Witchcraft is the name that was used by the Christian Church to stigmatize the pagan practitioners of “The Old Religions”, which was the continuation of the practices of the native spiritual and cultural beliefs of Europeans and others that existed prior to the advent of Christianity. Simply put, it is a descriptive (and demonizing) term for anyone who practices a pagan or nature based religion.

Herein lays one of the fundamental differences between Witchcraft and Wicca.

The practice of Witchcraft, by its fundamental nature, is am individual experience. Though one may be drawn to a particular “tradition” or “type” of Witchcraft it is solitary in nature. Basic to Witchcraft is the principle of animism; the belief that everything has a spirit and is alive. The animals have a spirit, the trees have a spirit, the rocks have a spirit and even this computer has a spirit. Everything has a spirit and is alive and the Witch harmony and equality with all things. A Witch therefore does not follow the laws of man; the Witch follows the laws of Nature and of Spirit. It is eclectic in its basic element.

The practice of Wicca is societal in nature. It follows a code of laws that is inviolate and designed for the preservation of the group or coven, as an entity, under a set lineage of leaders. The principle is, in fact, exactly the opposite of that of Witchcraft.

The abiding belief in Witchcraft is that of the Solitaire. The Eclectic Witch whose “initiation” comes not as a rite of an empirical leadership, but from an acceptance of living not from ego, but from complete being. It requires that you be totally present and totally accepting, so that old habits and ideas do not continue to foster illusions and lead you away from your true self and that can come from no pontifical pronouncement, but from the union of oneself with all creation.

There are no “solitary” Wiccans. There is no eclectic experience of epiphany. It is not an escape from the laws of man and society, but the exchange of one set of dogma for another. The person is not releasing the restriction imposed by society, but merely exchanging one for the other.

You have not escaped the imprisonment, but merely changed cages.

or smth it says the one you loved is thinking of u too, and he calls me

a 17 years old turkish girl from izmir who loves deste:)

Because it is the Northern Europeans – specifically, the Anglo-Saxons – who gave the world the very word “wicce/wicca” which eventually became our modern English word “witch.”

The futhark is an integral part of the culture and thought patterns of the people out of whom grew the very concept of a “witch” at all.

The 24 characters of the elder futhark are the holy mysteries of the Germanic/Anglo-Saxon people, in very much the same way that the 20 Mysteries of the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary describe the Christian mysteries. The mysteries of the elder futhark are still an integral part of the way native speakers of English think; those mysteries are built into the very language and we use those words all the time.

Therefore it has occured to me at least that (and here’s my rede or advice to any who are reading this) any witch worth their salt (and who wants to do honor to our ancestors) would immerse themselves in deep study of these 24 mysteries – these are the mysteries of your people. The elder futhark is odal/inheritance (yet another one of the mysteries/runes), passed down to us through the generations.

We are holding spiritual gold in the form of the runes. And not just faddish runes that someone came up with two years ago and is trying to make a fast buck off of. We have runes which have been fed energy for close to two thousand years. The elder futhark in the form that we know today dates back to at least 50 C.E. – a mere 50 years after the birth of Christ. It might even date back further than that; the Meldorf Brooch is one artifact that has an inscription of the rune row on it that dates back to 50 C.E.

These are our mysteries.

This is our legacy.