Rose Ariadne's Chitchcraft Blog

Dear Friends,

I sometimes feel as though I am the last person to hear about things. I don’t know how popular this story has been over the past couple of months, but apparently Christine O’Donnell, a Republican candidate for Senate in Delaware, talked about experimenting in witchcraft when she was young.

Of course, I was intrigued about this and decided to do a little bit of research on it. I wanted to know exactly what she had claimed to do during this time period and what other people were saying about it.

Well, as you can imagine (and as you probably already know) a lot of people were not very pleased about this. However, not only did there seem to be a lot of confusion regarding what she actually did when she “experimented” but there even seemed to be some confusion on her part as to what, exactly, witchcraft actually was.

I find this happens a lot. Mostly, it happens with people who latch onto a very small part of the Craft and fail to educate themselves any further. Or else they take one thing that they like about it and neglect the rest. For example, sometimes a person will dabble in witchcraft because they want to “make things happen” (ie, casting spells) yet they disregard the fact that they shouldn’t cause ill will to others or else it will be repeated unto them.

While many witches blame the youthful generation for making these mistakes, I have also come across many adults that have done the same. Today, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that being “Goth” or “Wiccan” or even “Emo” to an extent is a popular choice for “alternative teens” but there are still a lot of adults that decide to become witches later on in life and are just as misinformed as those teens that read “Twilight” and are seduced by the romantic imagery of the “darkness” in its subject matter.

Ironically, a lot of witches that I know are some of the happiest, most well-adjusted people that I have encountered.

At any rate, back to Ms. O’Donnell. So what did she do in her past when she was experimenting in witchcraft?

Apparently, she simply went on a date with a witch. That’s right. That’s where the hoopla began. Of course, that should have put an end to the argument right away, but of course it didn’t. Throughout the interview that she had with Bill Mahr on this subject matter, she used “witchcraft” and “satanic” interchangeably. This is a common misconception amongst those not familiar with the Craft so I wasn’t terribly surprised. Still, it just reinforced my suspicion that she had limited interactions in the Wiccan, or even Pagan, communities.

Let’s face it-how often do we find ourselves explaining to people that we do not worship the devil? I don’t know about you, but I find myself doing it a lot.

She also talked about blood and a satanic altar which was a little confusing. While there is some speculation that she might be making the entire thing up, I choose not to go there. Instead, I rather suspect that if she did witness such a thing she was either a) confused by what she was seeing or b) with a person who was confused about what they were doing. Occasionally, a candle will fall over on my altar and melt. That usually leaves a big mess and while I try to clean it up right away, well, I am human. I could just imagine a red candle melting and looking like a pool of blood. I am merely speculating, of course.

I try not to let too many things that I read affect me, but there was one statement that I took some offense to. She stated that in high school she hung out with “questionable folks” like others did. She was alluding to this date that showed her the altar and blood. I don’t like being called “questionable”, even though I do question the fact that this guy was indeed a practicing witch.

Calling a person’s character “questionable” due to their religious preference is insulting, regardless of the religion that they practice. It’s also a generality and I try to stay away from those. While there might be some basic generalities in terms of beliefs, people are all individuals and each has their own morals and principles which can be very separate from the religious beliefs that they adhere to.

In witchcraft, we try to illuminate the human condition as well as to restore our connection with nature and the Divine. We believe that all life is sacred and that we should all work together to try to better ourselves and our fellow people.

The idea of Satan is a very Jeudo-Christian concept so for it to be involved in real witchcraft is rare. Is there evil in the world? In a sense. But I think that’s best left to an entirely separate blog entry!

I hope that you are safe and happy and content and that you surround yourselves with love and understanding.

Brightest Blessings,

Rose Ariadne
Your Warm and Caring “Resident Witch In Charge”