Paganism is a term first used in the 4th century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism. Paganism is the largest and oldest faith in the world. There is no right or wrong belief system because all paths lead to the same destination; the divine. Religions that fall under this umbrella are: Druids, Wiccans, Hindu, Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, Hellenism, Shamanism, Asatru, and Animism. Paganism is practiced all over the world; the Chinese, the Japanese, Europeans, Arabs, Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Romans, Ancient Greeks, Native Americans, Aztecs, Incas, Norse, Mayans, Africans, Maori, and Aborigine, as well as many more. Pagans today are oftentimes solitary practitioners. It is not necessary to join a group, grove, coven, or church if you do not wish to. Practicing with others is a personal choice. The divine is not found in one book or building. It is found inside and all around you all the time. For a new practitioner especially, I always recommend to read, read, read, and research. And once you have done that, do it all over again. There is so much to learn in every one of these practices! And sometimes, what you read may inspire you to change your practice to another. I had one friend who felt the calling of Paganism and at first, really felt like a certain deity spoke to her. After research and about 3 years, she felt like that connection wasn’t there like she thought it was and maybe she had been feeling hopeful or it was what she needed in her life. She wound up appreciating another deity from another pantheon for about a year until she has finally found herself and chosen Satanism. After a lot of self reflecting, analyzing her belief system, and putting up with certain social injustices bestowed upon her, Satanism is the religion for her. And more power to her for finding the practice that makes her feel whole! To clarify, this is Satanism, the officially recognized religion. This is not the Christion theology of devil worship, as she does not believe in the Christian god.
According to an article on Newsweek.com, “The number of witches and Americans practicing Wicca religious rituals increased dramatically since the 1990s, with several recent studies indicating there may be at least 1.5 million witches across the country. A Trinity College study conducted in 1990 estimated only about 8,000 Wiccans in the U.S., but the increase has been led by a rejection of mainstream Christianity among young Americans as well as a rise in occultism. With 1.5 million potential practicing witches across the U.S., witchcraft has more followers than the 1.4 million mainline members of the Presbyterian church.” I have been finding more and more articles like this one. This is a huge step and absolutely wonderful! But it also means there are a lot of different types of people practicing many different ways.
An eclectic Pagan is a person who follows parts of multiple faith systems to honor the divine. This is very common and widely accepted. Faith and belief is individual to each person. I personally am an Eclectic Sea Witch. I love the concept of familiars (my 3 fur babies) as well as creating special spell sachets for myself and friends to bring good luck, fortune, or healing. I also love everything about the sea. It is my sacred space of meditation and I never get tired of it no matter how often I go. My home and altar are decorated in shells and beach debris I have found over my many sojourns to the ocean. Not only that, I descend from many different cultures and I derive great joy in being able to incorporate those cultures’ practices in my own.
Sea Witch; I don’t let those two words define me because I also enjoy tarot, tasseography, rune casting, meditation and centering my chakras, as well as hanging ankhs and Japanese protective lions in my home. Faith and belief is something you are born with and it cannot be forced upon anyone. Each person must look inside themselves to find the path that leads them to their divine being. My best advice to a budding witch is to figure out exactly what resonates with them. My heritage comes from many different parts of the world so why shouldn’t my practice? And not only that, I have friends who bring me parts of their heritage and invite me to join them in enjoying it together. To me, it isn’t cultural appropriation if you truly believe in that practice and that it works for you. And cultural appropriation should be the last concern on your mind when you are working on your own spirituality and mental health (because I find that those two things often accompany each other). Is it cultural appropriation if you are ethnically European and convert to Buddhism? It is cultural appropriation to wear the robes, decorate your home, and practice the faith respectfully and passionately? I don’t think so. That person’s spiritual journey led them to that belief system and that is what brings them spiritual inner peace.
I once saw a TikTok where a girl’s video had so many bashing and hate filled comments because of the earrings she was wearing. She was white and she was being legitimately ripped apart in her own comment section for cultural appropriation for wearing Native American earrings. She had to do a follow up video to let people know that her significant other’s parents who were 100% Native American gave her those earrings as a present and she wears them because they are beautiful and were a gift. They bring her closer to her in law family. Not only that, but many people of every ethnicity, race, creed, and sexuality attend Powwows that are held all over the country. Many beautiful Native crafts are sold at these powwows and the monetary influx goes to supporting those Native crafters and their reservation. There is no law that says you cannot use the items you purchase at a cultural event after the event is over. The same goes for any cultural event such as a Greek festival, Oktoberfest, Romanian festival, etc, or even if you bought a beautiful item from a culturally specific restaurant or market. I regularly go to an Eastern European market for groceries and they have beautiful Russian spoons, crafts, items from Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Bosnia, and many more. They even have a miniature samovar! Of course I am going to use them if I purchase them! I make those kinds of foods all the time so it goes well to serve them in the traditional dishes! I also go to a Mediterranean imports market. This place is amazing and has everything you could possibly need for cooking anything from the Middle East. They also have beautiful lamps, incense, jewelry and more. I recently bought a lamp from that store and it doubles as an incense burner. I have never seen anything like it and I adore it! This does not mean it is cultural appropriation. I feel as though that word gets thrown around a lot to make an issue where there is none. Not to say that some things are NOT cultural appropriation. The point of this story is to point out that religion and your practice is unique to you and should not be dictated by an arbitrary rule from someone else not living your life that you cannot experience the divine in this way because you were not born into a certain practice or because your ancestry comes from a different part of the world.
Do not believe anything that does not feel right to you. Many people believe their religious faith system and the way they practice it, are the only ways to be religious or spiritual because that is how they were taught. Christianity is a great example of this. There are so many denominations of Christianity and many people of each denomination think the others are wrong and don’t feel comfortable attending another denomination’s church because it does not match up with their spiritual practice and beliefs. All belief systems are rooted in the practice of faith. As long as your faith harms no one and nothing, you are honoring yourself, your world, and your divine. And most importantly, trust yourself and your journey!
There are a few common areas of practice I often see cyber bullying taking place: The Rule of Three and Love Spells being the ones I see the most. Debates are fine but aggressive debating or downright anger and offense that belittles is not! And unfortunately, some people do not know where that line lies. But not everyone is a bully! Just because someone wrote something you disagree with, just because they expressed an idea or shared a lifestyle choice you are not comfortable with, does not make them a bully – it makes them different from you, and it makes for an opportunity to learn and grow. If they were to say disparaging things and tell you your practice is wrong, you are going to hell, you don’t know what you are talking about, etc. THAT makes them a bully.
According to Wikipedia, The Rule of Three (also Three-fold Law or Law of Return) is a religious tenet held by some Pagans/Wiccans and occultists. It states that whatever energy a person puts out into the world, be it positive or negative, will be returned to that person three times. It’s like karma on steroids. Some subscribe to a variant of this law in which return is not necessarily threefold. If you don’t believe in this law, that is ok! I personally don’t because I have been that good person that gave 3,000% my entire life and received drained energy, a drained wallet, and disrespect in return. I have yet to see that law work at all in my own personal experience. HOWEVER, I would like to say that I know some practitioners who happily believe in it and have seen good results. Since it doesn’t work for me, I don’t follow it. It’s that simple!
A lot of contemporary pagans are against love spells and any spells that alters someone’s mind set against their will. While I can understand this viewpoint, I don’t feel like working a spell is going to make some fall in Disney type love with you. I feel that some form of affection must be there in the first place or it wouldn’t work at all as the human brain is a complicated organ that is not so easily influenced. Many state that if you are against a love spell, then you also should not do a happiness spell or a healing spell for someone because it would fall under the same description. A lot of people will then argue that they have permission for this and that is what makes all the difference. Whatever your view on it, it will not stop someone from practicing the way they feel they should practice. I always just make my views known and ask that someone respectfully not do a spell for me unless I give them permission. I am not against any type of spell at all. I just want to know if magic is being worked in my name! This goes for when people say I will pray for you.
And finally, hexing. A hex can be defined as a curse or a jinx. It is magic used against a person, often with ill will intended. It is an expressed wish of misfortune. Not everyone believes in hexing and call it “dark magic.” Personally, I have cast 1 hex in my time as a witch and that was all that was needed. It helped me to get over a bad experience and move on with no strings attached. A lot of newer witches want to know how to curse for the feeling of power it might give them. A hex isn’t about having power. It is about hoping ill will on someone and it is not something to be done every day. Some witches call you dark and evil and a vast array of other belittling names, but there is no light without the dark. Sometimes, a curse is just what you need when someone toxic hurts you deeply. Curses aren’t for everyone and there is no shame in avoiding them, just as there is no shame in casting them. It is probably better not to make that your primary focus as a witch as others will be less likely to trust you if they know you have no problem throwing out hate vibes at every opportunity. I feel like a hex is really no different from schadenfreude; pleasure derived by someone from another person’s misfortune. You cannot deny that at some point you have hoped something won’t work out for another, or that you were happy when bad consequences (even something as trivial as a person failing a test) happened. That hope that something won’t go right and feeling good that it didn’t go right is basically a hex without added extra ingredients to make it more potent. You put it out in the universe and it happened.
Leading me to COEXIST! We see it on bumper stickers all the time yet how many of us are guilty of NOT coexisting with our fellow man for one reason or another? ~raises hand guiltily~ Do not hate or discriminate another person for their faith, even if it is your faith but they practice differently. This happens surprisingly often on Facebook pages when the topic of differences in practices comes up. Do not hate or discriminate another faith system or even just the way someone practices your same faith. Get to know people as individuals and not religious demographics. Try to understand, even if you don’t agree. Coexist. As long as you learn from your mistakes, you will make progress and everyone will be allowed to enjoy their own version of spiritual growth!
A lot of this is my personal view but let me know what you think in the comments! How do you practice? What did you find that worked and didn’t work? Do you also find cyber bullying to be a problem on pages you follow?
From our altar to yours, with love from the sea,
