Witchcraft is not Wicca

Brysing you still have not answered my question.

Also how is it not true? There is nothing in there that is false, you are looking at it as a Wiccan and not a Traditional Witch. That article, was wrote by a Witch not a Wiccan. It actually holds truth but it is do to you having a strict faith that blinds you.

Also please stop dancing around my questions. I asked, if you have the knowledge, teach but stop, dancing around it.

You can not have a discussion if one side is avoiding the questions.

Well, great argument. I am not wiccan, nor am I interested in the religion. With that out of the way, I got to say I am disappointed to find out that brysing references a definition from his 'witch teacher'. I had really thought that experienced practitioners know better than to take the opinions of mortal human beings as facts. To add to that, I disagree completely with that definition of witchcraft (and I expect no one to think my definition is fact). Also am I the only one who seems to think that Christianity, Judaism, Islam etc have nothing to do with witchcraft?

oh and yes the priests and popes included.

That is exactly what I have said. Religion has nothing to do with witchcraft. The "magic" of witchcraft was mainly to do with healing. Mixing drugs,potions,salves,ointments, setting broken bones. It still is! Every practice of modern medicine began as witchcraft. It never did have anything to do with spirits,Gods, or anything supernatural. Religions are "beliefs"; witchcraft is a Craft!
As for my witch teacher. Do you think witches are not mortal!

And still my question was avoided.

Chan, you are missing a point here too. Brysing is a Traditional Witch. He is not, nor ever has been, Wiccan. What he says about Traditional Witchcraft is absolutely spot on. It is not a spiritual practice. A Traditional Witch can be of any religion or practice no religion at all.

As an example of one error in regards to Traditional Witchcraft, the article says that it was the Christians that came up with the name of "witch" for these peoples. In fact the word "witch" is taken from the Anglo-Saxon (Pagan) term "wicce" long before the Christianization of those peoples.

Now, as for Traditional Wicca, I am one of those. And there are a great many errors in the material that you found in terms of Traditional Wicca.

For instance, in regards to self-initiation in Wicca. In Traditional Wicca one cannot initiate oneself into Traditional Wicca. You must be initiated in accordance with the practices of Traditional Wicca which require both an initiator and a particular group to be initiated into. Solitaries do not "initiate" themselves either. They may "dedicate" themselves to Wicca but one cannot initiate oneself.

And I would disagree with the author's position on Wiccan ethics and Karma. They fall into the trap found in many writings about Wicca but do not understand either the actual teachings of the Wiccan Rede or the Threefold Law.

It is an interesting article and makes some good points, but it has some glaring errors as well and I think it is important to point this out for others who use this as a learning tool. This isn't an attack on you, so please do not take it that way. This is simply commentary to point out items on which the original author is , especially in terms of Wicca. If they are not initiated into a specific British Traditional Wiccan coven then they actually have no idea about the beliefs and practices of those groups other than what is public knowledge and that knowledge is often inaccurate.

Well Lark, I am not taking it as an attack but I find it insulting that Brysing will not answer my questions. He wanted to debate and that is cool, I love a good debate and in debate nothing is meant to be taken personal but, I am a Traditional Witch as well and I do not agree with the statement saying that Witchcraft is a religion but I think you also mistook what they meant by Christians calling them Witches. I understand the Anglo roots of the words but the word Witch is a blend and that article was saying that the Christians gave the word Witch to them much like how the Romans used Pagan to the country dwellers but as times change so do does the definition of words.

So, it is a clash of traditions here but, still he has not answered any of my questions so I will take it as insult.

When You have a member in His Eighties
With over seventy as a Witch, its hard to argue with His statements.
Personally i like all of the older books on the Craft

Oh, you must argue! It is how we learn. It is said that old age brings wisdom. But I'm afraid that is not always the case. I have learnt a great deal from the young members of this site.

@Chan.Grey, not to jump into an argument, but Brysing did kind of answer your question. he didn't go for a point by point breakdown, but he did mention a few inaccuracies in the post such as 'the practice of the craft is known and used all over the world', 'As for Deities, there are none in witchcraft', and "Witchcraft is the knowledge of the few, for the benefit of the many." [to copy/paste a few parts of his responses] but i'm going to assume your question 'I am not the author as I have said already, so please tell me where I am wrong?' indicates that since you didn't actually write the post you therefore are immune from criticism because it's technically not yours. i applaud you Chan for trying to educate others, but simply copy/pasting a whole article might not be the best way since it's not your knowledge, so you actually do not know if what they say is 100% accurate. providing a link and your opinion on said link might of been a wiser choice. just my two cents anyway, take care.

I love to argue too
I also learn from younger folks as well as older but
You have to save it for when you are actually right
You cant be wrong and claming to be right