Are All Pagans Witches, and Are All Witches Pagan?

When I first began my path into the world of witchcraft and the occult, through the mountain of books, through the thoughts and the discourse, there was one question of many that had me very confused.

Does being Pagan, automatically make you a Witch?

The question itself drummed up even more questions.

Thankfully, I’ve discovered the answer, and I’m going to share it.

Pagan is defined by the dictionary as “a member of a religious, spiritual, or cultural community based on the worship of nature or the Earth”. Therefore Paganism is defined as “a religious movement incorporating beliefs or practices from outside the main world religions, especially nature worship.” These two words have the emphasis on “worshipping nature” and it sepreates from the MAIN world religions, such as Christianity, Islam, or Judaism.

Now, Witch is defined as “a person, now especially a woman, who professes or is supposed to practice magic or sorcery”. Witchcraft is defined as “magical influence; witchery. The art or practices of a Witch”. The two words are linked in the “use of magick as a practice”.

Pagan or Paganism is considered the jar that holds or covers the many different spiritual beliefs of the world that are not associated with mainstream religion such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. A few examples of the many different spiritual beliefs held in the jar of Paganism are: Wicca, Druidism, Asatru, Dianic, Hinduism, Shintoism, Taoism, Shamanism, Kemetism, and a long list more.

Ever noticed how many witches get offended when you call them Wiccan? That’s because not all witches are Wiccan. To be Wiccan or Dianic are only a few of the many pebbles in the jar of Paganism, and a witch can be just more than one or many if they practice Eclectic.

But, back to the question, does being Pagan make you a Witch?

As we’ve dissected, to be a witch is to practice and use magick. Magick is wide and glorious, ranging from different methods great and small. Magic is defined as “the art of producing a desired effect or result through the use of incantation or various other techniques that “presumably” assure human control of supernatural agencies or forces of nature”. I put quotes over “presumably” because many doubt or criticize magick because science can’t figure it out. Unless science says so, those things don’t exist. But all witches know that magick is simply science not yet explained. Again, I had to research “magic” instead of “magick” because the k seperates the illusion from the real deal. And again, since science doesn’t say so, all Humies understand is the basic term, of illusion, magic.

Straight to the point, there are Pagans who do not practice magick as witches. There are Pagans who worship nature in their own way, but do not see fit or comfortable with using magick. Also, there are witches that simply are involved in different religious systems that are not Pagan.

Therefore, not all Pagans are Witches.

An example of witches who are not Pagan are: Christian Witches who are practicing Christians that use witchcraft, and Santeria witches that follows Cuban religious traditions and blends Voodoo, Witchcraft, and Christianity together.

So, what did we learn? A lot, but here’s a refresher:

• Pagans worship nature
• Witchcraft is the practicing of magick
• Paganism is the jar that contains many pebbles of spiritual belief system
• Paganism is not associated with mainstream religion such as Judaism, Islam, or Christianity 
• Not all Witches are Wiccan
• Not all Pagans practice witchcraft or use magick

• There are witches who are not Pagan such as Christian Witches

All of this information can be a tad confusing with quite a bit of nuance, so take some time to digest it or read this over again for a bit more clarity.

Hope this helped!

Erytheia Medea©

*All pictures belong to their respective owners*

The Autumnal Equinox, September 21st/22nd

The Autumn Equinox is upon us, and with its approach is the official ringing in of the Fall season.

I remember vividly, once I started by journey into the occult, mysticism, and witchcraft that I made it my ultimate duty to celebrate each and every Sabbat of the turning wheel. Huffing and puffing, gathering decoration, beautifying my altar, baking sweet confections for myself and my deity, and performing rituals for each holiday celebrated by the witches of old. 

However, with knowledge and time, you begin to realize that a witch does not have to celebrate every holiday of the wheel.

Unlike mainstream and conventional religions, Paganism gives you unbridled freedom. There is no God that will strike you down, look down on you, fail fire and brimstone, or crucify you if you do not participate in their name every holiday. You have the freedom to go all out on every holiday you deem special or sacred, and you choose which holidays of the wheel you want to do ritual on or not. However, I do feel it necessary to celebrate them all for one year just to figure it out.

The Autumn Equinox made my list of favorite Pagan holidays that I celebrate. And I am tickled green to tell you about it. Please, feel free to use this information to add to your Grimoires or just to help you better understand the Pagan holiday. Memory serves me, and it recalls how confusing it can be to just start out on the path. There’s so much to learn, and I’m honored to help my sweet witchlings.

The Autumn Equinox, September 21^st or 22^nd

The equinox, cosmically, begins when the sun is lined up directly with the Earth’s equator, resulting in this day being equal in daylight hours and nighttime hours. 

The Autumn Equinox goes by many names: Mabon (Wiccan Term), Second Harvest, Wine Harvest, Cornucopia, Feast of the Ingathering, and many more, so much more I can’t even list them here.

The Humie (my special term for the “average human”) equivalent to Thanksgiving, the Autumn Equinox is a celebration bursting with delicious food, wine, and feasts abound. This is generally the last hurrah outside for spell workings or rituals, for the cold chill of winter starts to nip after the Equinox. 

The food corresponding to the equinox is freshly baked bread, wine, grapes, nuts, apples, and other fall focused edibles. 

You can participate in several activities: celebrating outside underneath the stars, apple picking, making a prosperity candle, sipping on wine, sprinkling fallen leaves, decorating the grave stones of passed loved ones, and feasting on delectable foods. 

There are several Gods and Goddesses celebrated at this time, but primarily your focus should be around the Gods/Goddesses of Wine, aging Deities, or deities that made a descent into the underworld.

Symbolically, the Autumn Equinox is a time of celebrating the second harvest or a time of reaping what we have sown, mysteries of this Earth and universe, balance externally and internally, honoring the spirit world and the deities that are aging with the Equinox, relishing the darkness overtaking the light as the days of the sun cuddling us starts to drift, and enjoying the gifts if the vine or most famously titled wine.

I have a faint idea of what I will do for the Autumn Equinox celebration, mostly because I am not the best with planning ahead with the holidays, but I’ll post a few pictures :D

I hope you have a great Autumn Equinox (if you choose to celebrate it). Have fun and stay witchy!

Erytheia Medea©

*All pictures belong to their respective owners*

My Problem With The “Live and Learn” Theory OR The Importance Of Cronism

I decided to go on a little walk today, mostly because I wanted to get unstuck from my environment and get a bit of movement for my body. What happened today on my walk inspired this post:

I decide to stop at a local park not far from my home, mostly because it was early enough that there wouldn’t be children and because I’m still a full blown sucker for swings. Something I now know I probably won’t grow out of.

Once I sat at the swings, several things entered my line of perception. A couple deeply making out on a bench far past the jungle gym/ play area, a father kinda watching his daughter as she played on the gym area as she habitually calls out to him vying for his attention, a painfully thin man who I could believe was on some form of drugs as he rocks back and forth, and closest to me where I was at on the swings, 4 teenagers, 2 girls and 2 boys.

I make sure to pay attention to details and my surroundings, so after I did that, I decided to pop in my headphones and begin swinging. I let my thoughts run free, gazing up at clouds, feeling the onset of autumn in the air, and me drifting off in my music and thoughts as they swirled in this wonderful and slightly childish fervor.

Then, the 2 teen boys came and went on the 2 swings to my right, and one of the teen girls joined me on the vacant swing on my left.

The boys proceed to act like, for lack of a better phrase, a barrel of dicks. Yelling profanities, cursing, jumping with their full weight on the swings, and speaking nigga this and nigga that.

It was in this moment I reflected on whether I acted like this when I was a teen in a critical spark of thought, stiffened up, and looked around with an obvious air of “wtf ew why?”. 

Yet, I removed myself mentally. These were teens, and from what I recalled, being a teen was a curious case. Not really honestly knowing who you are, lost in your rabid hormones, your body not actually doing what you command at the best and worst of times, at the sway of the friends of the moment, weight and beliefs up and down, and too much to list with what else going on in that crucial age space. 

I guess in this moment, I realized just how far I’ve matured since being a teen. The things I went through that molded me, influenced me, made me blossom, and get to the woman I am now. Leaving the foolishness of the teen years far off and away, only here with the good parts from that stage in my life. 

“Hi, what’s your name?”

I was buried so deep in my mixture of my own mind I barely heard the teenage girl looking at me and trying to connect with me. 

We both talked for some time, and this girl was so sweet and kind. She expressed her happiness of soon graduating, talked about her classes and teachers she has (which was funny cause she goes to the same school I used to go to), and revealed how surprised she was that I wasn’t a high schooler too (thank goddess for good skin, glamour magick, and beauty products!). After we said out goodbyes, I felt this noticeable irk in me.

This sweet girl, those barrel of dicks she hangs with.

That good girl with loads of potential and a good life to be lived fully, those boys who I know damn well from the way they act will influence her to do crappy things and have the ability to detour her life.

Yes, I know. You shouldn’t judge others, but the thing is this: when you’ve been in that teenager space, lived through it, and been around crappy people like that, you can tell EXACTLY who they are. You been around terrible teens in your life previously, you can tell how they act and how they operate.

I had this urge to pull her to the side, and tell her everything. All of those things I WISHED someone else told me about being a teenager and how to navigate those waters and how to come out on the other side of it better than I came in. I saw myself in this girl, and I wanted to tell her things to make her life easier. In that moment, I wanted to say: the “friends” you have in high school will NOT be around you when you leave, getting to college is A LOT better than what you are going through now, that you don’t have to be around people who pressure you or make you question yourself in a negative way, if boys pressure or make you feel uncomfortable you don’t have to tolerate it, you get to choose your friends and choose them wisely, you shouldn’t have to try to keep boys around, do not be around people who you do not admire or have qualities you wished you have, don’t stress about college, you have your entire life to figure out what you want, be careful and wise with your money, do not hang around assholes or boys who have terrible masculinity, be around boys who appreciate you the way you are authentically, and so much more.

But…I felt like it wasn’t my place because I just met the young girl, so I had to say in my head as she ran back to her “friends” she’ll “live and learn”.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

Live and learn.

I fucking hate that theory.

The theory that you HAVE to go through all of the heartbreak, the betrayals, the bad stuff, the shattered hopes and dreams, and all of the crappy stuff that comes with being a girl and teenager and life in general. That once you get punched in the gut, you LEARN after it.

I hate it.

I do not believe that is the way it should be.

You shouldn’t have to experience pain, you should only experience the good and the pleasurable.

There should be NO reason for girls to live and learn, not when the Crone is alive and well.

When there are millions upon millions of women who have stood where you stood, have gathered the knowledge, and are willing to give it to the younger girls so they don’t have to go through the pain like they did.

Now, I do not consider myself a Crone by any length of the imagination. I’m still learning and to be a Crone is a badge of honor gained through years of experience. But, from what life I did learn from, I felt so compelled to give it to this girl. To spare her the theory of living and learning.

Is the Crone the only one allowed to have the knowledge and the authority to give it?

Or is it fit to say that we as women all have knowledge, experiences, and all have the ability to give it to a fellow woman? Whether or not we are currently in our Crone phase?

And, how do we go about giving this knowledge to another girl, even if we do not know them that well?

I’ve received insight and messaged from fellow women blessed with gifts of spiritual communication and intuition, and these messages allowed me to grow and change in ways that blessed me life.

Does one woman have to be open and willing to receive the knowledge from another woman? Even if they do not know each other well, the openness must be maintained?

Though this instance was small, I felt as though it brought up so much. Questions among questions.

Do we form that sacred sister circle, the sisterhood, the formation of a divine feminine through the passing of knowledge from one woman to another, even if they are strangers?

When are lines crossed? When are lines supposed to be approached?

The Crone is the wise woman for a reason, through her knowledge of this life and the next is blessed upon her. She has aided women in choices, in fixing their lives, in course corrections, and in avoiding the pit fall of life women go through. They know the sacred arts, they know the way through life and into the next. Patriarchy knew this, and they sought to destroy her for a reason. That’s why when women get to a certain age they are seen as “undesirable”, that we do not see movies or shows around crone aged women (though we are starting to see more, shift maybe?), that older women are smeared as “bitter bettys” “hags” “jealous” “dried up” or any of the multitudes of slurs, that the wise woman’s image has been destroyed as an ugly cackling hag of burden, that Patriarchy sought to destroy her during the Witch Trials and by killing the midwives, and so much more. 

The crone is sacred, and is part of the divine feminine. She is of the Triple Goddess; the maiden, the mother, the crone. And whether we like it or not, her wisdom doesn’t deal in fairy tales that will get the woman fucked in the long run or hurt her in ways that will echo for a life time. Her knowledge maybe harsh, but it is valuable.

I hate that I had to say in my head to that sweet girl “she’ll learn”.

Girls shouldn’t have to live and learn.

Girls should learn and THEN live.

Girls should learn from those who have lived and experienced before them so they don’t have to suffer.

Learn and live.

Learn and live.

Learn and Live.

Erytheia Medea©

*All pictures belong to their respective owners*