atheism and witchcraft

[Rudas Starblaze]

why is it so hard for theists to believe a witch can be an atheist?

are people that strung up on the modern concept that natural power only comes from deities and/or religion?

is it that hard to accept the fact that power does come from within and the ability to use it doesnt require the worship a god or goddess?

or....

are some people really that afraid to believe that a person can naturally be that powerful?

please post your opinions and comments.

[Shanti]

I cant answer because I have the same question!! LOL

[Shadow Angel]

I am a Witch and I believe in the power of me, not of some diety. I do recognise gender aspects, and as some of you will see in threads such as my altar for instance I refer to the 'Great gods' in either male or female form, but this DOES NOT mean that I worship ANY such deity, it is merely for symbolic effect only.
I do not bow to any of the Gods. The only thing I will worship is the Earth and the Sun and the Moon, etc. Gods have no place in the way of the Witch in my view.
So I guess this means that I am an atheist Witch, if ye wanna slap another label on it lol.
We all have the power to give or take life, therfore we are ALL Gods in my view.
I do not take others beliefs away from them, this is a very personal view of mine, and as such all are of course entitled to their beliefs without mocking.
Thank you RS for this thread.x

[Merrilyn]

Often ponder that, meself.

[David19]

I think the reason is loads of people equate witchcraft with Wicca, and think the 2 are the same, when witchcraft is a practice of magic and Wicca is a religion for the worship of 2 specific deities.

People assume that an atheist can't be a Wiccan ('cause how can you worship a goddess and a god if you don't believe in them?), and therefore can't be a witch. I think people who know the difference between Wicca and witchcraft know that atheists can be witches, just as much as anybody. From what I've seen, there are some really powerful atheist witches or mages or whatever (like I think the author of Cantrap is an atheist?), just as there are powerful Christian witches, powerful Satanist witches, powerful Jewish witches, etc.

I don't think people should judge other witches on what gods they may or may not worship, but rather on how powerful they are and the results they get from their magic.

[Juliana]

I am still working out my beliefs, but I definitely agree. I don't believe in any deities, but I still think witchcraft can work through my own power, or even from some ill-understood, non-supernatural energy of the universe. Who knows. But I don't think a god is required nor that a god exists.

Not to threadjack, but are there any books out there that talk about witchcraft the way we feel about it, In terms of our power and not a deity?

[Rudas Starblaze]

I am still working out my beliefs, but I definitely agree. I don't believe in any deities, but I still think witchcraft can work through my own power, or even from some ill-understood, non-supernatural energy of the universe. Who knows. But I don't think a god is required nor that a god exists.

Not to threadjack, but are there any books out there that talk about witchcraft the way we feel about it, In terms of our power and not a deity?

certainly not hyjacking by any means! im sure theres books out there you can find. i dont have any. im one of the rare breeds of witches who refuses to buy published witchcraft books.

[Shield_Wolf]

Though I do believe in Gods and all, and believe that they do help in some ways, I still believe that true magic comes from deep within. The Gods/dess don't give use the Powers/Magic, what every you want to call it. Every one has it, what ever you want to call it, believe where it comes from and so forth is up to you.

[Philosophia]

why is it so hard for theists to believe a witch can be an atheist?

I don't care. Its not hard for me at all.

are people that strung up on the modern concept that natural power only comes from deities and/or religion?

Nope.

is it that hard to accept the fact that power does come from within and the ability to use it doesnt require the worship a god or goddess?

Nope, not hard to accept at all.

are some people really that afraid to believe that a person can naturally be that powerful?

Nope, not afraid at all. I know my power and ability come from within. What I am afraid of certainly hasn't got anything to do with people being "powerful".

[DoktorSick]

Think some people just don't understand the the meaning of the word athiest.
It simples mean without a belief in a god/gods.It has nothing really do with people
in supernatual energy or whatever.

[David19]

Not to threadjack, but are there any books out there that talk about witchcraft the way we feel about it, In terms of our power and not a deity?

I'm not sure if this will help you, but have you thought about looking into chaos magic, I think some chaos magic books get straight to the point without a deity needed, some good titles are Liber Null and Psychonaught by Peter J. Carroll (I've got Liber Null as a PDF, if you want it, feel free to PM me), I've heard Jan Fries is very good too, and some people recommend Phil Hine.

Hope this helps.