Wicwiz  

Witchcraft

As this is not an uptight debate on something but this what I personally define to what I think is not Hollywood hocus-pocus. Cause that what makes us look bad.  It is not bending the natural order of things to fit your needs or desires. If that is what you are looking for, you are in the wrong place. We have had enough bad press over the past few centuries and are working hard to turn those misconceptions around. We do not need people running around claiming to put spells and hexes on people because they cannot face reality, are not willing to work for what they want or are looking for an easy solution to their problems. Craft doesn't work that way or nothing can exist without the interaction of feminine and masculine energy. This creative energy is omnipresent. They are concepts that allow the human mind to comprehend the creative force of the world around us strongly influenced by the Living Nature worship traditions of tribal peoples in other parts of the world. We worship the sacred as immanent in Nature, often personified as Mother Earth and Father Sky. As polytheists, they may use many other names for Deity. Individuals will often choose Goddesses or Gods from any of the world's pantheons whose stories are particularly inspiring and use those Deities as a focus for personal devotions. It is very important to be aware that we do not in any way worship or believe in "Satan," "the Devil," or any similar entities. They point out that "Satan" is a symbol of rebellion against and inversion of the Christian and Jewish traditions. Either way pagan was the base to Christianity So where you think most of the symbolism and holidays came from.  I was raised a good good Christian boy  and even went to the church of Christ and from there I gravitated to Wicca. Well Army life led me to a Pagan Life. I was involved with widely known group on in Ft. Hood around late 90's. I have meet people of all ranks and races that were either Wiccan,druid, Taoist,Buddhist and etc. As what  Witchcraft is exactly what the word implies: the craft of Witches. This includes skills such as casting spells, healing with herbs, working with spiritual energies, divination, and a host of other things. Witchcraft is not a religion in its own right; the skills that can be combined with lots of religious frameworks from other Pagan works.
     As I have done within a Wiccan framework will give some insight  for how to work magic, both ethically and ritually, but a spell worked during a full Wiccan ritual may not be any more or less effective than the same spell worked at a kitchen table while the dinner is cooking by a non-Wiccan. I really don't believe in a literal law of multiple return, but I do believe that every action has a reaction. If you send out harm, harm will rebound on you in some way. Perhaps not even literally equally to the harm you send out, but eventually it will catch up to you. Always be sure that you can live with the consequences of what you're doing. In previous decades, the terms Wicca and witchcraft were used interchangeably. That, however, is no longer the case, although some still consider Wicca to be a subset of witchcraft. The first is that it is troublesome to discuss witchcraft as a religion as we have seen in past years. That is very much a 20th century definition of the word, one without historical precedent that emerged out of the Burning Times myth. Second, there are a great many witches that consider it a solely magical practice and who may or may not have any religious beliefs at all. Some are ritual. For the sake of clarity, I shall here speak of witchcraft in mainly in magical sense,with the acknowledgment that many, many witches attach some sort of religious aspect to their magical beliefs. While there are a great many Wiccan witches, there are also, for example, Christian witches - those who believe in a single God and salvation through Christ but who still draw energy from the earth (which they may believe is an extension of God) and do not believe that energy is evil. There are also Jewish witches, atheist witches and, yes, Satanic witches. But I think one shouldn't mix “old religion: with Christianity

A  hereditary witch. Theoretically, this practitioner of magic has had his knowledge passed down to him through many generations of his family. Certainly, in times past, there were families that taught their magical beliefs to their children, and I see no reason why that shouldn’t have continued into the present day. To call this “hereditary,” however, seems out of place. After all, if my mother taught me to be an accountant, I would not be a hereditary accountant, regardless of the number of accountants in a family.

Second, if your ancestors were working magic, they were assuredly not labeling themselves witches. In England, they were called cunning-folk, and they actually testified against witches in the witch-trials. Witches are bad. No one called them self a witch unless s/he was trying to scare the neighbors. A great many people used to think that having been taught by one’s grandmother automatically gave them more legitimacy and outright invented witchy grandmothers.

There is also the traditional witch in which most people are  in todays world, we have learned from others. This is not to be confused with Traditional Wicca or British Traditional, both of which refer to a number of Wiccan traditions such has the Gardnerians and the Alexandrians (and which are sometimes also referred to as Traditional witchcraft, particularly in England). The traditional witch does not claim to have had the knowledge passed down through this family.
Instead, it is something to be learned over years. These type do with instead of reading books in which theirs over million in print. To me fine what you learn from books and Internet and become a worker of the craft. There is a lot of ones that reject the ceremonial magic elements of Wicca. However, they do frequently claim to be practicing something passed down for hundreds or thousands of years. But theres in some paganism was word of spoken word handed down to serious works of the craft. Some of them get very uppity when a Wiccan calls oneself a witch, which merely illustrates the complex web of differing definitions currently in use by various factions of Paganism.
Reclaiming the term witch is major problem with the very term   “more persecuted than thou” syndrome. This word  is negative connotations (worker of malevolent magic), yet witches get offended when other people do not agree with their new, more positive definition of the word. The counter-argument is that “witch” was not always a derogatory term, but  we  have not seen any actual evidence of that claim.
For calling ourselves Witches,(female or male) we honor our oppressed fore mothers and fathers who survived centuries of inequities…we in Reclaiming call ourselves Witches for the very reason that others do not. It’s an in-your-face word. We, as people who honor our own divinity as well as our interdependence with the rest and reclaim the term Witch.  In order to become  a Wiccan or Witch is generally not something you are born as(depends if you are in a Pagan family) or just wake up one morning and decide to become its just matter in how you want to defer from Christianity.
Read and Internet search everything you can get your hands on that will tell you more about the beliefs of Wicca and Witchcraft. Only by learning as much as you can about the basic beliefs and tenets of this path can you decide if the old way's are right for you.

While doing this, you will begin within yourself and nature. While starting out keep notes of these feelings in a journal in other words Book of Shadows. Write down the reasons you think Witchcraft is your path. What does being a Witch mean to you? What do you hope to achieve and learn? What do you fear about following this path? How do you see the Goddess and God? What does the Divine mean to you? Be absolutely honest with yourself here, this is a private book and nobody else will ever read it. Unless you allow to have viewed. There are no right or wrong answers and it is not a test. It is only a way to help you define your understanding of this path. But this where the in your face starts if not what others think is right,but there is really no wrong way. If your a ritual or an hedge type use what around not some book telling what is to be done. Use what you have read . Druids passed down their ways was spoken not written. Christianity is the Holy Bible and look what that book has down throughout the years was different versions of text to fighting over land or whats right
.
Before you begin working within the path, you need to understand what it is, where it comes from and the ethics involved. You will also need to learn and understand the basic structure of rituals, Casting circles, calling quarters, invoking the Goddess and God, raising and directing energy, grounding, centering and closing the circle. By raising and channeling the energy found in yourself, nature and in the Divine. A Witch combines this energy with their focused efforts. It takes dedication, effort, energy and hard work to achieve a desired results will come.
Well I guess this I for now I am happy of my ways and with my girl friend has quite historical path but I will go on that later on that. Well for I choose Wicwiz is something did back in my days in AOL I figure was in the Wiccan way and male so figured out to use wizard. And came up with Wicwiz. I know it sounds like the Hollywood  hocus-pocus but hey we all not serious at times there can be joking and real fun in the craft also.

Blessed Be
 Wicwiz.