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QUOTES ON WITCHCRAFT

On every full moon, rituals ... take place on hilltops, beaches, in open fields and in ordinary houses. Writers, teachers, nurses, computer programmers, artists,lawyers, poets, plumbers, and auto mechanics -- women and men from many backgrounds come together to celebrate the mysteries of the Triple Goddess of the Dance of Life. The religion they practise is called Witchcraft.

STARHAWK, Spiral Dance

When I consider the Question, Whether there are such Persons in the World as those we call Witches? my Mind is divided between the two opposite Opinions; or rather (to speak my Thoughts freely) I believe in general that there is, and has been such a thing as Witchcraft; but at the same time can give no Credit to any Particular Instance of it.

JOSEPH ADDISON, The Spectator, No. 117

To deny the possibility, nay, the actual existence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once flatly to contradict the revealed word of God in various passages both of the Old and New Testament, and the thing itself is a Truth to which every nation in the world hath, in its turn, borne testimony, by either example seemingly well attested or by prohibitory laws, which at least suppose the possibility of a commerce with evil spirits.

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, Commentaries, 1765

In Witchcraft, each of us must reveal our own truth.

STARHAWK, Spiral Dance

There is a sort of Witchcrafts in those things, whereto the Temptations of the Devil would inveigle us. To worship the Devil is Witchcraft, and under that notion was our Lord urged unto sin. We are told in 1 Samuel 15:23, "Rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft." When the Devil would have us to sin, he would have us to do the things which the forlorn Witches use to do. Perhaps there are few persons, ever allured by the Devil unto an Explicit Covenant with himself. If any among ourselves be so, my counsel is, that you hunt the Devil from you, with such words as the Psalmist had, "Be gone, Depart from me, ye evil doers, for I will keep the commandments of my God."

COTTON MATHER, On Witchcraft

According to the oral tradition of Witches, we were once the priests and priestesses of a peasant Pagan religion. Members of this secret sect met at night beneath the full moon, for these were the "misfits" and "outcasts" who did not fit into mainstream society. Little has changed over the centuries and the Witchcraft community still embraces individuals frequently rejected in mainstream society. These include gays, lesbians, transgendered individuals, and other people with the courage to live their lives authentically in accord with who they are inside their hearts, minds, and spirits.

RAVEN GRIMASSI, Witchcraft: A Mystery Tradition

Witchcraft is all about living to the heights and depths of life as a way of worship.

LY DE ANGELES, Witchcraft: Theory and Practice

The fables of Witchcraft have taken so fast hold and deepe root in the heart of man, that fewe or none can (nowadaies) with patience indure the hand and correction of God. For if any adversitie, greefe, sicknesse, losse of children, corne, cattell, or libertie happen unto them; by & by they exclaime uppon witches. As though there were no God in Israel that ordereth all things according to his will.

REGINALD SCOT, The Discoverie of Witchcraft

It is true ... that the English in general, and indeed most of the men of learning in Europe, have given up all accounts of witches and apparitions as mere old wives' fables. I am sorry for it, and I willingly take this opportunity of entering my solemn protest against this violent compliment which so many that believe the Bible pay to those who do not believe it. I owe them no such service. I take knowledge that these are at the bottom of the outcry which has been raised, and with such insolence spread through the land, in direct opposition, not only to the Bible, but to the suffrage of the wisest and the best of men in all ages and nations. They well know (whether Christians know it or not) that the giving up of witchcraft is in effect giving up the Bible. With my latest breath I will bear testimony against giving up to infidels one great proof of the invisible world; I mean that of witchcraft and apparitions, confirmed by the testimony of all ages.

JOHN WESLEY, Journal, 1768

All magic, all witchcraft, depends on the Devil, and is fundamentally evil.

MONTAGUE SUMMERS, Witchcraft and Black Magic

There are spiritual forces of witchcraft working to destroy our marriages, families, relationships, ministries, faith and churches.... Witchcraft is a real force and Jesus has given power to every believer to break free from its deceiving clutch.

JONAS CLARK, Exposing Spiritual Witchcraft

The blackest chapter in the history of Witchcraft lies not in the malevolence of Witches but in the deliberate, gloating cruelty of their prosecutors.

THEDA KENYON, Witches Still Live

I am no more a witch than you are a wizard. If you take my life away, God will give you blood to drink.

SARAH GOOD, Edward W. Knappman's Great American Trials

Witchcraft is not evil. At least not any more than lighting a votive candle, praying for a sick friend, or carrying a lucky charm is. However, there are some who do view witchcraft as evil. This is only because organized religion (primarily the Christian church) has conditioned them to fear anything which strays from their narrow condemning view. After all, if you have the ability to fend for yourself, solve your own problems, and choose your own method of spiritual expression, why would you need the confined structure of a church?

LADY SABRINA, Secrets of Modern Witchcraft Revealed

O father, what a hell of witchcraft lies
In the small orb of one particular tear.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, A Lover's Complaint

Witchcraft is a way of life for individuals, not the masses, and there's no point in you coming toward the Craft if you are a wimp, a follower, a coward, or a fool, as sorcery is both a practice and a priesthood, and it is not a garment that can be discarded when the going gets tough.

LY DE ANGELES, Witchcraft: Theory and Practice

Witchcraft, like any science or philosophical system, must be approached from a liberal point of view. When looked at objectively, we see that Witchcraft is just another theoretical body of knowledge. It is a process, not a person. Therefore it is neutral, incapable of being either good or evil. Like all belief systems, Witchcraft is only as good or evil as the people using it.

LADY SABRINA, Secrets of Modern Witchcraft Revealed

Love for life in all its forms is the basic ethic of Witchcraft.

STARHAWK, Spiral Dance

Witches are moon-birds,
Witches are the women of the false, beautiful moon.

AMY LOWELL, "Witch-Woman"

Witchcraft ... is a spiritual path. You walk it for nourishment of the soul, to commune with the life force of the universe, and to thereby better know your own life.

CHRISTOPHER PENCZAK, The Inner Temple of Witchcraft


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