"Dark Fantasy/Horror Newsletter Vol." - читать интересную книгу автора

The only reasons some Satanists call themselves witches is because they, too,
are functioning under the misguided concept that witches are EVIL. They have
merely adopted the misnomer of the modern Judeo-Christian world. Ironic,
isn't it? Satanists are NOT witches. They are, perhaps, black magicians,
but no self-respecting Wiccan will ever call a Satanist a witch. It's like
calling the scum-of-the-earth your Sister.

DE:<< Witchcraft has traditionally been more of a female realm of nastiness.

>>

No, no, no! *I* practice witchcraft and I have NEVER EVER cast a hurtful or
negative spell!!! No REAL witch ever would. Anyone who casts a nasty spell
is NOT a witch. A sorceress, maybe, but NOT a witch. It is NOT witchcraft.

Okay, rant mode off. There used to be a nice little magazine called
"Goodwitch Stories" but it folded due to lack of subscribers. The world
does, indeed, prefer so-called Satanic witch stories, but I ain't gonna give
them that.-- Tippi
-----
From Strigoivii:

I can appreciate your stepping aside from the popular neo-pagan rhetoric on
the subject. At the same time I've found basis in fact to support the basic
premises of Wicca and the like. Unfortunately, the loudest proponents of
that angle carry axes to grind and I myself find it stifling that many find
it politically incorrect to use the word "witch" in a context where the word
has connotations of evil. Aaargh! Such people should realize that they
tend to give Rusch Limbaugh a good name.

As you know, most of the witch hunting done in Europe was based on hysteria
and more base motives. Occasionally, the inquisitors and other witch
hunters would come upon regions such as the Italian Alps where there were
pockets of practitioners engaging in white magic based on pagan roots. What
is ironic and what too many neo-pagans don't know is that these practitioners
were involved in magically battling evil entities they themselves considered
to be "witches" threatening the vital forces of their community . This is
best revealed in _ECSTASIES: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath_ by Carlo
Ginzburg (Penguin, 1991, trade paperback). Ginzburg is (or was) Franklin D.
Murphy Professor of Italian Renaissance Studies at UCLA - definitely not a
crackpot. What really brings this picture to light is a more recent book
which contains a true life story :_A WAR OF WITCHES: A Journey into the
Underworld of the Contemporary Aztecs_ by Timothy K. Knab
(HarperSanfrancisco, 1995, hardback). Knab is a former professor of
anthropology at the National University of Mexico - one of the best "dark"
stories I've read in the past year.

What this can be seen as illustrating is that you can't have power to heal or
create without power to destroy and the boundary between white and black is
often a larger gray area. -- Patrick