Wiccan altar puts teacher, officials at odds

A high school senior’s desire to build a Wiccan altar in shop class has forced a community debate about free expression.

Dale Halferty, who has taught industrial arts at Guthrie Center High School for three years, was placed on paid leave Monday after he acknowledged to district officials that he told the student he could not build the altar in class.

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Witchcraft?

I want to study witchcraft because I find magic very interesting, how can I get started? Also, how can I find a place near me that teaches it? Recommend books if possible.

Witchcraft – Wicca, Spells, And Magick

A Brief overview of Wicca:
When witchcraft is practiced as a religion, it is called by the Old English term for witch, Wicca. This term is used to counter all the negative stereotypes that society has given witchcraft. Wicca is primarily a religion that worships nature, and sees all creation as sacred. In fact, all Wiccan holy days follow the cycles of nature and the changes in the seasons. Wicca also worships both a male and female deity, a female Goddess and a male God, who had together created the world and everything in it.
Witchcraft is neither black nor white. Witchcraft is a religion that respects Mother Nature and She is neither completely positive or completely negative, this is the same for witches.
Spells are used by Wiccans, and are a series of rituals and prayers that are conducted in witchcraft to ask for divine help in a certain aspect of life. All spells must adhere to the witchcraft code of conduct, meaning that any spells used to harm another person is forbidden. In witchcraft, spells may also be changed or adapted to suit a Wiccan’s personality or specific wishes in casting the spell.
What exactly is witchcraft, spells, and magick?
Twenty years ago, I asked myself those same questions, and I’m still learning the answers. My journey started at 15 years of age, with a very understanding mother and a visit to New Age Shop. I remember entering the shop with a sense of awe, and instantly being put at ease by a wonderfully sweet aroma that hung over the bookcases. Yet, out of all the potions, oils, and books that filled the place, the one thing that stood out to me the most was the man behind the counter. He looked more like George Clooney than something out of Halloween Fairytales, and that was my first lesson. Witches look just like everyone else. Of course you may run into the occasional witch who looks more fiction than fact but other than those, most are just your average Joe, the majority tend to choose to blend in as much as possible. Why? Not everyone is armed with 21st century thinking, and in some cases, witches are put into the same category as Satanists, heathens, and just generally bad people.
I eventually took more interest in magick, oh and not my spelling of magick. Witches refer to spells and divine help as magick, not to be confused with magic, which we consider to be what you would see at a show, a magician sawing a woman in half, card tricks, etc.. Magick, however, is sacred to all Wiccans. Ah yes, back to my story, I eventually took more interest in magic and at the age of 35 purchased an old building in New Jersey and turned into one of the state’s only Wiccan Temples. I currently live at home with my two wonderful children and my familiar (husband as most people call it) enjoying life and being at one with nature. I currently make a living supporting my family by offering services at my temple and through my website http://www.witchcraftspellsnow.com.

Wicca, Witchcraft & Wizardry on Long Island

Main Street in Smithtown is just like any other Main Street on Long Island – local pubs, delis, and places you’ll find the best and worst coffee you’ve ever had, all within a 1-mile radius.

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The Truth About Traditional Witchcraft

The written word is a powerful medium. Around the time when the alphabet was first created, Goddesses were worshipped in most parts of the world. The word “witchcraft” did not exist and the words “pagan”, “heathen” did not exist either. Cultures lived by following natural cycles of life by taking care not to destroy more than they had to. Words written, mostly from a male perspective started the downfall of the feminine themed ways of life including witchcraft.
There is evidence of temples and places of worship where Goddesses were revered and rituals performed for the good of mankind. Fertility rituals, seasonal rituals and other ceremonies were conducted usually officiated by women as they are the people nature had chosen to carry on human existence.
Traditional witchcraft is the label given to the practice of witchcraft that is not Wiccan and “non new-age” in origin. Traditional witchcraft is the collection of witchcraft beliefs and rituals that used to be practiced all over the world.
Since human beings have the capability to think imaginatively, we have always tried to distinguish the supernatural and experience the awe-inspiring possibilities. Most cultures have ways to alter states of consciousness and try to connect to our origins or “the source”. In a few countries, where the Europeans could not completely annihilate and destroy the magickal cultures and their ways of life, these traditions still flourish.
The advent of religious writing was what started the vilification and defamation of natural ways of life. A bunch of disconnected drivel was compiled together in the name of God, and people, obsessed with ignorance greed, tried to “conquer” the rest of the world to “save them from sin”. In the name of God they plundered, looted and murdered innocent people. In the name of God, they destroyed (“colonized”) many beautiful nature loving cultures that were flourishing in different parts of the world.
Traditional witchcraft, which was the way of life in most of the world, was a motley mix of inspiration, meditation, spell working, divination and fortune-telling. It was concerned with the powers that exist in the netherworld as well as life after death. It was fascinated by nature and with ways to control or change the direction of the wind, the flow of water and the movement of the planets.
It did not have the Wiccan belief of the three-fold law of returns. Most witches were free to do any ritual that could potentially damage their lives as well as that of others. However, they were not aware of the consequences of their actions.
Traditional witches believed in multiple Gods and Goddesses, each of them having a specific power or duty. There were local Gods, some having more power than others, Gods in human form, animal form or other mixed forms. In contrast,
Wiccans believe that there are only two divine beings, The Goddess and the God.
Many other names may be used in rituals, but they are all”manifestations” of these two powerful entities. Wiccans also believe that the God and Goddess may merge into the almighty “One” who combines the powers of both.