himizu-no-miko
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- Posted: Fri, 20 Aug 2004 02:28:04 +0000
THE CHRISTIAN WITCH
and other variations on combining Christianity and paganism
A change has come over me and I am no longer afraid to speak what I think or do what I do. I have moved forward and gained new a perspective. I am my own Priestess and Christ is my center. ----Emma
You may think I’m completely wacko when I say that after all of the fights between them, some Christians and some pagans are bridging the gap between their two seemingly opposite but really very similar religions. The connection stems from the individual interpretations of Holy Scriptures.
Why must we allow the patriarchal fundamentalists to interpret religion for the rest of us (Luke. 6:43-45)? Better we meld what we read in the crucible of our experience and include a bit of ourselves—Spellcastor
I cannot help but feel that Pagans and Wiccans look at the world around them, see the work of God, but then stop short of going further and looking for the Creator, and instead look to the creation itself. This is somewhat like commending a sculpture rather than the one who sculptured it. The Bible also comments on this by stating the following:
"...they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator..." (Romans 1:25)
---Spotlight Ministries, Vincent McCann, 2002
Christopagans, Christowiccans, or Eclectic Christians, whichever you choose to call them all have their own views of the world as God made it, a good number of these people believe that the Holy spirit of the Trinity is the female side of god and so bridging the gap between the feminine goddess focus of the Wiccans and the male focus of the Christian church. In reality many fundamentalist Christians say that God is an ungendered supreme being and so has both aspects of masculinity and femininity but the reason they refer to God as “him” is because they needed a reference point as stated in the following quote by McGrath E. Alister:
Christianity is often viewed as a male religion, amongst those in the Pagan community. Jesus was male and God is spoken of in masculine terms. But it should be noted that God is not a human being, but rather a Spirit (John 4:26). Nor is He male or female, as He transcends human sexuality, being outside the realms of the created order Himself. So why address Him as a He? One of the reasons for this is simply that we need to address God in some way. The Bible rules out the idea that He is an impersonal force of some kind and instead refers to Him in personal terms. By addressing Him as a `He' the ancient Israelites were able to identify with the image of a father and all that went with such an image (Christian Theology: An Introduction, pp. 205-207).
As we spiral deeper and deeper into this issue we come to the fundamentalist Christian church’s main weapon against pagans and their use of witchcraft: thou shall not suffer a witch to live. What these Christians don’t know is that when you go back now with today’s better knowledge of languages, this script would read: thou shall not suffer a poisoner to live. Poisoner: one who poisons the mind and doing so goes against the laws of most witches. Harm none, says the Wiccan rede and it is generally known that any Wiccan who does not follow this law is not a true Wiccan because this law itself is the pillar on which Wicca is balanced.
Some of these people who mix religions choose this path to increase their potential to grow in their relationship with God as stated by Phoenix Ravenflame in the following quote.
Witchcraft is a way of life, a science, an art, and a constant prayer. It is a personal experience for each practitioner. For me, it is a way to grow closer to God/dess, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This is why I call myself a Christian witch
One of the pillars of mixing Christian religion with other religions is that most of these people are able to perceive all gods to be the same being. I believe that there is only one God, and no matter what religion you practice, you are still worshiping the same God. All Gods are one God whether you call him/her God, Allah, Jehovah, Goddess, Brigid, Odin, etc. This is because I believe that God is a part of everything and everything is a part of God.
God is infinite and includes all that is positive and negative, male and female, good and evil, dark and light, everything and nothing: ""I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revised Standard Version Bible, Revelation 1: cool . ---Kristen Helmer
Some can worship pagan gods as spirits, saints, or angels. Some are close enough to the Christian side to completely not believe in the pagan gods at all and only see the trinity in its male and female polarity form as viable magical sources and this brings us to the difference between prayer and magik I’m going to leave it to Kristen Helmer she can word it much better for I can. There are many debates regarding those differences between magick and prayer, but for me, as well as many other Christian Witches, magick and prayer are essentially the same thing in that the both attempt to achieve a result through energy work. To understand this you must understand how I view God and the universe. Magick involves directing energy in the universe to achieve a result. Prayer involves asking a higher power (in my case God) to achieve the result for you. In my case, I see God and the universe as one and the same. Therefore, whether I pray or conduct magick I am still utilizing the same energies.
Now we have come to the arts of magic for I feel we need to do some explaining as to how Christian witches use their arts. The first thing I’ll mention is the calling of the corners when casting a circle. Christian witches and many other forms of christopaganism use archangels as the guardians of their circle. Most just replace the angel’s name with the original pagan guardian’s name but some will create long elaborate welcoming speeches for the angels in question. It really is a matter of preference. The second art that I will go into it the art of divination. Its funny really how much fundamentalist Christians despise divination when they practice a form of it themselves, many pastors have said that if the close their eyes and open their bible and randomly point to a passage that this is how God speaks to them but in reality this is a divivitive art called bibliomancy.
It's a form of divination called bibliomancy... book magick. Some people scry, some cast runes, and some read tarot cards some read tea leaves. The list of methods of divination is very long. Probably very few people are adept at doing it all, but I'm sure there's someone out there who's devoted themselves to it.---- Phoenix Ravenflame
I can’t say I know everything about this new combination of religion but I can truthfully say I have a new respect for these people struggling to make their way in a world where “pure “ religions are full of distain toward them.
Blessed Be!
this is an essay I wrote for school last year and Im using it as an introduction to my question....
both christians and pagan/eclectics are welcome
what is your opinion on christopaganism/eclectic christianity/christowiccanism? I would prefer not to see flamers on this thread..... just to make it clear I follow in the same train of thought as Kristin Helmer.... I see God's trinity as my only worship direction and see "magik" as the same thing as prayer if you direct it in the correct way..... please respect all people's opinions within this thread
and other variations on combining Christianity and paganism
A change has come over me and I am no longer afraid to speak what I think or do what I do. I have moved forward and gained new a perspective. I am my own Priestess and Christ is my center. ----Emma
You may think I’m completely wacko when I say that after all of the fights between them, some Christians and some pagans are bridging the gap between their two seemingly opposite but really very similar religions. The connection stems from the individual interpretations of Holy Scriptures.
Why must we allow the patriarchal fundamentalists to interpret religion for the rest of us (Luke. 6:43-45)? Better we meld what we read in the crucible of our experience and include a bit of ourselves—Spellcastor
I cannot help but feel that Pagans and Wiccans look at the world around them, see the work of God, but then stop short of going further and looking for the Creator, and instead look to the creation itself. This is somewhat like commending a sculpture rather than the one who sculptured it. The Bible also comments on this by stating the following:
"...they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator..." (Romans 1:25)
---Spotlight Ministries, Vincent McCann, 2002
Christopagans, Christowiccans, or Eclectic Christians, whichever you choose to call them all have their own views of the world as God made it, a good number of these people believe that the Holy spirit of the Trinity is the female side of god and so bridging the gap between the feminine goddess focus of the Wiccans and the male focus of the Christian church. In reality many fundamentalist Christians say that God is an ungendered supreme being and so has both aspects of masculinity and femininity but the reason they refer to God as “him” is because they needed a reference point as stated in the following quote by McGrath E. Alister:
Christianity is often viewed as a male religion, amongst those in the Pagan community. Jesus was male and God is spoken of in masculine terms. But it should be noted that God is not a human being, but rather a Spirit (John 4:26). Nor is He male or female, as He transcends human sexuality, being outside the realms of the created order Himself. So why address Him as a He? One of the reasons for this is simply that we need to address God in some way. The Bible rules out the idea that He is an impersonal force of some kind and instead refers to Him in personal terms. By addressing Him as a `He' the ancient Israelites were able to identify with the image of a father and all that went with such an image (Christian Theology: An Introduction, pp. 205-207).
As we spiral deeper and deeper into this issue we come to the fundamentalist Christian church’s main weapon against pagans and their use of witchcraft: thou shall not suffer a witch to live. What these Christians don’t know is that when you go back now with today’s better knowledge of languages, this script would read: thou shall not suffer a poisoner to live. Poisoner: one who poisons the mind and doing so goes against the laws of most witches. Harm none, says the Wiccan rede and it is generally known that any Wiccan who does not follow this law is not a true Wiccan because this law itself is the pillar on which Wicca is balanced.
Some of these people who mix religions choose this path to increase their potential to grow in their relationship with God as stated by Phoenix Ravenflame in the following quote.
Witchcraft is a way of life, a science, an art, and a constant prayer. It is a personal experience for each practitioner. For me, it is a way to grow closer to God/dess, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. This is why I call myself a Christian witch
One of the pillars of mixing Christian religion with other religions is that most of these people are able to perceive all gods to be the same being. I believe that there is only one God, and no matter what religion you practice, you are still worshiping the same God. All Gods are one God whether you call him/her God, Allah, Jehovah, Goddess, Brigid, Odin, etc. This is because I believe that God is a part of everything and everything is a part of God.
God is infinite and includes all that is positive and negative, male and female, good and evil, dark and light, everything and nothing: ""I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revised Standard Version Bible, Revelation 1: cool . ---Kristen Helmer
Some can worship pagan gods as spirits, saints, or angels. Some are close enough to the Christian side to completely not believe in the pagan gods at all and only see the trinity in its male and female polarity form as viable magical sources and this brings us to the difference between prayer and magik I’m going to leave it to Kristen Helmer she can word it much better for I can. There are many debates regarding those differences between magick and prayer, but for me, as well as many other Christian Witches, magick and prayer are essentially the same thing in that the both attempt to achieve a result through energy work. To understand this you must understand how I view God and the universe. Magick involves directing energy in the universe to achieve a result. Prayer involves asking a higher power (in my case God) to achieve the result for you. In my case, I see God and the universe as one and the same. Therefore, whether I pray or conduct magick I am still utilizing the same energies.
Now we have come to the arts of magic for I feel we need to do some explaining as to how Christian witches use their arts. The first thing I’ll mention is the calling of the corners when casting a circle. Christian witches and many other forms of christopaganism use archangels as the guardians of their circle. Most just replace the angel’s name with the original pagan guardian’s name but some will create long elaborate welcoming speeches for the angels in question. It really is a matter of preference. The second art that I will go into it the art of divination. Its funny really how much fundamentalist Christians despise divination when they practice a form of it themselves, many pastors have said that if the close their eyes and open their bible and randomly point to a passage that this is how God speaks to them but in reality this is a divivitive art called bibliomancy.
It's a form of divination called bibliomancy... book magick. Some people scry, some cast runes, and some read tarot cards some read tea leaves. The list of methods of divination is very long. Probably very few people are adept at doing it all, but I'm sure there's someone out there who's devoted themselves to it.---- Phoenix Ravenflame
I can’t say I know everything about this new combination of religion but I can truthfully say I have a new respect for these people struggling to make their way in a world where “pure “ religions are full of distain toward them.
Blessed Be!
this is an essay I wrote for school last year and Im using it as an introduction to my question....
both christians and pagan/eclectics are welcome
what is your opinion on christopaganism/eclectic christianity/christowiccanism? I would prefer not to see flamers on this thread..... just to make it clear I follow in the same train of thought as Kristin Helmer.... I see God's trinity as my only worship direction and see "magik" as the same thing as prayer if you direct it in the correct way..... please respect all people's opinions within this thread
