What witchcraft is & the avoidance of witch wars

One of the many subjects I keep returning to on this blog is the nature of the modern witchcraft movement. It is broadly agreed that there are a number of people doing fairly similar things & drawing on the witch name, figure & literature (*very* selectively, the group(s) I'm talking about here would tend to exclude Luciferian or diabolic elements - the difficulty is that you can also find them in the witch craft or trials literature) as an inspiration.
The literature of the modern movement keeps returning to the subject of witchcraft as a religion: in my opinion heavily influenced by the idea, dating back no further than 1829, that an ancient Pagan religion was being persecuted in the witch trials. Two things are absolutely clear; the first is that the modern movement calling itself witchcraft is a religion, the second is that it is not a religion. The wonderful Thorn the Witch has written a post on this recently (http://thornthewitch.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/witchcraft-as-religion/) in which she delineates far better than I could, some of what is involved in this matter.
For me personally the most fruitful aspect of the religion thing is the idea of putting things back together, putting things right. To me, being a witch actually involves far more obligations than is perhaps apparent. These obligations are *all* about my personal behaviour & lifestyle. If the essential part of the derivation of witch is to change, then I have to nurture my ability to make that change with my word or my will. If I don't act *right* or in accord with my will, if I just say whatever comes into my head to get myself out of situations, etc, I am not fulfilling my religious obligations.
The second way of seeing the movement is perhaps the one I am least happy with: that of a spirituality. I have written before on this blog about the dis-ease this idea gives me, with its implications of escapism, avoidance, & lack of embodiment.
The third way is that of a craft. In witchcraft terms this can never simply mean something that a person does, although it does mean that. Witches sometimes talk about *the* Craft, & refer to themselves as Crafters. The source for this is one of the 'ingredients' of modern witchcraft, namely Masonry. This legacy most frequently shows itself in our vocabulary, but nonetheless we have inherited a concept of a brotherhood, a union, a circle in which we keep things safe, a society which makes obligations on its members. It is said that witches, on meeting, know each other, & this is very true. We have this 'Freemasonry' of shared experiences, values, language, & so on. This element also brings obligations, what would be called 'horizontal' (opposed to the vertical) in a tradition which less consciously blurs the conventional distinctions. My horizontal obligations take all sorts of forms - the obligation to help all who come (meeting which brings the ability to do so), the reponsibility to right wrongs, generally be a witch, including to other witches. My obligation to other witches means one of help, correction, & keeping an eye on the ones I know to make sure they don't go off their head.
Of course being me, I am quite prepared to see these three ways of seeing witchcraft as each consisting of two poles. Religion, for instance, can on the one hand mean right-acting, but on the other degenerates into legalism & force. The craft thing can be a visible secret society promoting trust & mutual working, but can become shifty, shady, & lean on people in unnecessary ways.
I was going to fall into the trap of saying that witchcraft is much more than all of these things - it is a way of life. Exactly like a religion! However I would like to add another definition: witchcraft is this formless, ever-changing, thing with a life of its own, that has a tendency of becoming anything it likes without warning. This is partly the point of drawing on the witch thing. One religious tolerance website gives fifteen definitions of the word, for example (http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_dict.htm). Given this nebulousness it is no wonder there is such conflict in the witch 'community': I agree with Nanny Ogg that three witches works somehow, & any number over that results in a bloody great row.
Given that we are a 'religion' & 'spirituality' with ties of fellowship to each other in our 'craft', it therefore behoves us not to get into witch wars, & much less start them. For a start they're a waste of time: these turf wars take up energy & don't really achieve anything. This advice is particularly difficult for someone like me to follow - I'm very aware I'm getting to be an even more touchy queen as I get older, take offence easily & almost never forgive. I do however stand by my policy that I only ever give one warning, if that. To me, one of the functions of the witch is to be a warning.
So when someone behaves in an un-witchlike way, I don't really have an answer as to what to do. Recently I've given someone a warning. This person set me up for a horrendous day, by not telling me that the people I would be spending the day with were morbidly frightened of witches. Here's the test: if you knew people were rabidly anti-Semitic, you would not invite a Jew to spend the day with them. A confrontation has occurred about this, & excuses have been made, which I do not accept, because this person could reasonably have foreseen that I would have a hell of a day. In this situation, in addition to the obligations one feels to family, the witch has an obligation to the Craft, & a failure to respect this obligation is a failure in our religious duties, & a giving away of personal power. I also have the distinct feeling of being used by this person: he only contacts me with regard to a gathering we both go to, which he sees as his property.
I don't have an answer to this situation, really. However in the interests of asserting my own self-dominion I have made a point of absenting myself from the position of being used to prop up this person's power. Will you come to this concert that my other half's playing in? No, I won't. Now you may say, But Hound! You're starting a witch war by your inflammatory comments on your blog! This person won't read this. I know he won't. However my avoidance of a witch war will have the effect of leaving him to his own compromised personal power. Give it away & you open a hole through which it will drain. Getting away from these people may perhaps be the only option, because the only place for them to go is psychic vampirism.

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