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Bid ye the Wiccan Laws ye must, in perfect love and perfect trust.
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill: An ye harm none, do as ye will.
And ever mind the rule of three, what ye sends comes back to thee.
Follow this with mind and heart, and merry meet and merry ye part.
**The above is part of the Wiccan Rede a code that we follow and take to the heart.**
The reason I spell magic with a 'k' is because magic means an illusion, something fake and unreal, whereas magick refers
to something real and possible. Everyone has the ability to use magick as long as their heart is in the right place and as
long as it harms none.
Here is some information I got off of a site a long time ago The site is no longer in use but it was really good information.
Since the site is no longer around I will quote it word for word from my sources, but I myself take no claim over the wording
and such.
The Burning Times...
"The origins of the religion of Witchcraft date back about 25,000 years, to the Paleolithic Age, where the God of
Hunting and the Goddess of Fertility first appeared."
"Soon the old ways of the common people came into confilct with a new religion that started with rulers and upper
classes - Christianity. An atempt at mass conversion was made by Pope Gregory the Great, who thought that one way to get people
to go to Christian churches was to build them on sites of the Old Religion's meeting places. In an effort to establish this
new religion, many Old Ways were adapted. For example, the Egyptian Trinity of Isis, Osiris, Horus beame Mary, God and Jesus.
And although biblical evidence shows that Jesus was born in late summer or fall, the Church of Rome in the middle of the fourth
century declared Dec 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. Dec 25 falls very close to the Old Religion's celebration of the Winter
Solstice - the birht of the Sun. (note that the Christians celebrate the birth of the 'Son.') The Spring Equniox, which Pagans
celebrate as the resurrection of the Sun, using fertility symbols such as eggs and the hare, became the Christian's Easter
celebration. The Fall Equinox celebrations were incorporated as Michaelmas, the feast of the archangel who supposidly conquered
the Christian's all-evil deity, Satan. When the Christians decided that their new ways weren't catching on fast enough, things
got a lot rougher for those who were practising the Old Religion. Christan leaders began asserting that Witches were devil
worshippers and savages. Women, who menstruate and give birth, were identified with sexuality and therefore with evil. Human
beings were ranked accourding to inferior and superior states of being, with women coming in last much of the time. In 1533,
for example, Martin Luther wrote 'Girls begin to talk and to stand on their feet sooner than boys because weeds always grow
up more quickly than good crops.' December, 1484 marked the publication of the Bill of Pope Innocent VII, which delegated
Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger as inquisitors. These two men in turn created the Malleus Maleficarum, which details the
tortures that could be used to obtain confessions to Witchcraft. It was this sinister work that sparked a hystaria which spread
rapidly across Europe. I don't think anybody truly knows how many people were burned, tortured or otherwise killed during
this time - although scholarly estimates put the number between 40,000 and 100,000 - but the ironic thing is that the vast
majority of them were NOT Witches. Most are beleived to have been devout Christians who were wrongly accused. Victims were
the elderly, the senile, homosexuals and freethinkers. During this time, people were gradually being taught to blame all of
their problems on Witches and Witchcraft. Protestants taught that magick was sinful because it implied a belief in Divine
assistance in the physical world. Witches were soon blamed for every misfortune - they were thought to have the power to raise
the dead, turn water into wine, control the weather and forsee the future. Once denounced, a suspected Witch was arrested
and then hideously tortured into confession. Suspects were subjected to thumbscrews, the rack, boots which brok the bones
of the legs; they were deprived of sleep, starved and beaten. At times, humdreds of suspected Witches were killed in a day.
Those who did not die during torture were taken to the stake or hanged. Since many of the burnings or hanging took place in
public, the victims were prevented from talking to the crowds through the use of wodden gags or aving their tounges cut out.
The Craft eventually was forced to move underground in order to survive. Unfortunately, when the persecutions ended in the
18th century, the stereotype of Witches as devil worshippers remained for those who were ignorant of the true nature of the
Craft. There are many, many Christians and followers of other religions who today are accepting the faiths other than their
own, including Witchcraft. But much of the ignorance remains. However, in this century, Witchcraft has been recognized as
a valid religion by the U.S. Supreme Court, Wiccan churches are gaining tax-exempt status just like the Christian churches
and we are finally moving to the poing that means wise one, follower of the Old Ways"
Once again this is not my work I just typed it word for word from a piece of information I had years ago, and I am Canadian
so unfortunatly Witchcraft is not recognized here in Canada as far as I know.Here is the original site but once again remember
it is no longer around. http://www.mindspring.com/`selenem/burn.html (dated 9/30/01)
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