Ah yes more blending .... ?
http://www.toadhouse-peacegarden.org/redwitch.html ? I would have to admit that I IMHO have a problem with the blending of things as they say other people have expressed to them.... ? I also see some distortions from "Wicca" things such as they use black robes instead of white for initiates in Wicca. ? ? I see he is also into "Core Shamanism" ? little bit of everything all the buzz words.
This stuff - with the Cherokee background ? is similar to what I recently found as "The Corellian Nativist Tradition" ? they all are "witches" too. ? Here is a link to them, large group with members in most states, they like to dress fancy I admit I spent alot of time just looking at the pictures on the site ? ?
http://www.correllian.com/ ? ? ? When I found this group I was not sure how to post em here but since I see Al has opened the door so to speak ? LOL ? thought i'd throw this in sideways:
http://www.correllian.com/history.htm""The Correllian Nativist Tradition is based upon the teachings of members of the High-Correll family. The High-Correll family were descended from a line of Cherokee Didanvwisgi who intermarried with a line of Scottish Traditional Witches, whose descendants were further influenced by Aradian Witchcraft and by the Spiritualist Church.
The founder of the Tradition is the blv. Orpheis Caroline High Correll. She is said to have founded the Tradition as an entity separate from her ancestry, on September 4, 1479 Pisces (1879 AD). """ ?
This Corellian group is also associated with
http://www.witchschool.com ?
whom I have "heard" will go after people with their lawyers if they are poked.
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I really had a hard time going through the websites LOL ? Just makes me shake my head... like many other sites I visit.. ? Scottish Witches ... I hope we don't mean Witta that was invented.
Al and others, to be "Hereditary" one supposedly has had parents or other relatives who believed and followed "the craft/magic use." ? Sometimes it skips generations. ? It's usually documented within the family through family histories. ? My family history is European a direct decendant of the Metcalfe/Metcalf Clan via our family records, again. If I go home and consult the family genealogy on my moms side, an actual big book on our overall family history no less by a family historian, I can tell you who the relatives were in my family who were known as a ? "Witch" (they did magic) ? I can also show at least one relative, a man, who early on was cursed by a woman refered to as a "Witch" and subsequently died from said curse (a verbal one) he was a Metcalf. ? Don't ask about my dad, even though he was with us I don't know much about my dad. ? He was a mystery and secretive about his past so I don't have any info on him but the Witch "craft" ? (sounds so lame) ? in my family is on my moms side of the family. ? Witch "Craft" does involve use of Magic ocasionally within the belief system. ? Magic has historic precedence under many names in many cultures over time. ?
it has been "re-invented" ? (the Witch Craft - and Magic forms) by Gardner who was influenced by the likes of Murray and it is continually being *distorted* in books and by people like these websites posted up there. Why do people want to take a good thing and mess it up? ?
So if someone says to you that they are "Hereditary" they should be able to produce proof if asked. I mean afterall they are making a claim to something that should not be taken lightly -in my view. Again, if they claim they are a Witch they should? likewise be able to produce proof to you of their lineage within their Coven - ie; Who their teachers were, what their background is -if now a days they even follow that old method of gathering in the evening for meeting and work. ? ?
Why ask questions of Pagans and aledged Witches you wonder while shaking your head... Its the old saw... to prove legitamacy because there are too many fakes and wannabees out there and it is necessary to seperate the real from the false. I met a lady ? who sported a pentacle in public so I said "you're a Witch?" and she said yes I thought ooo a friend.. Then when I was chatting to her later about our backgrounds and such and "what do you do" etc.. ? She admitted to me she didn't know what she was and that she had a bad experience with a certain form of religion so she went looking for other things to do. ? She was a Pagan. ? I guess she just liked to make a social statement with a pentacle and try this and that on for size to see how it felt. ? So it is important to *ask* at least who people are so you know if you are on the same page or out in left field somewhere. ? Of course with webpages its pretty easy to see what is what.
This is a form of religion and comes with responsibility and is taken seriously at least by some of us who are Witches it is afterall our *religion* and way of life the way some of us were brought up. ? ? Unfortunately the whole new-age/pagan/pan try this and that thing has totally made us all look like a
carload of fools no matter our backgrounds, ? by those out there who want to sensationilize and make it all "cool" to be a Witch and make money -- Such cavalier attitudes and ignorance can be dangerous. ? ? It certainly makes me wince everytime I see something like the above groups. ? ?
I know there are alot of people shaking their heads... but the abuse of my religion is right up there with everyone else on the list here and I do like to clarify things for others in light of all the mis-information other wise it continues. ? Being the token Witch on board I find it a necesary thing to speak up on occasion.
Keep in mind that Witches do not recruit for members online or anywhere else it's always *historically* been by word of mouth someone who knows someone who knows someone who then approaches someone else about getting closer. In many of the old historical mystery schools initiation could take from 20-23 yrs for an apprentice according to historical accounts left by the Romans and Egyptians. The Egyptian schools required initiates to spend most of that time underground. Let's see todays standards how long do most of these people take to be adept in whatever it is they are doing? They take an online class... take a retreat... a series of 8 classes in a new age *store* which also sells them stuff.. Like we need "stuff." Sounds kinda shabby to me, risky at best, and I really don't see how it can work that way, almost overnight for things that actually take in reality many years of personal work
and study. So you see the problem I have with most of what I see out here in the wild.
The name "Witch" usually carried with it a sinister appelation for good reason based on historical records again, by the Greeks, Romans and Egyptians who all left us many examples. Some Magic performed could be good some bad. I notice there are clear divisions made between good and bad in relation to what people do today - you've all heard the total invention "harm none" routine, in reality, in the non-fuzzy feel good world, the lines can become blurred and the harm none is not always possible to do. Think about it, about causality-cause and effect of doing things. ? Witches do not in reality advertise for members
anywhere. We don't get our beliefs out of books or boxes or online. We do work on the barter system and we are generally, the real ones, quiet and we look pretty much like everyone else but sometimes it shows. ? Keep in mind real Coven meets are not advertised and are not "open" to just anyone and the why and how to's specific to the group are certainly not posted around and bantied about on websites or fliers. Other peoples beliefs are also not melded into the pot. ? Its in actuality an old set of things within a old belief system that is old in its tenet. ? It needs no fluff.
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