So, I got called a witch burner.
A couple of times actually.
I wrote a post recently about my thoughts and experience on being a Christian Witch. A lot of people really dug it. Some people didn't.
And that's totally cool. I think it's really important for us to hold space for people who think and feel differently from what we do.
But being called a witch burner definitely brought up a lot of stuff for me.
I spent a bit of time in my late teens in the church. I sang in the worship team and I was slain in the spirit and my friends spoke tongues at me in the car park.
I was pretty gutted I never got the gift of tongues. I did receive the gift of prophecy though. I bet my friends at bible camp didn't think this is where I'd end up with it though.
It was pretty cool times.
I noticed pretty swiftly however, how freaked out and pissed off people were when I told them I had become born again in Christ.
People stopped talking to me, people tried to convince me I was brainwashed. People were just generally really nasty about my choices.
One time a man even yelled at me in Tesco because I was wearing a crucifix.
People always ask me, "what's it like to come out of the spiritual closet?", and I gotta tell you, it was a heck of a lot easier, in my experience (it's different for all of us of course) to come out as a professional tarot reader than it ever was to tell people I was a born again Christian.
Since coming out as a Christian Witch (just one of many labels I use, I also dig lightworker, starseed and Hufflepuff) it's really highlighted just how much we still persecute each other in the spiritual community.
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I mean I've literally had people call me a witch burner.
I've been told not to call myself a Christian Witch because I'll lose followers.
I had someone I really looked up to in the community totally shut me down after seeing my post.
With all the accusations and finger pointing going on I started to feel like I was actually about to be burned at the stake myself.
There is a lot of persecution in the spiritual community.
For years I've never felt like I belonged anywhere in the community. I was too witchy for the Christians, too love and light for the tarot community, too much of a Jesus freak for the witchy circles.
It was the main reason I started my group Spiritual Journey Pitstop on Facebook (which you are so, so welcome to join!) and opened the doors for people of all belief systems to share their paths free from judgement.
There is a lot of finger pointing in the community and I wonder when it's going to stop.
When are we going to realise that the finger pointers were to blame along with the witch burners?
The burning times were totally messed up.
Also, many "witches" weren't burned either. I'm just using the term "burning times" because y'all know what I mean. But there were many other horrendous ways people were killed.
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But I think we've become so focused on the "witch" in witch burning that we've forgotten what the burning times were actually about.
Many of those who were burned were not even witches.
We must remember that these were frightening times, and the choice was often to name someone as a witch or die yourself.
So the finger pointing began.
We can't deny that the burning times were a result of using religion to control the people and some men of the time in power not being able to deal with the divine feminine and women in general but I think sometimes we put so much blame on those in power and deny what was happening in the community.
Sisters, mothers, best friends were pointing the finger and offering each other up.
And I wonder when we're going to stop pointing the finger.
I've done it too of course. I am not a perfect person. I've judged and assumed and accused.
And I think we need to have compassion for those who've been finger pointing. It usually always comes from a place of fear.
But it feels like time we stopped throwing each other in the fire.
To truly clear and heal the karma of the burning times we don't need to bring down Christianity, or Christians or those who identify as Christian Witches, we need to stop pointing fingers, and stop throwing each other in the fire.
There is finger pointing of all kinds going on in the spiritual community.
I've been called out dozens of times for spiritual bypassing, being too love and light, not doing any shadow work, not being spiritual enough, not going deep enough, not owning enough dark tarot decks, not using my platform to post about politics, not reading tarot "the right way" (like there is one), not talking about enough big heavy stuff on my blog and now, also being called a witch burner.
And all this from other people in the spiritual community who don't know anything about me.
Not from my Christian friends who've known me since high school. Not from my Muslim friends. Not from my atheist friends. From other people in the spiritual community.
And then we look outside the community at the world around us and we see horrific things happening and yet we still point fingers at each other. You're not political enough. Why aren't you talking about this?
And yes, being political and talking about big important stuff is important AF.
But if you're not talking about it, that's OK too.
If you're a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Witch, or a Christian Witch or if you don't even have a clue how to begin labelling yourself, that's OK too.
We have all, all of us, every religion, every belief system, we have all been persecuted. We have all been killed for our beliefs.
And often times we've been killed for our perceived beliefs.
Many of those executed were not witches at all. Why do we never talk of them?
Witches often feel as if they own the burning times, and we do, but not alone.
All of you who have ever been persecuted, all of you who have been killed or harmed or hurt because someone pointed the finger or called you out, for truth or lies, it's all of us who own the burning times, and all of us who are here to heal the karma of it.
and we clear that karma when we stop turning on each other and start working together.
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Just visualise with me for a moment. We're back in the burning times and instead of pointing the finger we did a quick whip around of everyone in the villages and gathered a huge group of people all standing together. Men, women, Christians, followers of the old ways, all walking towards the gallows and the stakes and dismantling them. Gracefully throwing the power crazed leaders out of the court houses and town halls and replacing them with people in the community who were well respected and wise.
We move forward when we decide to hold hands with the Christian Witch next door instead of pointing the finger and throwing her in the gallows.
If this is triggering for you, I get it. Christianity is something many people find triggering for all sorts of reasons, and if you've been affected by Christianity in a negative way I send you so much love, light and healing.
But please know that my brand of magic and faith is aligned in love and compassion and kindness and contrary to popular belief, I am definitely not a witch burner.
With so much love, light and healing,
Vix
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