The Craft (religion)

This article should be merged with witchcraft.

The Craft, more commonly known as Witchcraft, is a term given by some modern neopagan movements, most notably in Wicca to the art of using magic or magick and the casting of spells. It is important to bear in mind that between the medieval period and the twentieth century the term witchcraft in popular use invariably meant black or evil magic, which is not its sense at all in this modern context. Gerald Gardner, the main founder of Wicca, claimed witchcraft actually meant 'The Craft of the Wise' which is not a valid dictionary defination.

Table of contents

1 Distinction of The Craft from Wicca
2 Origins
3 Theories of Neopagan witchcraft
4 External links

Distinction of The Craft from Wicca

Though sometimes used interchangeably, "Wicca" and "The Craft" are not the same thing. The confusion comes, understandably, because both practitioners of Wicca and practitioners of The Craft are called witches. In addition, many, but not all, Wiccans practice witchcraft and vice versa.

Wicca refers to the religion; the worship of the God & Goddess (or just Goddess), and the Sabbat and Esbat rituals. Witchcraft, on the other hand, is considered the craft of magic, thus practicing The Craft requires no belief in specific gods or goddesses and is a learned skill, not a spiritual path. There are other Pagan Witches, "Christian Witches," "Buddhist Witches," etc. who also practice witchcraft.

The distinction between the two is not clear cut. There is crossover between the Pagan/Neopagan religions and Witchcraft (for example: the mention of Goddesses in spells, and the performance of spells during Sabbat rituals). However, the differences mentioned above are the general distinctions made between the two terms.

Origins

There is often an attempt to make a distiction between high magic (usually considered to be ceremonial, ritualistic magick) and low or folk magic (usually considered to be Witchcraft, Voodoo, etc.) The modern Craft draws on both these traditions. There are modern witches who claim to be using long standing traditional magic separate from Wicca, the Traditional witches. Some of these may have valid traditions others clearly have Wiccan influences. There is a surprising amount of evidence about the practitioners of English folk magic the cunning folk and certainly some of their ideas seem to have been passed on down family lines. The main difference is that cunning folk seem to have been Christian if they had any religion.

Ronald Hutton, in his book "Witches, Druids and King Arthur" (Hambledon & London: 2003) explores some of the scholarly attempts to differentiate high and low magick, and illustrates how it is often a rather subjective exercise.

Theories of Neopagan witchcraft

Some neopagans believe that witchcraft exists as a way of doing good, and eschew any evil usages (See the Wiccan Rede and the Rule of Three). Their belief is sometimes very similar to the belief of Christians in prayer, that the Divine will acknowledge and grant answers to a ritual given in a Deity's name. More often, however, modern neopagans believe that the power of witchcraft comes about primarily in the way it acts upon the person, not due to any divine intervention. Many neopagans, however, believe that witchcraft is a way of working directly with Divine forces.

Many neopagans believe that people are comprised of three selves. The three selves are the Talking Self (the conscious mind), the Younger Self (the unconscious mind) and the Higher Self (the Soul, also called the Divine Self). It is believed that the unconscious (Younger Self) is not capable of speaking or of understanding speech, but understands and responds to symbolism.

This is similar to the Eastern Christian trichotomy of soma, psyche, and nous, wherein the soma is the living body, psyche is the "mind" as we normally use the term, and nous is the faculty capable of apprehending the Divine. It differs from the neopagan model in that it assigns a place for the physical body in and of itself as part of a "whole" human being's spiritual existence.

Therefore, to many Neopagans the power of a ritual is in the way its symbolism speaks to the Younger Self. Psychology has shown that beliefs have an effect on one's perception of reality, such as the placebo effect. Some neopagans believe that witchcraft is a way of tapping into those forces.

People who call themselves Neopagans are more likely to take this view. People who go by the term Wiccan are more likely to believe in divine action. Also, not all people who practice witchcraft consider themselves Wiccan or Neopagan, and vice versa.