deceived me, and I told her I didn’t believe in Satan any more than I believed in Jesus. She told me that was how Satan had deceived the world, by making mankind believe that he didn’t exist.
“She was asked to speak to the congregation during the service and as they do in Pentecostal churches she announced that the holy spirit was moving a non-believer that was present among them to come forward and reveal their sins of witchcraft and devil worship, well, I wasn’t moved at all and had no intention of coming forward, so, things were a little awkward when the power of the holy spirit failed to bring forth a heretic for the congregation. I never did read ‘The Witch that Switched’ and as I suspected from what the author said to me, she thought she worshipped Satan.
“I gathered as much from the synopsis for the book which I read on Goodreads. She describes herself as the most wicked woman in the world. Anyway, this whole association of witchcraft with Devil Worship bothers me. I see it everywhere, even in the long ago, even from this ‘witch’, whom I believe may have mistaken herself for a witch when what she actually was, was a Satanist. Idk.
“Thanks for reading my little personal history, if you made it this far. What are your thoughts on this? Why is witchcraft always associated with Satanism and devil worship? Update: Do you think the practice of witchcraft would be more widely accepted without it’s association made by others, with Satanism and Devil worship?”
Here are the following replies:
“Given that there is not, and there never has been, any such thing as a “High Wicked Witch of Florida” or any other place, I suspect this woman lied through her teeth about all of it.”
“I suspect that you are spot on correct. High Wicked Witch just sounds too awesome. Like the witch that the Wicked Witch of the West and the Wicked Witch of the East are bound to do her bidding and maybe a Grand Good Witch that Glinda the Good Witch of the North, and the Good Witch of the South are beholden to. Something like that?”
“I think that the devil being associated with witchcraft is entirely a Christian creation. That is what they assumed, and did their best to make real, and that is how they wrote about it too.”
“This is something that has been believed for so long that there are some pagans and witches who also associate witchcraft with the Devil as well. Though not in the negative manner Christians do. They see him as The Man in Black, the Man at the Crossroads. They see him as a high-ranking spirit that they can form a contractual relationship with to perform feats of magic. For me personally, the Devil is not someone I wish to work with.”
“A good chunk of that can be traced back to the 1597 edition of King James’ book Demonology. It inspired a witch craze and 25 people were burned but it is in that 1597 edition that he claimed witches were dancing with the devil.”
“I find that many Christians are told witchcraft is evil. It’s amusing to see how some of their opinions change after they realize I am a witch, out of the broom closet, and I do good things and don’t worship Satan. For some, I completely change their opinion. I received a gift from a Southern Baptist friend, pagan prayer beads she made for me. I use them daily. Things are slowly changing, where change is possible. We’ve had some pastors offer us worship space in their churches, so they don’t consider us evil. Not all sects of Christianity are as tolerant. Only Christians believe in Satan.”
“Satanists don’t believe in Christianity, and they don’t worship Satan. That’s probably why they get miffed, because they view that as insulting. They use Satan as an example of free will, and the Baphomet figure as his symbol. There are some cultists who do worship him, and they may call themselves Satanists, but they are not part of that official tradition. Satanists are actually civil libertarians, and very active in fighting for it.”
In a follow up post to this topic this was posted…
Well, while we are talking about the church and the bible here is something you may also enjoy…This is the same King James that wrote the book on Demonology in 1597 btw… Why the King James Bible of 1611 Remains the Most Popular Translation in History | HISTORY
“I have read many versions of the Bible and learned several languages so I could read the source documents in their original language rather than trusting translations. I love the poetic language of the King James version, and if I am going to read the scriptures in English, that is usually my choice. But I do not find it to be a very accurate translation.”
“I do not think many do find it an accurate translation.”
And there was much more discussion about these topics. Personally, I find the “friction” between Christianity, the devil and Witchcraft to be very like the Pagan saying “There is no light without the dark.” If Christians and Witchcraft did not have the other to compare themselves to, would it have as much meaning to us? I think that having something we compare our differences against keeps us present in our values and practices. What do you think? Leave a comment and join the conversation!