The Threat of Modern Witchcraft?

The other week, as I scrolled through my Facebook feed, I saw a post from someone I met through a church event, and it started with “I find it interesting that the Lord laid it on my heart to warn people dabbling with any form of witchcraft 2 days ago, not knowing that the world’s largest satanic gathering is this weekend.” Of course, I clicked the read more button, and the post went on to say that a person must be on one side or the other (I would assume these perceived sides are the Christian good and the Satanic evil). My Facebook acquaintance then called her readers to pray for protection so that “no weapon formed against our communities will prosper.”

I proceeded to roll my eyes. 

Though I had not yet read the final chapter of our textbook when I came across this post, I was aware that members of the Satanic Temple didn’t worship Satan. What I knew about them was their efforts to maintain bodily autonomy for women, especially after the passing of the Texas “Heartbeat Bill.” One of the tenets of Satanism is that a person’s body should be controlled by only that person, so they invoked the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to protect members from abortion restrictions. While this isn’t the strongest form of activism, as it only aims to benefit a small group of people, members of many other occult religions commonly advocate for reform and justice that benefits all.

My Facebook friend and many others think that those practicing witchcraft are inherently evil and “against” them, but that’s simply not the case.

Neopagans are evidence against this claim– page 264 of A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult says that the basic beliefs of Wicca are in “the benign divinity that inhabits the whole of nature, the idea of magic, and the central creed of 'harm none.’” Additionally, the principal rule of neopagan magic is that it “must never be used to harm people, animals, plants, or the planet” (274). These tenets contrast with the idea that Wiccans, neopagans more generally, or most occult practitioners are evil or seek to harm. Occultists contradict this idea even more by campaigning for the rights and protection of others. For instance, many neopagans are concerned with environmental and feminist issues, and generally, these groups “value tolerance, diversity, inclusivity, spiritualism, joy, and a delight in magic” (273). 

If I’m writing candidly, I think some Christians, including this Facebook poster, could benefit from taking up a similar perspective. Of course, Christianity and occult religions possess various differences, and we probably won’t strive to find delight in magic (though one could argue that we should delight in the powers of God in a similar manner). However, some of our values are– or should be– rather similar. There are various hymns and Bible passages proclaiming joy, so that’s a common value. Based on the example of Jesus Christ, who loved all people no matter their background or profession and commands his followers to do likewise, Christians also should embody tolerance, diversity, and inclusivity. If we were all to do that, perhaps there would be less misunderstanding of those different from ourselves. Maybe we wouldn’t feel the need to speak (or post) against others’ beliefs or religions and we could all live in a more accepting, loving world.