Demystifying witchcraft religion

By Kolawole Akesinro

This paper is a Synopsis for a book under construction titled Demystifying witchcraft religion being written at the behest of Prof Egodi Uchendu – the Director of Prof B.I.C. Ijomah Center for Research and Policy Studies, University of Nigeria Nsukka, Nigeria.

In November 2019, the center held a conference on witchcraft. Announcement of the conference was greeted with wild reactions across Nigeria especially among the Christian folks.

The Christian community On the campus on the university, protested that the conference on witchcraft should not be permitted to hold as the people believed that the conference would be a gathering of witches.

Responding to the protests against the conference, the University Authority
gave instruction that the theme of the conference should be changed and the center changed the theme from conference on witchcraft, to Dimensions of Human Behavior.

The conference was successful as it was widely attended by more than 5000 People ( Adaobi 2019)

Commenting on the furore that greeted the announcement of the Nsukka witchcraft conference and the change of the conference theme, Prof Benedict Ijomah stated that the people who protested against the conference were hypocrites, and the people who were declaring that
witchcraft does not exist were the witches themselves ( Prof Ijomah 2019).

The Emeritus professor stated that notwithstanding the protests against the conference was still on witchcraft because all the papers presented were academic papers on witchcraft.

The central question was does witchcraft really exist? Answering this question, Prof Benedict Ijomah stated that witchcraft exists, but witchcraft is a mystery religion begging for demystification. Witchcraft is a universal belief in Africa. There are many fanciful notions about witchcraft however that do not agree with logic. Academic review is necessary on the subject so that hypotheses to be tested on witchcraft phenomenon to resolve the mystery will be developed, “ This is what research is all about” Prof Benedict Ijomah stated.

This researcher was among the majority of Nigerians who protested that witchcraft conference on University campuses is dangerous because of the stereotyped belief that witchcraft is evil and that people in witchcraft have branded themselves for eternal damnation by a contract made with Satan/demons with their own blood (Rebecca 1992)

Prof Egodi Uchendu the Director of Prof B.I.C. Ijomah Center for Research and Policy Studies announced after the conference that the conference will continue on the center’s platform on Facebook, hence this researcher applied and was admitted to the Facebook group and started intensive internet research on the subject for the purpose of developing a book
titled DEMYSTIFYING WITCHCRAFT RELIGION.

Wikipedia (2019) stated that historically and currently in most traditional cultures worldwide especially in Africa and African Diaspora among other indigenous communities, the term witchcraft is commonly associated with those who use metaphysical means to cause harm to the innocent.

In modern era primarily in western popular culture however the word witchcraft may more commonly refer to benign, positive or neutral practices of modern paganism such as divination or spell craft.

Belief in witchcraft is often present within societies and groups whose
cultural framework includes a magical world view. The concept of witchcraft and the belief in its existence have persisted throughout recorded history; witchcraft beliefs have been present or
central at various times in many diverse forms among cultures and religions.

Belief in witchcraft currently posits theosophical conflicts between good and evil where witchcraft is generally regarded as evil and often associated with Devil and worship. This culminated in persecution scapegoating, torture and death of people suspected to be witches
(Wikipedia 2019, witchcraft. Com 2019, Ijomah 2019).

Currently in western world witchcraft has acquired respectability. There is currently a witchcraft movement called Wicca (The craft) which is professed and practiced as religion. The craft as a religion was developed in the United Kingdom by Gerald B. Gardner. It is believed that people in the craft cast their spells for good objectives like love, health and wealth (Witchcraft.Com).

The golden rule of people in the craft is “An’ it harm none, do what ye will” Wicca religion is a revival of pagan folks and magical rites selected from the magic cultures and societies across the world such as Babylonian, Celtic, Egyptian, Ancient Greek, Romans, Sumerian, Hinduism and the rites of American Indians ( Witchcraft. Com).

Witches are real; they are people who practice magick. The practice of magic by witches is the raising and directing of spiritual energy to fulfill the witch’s intention. A group of witches that meets regularly to perform magic and set life altering intentions is called coven.

There are many witchcraft religion tractions examples of which are the following according to Wikipecha (2019), Witchipedia ( 2020) and wise witches and witchcraft com:

1. Traditional Witches: Traditional witchcraft is an umbrella term which covers a vast array of practices which are largely inspired by historical and folklorist account of witchcraft. Traditional witchcraft performs operative practices like spell work, divination and herbalism. Religious elements in traditional witchcraft include honoring of deities, demons, faeries, familiar and ancestor spirits. Traditional witchcraft is initiatory witchcraft.
2. Gardnerian Witchcraft ( Wicca); Gardner an witchcraft is the practice of Wicca that came about in the 1950s through Gerald Gardner considered to be the father of Wicca. Those who practice Gardnerian Wicca have strong ties to mature, challenge social norms and have many rituals that are the foundation of their practices. Gardnerian witchcraft is initiatory witchcraft .There is structured system of advancing /promotion as a witch in the Gardnerian Wicca Tradition as the witch grows and learn more about the craft.
3. Alexandrian Witchcraft : This group was formed in the 60’s by Alex and Maxine sanders. It is a British derivative of Wicca. The group has a lot of similarities to Garduerian Wicca combined with elements of ceremonial magic and the Qabalah.
   Alexandrian Wicca is eclectic, the diction If it works use it is their motto . Gardnerian Wicca coven meets at new moon, full moon and witches sabbat festivals
4. Correllian Witchcraft : Correllian tradition was founded in late 20th century by Caroline High correl who came from a line of hereditary witches. She was a psychic, Spiritual healer, and herbalist heavily influenced by Aradian witchcraft. Correlhan witchcraft was recognized as Wicca in the late 1990s.
5. Sea witches: Sea witches have strong ties to water and the ocean . They worship elementals from water and use materials from water in their practice and rituals.
6. Kitchen Witches: Kitchen witches are also known as heart witches or a home witch, they create most of their magic in the home or in the kitchen. Kitchen witches are home based, they are often incredibly nurturing and love to make their homes truly special and sacred space. Kitchen witches love to cook and brew and use herbs sometimes gathered from their own garden around the home. When practicing they combine their own personal energy with essential oils, herbs, food and everyday objects to create their spells, rituals and magic.
7. Hedgewitch: The Hedge witch practices hedge jumping which is astral /soul traveling. The Hedge witch have Knowledge about herbs. Hedge witches accumulate wisdom about the natural world in general, particularly in their local ecology. Hedge witch practice divination and act as intermediary between the spirit realm and the material world.
   Hedgewitches are mostly solitary and eclectic in their practice. The ability of hedge witch to cross the Hedge is what brought about the folklore concept of witches flying in the air to attend meetings.
8. Dianic witchcraft; Dianic witchcraft is a neopagan religion with female centered goddess. The best known dianic wicca was founded by zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in 1970s. It is notable for worship of a single goddess named Diana (Artemis). Dianic wicca emphasises the importance of womanhood, folk magic and healing practices from a variety of different cultures. Dianic wiccans see Diana (Artemis) as containing all goddess from all cultures, they practice magic in the form of meditation and visualization in addition to spell work.
9. Elemental witch: The elemental witch invokes energies from elementals as all empowering force for magical goals. Examples of the elementals include gnomes, nixies elves, sylphs and salamander. The elementals can be seen.
10. Ceremonial witch; ceremonial witches hold ceremony and rituals at high regard. They practice advance spell craft. Ceremonial magick is worked into the elements of magic practice. They work ritual or ceremony into whatever they are casting or trying to accomplish. Ceremonial witches often call Demons / fairies and entities to assist them with whatever they are casting. ( wise witches and witchcraft.com)
11. Green Witches : Green witches are also called Garden witches, they are highly connected to the earth and the energy that the earth possess. They have their own garden where they grow herbs and flowers.
12. Hereditary witches : these witches are people born into witchcraft families, they are brought up according to the traditions of witchcraft religion. Being born into witchcraft families and brought up in witchcraft families does not make a person a witch. Hereditary witchcraft is initiatory witchcraft. To become a witch the person must be initiated.
13. Cosmic witch: Cosmic witches are also called star witches, they practice Astronomy and Astrology in addition to witchcraft magick.
14. Secular witch :The secular which is anti religion they do not attach spirituality to their practice, they do not attach importance to God, deities or higher beings . the secular witch does not belief that there is any power behind energy or that there is energy in their work.
15. Solitary witch: The solitary witch can be any type of witch but they choose to practice there craft alone rather than practice with a coven. Being solitary witch can be by choice or because the witch has not found a coven to join.
16. Ecletic Witch : The ecletic witch does not have one fixed witch craft tradition, he/she derives his or her practice from many sources. The ecletic witches make their own rules.
17. Satanic witch craft : Satanic witch craft is a group of ideological beliefs based on Satan. Contemporary religious practice of Satanism began with the founding of church of Satan in 1966. The church of Satan is a legally recognized religious organization that encourages its members to follow the way of Satanism. Two major trend in satanic witchcraft are theistic Satanism and atheistic Satanism.
18. Luciferian Witch craft : Luciferian witch craft religion venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer. The tradition influenced by Gnosticism usually reveres Lucifer not as the devil but as a liberator, the guardian or guiding spirit. (Wikipedia 2019)

From all the above, we can see that witchcraft principle is a two edge sword. After mastering the principle of witchcraft, a witch may choose to follow the left hand part of witchcraft or the right path or witchcraft. The left or both hand paths of witchcraft lead to Satan-the devil while the right hand part leads to the benevolent beings.

What the people in witchcraft do not know and which they refuse to accept is that there is an Almighty God (Jehovah – Elshaddai). All power belongs to Jehovah- Elshaddai (God – Almighty). It was Jehovah Who pronounced
Creation into existence with the fiat Let there be light! With that fiat, the creative Volition of the Almighty Father and the Most High shot out of the Divine Realm and took on form as the Creative Will of God in Person.

Through this Creative Will of God in Person, the eternal Primordial Beings took on form and consequently, the Primordial Spiritual Realm came into existence. We should note here that It is these Primordial Spiritual Beings who were created in the image of God as the Bible explains.

Through the activities of the Primordial Spiritual Beings in the Primordial Realm, Created Spiritual Beings came into existence.

We can now see two Realms of the Spiritual consistency, the first existing above the second as the stronger.

The human beings on earth are developed from spirit germs which existed in Paradise (Spiritual Realm). God created the earth as a school for human beings. Human beings on earth have many bodies namely:

1. The physical body which is the outermost body
2. The Astral body which is inside the physical body
3. The Ethereal body which is inside the substantiate body
4. The Spirit which is inside the substantiate body.
   The spirit is the real man in us and it is the owner of the human form on earth. It is the spirit which is experiencing life through the human body, learning, developing and maturing.

In the structure of Creation, life and existence, there are Realms. The Almighty God Himself is outside of all the Realms.The Realms are:

1. Divine realm inhabited by the Angels
2. Primordial Spiritual Realm inhabited by the Primordial Beings
3. The spiritual Realm (Paradise) inhabited by Created Spiritual Beings
4. The Substantiate Realm inhabited by Created Substantiate Beings
5. The Material World is divided into:
   i. Ethereal Realm
   i1. The world of Gross Matter, including the astral plane, to which the earth and the celestial bodies belong.

The real man in us is spirit which forms our core. Our spirit remains connected with the spiritual realm and draws power from there to generate actions. Our substantiate bodies remain connected with the substantiate realm and draw power from there to facilitate our lives in the world.

With our spiritual volition also called intuition we generate forms which
are either good or evil ( Demons or Benevolent beings) these demons /benevolent beings have substantiate cloaks, they are animated, they have life.

The forms of our spiritual volition on earth gather in the ethereal realm and they wander about forming reams, hence we have the realm of demons and phantoms (Hell) and the region of light in the ethereal realm

The astral realm is the finest part of the world of gross matter; it contains the prototypes for everything that exists on earth. It is this astral realm that witches visit when they practice astra travelling.

When we complete our earth lives and our physical body dies our spirit will continue to live in our soul in the great beyond. The soul is all the bodies that cover our spirit minus the physical body. At death the soul will sink to the region of darkness and damnation (Hell) if by its predominant spiritual volition on earth his practice of witch craft was evil magic. Those
who did good work with their crafts would ascend to the regions of light and happiness.

The Laws of Creation which anchor the Will of God determines where the soul of man will go after death. Cardinal among these Laws are The law of Reciprocal Action , The Law of Homogeneous Species and The Law of Spiritual Gravitation.

In order to demystify witchcraft, we need comprehensive knowledge of Creation and its Laws. It is for the purpose of providing this comprehensive knowledge of Creation that the Grail Message was written by Abdrushin (1990).

With the knowledge of the Grail Message on this subject of demystifying witchcraft, we do not need to call ourselves witches, we should rather call ourselves knowing ones.

References

Abdrushin (1990). In The Light of Truth – The Grail Message II. Alexander Bernhardt Publishing Co. Vomperberg, Tyrol.
Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani (2019) Letter From Africa: How talk of witches stirs emotions in Nigeria. http:// www.bbc.com
Encyclopedia.com. Witchcraft: concepts of witchcraft
www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanac- transcript-and-
maps/witchcraft-concepts-witchcraft
Prof Ijomah (30-11-2019) Christians criticizing witchcraft conference are hypocrites.
Punch Newspapers ( punchng.com) https:// punchng.com/Christians-
Criticizing-witchcraft-conference-are-hypocrites-prof-ijomah/amp/
Rebecca M.D.Brown(1992) He came to set The captives free. Solid Rock Family
Enterprises.Springdle,PA 15144, PP 29 – 40
Sigal Samuel(2018) The Witches of Baltimore: Black Millenials Leave church for African
Witchcraft. wwwtheatlantic.com
Wikipedia(2019) Witchcraft. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/wiytchcraft
Wisewitches and witchchcraft.com. Types of witches:Elemental Witch
http; wisewitchesand witchcraft.com/types-of-witches/elemental-witch/
Witchipedia.com(2020) Hedgewitch Witchpedia.com/glossary/hedgewitch
Bibliography

Abdrushin (1990) In The Light of Truth – The Grail Message.composite Volume.
Stifftung Gralsbotschaft publishing co.stuttgart.
Rebecca Brown M.D. (1992) He came To set The captives free. solid Rock Family Enterprises inc.springdale,PA
15144

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