albahemlock-blog

[albahemlock-blog]

[albahemlock-blog]

Let’s Have a Chat

A cheery good morning to all of my lovely witches & muggles out there; please allow me to formally introduce myself, my name is Alba Hemlock as you may have gathered given my tumblr information. I am twenty-six (nearly twenty-seven, my stars) years of age, and I am a green witch. 

Now that the mundane pleasantries are out of the way let’s have a nice little chat. I am new to the realm of Tumblr, but can already sense what magnificent potential there is on this website (I know, I am very late to the party; but, you know what they say! Better late than never, right?) I have had the itch to write and post something meaningful, but in order to do so I really had to connect with a topic that resonated with me and will hopefully resonate with some of you as well. There are so many misconceptions as to what wicca, paganism, or being a witch truly means; more than that, what it is. The path has been demonized for thousands of years, and what I want to do is to hopefully educate and broaden the minds of those whom are not familiar and are willing to learn. I would also like to add that this is in no way meant to convert anyone. I have long been under the belief that we all must walk a different path, but that does not mean that we should be so unwilling to learn of another culture outside of our own.

We live in a society that is vastly more accepting than any other generation before us, but we still live with the stigma (try not to roll your eyes, Folks) that we are wicked, hellbound devil-worshippers that have been misled and must repent/convert to save our souls from eternal damnation. I, personally, have no issue with whether or not you’re Christian, Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist, or Agnostic. Again, this falls in line with my belief that we all walk a different path, some of those paths are spiritual and others are derived of pure logic and science. And, that is okay! What is not okay is narrow-mindedness, blatant disrespect, and preaching at us when you are heavily misinformed.

We are a peaceful people (for the most part). We do not sacrifice animals in the name of any deity, least of all Satan (whom we do not even believe in, ironic isn’t it?) Now, I can’t speak for all of us, but these are very generic answers to very generic accusations. We do not go out of our way to hex you, even if you do deserve it (I am mostly joking)

As a matter of fact, one of the most well known laws of Wicca is to Harm None. Now, that is Wicca and Wicca is not the same as Paganism or Witchcraft. Once you fall down the rabbit hole, you’ll quickly realize that these are only branches to a very large and ancient tree. I could write an entire novel about how many variations there are, but let’s stick with the basics for this blog.

You may now be wondering, what are the differences? Simply put, wicca is a religion and witchcraft is a practice. They have similarities, and you will find wiccans who practice witchcraft and those who do not. You’ll find witches who align themselves with wicca, and those do not as well. Wicca is all about spirituality, the Horned God and the Triple Moon Goddess, and the wheel of the year; whereas witchcraft is casting spells and practicing magick by using herbs and other various items.

Paganism is a term that was created by early Christians regarding the population of the ancient Roman empire who practiced polytheism, which is the belief or worship of more than one god. It is definitely easy to group these different paths as one, and while you can certainly identify with all three it is not a requirement for you to do so. So, that’s that in a nutshell. Easy enough?

Now let’s move forward to the million dollar question. Why do other religious organizations despise us?

Unfortunately, the reason for that is as complicated as it is easy. I would not even call it hate. It is in my opinion that believe it or not, they believe that it is their duty to save our souls from an eternity of suffering because that is their faith; that is what they know, and they know this because that is what they have been taught. People are misinformed, and the truth is mankind is naturally fearful of the unknown. People are afraid of us because they do not know any better, because they believe we practice work of the devil. I am here to say that is not true. We have no quarrels with any variety of religion, just how we are treated due to our differences. We have no desire to harm you, so lay down your defenses. We can share a conversation about our beliefs without pushing our way of life on someone else. This is my greatest hope and ambition, let’s break down the stigma and practice acceptance, knowledge and compassion

Blessed Be,

A. Hemlock

[albahemlock-blog]

“Albino Deer” by Herve Balland