The Myth of the White Witch

Aside from the tricks of the movie or TV witch, usually accomplished with special techniques, there is no reason why any girl who puts her mind to it and learns the proper methods cannot become a full-fledged witch in accord with the popular conception. Only those who either do not know the means to success or are too stubborn to use them, once having been told,will persist in defining themselves as witches by using the sanctimonious definitions of so-called "white witches" working for "the benefit of mankind." There will always be those who, furtively desiring personal power but unable to do anything about gaining it, will devise their own definitions of what a witch should be like, seeing to it, of course, that their definition fits themselves.The "white witch" is the by-product of an emergence in England of an above-ground witchcraft interest at a time when witchcraft was still technically illegal. In order to pursue the "craft" without harassment and prosecution, the spokesman for witchcraft attempted to legitimize and justify what they were doing by proclaiming the existence of "white" witchcraft.*"White" witchcraft, it was stated, was simply a belief in the religion of the old wise ones, or "Wicca." The use of herbs,charms and healing spells was only employed for beneficial purposes.It was to be believed that the kind of witches that were dangerous to have around were "black" witches. These were supposedly evil in their pursuits and worshiped Satan. The fact that the "good" or "white" witches employed a horned god in their ceremonies was justified because it "doesn't represent the Devil!"Of course, no one admitted to practicing witchcraft ceremonies of any kind. Anything that was associated with witchcraft was pursued in the name of "study" or "research." This was the climate in England between 1936 and 1951.With the repeal of English witchcraft laws in 1951, all of the underground witches started creeping to the surface, and as their eyes became accustomed to the light of sudden legality, they ventured forth. Unused to such freedom and heavy with the stigma of illegality, they went about shouting "white witchcraft" even louder than ever, as if expecting at any moment to be snared by a heretic hook.About this time, interest in the occult was becoming popular in the U.S., so naturally attention was focused on the British Isles with its rich heritage in all matters ghostly and fanciful. As might have been expected, newly emerged English witches saw the U.S. as a fertile stamping ground for safe recognition of their "witchiness." Concurrent with the first post-war writings out of England came the first diplomats of witchdom, and America was more than curious. Having no other literature but Margaret Murray, Montague Summers and Dennis Wheatley to read, it was assumed the new revelations by Gerald Gardiner and his followers were the straightest stuff available."White witch" became a definitive term, and thousands who wouldn't touch the practice of witchcraft with a ten-foot broomstick found a conscience-redeeming opportunity to follow the "art" by using the new rules of the game. Regardless of what these people would like to believe, the image of the witch had been stigmatized for centuries. All witches were considered to be agents of the Devil, antagonistic to scriptural teachings, and a direct part of the dark side of nature. As there is always a relative outlook as to what is good and what is evil, once witchcraft emerged from its "all evil" state into neutral territory, a differentiation was bound to occur. The righteous, of course, will always wear the mantle of "good," "white light","spiritual" and varying shades of holiness. An analogy might be made concerning "white" and "black" witches. Let us assume that warfare had, for centuries, beencalled "wholesale murder" and the men who fought called "murderers." One day it was decided that there was somethingquite noble and dignified about this old activity of wholesale murder. All the murderers, basking in the light of new-foundlegitimacy, began calling themselves "good murderers." The enemy's troops, of course, were the "bad murderers." The stigmaof the word, "murderer," still remained, but at least the good murderers felt a little more at ease. Now, maybe these murderersalways had a fairly legitimate reason for going into battle. Maybe they succeeded in saving their homeland from that whichthreatened it. They might have even had a scholar among them who had traced the origin of the word "murder" to an ancientword which meant "mother." But the fact remained, "murder" was still a negative term in the publics mind. So instead of simply revelling in their subsequent acceptance by the public, their guilts, brought about by long years of stigma, necessitatedtheir placing of the word "good" in front of "murderer" as a sort of self-reassurance that they were doing the right thing!Whenever a girl becomes a "white witch," you know she is either kidding herself or has much to learn.