Note: All definitions are for the purpose of this blog. New items and corrections will be added as needed.
Colonialism: The tendency of a conquering people (often white) to claim lands and other spaces from, and impose their values on, those they deem inferior.
Cultural Appropriation: The practice of adopting traditions, styles, and/or systems of a culture not one’s own without regard to their significance or the oppression people of the culture of origin face when action within their own tradition, style, and/or system. Often part of Colonialism.
Forced Assimilation: The practice of a group in power imposing their values and standards of normality on a group with less power. May include, but not limited to, outlawing traditional language, religion and dress, removal of children into “schools,” and forced relocation.
Indigenous Religion: The religious and/or spiritual system practiced by the First People of a particular geographical area. Not all First People of a specific continent hold the same beliefs.
Pagan: 1. Practitioner of a religion that is not one of the five major World Religions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, and Hinduism). 2. (Also “neo-Pagan”) Practitioner of a religion or spiritual system based or thought to be based on Pre-Christian tradition, often of Northern Europe. The systems of Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt are also popular.
Pagan Reconstructionist: A person or group interested in reclaiming the lost traditions of a particular area and replicating them as closely as possible.
Polytheism: The belief in more than one god. Many forms of Polytheism exist in Paganism today. You don’t have to be Pagan to be Polytheist.
Wicca: A modern Pagan religion, founded by Gerald Gardner, which blends some Northern European folk traditions with late 19th and early 20th century Ceremonial Magic and Occultism. Wiccans generally honor a dualistic deity represented by a goddess and a god (or “Lady” and “Lord”) which stand for all gods and goddesses, engage in specific ritual forms, believe in a form of Karma as expressed in the Threefold Law (“whatever you do for good or evil returns to you three times”), and try to live by the “Wiccan Rede” (“An’ it harms none, do as you will.”)
Witch: 1. A practitioner of Wicca. 2. A practitioner of another Pagan Religion outside of Wicca, who uses both folk magic and ritual magic to manifest intent. 3. A non-religious practitioner of folk magic, who may or may not use some of the tools, symbols, and pertinent rituals of a religion. Most Witches, both religious and otherwise, believe in the inherent value and sacredness of the world as a whole and attempt to honor it through daily actions.
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Witch Action 