The Path of a Christian Witch by Adelina St. Clair

between church politics and faith, services are a way to sit together and remember the teachings that we received from Jesus. I have been blessed with priests who are truly open minded, true examples of devotion to the core of Christ’s message. I would never attend services in a church where the priest shows bigotry, hatred, or discrimination toward any group of people. I have stopped going to church at times for that very reason. During such times, I would make special pilgrimages to sanctuaries where I could sit in peaceful contemplation and reconnect with my source.
    I know full well that I could be excommunicated in a second if it was known that I call myself a Witch. I know, in my core, that nothing I do betrays the essence of what Jesus taught us. If a priest would take the time to really listen to what I have to say, to my vision of Christ’s message and my way of celebrating it, I know that he would find little to say against it. But the inquisitors are still among us, and there is little a woman can do against them. As was the case with all the others who have faced persecution at their hands, the Lord is my judge. I pray that the way I live my life pleases him. Little else matters.
    The Yule ritual showed me that it is easy to bring people together if you focus on the elements that unite instead of trying to dodge the elements that divide. As a Christian, so much separated me from these people. But as a human wanting to reconnect with the world and with the divine light, we were indeed all sisters. Our wordings and symbols might be different sometimes, but underlying it all we have the same aspirations. That is what conjures walls of fire and whirlwinds of energy. It is a coming together. When celebrating with others, we only need to focus on what unites us: love, hope, the need for safety and protection, health, overcoming obstacles, finding one’s way, the sense of belonging . . . We all vibrate to these frequencies.
    Christian and Pagan celebrations
    Through Witchcraft, the true calling of my soul, which is to become clergy, is finally a reality. I can surround myself with my family and my community and celebrate life at its deepest meaning. I lead and co-celebrate rituals of my making that both represent and transcend this world.
    There are a million reasons to celebrate. We are, after all, social beings, and we are drawn to one another for support and meaning. It is part of what we are. Most of these celebrations are conducted by our religious leaders. But the true celebration is within each and every one of us. We celebrate birth, changes in our bodies and in our social roles, death, unions, achievements . . . We still remember deep in our collective unconscious a time when we celebrated the bounty of nature, the rhythm of the seasons, and the sanctity of the land.
    It was not until I was involved in Witchcraft that I realized how much we had abdicated our right to lead our own celebrations. We surrendered it to our religious leaders, as if we had no right or competence to decide how to celebrate our Holy Days. But rituals are built with our hands and hearts. We have forgotten the age-old art of building rituals and calling to the powers that surround us.
    There was a time when we used to build rituals to celebrate every aspect of our lives. We are priests and priestesses. Our spirituality isn’t the property and responsibility of the clergy. I am the only one responsible for the matters of my soul and those of my family. Christian Witchcraft is a practice of daily manifestations. We can take our spirituality back into our homes and shape it to celebrate the greatest and the simplest of our realities.
    At first glance, it seems difficult to bridge Christian and Pagan celebrations. After all, Christian celebrations are centered on events in Christ’s life, which are completely excluded from Pagan festivities. Likewise, Pagan celebrations are linked to mythologies from various pantheons, often Greek,