—By Bethany Hutton & Austin Shippey

The Lamia in the Penthouse, Virgil Finlay

Throughout all of the modern Western world's history and myth, witchcraft has been feared because of the fact that witchcraft cannot be dominated or controlled by simple worldly forces. Witchcraft and superstition arise from the natural phenomenon and eternal laws of the universe. Magic has always been extraordinary, and has always allowed individuals and groups to accomplish extraordinary things. Witchcraft has always been a form of psychic persuasion over the restrictions of life, and it has always caused people to revere and fear it, whether it is coming from a shaman or deity in ancient minds, to a haggard and wicked peasant woman in modern minds. A witch has always been someone who, like a classical demigod, can harness power from the other world and use it to their own advantage. A witch through their magic inevitably becomes a free agent as they become aware of their full capabilities. Witches are those wise enough to work on becoming enlightened beings through their own spiritual alchemical volition, and in that process absorb and transmute the powers that have always existed. In the more fearful, shepherded monotheistic minds, these kinds of people represent a danger to the delicate fabric of any fragile, poorly structured, unsustainable society. Even in our current day, "witch" is thought of as an insult by many people. Follow our timeline back through history, and you arrive in the Early-Modern period of Europe, where monarchy allied with a man-warped Christian faith and began to dominate the globe, where being called a "witch" would eventually lead to a torturous, humiliating, maddening death sentence to any innocent or guilty person accused. In our secular, scientific world, people who now identify as witches, and are truly capable of making profound things happen through their ancient disciplines, are legion, and we work to make the world a safer and better place. Largely through the work of our ancestors, we understand the profound and important purpose behind all of this complex, controversial, sensational, and absorbing occult history. Modern witches across the globe understand that witchcraft is about freedom. We understand how to use it. We ourselves are the driving force of our own lives. We are fully awake, and we see the magic in everything.

In the ancient world there existed mystery cults, organized temples where many members would accept initiates into their midst, by means of ritual, in order to transfer a quantity of universal wisdom to the initiate. We've all heard of some version of the same phenomenon as the mystery cult; whether it be a local freemason lodge, a Catholic consecration of clergy, or a secret sorority at a university. Mystery schools/groups and their rituals are one of the primary, most effective ways of teaching grand, wisdom-filled lessons to people who will cherish and pass it on. This is very precious stuff.

In ancient Rome, against this standard convention of state religion, the priesthoods of the mystery cults rejected the benefits of social and economic hierarchy by intentionally uniting the classes through a holy endeavor, meaning everyone from kings, queens, emperors, women, and slaves could pass through that mysterious veil of initiation into the mysteries of our existence, and therein gain wisdom, encouragement, and ability to tackle the strains of worldly life. Watched over by the Gods, Goddesses, and Ancestors these societies bestowed wisdom upon any soul brave enough to seek it. The progenitors of these groups also rejected financial and social power in favor of a more subtle power, the power of language, symbol, higher awareness, and magic that we call religion.

Learn more about mystery cults here.

To witches of the persecution ages beginning in the 1500s and not ending until the 1700s, as the legends and accounts say, according to unreliable confessions often obtained after arduous torture, there were certain people in the unscientific, superstitious peasant villages, who, in exchange for otherworldly knowledge and ability, the knowledge of old gods and demonized angels, cast aside the social safety net of Christendom and its most powerful monarchs, crossed over the black and white line of Christian dualism into the secret society of witches, and they shed their past baptism to serve the deities of the old times; the primordial and indigenous deities of nature, fertility, and the chaotic workings and patterns of our world. The shadows have always, always been leading people through to the light.

Listen to my podcast episode on witchcraft here.

We follow the witchcraft phenomenon to the late 19th century, where the folklorist Charles Leland obtains a handwritten document of the oral folklore of a cult of witches who believed their traditions and legends to be passed down from pre-Christian or, as they called it, "the olden times." "The Gospel of the Witches" describes the pagan folklore behind the forbidden and secretive witch meetings where participants offered their prayers through joyful, mischievous, and free dancing, singing, spellcasting, and "playing the game of benevento until the last of our oppressors shall be dead." Suddenly, readers could envision a preserved link between the fears and oppressions of medieval to current day society and the wise people of the ancient persuasion; those who held onto beliefs in pagan gods and goddesses, spirit familiars, spells and magic, and all sorts of tantalizing ritual practices because, for one reason or another, their society couldn’t do it for them. Sensational stuff, you say? Well, it still goes on today in a million different varieties and rituals, across the globe. I believe that paganism never died. In Aradia: Gospel of the Witches Leland presents the information in earnest, and with little fanfare or recognition, with the simple hope of helping preserve an obscure patchwork of beauty and bravery. This is a story of ancient truths coming suddenly into the light of day, to either be believed, or disbelieved in.

In 1950s Britain, after the last of the anti-witchcraft laws was repealed, Gerald Gardner was the first person to begin describing witchcraft to a modern public as something that should be tolerated and accepted as much as any faith should in a free society. For this, he is called the Father of Modern Witchcraft. Gerald Gardner collaborated with several other local English covens to organize the "Operation Cone of Power" as a massive magical attack against Adolph Hitler and his Nazi army. In a torchlit ritual held in a nighttime meadow, several independent covens of witches congregated, formed a ring of linked hands, and danced circling around a bonfire while chanting, "You cannot cross the sea! You cannot come! You cannot come!" They then rushed toward the fire simultaneously, sending a massive channel of psychic energy in the direction of Hitler's armies. Due to unexpected foggy and stormy weather conditions, an invasion of the British Isles was cancelled, and remained safe from Nazi invasion.

Writing about mysticism, medieval heresy, mystery cults, and 20th century occult lineages, Gerald Gardner explained these many events and beliefs as well as publicly stating, in a confidence not enjoyed since pre-Christian times, nearly 2000 years at that point, that there are people who believe in magic and gather together in secret to experience the beauty of it. Even today, that simple fact is often a shocking and intriguing idea to the common, mentally weak person. To wise witches, this is just some of the painful history of our world, a story of mankind’s sins against one another, a story of belief in energies beyond our understanding.

As the spiritualist revolution began to spread across the globe, kickstarting the modern spiritual communities, Witchcraft rose as the single most brazen, bold, and powerful occult force shepherding in the Age of Aquarius. Heralded in by witches, pagans, and hippies, an age of tolerance, freedom, and philosophy has been growing ever since alongside a more global, social understanding of religion.

*Witches Alex and Maxine Sanders at witch altar*

Throughout the countercultural hippie boom of the 1960s ands 1970s, again in Britain, Alex Sanders was hailed by his initiates and contemporaries as a bona-fide, real-life witch king. He frightened and bewildered the public with demonstrations of occult ceremonies, interviews on sensational, forbidden, and culturally progressive topics, and his challenging of the conventional paradigm of the religious landscape of the 20th century. In an act scarcely understood by the contemporary world, Alex presented himself to the televised, curious public alongside his radiant wife and Witch Queen, Maxine Sanders, alongside an expansive lineage of followers. Together, they awakened the visions and powers of an ancient world in a modern Industrial Age. Stunning listeners with bold philosophies about God, nature, and freedom, in full color photographs across television, print books, and news, the Alexandrian witches used their cunning to enchant the masses, and in doing so hugely assist, through spreading ancient and long-forbidden philosophies, the coming of a new age where all will be free to worship as they please, thus challenging the world's ignorant view of witchcraft, and helping the ancient wisdom to survive into the future.

The challenge these new ways of life continue to present to a Christian culture constantly demands immediate action in protest, as Christians continue to be intolerant of truly harmless lifestyles, including the lifestyles of pagans. Alex Sanders was a truly touched mystic, an out and proud bisexual man during homophobic times, and an arbiter of necessary social chaos, who knew that people of our modern age were going to need the power and liberation taught by the ancient spirits; that once again the world would have to reconnect with its ancient origins.

Even through decades of protest against witch activity, which continues to this very day, witches of an uncountable amount of lines, traditions, and covens continue to invoke the powers of magic in an otherwise cold, sterile, rigid, secular world. Through the most difficult times witches have healed the sick and established communities in secret. In the twenty-first century, witches and mystics of all types are proving to the world through our accomplishments that magic is a source of power greater than mortals can comprehend.

Magic and mysticism in our present day, from organized groups, to solitary practitioners, to the legendary wizards of folklore, and everything in between, is still an act of rebellion, simply because it is an act of taking back personal power from your own inner self, as well as reaching out to mysterious entities that we have given names. In a world where life can be seen as disposable by brutal government regimes, in a world where the desperate outcry for equality—a cry for basic human freedoms—is being treated by empathy-lacking people as entitlement, delusion, or going against the grain. To stand for the worth of each human as a soul without agenda, to treat all humans as divine, with inalienable rights, to recognize the inherent worth of the planet without demanding profit in return, is considered foolish by many. Witchcraft and magic is a force which boggles the minds of foolhardy, mindless, and heartless people. Witchcraft stands strong through ages where the world threatens to become a nightmare of pollution, murder, neglect, deception, and oppression. Witchcraft sees, like a primitive animist, the human religion as removed from the illusions of society set in time and dictated by man-written laws. So remain the mysteries of the wilderness, obscured in darkness, for all those who are foolish and courageous enough to brave a transformative, initiatory journey into them.

Perhaps it is time for each of us to reconnect with the lost spirits of our ancient ones, all of our Gods, Goddesses, spirits, ancestors, and their stories. Could such powerful forces manifest empathy and foster needed progress within the masses? In a climate where politicians inflict all sorts of personal biases onto the law, regardless of our supposedly secular society, our souls cry out for a change in humanity's abuses of power in the name of superstition and illogic, and for free spiritual expression to be enjoyed by all in many different ways. Maybe all of us need to open our minds to the idea that all deities and ancestor spirits are, at the trunk of the tree of life, interconnected. Our world cries out for true connection to each other, a community-focused life, an end to self-inflicted social and emotional tyranny of assembly line or feudal mentality which pits us against each other, an end to the grief and violence inflicted by one another. We all cry out in our souls for freedom. Men cannot hold in the tears of his past. Women across the globe can no longer be silenced, abused, and murdered for daring to claim their rightful sovereignty. Perhaps it is time mythology permeated Western culture beyond aesthetic appeal and hobby, or cultish fanaticism. Perhaps the ancient truths about the gods, known the world over before Christian domination, are entering the collective souls of the Western world at this very moment. I pray this inevitable shift grants us some wisdom, perspective, and compassion for life. I hope that the world will awaken, and start turning the grief into change.

The organization WITCH protesting in front of Chicago Federal Building in 1969. Click on the photo to learn more about them.

Before concluding, I want to say that I do not intend to dictate any religious dogma other than some truthful words of wisdom. They say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. In a truly enlightened world, I believe people can handle learning a few more tricks. Freedom, protected by those who uphold democracy, can survive into the future so long as a tyrant doesn’t take absolute power and destroy all of the work of the past. Religion does not exist to chastise or shun the mortal world. Religion is meant to make our lives better, it is supposed to make all of us more thoughtful, more empathic, and through guiding constructive action, not detestable people. That's what religion and philosophy was written for; for affirming the value of life, that is why life first raised eyes to Heaven. Do not demonize those who desire change, which is the only logical approach to unsustainable systems, for hear the words of Mother Earth, who says to all peoples, "I am the that which is attained at the end of desire." God is life and love. God is Source energy. God is within every single one of us.

I am thankful to the preservers of magical knowledge, and those who paved the way for future spiritual exploration, those people who offer guidance when the wanderer queries into the dark empty space, "Who, or what, is out there? Who, or what, am I?" You and I are the inheritors of the Earth, we who's hearts are guided by the stars of love, empathy, and joy. They are not the inheritors of the Earth, they who scorn and ravage the Mother and Her creatures. Those who see the energy behind all things, and seek to guard it with all their life, to this day continue to pass on our teachings. Truly self-governed voters in a Democracy are the true inheritors of the power of the government. Today, in 2021, we have forces threatening our democracy with their votes, and from within. We must outvote them every time, forever. We must reject them like weeds. We must become interested in directly causing positive change within the world.

Magical people have an important role to play here. We will continue sending our intentions out upon the winds, as we have always done, for the future good of all who are living. We will encourage wisdom and invention over superstition and fear. The Charge of the Goddess written witch priestess Doreen Valiente, with "charge" meaning a call to action, or the bestowing of a responsibility, says: "KEEP PURE YOUR HIGHEST IDEAL, STRIVE EVER TOWARDS IT, LET NAUGHT STOP YOU OR TURN YOU ASIDE."

May we use our precious powers and abilities more wisely and effectively than past generations.