thebibliosphere:
“What do you mean you don’t believe in gods, you’re a witch”
Yes, and not all witches believe or adhere to a secular belief system of a higher power.
Scottish witchcraft, actual Scottish traditions and not made up neo-Celticisms, were far more focused on local spirits and the relation between oneself and ones surroundings. And most importantly, the will of oneself. Which isn’t to say that people also didn’t believe in gods, but, well, the concept of gods will always be there. We as a species can’t help but dream of things beyond us. We looked at the stars and looked for ourselves among them. We found familiar shapes and wove stories around them, named them, found meaning and purpose in the steadfast lights of the dark and endless night.
And then because we’re also idiots we went to war over them. My god is bigger than your good, yea well my god is older, who says, fuck you, meet me in the pit. (People think the space race began in the 50s. They are, for the sake of symbolic narrative purposes, wrong.)
Personally I fully suspect there might be such a thing as gods, but frankly I don’t need them to be me or to do what I do. When people ask me what witchcraft means to me, or if I can recommend any good “how to” books to them, I often find myself at a loss because there are no books I have found that affirm what I know in my gut to be true. You either are or you aren’t. And how you decide that is when you decide that you are. The rest is just the accumulation of knowledge over a lifetime and the assurance that you are responsible for your life, and how you affect the world. And you must conduct yourself accordingly with how you see fit.
And if it turns out there are gods and they’re going to be upset with me that I didn’t pray to them because I was busy, well, fuck ‘em. Any divine entity that can remain passive to the suffering in the world doesn’t deserve my reverence anyway.
But that’s just me.
It doesn’t invalidate you or how you do what you do. Whatever you need to get you through—so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, or yourself—you do you.
I’ll be over here. Ramming toothpicks into lemons without ceremony and making vaguely threatening promises at the sky on the off chance something might be listening.
This. Just this.
I’m not a witch, I don’t follow any particular path of any sort. At most I follow my Scouting oath.
I promise, on my honour, to do my best. To do my duty to God and the Queen, to help other people at all times and to uphold the spirit of the Scouting Law.
The way this oath is defined by Scouts Canada is:
Duty to God – whatever responsibilities and/or actions are required by whatever faith you follow. Spirituality is required, a thankfulness and mindfulness of the greater universe in some fashion. Religion is not.
Duty to Queen – our responsibilities towards our community, nation and world.
Other than that it all boils down to being the best, most honest and helpful you that you can be.
And that’s enough.
I describe myself as a devout agnostic. I neither believe nor disbelieve in anything. I just work to make my life the best and most meaningful it can be.
For others that comes with gods, spells or practices. For me it comes with tp roll telescopes. And that sounds perfect to me.
