WITCHES--Who Are They? by Queen Ellery Witchcraft was commonly beleived to be associated with Satanism and devil worship. During the "Age of Discovery," millions of Witches were killed throughout the world in a great holocaust whose existance is yet denied by many in the Christian community today. I am a Witch. I am not a Satanist. I worship Nature and I also practice magic for personal development and for the welfare of others. My religion is called Wicca--a faith that is being practiced by thousands of others in Canada today. Fear of Witchcraft is based upon ignorance and superstition, against which I offer the following information. Witches are ordinary people. THey practice their religion in private; a custom that has been observed since the Burning Times of the 15th to 18th centuries. In those days, seven million Europeans alone were killed by Christian fanatics after being labeled as devil worshippers. In reality, the Witches' religion is a combination of Pagan festival observances and folk magic. Today, many Witches combine a private worship called Wicca with a public expression of conscience through participation in various human rights and ecology movements. Modern Wiccans are diverse in their beliefs. They have no sacred texts, no written code, and no central authority. Their social unit is the coven: a group of three to thirteen people who meet to worship the old Nature Gods and work magic in a spirit of "Perfect love and perfect trust." When they greet each other it is with the phrase "Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again," or "Blessed be." Their ethics are both individualistic and responsible as expressed in the Wiccan Rule: "Do as you will, if it harms none." This is not the undisciplined freedom of a wastrel. To follow this rule in its full meaning requires that one act according to one's true nature and accept all the consequences of one's acts. An obvious difference between Wicca and the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions is in the concept of sin, especially as it is applied to sexuality. Wiccans reject this idea; in fact, their religion often expresses gender polarity in a joyous, sexual manner. They worship the Great Goddess who is reported by certain Wiccan traditions as telling Her followers: "All acts of love and pleasure are My rituals." Their Deities are emblems of the seasonal changes of Nature in the eternal cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. The Gods of Nature are subtle Beings that personify both the Light and the Dark forces. As such, They represent the great mysteries, like the Christian mystery of the Ressurection of Jesus Christ, that cannot be explained--only experienced. They believe in reincarnation. Instead of seeing Death as either an eternal reward or an eternal punishment, Wiccans view it as a state of peace and spiritual rest. THey see Life and Death forming the cycle that they observe in the seasons of the year. Their two major festivals are held six months apart, at May Day and Halloween. May Day is a celebration of Life, with its may pole phallus evoking dances of sexual liberation--a time when the first green growth of the year bursts forth. Halloween is a celebration of Death, with its jack o' lantern skull evoking memories of the dead--a time when the Hunter's Moon shines upon the killing frosts. Wiccans know that the death of the older plants and animals seen at Halloween is necessary to the life of the young ones seen at May Day. Wiccans believe their religion to be true to the spirit of the earliest cultures of Paleolithic Europe in that they respect the Earth, the regenerative powers of Nature, and the divine Masculine and Feminine principles that humankind began to worship more than twelve thousand years ago. And Wiccans believe magic transforms their lives and serves as a balance to the materialism of modern industrial society. They do not proselytize; but they do teach religious tolerance. Wicca is not for everyone, they say. All paths lead to the Centre, and Wicca is but one path. A Path is but a path--not the Destination. Blessed be, Ellery Ottawa, Ontario, July-1993