(Originally published in the Compost NewsLetter and several other WitchZines)
Boy, I am starting to get peeved at all this "let's-not-call-ourselves-Witches" talk that's being printed lately in various 'zines. The general argument is that the W-word has accumulated such bad vibes through the centuries of repression/suppression that it's impossible to clean it enough for us to be able to present ourselves as a genuine religion in the eyes of most non Pagans. The wish of many Witches to identify with the martyrs of the Burning Times and make their sacrifice seem less in vain is brushed aside by the argument that the Craft as we know it was invented out of whole cloth by Gerald Gardner in the late 1930's, so we don't have any right to the name "Witch."
As to the latter point: I don't give a flying rat's tail whether the Craft was invented, or whether it comes direct to us from millennia of secret mother-to-daughter transmission. It's a living religion as far as I'm concerned, and since I believe in the concept of continuing revelation from the Divine, I feel perfectly free to go on inventing it day by day, and to call myself a Witch whether or not I am adhering to the teachings of Gerald (which I'm not) or the practices of the Medieval Witches (which I'm not), or even the age-old matriarchal traditions which I got from my fifty-times-great-grandmother (which I'm not)..
As to the social acceptability of the W-word: when I was first initiated I became Priestess and Witch in the sight of Gods and men. This was a vow I took, and take, very seriously, even though I don't take too many things that way. I became a Witch in my own eyes and in the eyes of the Craft, AND in the eyes of the world. I'm public. I use my civilian name on my Magickal publishing and writing because I feel that it's a matter of honoring that vow. If it didn't mean a difference to my life to swear that "all between my two hands belongs to the Goddess", what was the point of doing it? I'm really tired of all the New Agers who have glommed on to the Goddess and are busy making huge sums of money by picturing Her as Big Mama to replace Big Daddy; all they have done is added tits to Jahweh and put a smile on her face. The Goddess is a LOT more than that. She's Big. She's Bad. She's Dangerous. And her service is not for the cowardly.
I realize that there are many people who have to keep quiet about what they are, because to go public might put their jobs or even safety in jeopardy; I'm fortunate in being self-employed and living in a relatively tolerant part of the USA. But if you are going to go public with any of the facts, to talk religion at all, you should be honest enough to cop to who you really are. Giving in to repression only encourages it. I use the word Witch in the in-your-face way certain gay men use the word "faggot", or blacks the word "nigger".
I'm a Witch--you got a problem with that? If you do, let's talk about
it, but don't expect me to back down or hide.