A Wiccan is a Witch and witchcraft is a basic part of being a Wiccan. So when you cast a circle you are performing witchcraft. When you cast a spell you are performing witchcraft.
Not all Witches are Wiccan.
Witchcraft is about spell casting and magic, but it does not have to have a religious component. Many witches include a religious component to their witchcraft. That is how you get Christian witches, Jewish witches, etc...
One cannot practice Wicca without being a witch. Period. End of argument.
I have to disagree with you there.
What is Wicca really about, at its core? I would say loving and honoring the Gods and keeping Their holy days. Witchcraft is one of the practices common to most Wiccans, but I would not say that it is an essential part of the religion's practices.
As for doing witchcraft when you're casting a circle... nope, sorry, Wicca stole that bit from ceremonial magic, and ceremonial magicians are definitely NOT witches.
Can't speak for your background or experience, given that I don't know you. But I've been a Wiccan initiate for fifteen years now, and High Priest of a working teaching coven for eleven. I would argue that that would lend a certain weight to my arguments.
I've seen a ritual circle erected, the Gods invoked, and magic worked in a corner booth at IHOP, using nothing but what was on the table after several people had finished a meal. If that's not witchcraft, what is?
Most people with an erroneous idea of what Wicca is err by including to much. You seem to be erring by including too little.
To each his/her own, but I would have to agree with crowdog66. I was taught at the very simpliest of definition, that a Wiccan can or can not be a Witch but a Witch always has to be a Wiccan. It's like in geometry with the definitions of squares and rectangles. A square can be both a square and a rectangle, but a rectangle can only ever be a rectangle and never be a square
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If you are casting circles, directing energy, or performing any sorts of spells, then by definition I think you are working magick, involved in witchcraft, and a witch.
Heh. Try telling that to a ceremonial magician, who also casts circles and directs energy. They are NOT witches.
Witchcraft is a very specific subtype of magic, usually involving the use of sympathetic correspondences. Most spells practiced in a Wiccan context do fall into that catagory.
am I doing witchcraft when I pray, or visualize my energy going to the Goddess?
I would say no. Prayer is a technique just as witchcraft is a technique, and the two are not the same. Visualizing a connection to the divine is not witchcraft either.
Am I doing witchcraft when I say a spell (no matter how simple it is?) Am I doing witchcraft when I cast my circle?
It depends on the type of spell. Are you using sympathetic correspondences -- that is, certain herbs or stone to represent certain qualities, or a poppet or a candle to represent someone or something else? Are you charging those items with energy in order to cause change in the objects or qualities they represent? If so, I'd say that's witchcraft.
As for casting the circle, Wicca stole that practice from ceremonial magic, and it is not, technically speaking, witchcraft.
(Just so you know my background in answering your question, I've been Wiccan and a witch for fourteen years and went through Gardnerian Wicca's year-and-a-day outer court training.)
At the very least all of those are acts of magic... as to witchcraft, thats simply a more specific subset of magic. Most of the things you've mentioned fall into magical practices from both Wiccan backgrounds and a number of other magical traditions. Some magical traditions don't have these specific acts, but have very similar actions.
Crowley defined magic as "causing change to occur in conformity with Will". This is particularly true of changes within the self. When you commune with your deity, when you share energy, when you cast a circle... these are symbolic acts which (in most cases) are designed to cause change in line with your Will (to self or others).
As for if these are specifically the sort of magic as practiced by witches... as I understand it, Wiccans consider themselves witches and thus magical acts of Wiccans would be witchcraft. However, those tend to just be labels for slightly more specific acts of magic.
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Not all Witches are Wiccan.
Witchcraft is about spell casting and magic, but it does not have to have a religious component. Many witches include a religious component to their witchcraft. That is how you get Christian witches, Jewish witches, etc...
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One cannot practice Wicca without being a witch. Period. End of argument.
...am I doing witchcraft when I pray, or visualize my energy going to the Goddess?
If you are doing it properly, yes, you are.
Am I doing witchcraft when I say a spell (no matter how simple it is?)
Yes.
Am I doing witchcraft when I cast my circle?
Yes.
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I have to disagree with you there.
What is Wicca really about, at its core? I would say loving and honoring the Gods and keeping Their holy days. Witchcraft is one of the practices common to most Wiccans, but I would not say that it is an essential part of the religion's practices.
As for doing witchcraft when you're casting a circle... nope, sorry, Wicca stole that bit from ceremonial magic, and ceremonial magicians are definitely NOT witches.
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I've seen a ritual circle erected, the Gods invoked, and magic worked in a corner booth at IHOP, using nothing but what was on the table after several people had finished a meal. If that's not witchcraft, what is?
Most people with an erroneous idea of what Wicca is err by including to much. You seem to be erring by including too little.
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Heh. Try telling that to a ceremonial magician, who also casts circles and directs energy. They are NOT witches.
Witchcraft is a very specific subtype of magic, usually involving the use of sympathetic correspondences. Most spells practiced in a Wiccan context do fall into that catagory.
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(The comment has been removed)
I would say no. Prayer is a technique just as witchcraft is a technique, and the two are not the same. Visualizing a connection to the divine is not witchcraft either.
Am I doing witchcraft when I say a spell (no matter how simple it is?) Am I doing witchcraft when I cast my circle?
It depends on the type of spell. Are you using sympathetic correspondences -- that is, certain herbs or stone to represent certain qualities, or a poppet or a candle to represent someone or something else? Are you charging those items with energy in order to cause change in the objects or qualities they represent? If so, I'd say that's witchcraft.
As for casting the circle, Wicca stole that practice from ceremonial magic, and it is not, technically speaking, witchcraft.
(Just so you know my background in answering your question, I've been Wiccan and a witch for fourteen years and went through Gardnerian Wicca's year-and-a-day outer court training.)
Reply
Crowley defined magic as "causing change to occur in conformity with Will". This is particularly true of changes within the self. When you commune with your deity, when you share energy, when you cast a circle... these are symbolic acts which (in most cases) are designed to cause change in line with your Will (to self or others).
As for if these are specifically the sort of magic as practiced by witches... as I understand it, Wiccans consider themselves witches and thus magical acts of Wiccans would be witchcraft. However, those tend to just be labels for slightly more specific acts of magic.
I think.
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