Goddess Christian<\/b><\/p>\n
When I told my Pacific Northwest friends I was moving back to Georgia to help my mother tend to ill family members the first thing they asked was, \u201cAre you coming out about being a witch?\u201d This was followed by, \u201cIs there really such a thing as Southern Baptist Witches?\u201d<\/p>\n
To the latter question, I really have no answer as I am no longer the Southern Baptist Christian I was raised to be. To the former question my answer was an unequivocal \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of my Northwest friends are Pagan, Wiccan, or some other form of \u201cOther.\u201d And what has always surprised them is the fact that I have always found \u201ccoming out\u201d as a Christian to them far more difficult than \u201ccoming out\u201d as a witch to my conservative Christian family! <\/p>\n
My family has seen my psychic development and the resulting positive life changes in my clients. They have seen the desperate healed when traditional therapy failed, they have seen the comfort given to family members via communicating with those that have passed as well as the peace that comes when I have assisted souls in crossing over. My family knows me as Christ knows me: \u201cBy (my) fruits.\u201d Matthew 7:16. <\/p>\n
My \u201cOther\u201d friends also know me by my fruits. What I loved most about them was the fact that it was they who provided me with a safe space in which to cultivate and nourish my fledgling abilities. It was they who gave me permission to use these talents, who taught me that these were not signs of \u201cdemonic possession\u201d or airy fairy flakiness. They were never shocked, scared, horrified or taught to fear psychic phenomenon\u2014they appreciated my gifts LONG before I ever did. My Other friends called me \u201cwitch\u201d well before I accepted the term as one of respect and honor. <\/p>\n
Whether they knew it or not, what they actually were doing was witnessing to a simple truth of Christ\u2014one that mainstream Christianity seems to have forgotten: \u201cIf Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.\u201d Mark 3:24. Not that I was ever \u201ccasting out Satan\u201d per se\u2014just using what I consider to be the power of the Holy Spirit (or the Goddess to me) to help humanity. My Other friends have long known what many Christians fail to realize: Gifts, such as healing, prophecy, and psychic talents cannot possibly come from that nasty old Devil they talk so much about. <\/p>\n
No, what always shocked my \u201cOther\u201d friends was the fact that I am now and have always been a Christian. I must say, I oftentimes found my religion to be something of an embarrassment. Too many years of hell fire, damnation, the cursing of all things not understood, and yes, Christians, a basic lack of the words of The Man who founded the religion have lead to this embarrassment.<\/p>\n
And that is something I along with a number of fiercely brave and independent men and women hope to change. I think a good start is in recognizing the difference between a religion and a craft. <\/p>\n
As all Pagans understand, Paganism is a religion. A really, really, old religion. A religion that pretty much predates religion! However, to me, witchcraft is not a religion. Witchcraft, is just what its name states that it is: a craft–a knowledge of the powers and forces that give rise to Life itself. <\/p>\n
To me, understanding and using witchcraft is like understanding how to flip on a metaphysical light switch. When I turn on a physical light switch I do not worship the electricity that results when the switch is flipped. In my own religion, in what I believe is now being called \u201cChristo-Paganism\u201d, I do not worship the forces which create change. I thank them, I bless them, I realize they are a part of me and I a part of them, but I do not, as ancient human beings did, worship them as some mystical, magical power that must be assuage and coddled. Nor do I cringe in fear when the light bulb blows and make penance to the light bulb God\/dess lest S\/he throw a fit and strike me down with a larger electrical surge. <\/p>\n
Witchcraft is my craft, my working knowledge of things unseen. Christianity is my religion\u2014the tenets by which I live.<\/p>\n
I hope of the coming months to discuss not only witchcraft, but the tenets of Christianity\u2014what I believe to be the true Christianity\u2014the one that includes what we now term \u201cwitchcraft\u201d in its teachings. <\/p>\n
After all, what was Yeshua the Christ if not an accomplished Mage? <\/p>\n
***<\/p>\n
author bio:<\/p>\n
R.A. \u00c1ine Laisr\u00e9n, a novelist and psychic practitioner for over twenty years, is devoting her life (and the life of her pet chinchilla Fionnghuala) to restoring the Goddess and all Her gifts to Christianity. She will absolutely lose her mind if you refer to the Holy Spirit in the masculine gender, so please just don’t do it!<\/p>\n