
                 History of Witchcraft (part 4)

As  Christianity  became  a part of this nation,  there  is  much 
evidence to show where the Christians of the time, and the pagans 
lived peacefully together.

In  theology, the differences between early Christians,  Gnostics 
(members  -  often  Christian - of dualistic  sects  of  the  2nd 
century  a.d.), and pagan Hermetists were slight.  In  the  large 
Gnostic  library  discovered at Naj'Hammadi, in upper  Egypt,  in 
1945,  Hermetic writings were found side by side  with  Christian 
Gnostic  texts.   The  doctrine of the  soul  taught  in  Gnostic 
communities was almost identical to that taught in the mysteries: 
the soul emanated from the Father, fell into the body, and had to 
return to its former home.   

It was not until later in Rome that things took a change for  the 
worse.  Which moves us on to Greece.

The doctrinal similarity is exemplified in the case of the  pagan 
writer  and  philosopher  Synesius.  When the  people  of  Cyrene 
wanted  the  most able man of the city to be their  bishop,  they 
chose  Synesius,  a  pagan. He was able to  accept  the  election 
without  sacrificing  his  intellectual honesty.   In  his  pagan 
period,  he  wrote  hymns that follow the fire  theology  of  the 
Chaldean Oracles.  Later he wrote hymns to Christ.  The  doctrine 
is almost identical. 

To  attempt to demonstrate this...let's go to some  BASIC  tenets 
and beliefs of the two religions:

                        Christian Beliefs

The 10 Commandments 

1.) You shall have no other gods before me.

To the Christian, this means there will be no other God.  Yet, in 
the bible, the phrase is plural.  I does not state that you  will 
not  have another god, it says that you will have no  other  gods 
before the Christian God.

In  the case of the later, it could be interpreted to  mean  that 
whereas other gods can be recognised, as a Christian, this person 
should  place YHVH ahead of all gods recognising him/her  as  the 
supreme being of all. 

2.) You shall not worship idols

Actually,  what it says in the New International Version is  "You 
shall  not make for yourself an idol in the form af  anything  in 
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You 
shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord  your 
God, am a jealour God, punishing the children for the sin of  the 
fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate  me, 
but   showing  love  to  thousands  who  love  me  and  keep   my 
commandments. 

3.) You shall not take the name of the lord in vain.

This one is pretty self explanitory.  When a person is calling on 
the lord he/she is asking the lord for guidance or action.  Thus, 
the phrase "God damn it!" can be translated into a person  asking 
the  lord  to comdemn whatever "it" is to hell.  The  phrase  "To 
damn"  means  to  condem to hell.   In  modern  society,  several 
phrases such as the following are common usage:
     "Oh God!", "God forbid!", "God damn it!", "God have mercy!"
Each  of these is asking God to perform some act upon or for  the 
speaker with the exception of "Oh God!" which is asking for  Gods 
attention. 

4.) Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Depending on which religion you are looking at (i.e. Jewish, from 
which  the 10 commandments come; or Christianity,  which  adapted 
them  for their use as well.) the Sabbath is either  Saturday  or 
Sunday.   You  may also take a look at the  various  mythological 
pantheons  to  corelate which is the first and last days  of  the 
week...(i.e. Sun - Sunday.. Genesis 1:3 "And God said, "Let there 
be  light,'  and there was light., Moon - Monday..  Genesis  1:14 
"And  God said,"Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky  to 
separate  the day from the night, and let them serve as signs  to 
mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the 
expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 
God  made two great lights - the greater light to govern the  day 
and  the  lesser  light to govern the night.  He  also  made  the 
stars."  Thus the Sun was created first.  With the day of the Sun 
being  the first in the week, then Saturday would be the  7th  or 
Sabbath. 

5.) Honor thy mother and thy father.

This  is  another that is fairly self explainitory.   It  is  any 
parent's  right  after spending the time to raise you  to  expect 
that you respect them.  

6.) You shall not murder.

This does not say "You shall not murder...except in my name."  It 
says YOU SHALL NOT MURDER. PERIOD. Out of the 10 commandments,  I 
have found that over the course of history, this one has been the 
most  ignored.   As we look as the spread  of  Christianity  from 
around 300 A.D. forward, we find that as politics moved into  the 
church  and  those  in charge of man's "souls"  were  given  more 
control that this one commandment sort of went out the window. 

We  see  such things as the Crusades, the  inquisition,  and  the 
dominating fear that was placed into the Christian "psyche"  that 
one should destroy that which is not like you.

Even  though  we here stories about the "witch trials",  and  the 
"witch  burnings" etc....There were actually very  few  "Witches" 
tried  or  burned.   Most  of  these  poor  souls  were  that  of 
Protestant  beliefs  (Against  the  Catholic  Church)  yet  still 
maintained that they were Christians. But...more on this later. 

7.) You shall not commit adultery.

You  can  look  up the meaning in the dictionary,  and  this  one 
becomes  pretty self-evident.  What it comes down to is  that  no 
person who has ever been divorced can marry again, and you  don't 
have sex with someone that you are not married to. 

8.) You shall not steal.

Again, enough said. However...don't go looking at Constantine  to 
be  obeying this one!  The Pagan temples were looted to make  his 
coinage.

9.) You shall not give false witness against thy neighbor

Again,  during the times of the inquisition, this also  went  out 
the window.  Such tools as torture were used to pull  confessions 
from  these  poor  people who then  signed  statements  that  the 
inquisitors  had written up saying that they freely  signed  this 
document.   Of course...the inquisitors stated that  this  person 
was  not tortured, but it was his clever wit that  had  extracted 
this confession.  

It  was  also  during this time that persons,  refusing  to  take 
responsibility  for their own actions or accept that nature  does 
in  fact  create strange  circumstances...(i.e.  drought,  flood, 
etc.)  and  the resulting illness and  bug  infrestations.   Very 
often,  as the Witch-craze developed stronger, the  one  neighbor 
would  accuse another of Witchcraft and destroying the fields  or 
making their child sick, or whatever. 

10.)You shall not covet your neighbor.

On  the  surface, this one is pretty  self  explainitory.   Don't 
crave your neighbor's possessions.  Yes...I can relate this  back 
to  the inquisitional times as well since most of  the  accused's 
property   reverted   back  to  the  Catholic  church   at   this 
time...there  were  several accused and convicted  of  Witchcraft 
simply because they would not sell their property to the  church. 
However...How  does  this effect persons today?  How  far  do  we 
carry the "Thou shalt not covet..."?  This can be even so much as 
a want, however is it a sin to want a toy like your neighbor has?  
If so...we're all in trouble.  How many of us "want" that Porsche 
that  we see driving down the road?  Or how about that  beautiful 
house  that we just drove past?  Do we carry this commandment  to 
this extreme?  If so...I pity the person that can live by it  for 
what that would say is "Thou shalt not DREAM." 

                         Wiccan Beliefs

Since the religion of Wicca (or Witchcraft) is so diverse in it's 
beliefs,  I have included several documents here  that  encompass 
the majority of the traditions involved.  Again, this is simply a 
basis...NOT the be all and end all.

                           Wiccan Rede

                  Bide ye wiccan laws you must,
                in perfect love and perfect trust
                  Live ye must and let to live,
                   fairly take and fairly give
                   For the circle thrice about
                  to keep unwelcome spirits out
                To bind ye spell wll every time,
                 let the spell be spake in rhyme
                 Soft of eye and light of touch,
                  speak ye little, listen much
                  Deosil go by the waxing moon,
                  chanting out ye baleful tune
                   When ye Lady's moon is new,
                  kiss ye hand to her times two
                 When ye moon rides at her peak,
                   then ye heart's desire seek
                Heed the north winds mighty gale,
                 lock the door and trim the sail
               When the wind comes from the south,
                love will kiss thee on the mouth
               When the wind blows from the east,
                expect the new and set the feast.
                 Nine woods in the cauldron go,
                burn them fast and burn them slow
                    Elder be ye Lady's tree,
                 burn it not or cursed ye'll be
                 WHen the wheel begins to turn,
                 soon ye Beltane fires will burn
                When the wheel hath turned a Yule
               light the log the Horned One rules
                 Heed ye flower, bush and tree,
                     by the Lady blessed be
                  Where the rippling waters go,
               cast a stone, the truth ye'll know
                  When ye have and hold a need,
                   harken not to others greed
                  With a fool no season spend,
                   or be counted as his friend
                   Merry meet and merry part,
              bright the cheeks and warm the heart.
                 Mind ye threefold law ye should
              three times bad and three times good
                    When misfortune is enow,
                   wear the star upon thy brow
                   True in love my ye ever be,
                 lest thy love be false to thee
           These eight words the wiccan rede fulfill;
                An harm ye none, do what ye will. 



  One of the Pagan Oaths recognised nationally here in the U.S.

                 A Pledge to Pagan Spirituality
I  am  a Pagan and I dedicate Myself to channeling the  Spiritual 
Energy of my Inner Self to help and to heal myself and others.
  
*   I know  that I  am a  part of  the Whole  of Nature.   May  I  
grow   in  understanding of  the Unity  of all  Nature.   May   I  
always  walk  in Balance.
  
*   May  I  always be  mindful of  the diversity  of   Nature  as 
well as its Unity and  may I  always be  tolerant of those  whose 
race, appearance, sex, sexual preference, culture, and other ways 
differ from my own.
  
*  May I  use the  Force (psychic  power) wisely  and  never  use 
it   for aggression nor  for malevolent  purposes. May   I  never  
direct  it  to curtail the free will of another.
  
*  May I  always be mindful that I create my own reality and that 
I have the power within me to create positivity in my life.
  
*   May  I  always act  in  honorable  ways: being   honest  with  
myself and others, keeping  my word  whenever I  have given   it,  
fulfilling   all responsibilities and  commitments I  have  taken  
on to  the best of my ability.
  
*  May I  always  remember  that whatever  is  sent  out   always  
returns magnified to  the sender.  May the  Forces of  Karma move  
swiftly   to  remind me  of these  spiritual commitments  when  I 
have  begin  to  falter from them,  and may  I  use  this  Karmic 
feedback  to  help myself grow and be more attuned  to  my  Inner 
Pagan Spirit.
  
*   May  I  always remain strong and committed  to  my  Spiritual 
ideals in the face of  adversity and  negativity. May  the  Force  
of my Inner Spirit ground out  all malevolence  directed my   way 
and   transform  it  into positivity. May  my Inner  Light  shine  
so   strongly  that  malevolent forces can not even  approach  my 
sphere of existence.
  
*   May I  always grow  in Inner  Wisdom & Understanding.  May  I 
see  every  problem that  I face  as an opportunity   to  develop 
myself spiritually in solving it.
  
*   May  I  always act out of Love to all other  beings  on  this  
Planet -- to other humans,  to plants,  to animals,  to minerals, 
to elementals, to spirits, and to other entities.
  
*   May  I  always be  mindful that the  Goddess and God  in  all 
their  forms  dwell  within   me  and   that  this   divinity  is  
reflected through my own Inner Self, my Pagan Spirit.
.pa  
*  May I  always channel  Love and  Light from  my  being.  May my  Inner 
Spirit, rather  than my ego self, guide all my thoughts, feelings, and 
actions.
                          SO MOTE IT BE

In  the  Wiccan Rede above, and scattered in the  oath,  we  find 
words  such  as Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.  What  are  these 
strange words and what do they mean?

Before  one  can analyse the meaning behind the  phrase  "Perfect 
Love  and  Perfect Trust", one must first define the  words.  For 
this  purpose, I will use the Webster's New World  Dictionary  of 
the  American  Language  1982 edition. Perfect:  adj.  [L.  per-, 
through  + facere, do] 1. complete in all respects;  flawless  2. 
excellent,  as  in  skill or quality 3.  completely  accurate  4. 
sheer;  utter  [a perfect fool] 5. Gram. expressing  a  state  or 
action completed at the time of speaking - vt. 1. to complete  2. 
to make perfect or nearly perfect - n. 1. the perfect tense 2.  a 
verb form in this tense - perfectly adv - perfectness n.

Love: n. [<OE. lufu]  1. strong affection or liking of someone or 
something. 2. a passionate affection for one of the opposite sex. 
3. The object of such affection, sweetheart. 

Trust:  n.[ON,  traust]  1.  a)  firm  belief  in  the   honesty, 
reliability,  etc.  of  another;  faith b)  the  one  trusted  2. 
confident  expectation,  hope, etc. 3.  responsibility  resulting 
from  confidence  placed in one. 4. Care,  custody  5.  something 
entrusted to one....

Using  these  definitions,  we  come  up  with  "Flawless  strong 
affection and flawless faith.

Is this possible?  Those that follow the religion of Wicca  often 
give  excuses for this just being words.  When this is the  case, 
they are not obeying their faith....thus..they are not  following 
perfect love and perfect trust.  But to the rest...the answer  is 
a  resounding YES.  This does not ask that you "like"  a  person.  
It asks that you see the divine light and love within  individual 
whether you like them or not.  Can this be done...YES. As to  the 
perfect  trust...we  can always trust a fox to be  a  fox  right. 
Therefore,  when we are entering circle, we can  honestly  answer 
perfect  trust even if it is on shaky ground.  We may have  faith 
that this person will act like any other human. 

It  with these beliefs and doctrines that I state that  not  only 
was   the  doctrine,  or  teaching  almost  identical,  but   the 
vocabulary was extensively the same.

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