We've all heard it. The discontentedly white noise of the anti-occultist religious movement. We've been called Satanists, or at least know of some one who has. We've read the mis-informed accounts of infanticide during pagan rites, and been told that we are evil. We've been talked down to by do-gooder Christians who desperately want to "save" us, and we've been rejected by our friends for coming out of our respective besom closets. But that, my friends, is not the worst part. Some of us have brought this on ourselves, by acting like idiots.

Who among us has ever felt so utterly powerful that she/he actually thinks that casting a spell over another in an effort to try to get them to accept us, or just leave us alone? I imagine that many of us have. This is not the stupid part. Show of hands...how many of us have told that person that we are doing this, or, lamest of lame, set them in the center of our coven's circles and attempted to force their will?

This actually happens, friends! I have talked to a few folks that have been on the receiving end of such spells, and laughed their butts off on the way over to continue to harass and/or antagonize the "silly Wiccans". What kind of idiot do you suppose would presume to think that their own will, or even the combined will of a coven, can force an attitude change in another human being if that person 1)doesn't wish to change, and 2) knows about it? Just because spell-working is an integral part of the Wiccan religion does NOT make a Wicca omnipotent!

There are, of course, ethical concerns as far as this behavior is concerned. Do any of us have the right to force our will onto another human being? Those of us with children are often of the mind- set that it is wrong to force our small ones into conforming to our will, much less an independent, full grown adult. We all have the right to our opinions, and when it comes down to it, the only person we each truly have control of is ourselves. That's it, no one else is required to do our bidding.

In the event that a person is being harassed, ridiculed, or otherwise non-violently
persecuted for her or his religious beliefs, that person has control
only of their own reaction to the antagonizing. Why not cast
a spell to help deal with the feelings being harassed evokes?
More often than not, learning to deal with adversity on a personal level will
train one with the wisdom to know when outside forces must be
utilized.

Even worse than casting a spell over an un-willing victim is the demand for retribution for historical crimes. Sure, the Roman Catholics burned witches, werewolves, and others during what is commonly known as The Burning Times. But how many Catholics alive today have torched a witch? Maybe a couple of over-zealous nut cases (who are now rotting in prisons world-wide), but this is not on the large scale. I tend to doubt that many Christians today would say that witch burning was even something that they'd WANT to do. How can we, who have NEVER undergone such persecution, demand retribution from those who have NEVER DEALT IT? This is idiocy, pure and in it's condensed state. Most Christians who DO think that witches are "evil", or have been somehow seduced by Satan, know virtually nothing about witchcraft. If we are to start hating people for their ignorance than we are no better than those who tortured the witches of The Burning Times. I feel that if we really want to be understood and respected, then it is our job to educate. It is up to each individual person to either believe or disbelieve what we tell them about the Neo-Pagan movement. But until that point all bets are off, or at least should be.

It's not only those outside of the craft that persecute. I don't know how many times I've stumbled into a Wiccan chat room right in the middle of a throw-down session with a "wanna-be teen-age witch". Granted, Wicca seems like a fad anymore with teens. With books on Witchcraft lining the walls of Gothic clothing stores and "vampire" haunts, it's no wonder that so many younger people are finding themselves drawn to paganism. But, whatever the reason, we are bound by our own beliefs to respect the choices of teens who experiment with Wicca, as often the case turns out to be. None of us are truly able to understand the motivation of another who is gravitating toward the Goddess. Be it fashion or ancient calling, we should be here to support, not condemn. I'm sure that many of us have told others at the beginning of our paths that we are hereditary witches, born into the craft and trained by our mothers or grandmothers. Age, for some reason, seems to imply authenticity to many pagans. Fact is that most of us are NOT born into the craft. However, all of us were born into the World, and as creatures of Earth we all feel the call of the Mother, be it through religion, a feeling of kinship with a pet, or a draw to go out into the rain to catch drops on our tongue.

Let's get our own heads on straight before attempting to mess with anyone else's, ok? Just think before you act, and act with humility when you do. There are so many things that each of us do to look like fools already, let's try not to make our religion one of them!

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