#secular witches
Secular witchcraft as “I don’t worship anything”
- Cool and fine
Secular witchcraft as “I don’t believe in spirits, only energy”
- :/
Okay, I am definitely the first and not the second. But what is wrong with the second? Is this post people saying, “I disagree with that outlook,” or is it people saying, “I believe that outlook is wrong and your craft is lesser if you practice that way?” Because that’s kinda rude.
It’s fine to believe whatever you want, but let’s say you don’t believe in God whilst calling yourself Christian. Using the correct word is important because words mean things. You can’t take away the core and have it remain the same.
Fair enough. So what do we call witches who work with energy?
Several self-descriptors from such practitioners come to mind, such as energy worker, energy healer, light worker. It’s different from witchcraft and is a discipline unto itself. Just as I cannot call myself a lawyer for not having been to law school, the same goes for them and “witch.” Our skillsets are different, and that is something to recognize on either end. I certainly cannot say I am trained or learned as an energy worker.
Ah, so we’re just garden variety gatekeeping witchcraft. Good to know my initial instinct was correct.
I mean if you say so? There’s nothing wrong with a spiritual/magical/energetic practice that isn’t witchcraft. There’s loads to choose from! But it does no favors in naming your cat “dog.”
And that’s for them to decide, not you.
They aren’t gatekeeping though? Nothing about this has been gatekeeping. They aren’t saying energy work isn’t valid. They aren’t saying that certain types of people can’t be witches. In fact, they’ve super polite and supportive about people practicing these other disciplines!
All the OP is pointing out is that witchcraft is historically tied to spirit work. There are multitudes of other forms of magic that go by various names. And those practices are valid! They’re fabulous! And it’s okay if it’s not labeled as witchcraft.
Words have meaning. Using the proper ones are important. At the end of the day, people can call themselves whatever they want. It’s no skin off my back. But it does a disservice to the hard work that goes into the respective practices of witchcraft and energy working. And it also makes it harder for people to find the kind of information they might be looking for.
And crying gatekeeping even at posts that are nothing like that diminish the calls of gatekeeping when it’s actually happening.
