Witchcraft. The word invokes so many different things and means drastically different things to different cultures. The Romans were cruel Pagans and somewhat responsible for the rise of Christianity because of it. Ancient Cultural Paganism is vastly different from Paganism today regardless of what some Neo-Pagans may claim.
One of the things that Christianity is famous for is adapting Pagan symbolism to villify past ancient Pagan practices. The woman and the snake is one of the very first Goddess images found, over 35,000 years ago, and was a representation of the Goddess and the phallis, symbolizing fertility. There are few that don't know the story of Eve and many Christians today still blame women for 'original sin' because of it.
Cats have always been a deeply mystical animal and often are familiars to witches, even today. So what did the "church" do? They convinced the European community that cats were actually the devil or demons that helped witches work with the devil. They believed it so completely that when the Bubonic Plague hit in the middle ages people killed cats in the millions because they thought the "demons" were the ones spreading the disease. When in truth it was the rats. The best predators for rats, cats, were decimated only making the plague ten times worse because of silly superstition and ignorance.
The 8 Pagan Sabbats (not sabbaths) have been hijacked by Christianity, the Council of Nicaea having dictated 'doctrine' and set forth dates that closely cooresponded to Pagan holidays in order to convert the "simple country folk" to their way of thinking. For Example: All Hallow's Eve and The day of The Dead has been overrun with commercialized Halloween, not that I mind the chocolate. Winter Solstice suddenly became Christmas. The lamest and more recent tradition, though not religious, to be "replaced" is Imbolc, the mid-winter festival for the Goddess Bridgid, changed to Groundhog Day. Oh and those wacky Catholics turned the Goddess Bridgid in a Saint Brigit for conversion purposes too.
Now, I'm going to let you in a 2000 year old secret so pay close attention. Satanism is a Christian belief. Satan. Lucifer. Scratch. The Light Bringer. Whatever you want to call him... He was an angel. The vast majority of neo-Pagans today that call themselves witch are, what ya know, PAGAN. They don't believe in Christianity and therefore, they do not believe in Satan. Christianity is 2013 years old. The very first Goddess figurines, referred to by the anthropological community as Venus figurines, have been found and carbon dated to approximately 35,000 years ago.
Neo-Pagan's generally tend to be eco-friendly heathens with a love for nature, debauchery and sex that support animal rights and are unihibited by doctrine.
Satanist, from what I've read, as I have NO IDEA personally, only value human life of those that they deem worthy and will often use animal ritual sacrifice. Anton LeVay, (Howard Stanton Levey) the man that wrote the 'Satanic Bible' was a chronic liar, by his own admission, and a charlatan with a fake ID who was out to make a buck. It's a religion that caters to the cruel and completely opposite the nature loving Neo-Pagan movements of today.
WHAT THE HELL HAS ANY OF THIS TO DO WITH PARANORMAL INVESTIGATION you may ask!!? It's important to know your stuff when you're classifying paranormal activity. Especially if you wish to convey your findings in a scientific manner. Personally, I'll collect the evidence and provide further findings of a less scientific meassure as well due to personal experience and belief and it's not uncommon for paranormal specialists to do just that. Just make sure you're aware of it. Many traditional paranormal experts will scoff at psychic's and remote viewing though it has become a more accepted method in todays day and age. How you present yourself and your findings will reflect back on you and your work.
Hanna McLean
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