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©

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