Am I a Wiccan Witch, or Just a Witch?

"So, are you a Witch or a Wiccan?"

This was the question I was asked recently, and I didn't really know how to answer it. First, I had to explain the difference between a Wiccan and a Witch.

To put it simply, I told the inquirer that a Witch is someone who works with and manipulates energies to help achieve a certain goal. A Witch may use crystals, herbs, tarot, etc to aid in their work. A Wiccan is someone who follows Wicca, which is essentially a nature-based religion. Someone can be a Witch and a Wiccan, or they can be either one and not the other. A Witch may even belong to another religion, like Christianity.

And still the question stands; which am I? I definitely consider myself a Witch, because I regularly practice Witchcraft. Many of my practices are very similar to those who call themselves Wiccan, but what it means to be Wiccan seems to vary greatly with each person who has an opinion on the matter.

I personally do not consider myself a Wiccan just because I do not work with deities. From my understanding, honoring and requesting aid from certain deities is a common practice in Wicca which makes sense because Wicca is a religion, after all. Since I believe that all of my power comes from within me and not from the aid of a deity, then I assume that I do not qualify as a typical Wiccan.

But that doesn't mean that my beliefs don't reflect those of a Wiccan. For example, I recently made and posted THIS IMAGE on Tumblr. I titled it "Witch's Pledge of Allegiance." In a nutshell, it states that I pledge my allegiance to the Earth and Moon, and promise to protect life and do good by all. The end. I immediately got a comment from a fellow Witch stating that this shouldn't be posted under Witchcraft because it was Wiccan and therefore didn't apply to Witches.

Well excuse me! I wasn't aware that Witches didn't work with the energies of Earth as influenced by the Moon, and that they didn't believe in using their knowledge and power to protect. MY BAD.

So I am just going to assume that the definition of Witch and Wiccan differs from person to person. I am a Witch, by my own definition. I am not a Wiccan, but I do share many beliefs with Wiccans. I guess anyone who disagrees should mind their own cauldrons!

 

Witch's Pledge of Allegiance

Dreamtime

Dreamtime is always when I'm at my wisest. My mind is able to work freely, to go wherever it needs to in order to bring me solutions to problems, and give me hints about things that are to come.

My magical name came to me in a dream. I have a fox that has been following me around in my dreams since I was a child, offering me protection and companionship. I believe that my father finds it easiest to communicate with me in my dreams. He makes it clear that he's watching out for me from the Other World and sometimes passes along very important information this way. Even my familiar has used the dream world to communicate with me, telling me of a painful tumor she had that I wouldn't have known about otherwise.

The tricky part is actually remembering my dreams. Until I discovered the Craft, it was very rare that I remembered my dreams. Once in a blue moon one would linger in my head for a while after waking up, and slowly fade out of my mind's grasp as the day went on. Other than that, I didn't remember my dreams, if I even had any at all!

When I started studying the Craft, I learned that what my dreams have to say to me is actually very important. I crafted a short and simple spell to repeat to myself before bed time so that my mind would be open to whatever my dreams had to say, and so that I would be more likely to remember them in the morning. I also learned to create a shield around myself when I slept so that any negative energy would not get to me while I slept.

As soon as I wake up, I write down everything I remember from the dream I just had. Even if it doesn't seem important or doesn't make much sense to me now, it might later on!

A Misplaced Book, The Discovery Of A Lifetime

Wandering aimlessly around the bookstore, I was just trying to kill time. I wasn't really planning on buying anything because I didn't think anything could spark an interest in me considering the mood I was in. So I just browsed absentmindedly, concentrating instead on the troubles I had left behind.

I was far from home. It was one of those times when I felt an irresistible urge to get in my car and drive. So I went to visit my best friend in a little coastal town a day's drive from where my troubles resided. I knew that a couple of days with her would help me find the rejuvenation and inspiration I desperately needed, and to find myself again.

I left the literature section and took a random turn down an isle dedicated to books written on history. Not at all my thing, but I was interested for some reason. As I eyed the shelves, a book with a pink-coral cover caught my eye and I picked it up. It was "Witch Crafting" by Phillis Curott, and it was obviously in the wrong place. I put it back down and moved on.

But I couldn't forget that book. It was like an itch in a part of my mind that I couldn't reach to scratch. So I went back later that evening. I couldn't help it. I needed to. I found that book and I bought it.

Thinking it was just another fantasy novel, I waited until I returned home to crack it open. But when I finally did read it, I was shocked. It was as if the information in that book was pulled directly from the core of my soul. The values and principles of Wicca were things that I had believed in for as long as I remembered, I just never knew that there were others who saw the world the way I did!

My world was never the same after that. I bought more books and began studying Wicca and Witchcraft. I finally felt whole. I felt as though I had found a home in the world. I felt peace.

I wonder if I really did find that book on accident, or if I was led to it. It was exactly what I needed, and I found it at precisely the right time. It's funny how things work out that way. If you just follow your instincts like I did that day, the world always finds a way to bring you exactly what you need.