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 There were two great topics, “Is Christian Witchcraft a thing?” And “What is Magic?” To get things started I gave my own simplified definition of “Magic is everything you say and do, it is all energy.” And the conversation was off!
“It’s energy alright, but it’s what you do with the energy. The craft of Witchcraft is knowing how to focus and use the energy.”
“Magic is the exercise of the Will to manipulate the (quantum) fields of energy that embody the universe. We have only the faintest ideas about how this is done… but we are learning.
“For me, magick is as simple as the act of breathing.”
“That’s pretty close to my definition also.”
“Magic is thaumaturgy & thaumaturgy is the working (turgy) of the miracle (thauma).”
“The miracle works, if you work the miracle”
“Majick is the intentional and deliberate application of Hermetic Principles to set into motion a stirring of energies for the purpose of manifesting specific desired change in ourselves and our environment.”
“I have always felt it’s energy and the Craft is the focus and direction of that energy.”
“A certain thing you want so you do certain things to get certain results.”
The Christian Paganism came up when a member posted the following after seeing books by the titles of Discovering Christian Witchcraft and the Path of the Christian Witch.
“Came across these books in a “spiritual bookclub” group. I am verrrrrry skeptical. I’ve never been able to reconcile Christianity and Paganism/Witchcraft. Kinda like you can’t be a vegan carnivore.
One thing that pops right out at me is- there is only a cross, not a cross and a pentacle, on the Christian Witchcraft book. So… witchcraft is all good except for the pentacles. And the Goddess (unless her name is Mary). And also all the gods and goddesses. I just…. don’t like it. Maybe I am jaded by my own baggage. Is Christian witchcraft a thing now? Your thoughts?”
“I think it depends on the persons interpretation of Christianity. I think most Appalachian Granny Witches consider themselves Christian, as do folks who work with Christ consciousness, and Magdalen magic. I personally don’t work with Abrahamic deities or practices, but I have many clients who fall into the above categories.”
“Right and I vaguely remember something about the Romany using Psalms too.”
“When the metaphysical store nearest me shut down, those of us who gathered there for ritual relocated, with many of us finding a Unitarian Universalist church to be welcoming and a place we could worship.
After our first Esbat together, I talked to those gathered. I was of the incorrect belief that those I had just shared rituals with were all Wiccans who happened to go to the UU church.
Instead, I found there was a Quaker, some pagan (Not Otherwise Specified), some atheist / humanist, some questioning/seeking, and one who called themselves a Christian Witch.
It baffled me that someone would be comfortable putting those two words together.
They were comfortable calling the corners but not invoking God/Goddess, and wanted no god/dess idols on our altar.
They were very into green majick / herbology and candle majick, and were into botanicals and non-pharmaceutical health products, they wanted nothing to do with Tarot or other forms of divination. They were fine with triquetra, or celestial jewelry, not okay with pentacles at all.
I sympathized with them being caught between two worlds and not really fitting in either.
While some seemed uncomfortable socializing and being friendly with them, I found they were gentle, kind, and selfless, always putting others ahead of themselves. They volunteered a lot.
They didn’t stay with our group long (a lot of people spend small periods in UU settings while transitioning from one path to another), but I was grateful for the opportunity to meet them.”
“to everyone with such concerns I recommend the following book, by our beloved Oberon..It is a book of stories of people who have left christianity and found paganism, it has helped many I have referred it to and yes Christian Witch is a thing, back in my mom’s time it was called christian mystic..https://www.amazon.
“A lot of their interpretation of witchcraft is that it’s a magic practice, and not a religious path of worship. I know a whole lot of Christians who practice magic and cast spells and fit it into their belief systems. They may not be regular church goers, but they still identify as Christians and of have a basic christian belief system of god and Jesus. In this way I think it fits in fine with the occult. Personally I understand the term ‘Christian Witch’ much more then I understand the term ‘Christian Pagan’.”
“but their book, supposedly the word of their god, forbids magic practices.”
“I know, but who cares what their book says? I mentioned that they aren’t usually regular churchgoers. Christianity has had a huge cultural impact on people who were raised in the West. The bible also says not to commit adultery. Can a person who has cheated not identify as a Christian? Or someone who has had premarital sex? People can identify as a Christian if they believe in Christ as the son of God. They don’t have to be sinless to be a Christian. It’s easy for Pagans to chastise Christians about the Bible, a book of rules, when we have no established rules of the sort to adhere to.”
“How do you practice witchcraft if magic is forbidden, and it is decreed that witches should be killed? How do you reconcile that?”
“Then why do they practice magic if they care? They Do practice magic. Millions of them do, all around the world. The qoute about killing witches that you referred to has been widely reported as a misinterpretation of “never suffer a poisoner”. People realize the bible is full of misinterpretations (intentional and not), and that scriptures were added and removed over the past 2000 years. I guess what you’re saying is they can’t be a Christian and practice magic. Because their holy book says so. But people are much more complex then that.”
“actually it says Sorcerers should be killed. There is actually a difference. The word was later replaced with witches. Yet the Jews have their grimoire, the Qabbala.
Remember you are going with a Western translated Bible. If you read the Bible in the middle east you get a way different translation. Hades, Hell, homosexual. None of these words are in their Bible. Phrophets are basically Seers, no different than say a Völva.
Yeshua was referred to as a Kingpriest in the Order of Melchizedek. Kingpriest was just another word for Magi. Then there is the men (and women) who came to visit and show homage to the toddler Yeshua who were Persian Magis. Yeshua even told the Priest that we are all gods in the Temple.
My mentor, the Welsh Druidess, Nia Reed, taught me to ignore the modern Christians, and read the Bible as though the Druids wrote it. She said it would make more sense.
Remember, the Bible is a bunch of separate books & letters that some priests decided to put together and call the Bible. If you read only Yeshua words alone, you would find a completely different path from what modern western Christians practice.
Rome weaponize the Bible. Put that aside. Modern Christians cherry pick a very small piece of these scriptures to support their hate & moral rules. They ignore all of the important parts.
Rabbi Yeshua wasn’t a Christian, and he said himself that many would come in his name and he knows them not. The Prophets were Seers & Wizards.
Yeshua speaks of the Mother often if you do a true deep dive.
Melchizedek himself was a highpriest of a Canaanite polytheistic religion and he served the Most High El. He was the Most High because he was the chief of a pantheon of gods. This comes from Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, of the Pre-Hebrew, Semitic people. Judhaic monotheism was born out of this older tradition/lore, and as I said earlier, Yeshua was said to be a Kingpriest like Melchizedek & not the later Mosaic tradition.
Yeshua never claimed a new religion. The Jewish priest put him to death because he was attempting to revive their pre-Mosaic tradition. He was a polytheistic Reconstructionist. He went to his death still holding the title Rabbi. He himself never claimed to be anything else greater.
We need to realize the religious trauma we received from American/European Christianity and their Jesus is not in any shape or form connected to the Magi known as Rabbi Yeshua.
When one dives down the rabbit hole of the mystical teaching of the man himself, Rabbi Yeshua and not the Roman weaponizing of his Gospels, you quickly realize the Christian Witch are not Traditional Western Christians.
Remember Witch just means Wise One & Witchcraft means Wise One + Craft (German word Kraft meaning power). So Wise One Power, or as we say today, Craft of the Wise.
So our European word Witch means different than how the the Hebrew used the word sorcerer or sorcery. It was a kinda of magick.
Moses, Elijah & Yeshua himself all used magick.”
“Christian Witchcraft has always been a thing. Catholics are a prime example. It doesn’t bother me as long as they aren’t trying to convert anyone or shame polytheists. Their patron god is Jesus.”
“Most American folk magic has Christian roots, be it root work, conjure, pow wow, Appalachian granny witches.
From the witchcraft perspective I was taught witchcraft is a practice, not a religion; that one can have any religion or none and be a witch.
In these respects Christian witches make sense to me. Those book covers on the other hand just don’t feel right to me. There’s something smarmy about them; or maybe that’s just my bias. They are definitely more from a certain type of Christian symbology.
To answer this fully perhaps definitions of both witchcraft and Christian would help. Does witchcraft include any aspects of a religion? What Christian tradition? Some would accept Christian witches more than others”
“This is a rather touchy subject. Especially in that alot of Christians still cause trouble at our events. They ripped much from paganism then persecuted and killed our ancestors for it.
On the other hand, I’m trying to see a positive here… Which is change, or an attempt to change the Christian mindset toward witchcraft and pagans.
But I can only wonder, what parts are really reflecting the craft, or how much is twisted. Though everyone is different. Idk. Personally, I don’t like it. I wonder how many are infiltrating Paganism, with a hidden agenda to convert us?”
“My understanding is that witchcraft is a practice not tied to religion. So why not Christians? They have practiced their religion a thousand years and still practice forms of witchcraft, even if they don’t call it that.”
“What about all that “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” and a specific condemnation of tarot and “fortune telling,” as well as a century’s worth of burning people alive for practically herbal medicine or having a cat or being old and ugly?”
“that’s completely separate to the question, isn’t it? While we may agree that Christianity has committed many atrocities against other faiths, the question remains, can Christians practice witchcraft. I think the evidence shows that they do, no matter what they think of other faiths.”
“It’s not new, it’s as old as Christianity is. The 16th and 17th century grimoires describe how to summon angels and demons to do your bidding call on Abrahamic names and Christ, and scripture, to compell those spirits. I don’t understand why so many of us Pagans conflate pagan with witch. I’m a witch, but most of the Pagans I meet are not witches. They have little interest in magic, and are only interested in reviving ancient worship practices. To my mind celebrating sabbats and worshipping pagan gods is not witchcraft, it’s paganism.”
“While the bible says all that about divination and all that.. It is also full of divination and magical practices done by notable Christians. Those who interpret dreams, Wise men who are asked for their wisdom, Stone tablets coming from burning bushes, A coat of many colors that protects someone and so on. My mom sat next to me in church and would whisper…that is witchcraft, that is an incantation i.e. the Lords prayer.. and so on.”
“Christian witches? Sure, spirituality is one’s own choice. Still, at anytime a Christian witch wants to cross the bridge full witch I will be there with those of a like mind.”
Wow! What an enlightening conversation! Lets us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Cat Gina Cole is a Hereditary Witch and author of Psychic Skills for Magic and Witchcraft (Llewellyn, 2022). She is the founder of The Coven of the Rising Phoenix and Staff Coordinator for “Green Egg Magazine.” You can reach her at www.catginacole.com.