We all, that is the laymen, know witchcraft to be a form of sorcery, supernatural in nature, more often evil, and that those indulging in witchcraft, the witches are its evil practitioners. But, there is more to what witchcraft is.

Terms “witchcraft” and “witches” originated from Wicca, which is an ancient neo pagan religion. Witchcraft is a form of Wiccan religion and practitioners of this religion are called witches. Witchcraft is wrongly believed to be evil and contrary to the beliefs, does not call upon the devil powers. Wicca is an extremely peaceful and a positive religion that believes in doing good for the mother earth by conserving the resources, caring for animals, avoiding pollution and so on.

Wiccans believe in their God and Goddess, unlike other religions which only believe in one of these, especially God i.e. the male form. And it is rightly so, after all, it takes both, female and male to beget.

Yes, it is true that witches (Wiccan followers) do perform magic, but this magic is positive, or also called as white magic; exactly opposite of black or dark magic. They resort to witchcraft for healing, helping or bringing in positive changes for others. Witchcraft is celebrated just like any other religion, with religious practices and ceremonies conducted regularly. They perform rituals based on the various cycles in nature and by gauging seasonal changes.

Wiccans or white witches make use of spells, what we call as witchcraft spells that are nothing but prayers and rituals inclined towards the divine power. All spells and rituals conducted by the wiccans have to conform to strict codes of witchcraft which keeps practicing and using the power of this religion for the wrong in check. Retribution forms a hugely significant part of witchcraft. They believe that you will have to face the consequences for all your actions and that these consequences will revert to you with threefold the original impact. So, you do something bad, you are in for something really really really bad.

The ancients called witchcraft as “The Craft of the Wise”. These wise men and women who practiced witchcraft were attuned to the nature’s forces and understood what all of us today, do not seem to understand; that mankind is not superior to nature, its creations and the earth, but is just a small segment of its creations. In simple words, we cannot own the earth as we are simply a small part of it.

Today, witchcraft sadly, is negatively stereotyped representing anything evil. For centuries, witchcraft has been seen as an unrighteous practice and its practitioners have been wrongly persecuted.

We should all know that witchcraft is a peaceful and a harmonious way of life that honours nature and all of its creation and inculcates oneness amongst the various creations of nature and the divine. There are witches even today, who practice witchcraft, and contrary to the naïve beliefs of them wearing a long crooked hat and working in the covens. They are just like any of us; only difference being their religion, their beliefs and philosophy of life. But, then that is true with all of us belonging to varied cultures and religions, only our religions and beliefs are more accepted in the society. It is about time these major and unnecessary misconceptions regarding witchcraft changed and we became more open to its ideas, philosophy and beliefs. Even if not practice it, at least let us accept it, just like we accept the other religions.

Witchcraft has a lot of power to bring about positive changes in the world and make this world a much better place to live in.