Witches-we aren’t just for Halloween anymore

If you have clicked onto this blog thinking that you are going to find magical spells and potions recipes I am sorry this will not be the case.  Though you may  find some from time to time that is not what this blog spot is about.

I have wanted to do a blog for some time but I kept stopping myself.  There are so many wonderful blogs out there, helpful and insightful blogs, that teach us everything from how to set up altars, and what phases of the moon we are now in, to just how to enjoy the path we are following.   There are those blogs that are informative; they let us know what the news is in our community.   And well I felt I really wasn’t “qualified” to do either until a very good friend told me that she looks at her blog as her “own personal soap box,” it was at that moment I realized she was right!  A lot of blogs out there are just that, people just expressing their opinions about things.  It was then that I came up with the idea for this blog, a place where I can vent my frustration and you can express yours.

With Stirring the Cauldron it is my hope that I can do just that, stir things up, we all need a little kick in the arse now and then to get us jump started into thinking about things we would rather not think about or even discuss.  I am starting out easy, believe me there are a lot of things going on in the world around us affecting our community that I will be discussing, and angering a few of you with.    But hey that’s what I do, it’s what I live for.   I’ll start with this.

Unless you have been living under a rock lately then you know about John Benefiel and his DC40, prayer plans, as well as his theories on the Columbia Statue, and the Statue of Liberty.  How suddenly hateful politics are in style, and modern day witch hunters are after our freedoms.

There are millions of people in the United States from many different religious backgrounds.  Yet it seems everytime something goes wrong in this country our group gets fingered for the problem.   We get accused of every little thing from our ancestors’ spirits still causing tornado’s after being chased from their homes and murdered, to the present day if a co-worker falls and hurts themselves after having an argument with one of us.  Is it always our fault?   Do the Christians get blamed when they tell someone god will seek vengeance on them and something happens?  No.

So why are we the easy group to blame group?  This country was founded on religious FREEDOM, don’t believe me read article 11 from the Treaty of Tripoli http://www.stephenjaygould.org/ctrl/treaty_tripoli.html  (thank you Kallan  Kennedy).  At one time we were called on to help with everything from helping the crops grow,  to birthing babies, then in a blink of an eye, innocents were persecuted and murdered.  Not one witch was killed in Salem.  Laws were made against us and our practices.  After a while religious freedom were restored and we were allowed to practice in the light again, so if that is the case why are we still prosecuted?

This leads me to my second reason look at how we are depicted, old hags, hunched shoulders, and warts on our noses, cackling at everything, casting spells around a bubbling cauldron, the list goes on.  And why has this continued?  Because we have allowed it, that’s why.  Just open a history book, they are replicas of the original drawings, do a search for picture of witches and see what you find, other than a few Hollywood stars in roles they made famous most are hags.  We have worked hard to keep that persona,  look at most of the writers out there and how they dress, even our modern artists work hard to keep us dark and mysterious.

I have been saying this for a while people, “Witches are not just for Halloween anymore” I use the term witch because that is basically how the public recognizes us, though we may use terms like Pagan and Wiccan, when you ask people about what they think when they hear any of these titles their answer, “Witches, like the kind you see on Halloween”.    We have allowed one of our sacred holidays to be turned into a night of make believe and fear.  That was not what it was about…

“It’s time for us to fly from the broom closet” and be noticed.   I say we fight fire with fire.

A group of us have gotten together and want to do something about it.  We are putting together a video of us dressed in street clothes, or work clothes, getting in our cars, or cooking breakfast for our kids.  Anything showing the public we are NORMAL PEOPLE leading NORMAL lives, raising our children going to soccer, baseball, basketball practice.  Whatever, the point is to look in the camera and say, “I’m a mother, I have a real job (or say what your profession is), and I’m a Witch, (I’m Pagan, I practice Wicca).”   I am not saying give out your name or address, the point is showing us as real people with real faces.   It makes it kind of hard to be afraid of something once you put a REAL face to it.   We need to be SEEN, and to be HEARD.  We are here and none of us are going away.  Please stand with us, stand for our future and that of our children and grandchildren.  We plan on putting it together and making it public, so if you fear of losing your job, or that your family won’t understand, use your own judgment, but if you feel like a lot of us that the time has come, and are ready to take the risk then send me your spot!

Email it to me at stirringthecauldronwithjudas@yahoo.com.

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