We believe in one power, supreme entity, which is both male and female, you may call this nature, god or by any name you choose. We believe that this entity is very intelligent, not impressed by ritual that involves just going through the motion, cannot be tricked or misled, and that we each have the right to communicate with, as and when we want, without any translator, interpreter, or interference from others.
Witchcraft is a religion and in some countries such as the USA is fully recognized, in the UK however although growing faster than any other and having many followers, many still are not confident of avoiding persecution or intolerance to do so publicly.
All forms of witchcraft including ours are based on nature, the cycle of the year, and fertility.
Christianity has three entities, god, son and holly ghost, while Catholics being a Roman merger needed four and added a mother in the form of the Virgin Mary. Some witchcraft traditions have a goddess and a god, and treat these as two separate entities, and some have a whole collection of gods and goddesses, or saints that they believe in praying to. Many brands of different religions believe that the secret is in knowing the name of God, and many by being led by a particular prophet.
We do not. We believe in one superior power, and we are not too concerned at what you call it. We believe it is both male and female, superior, intelligent, everywhere and in all things, it cannot be tricked by pretending to participate in ritual, and that you and I have the absolute right to communicate with this power without a translator, interpreter, priest, or any other.
Some of our covens, but not all, do appear to speak to many entities in their rituals, but these are just different aspects or faces of the one power. We sometimes feel it is easier to relate to one side or aspect as opposed to such an all encompassing power. Likewise in creating a circle we may refer to the spirits of the North, East, South and West, and at first sight this may appear slightly confusing as it also has to do with elements, but again what we are doing is filtering or inviting certain aspects or personalities from the one single power. We may at times refer to the goddess and god, and to other fractals, or aspects of the power.
Some witchcraft traditions would say Christianity is a male religion and witchcraft a female one, concentrating on a goddess or mother figure. It is true that the oldest known religions going back before most of recorded history was based on a feminine deity, and fertility was the major concern. Water Witches, do not relate their superior entity to a person or animal like entity, we have no problem in our superior being having balanced male and female aspects. In many ways there is more in common with the views of people like CJ Jung the developer of much of the more sensible psychology, where he looks on a collective will or pool of experiences of mankind, that we can all at least in part draw upon.
We have no statues, image of the superior power, or book or symbols that we treat as holy. We have tools, that we use in magic, and in our rituals, and some of these may be special to us as individuals or to the coven.
We see ritual as a gateway, a means of focusing our minds and power, of concentrating on a task, and shutting out all disturbances, and of course great fun. It is also a means of bonding with other members of the coven and sharing skills and knowledge. All our rituals are celebrations in one form or another, and most end with a party.
While many celebrations are connected with the year, or spells involve at least a part of the coven, there are some rites of passage, such as consecrating a new witch, moving from a witch to a high priest or priestess, etc, that is performed by one or two officials and the person undertaking the passage. This may also be the case with some other special rituals such as out of body experiences, flying etc. This allows individuals to discover more of the magic, while shy people are not held back. Their success is of course celebrated at the next coven meeting.
The rest of the section on our religion can be selected from the list on the left.