{"id":3716,"date":"2010-06-01T01:10:24","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T06:10:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3775"},"modified":"2010-05-26T11:30:07","modified_gmt":"2010-05-26T16:30:07","slug":"rebel-rede-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/06\/01\/rebel-rede-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Rede"},"content":{"rendered":"
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To Hex or Not to Hex<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I first became a witch the word Hex was not in my vocabulary.\u00a0 In the beginning of my witchcraft studies I learned that \u201cgood\u201d\u00a0witches do not believe in hexing. Wiccans and most other Pagans do not use magic for any type of negative spells, especially the witches who follow the Wiccan Rede, \u201cAn ye harm none\u2026\u201d\u00a0 This is one of the reasons that the mundane community often refers to Wiccans as \u201cwhite witches\u201d or why you hear the term \u201cwhite magic.\u201d Just like most beliefs systems and cultures though, what you first learn is only the beginning. Once you start to scratch the surface you will find many more layers hidden below the publically visible surface. <\/span><\/p>\n

I first learned that some Wiccans and modern witches practice hexing when I was introduced to Dianic Wicca and Zbudapest. I was very surprised when I read Zbudapest\u2019s article on hexing rapists. Hexing, I thought was not something Wiccans or modern witches did. While I was very uncomfortable with the idea of hexing I did understand what Zbudapest was saying and her reasoning behind practicing this forbidden \u201cdark magic.\u201d I took a vow to never practice hexing personally, but my view of hexing and witchcraft was slowly starting to expand and open. As I grew in my Wiccan and witchcraft studies I came to discover Hoodoo and other African based witchcraft.\u00a0 This was when I was even more surprised to learn that many traditions of witchcraft in fact do practice hexing and not just hexing, but cursing and death magic as well. My first reaction to this was shock, death magic, and I thought the idea of hexing was bad!\u00a0 I began to study Hoodoo, Voodoo, Vodou, and the other African Traditional Religions (ATR\u2019s) in more depth. What I discovered is that hexing, crossing, jinxing, and cursing are all alive and well here in the US (and around the world for that matter). <\/span><\/p>\n

As my knowledge of hexing expanded my view of hexing expanded. Is hexing really all that bad? Are there times we can justify hexing? Most Wiccans and witches do believe in self defense, so what if hexing is the form of self defense you choose to use? If someone harms you first is hexing them back breaking the Wiccan Rede? Most Wiccans are horrified at the idea of using death magic, but what if a death spell could save millions of lives? I have to admit it would have been pretty tempting to put a death spell on Hitler if I lived during his lifetime. <\/span><\/p>\n

Personally, I have never put a hex on anyone, but I have learned how to if I ever decide to. I have not made my final decision on hexing just yet, but I am more open to the idea now then I was at the beginning of my witchcraft studies. I may never use hexing, who knows, but I think it is important to at least hear the other side of the story. Maybe hexing isn\u2019t so taboo after all, the world of magic is limitless and wide open. Remember, we may not all agree on what is morally acceptable when using magic, but we are all witches. Hexing or no hexing, we are still a community, a family. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To Hex or Not to Hex When I first became a witch the word Hex was not in my vocabulary.\u00a0 In the beginning of my witchcraft studies I learned that \u201cgood\u201d\u00a0witches do not believe in hexing. Wiccans and most other Pagans do not use magic for any type of negative spells, especially the witches who follow the Wiccan Rede, \u201cAn ye harm none\u2026\u201d\u00a0 This is one of the reasons that the mundane community often refers to Wiccans as \u201cwhite witches\u201d or why you hear the term \u201cwhite magic.\u201d Just like most beliefs systems and cultures though, what you first learn is only the beginning. Once you start to scratch the surface you will find many more layers hidden below the publically visible surface. I first learned that some Wiccans and modern witches practice hexing when I was introduced to Dianic Wicca and Zbudapest. I was very surprised when I read Zbudapest\u2019s article on hexing rapists. Hexing, I thought was not something Wiccans or modern witches did. While I was very uncomfortable with the idea of hexing I did understand what Zbudapest was saying and her reasoning behind practicing this forbidden \u201cdark magic.\u201d I took a vow to never practice hexing personally, but my view of hexing and witchcraft was slowly starting to expand and open. As I grew in my Wiccan and witchcraft studies I came to discover Hoodoo and other African based witchcraft.\u00a0 This was when I was even more surprised to learn that many traditions of witchcraft in fact do practice hexing and not just hexing, but cursing and death magic as well. My first reaction to this was shock, death magic, and I thought the idea of hexing was bad!\u00a0 I began to study Hoodoo, Voodoo, Vodou, and the other African Traditional Religions (ATR\u2019s) in more depth. What I discovered is that hexing, crossing, jinxing, and cursing are all alive and well here in the US (and around the world for that matter). As my knowledge of hexing expanded my view of hexing expanded. Is hexing really all that bad? Are there times we can justify hexing? Most Wiccans and witches do believe in self defense, so what if hexing is the form of self defense you choose to use? If someone harms you first is hexing them back breaking the Wiccan Rede? Most Wiccans are horrified at the idea of using death magic, but what if a death spell could save millions of lives? I have to admit it would have been pretty tempting to put a death spell on Hitler if I lived during his lifetime. Personally, I have never put a hex on anyone, but I have learned how to if I ever decide to. I have not made my final decision on hexing just yet, but I am more open to the idea now then I was at the beginning of my witchcraft studies. I may never use hexing, who knows, but I think it is important to at least hear the other side of the story. Maybe hexing isn\u2019t so taboo after all, the world of magic is limitless and wide open. Remember, we may not all agree on what is morally acceptable when using magic, but we are all witches. Hexing or no hexing, we are still a community, a family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":82,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/82"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}