The Truth About Witchcraft

Introductions

Hello there!
My name is Arabesque.

I am a witch from England, and my job is to let young people know that magic is real, before grown up things get in the way and try to make you believe it's pretend.

There is magic all around us, just as there are witches all around us.

I'm not talking about the kind of witches that will cut off kitten tails and frogs legs and mix them all into a massive steaming cauldron.

Those are the witches that we are all are told about.
They are all over the TV and all over books and magazines.
Stories like this are told all throughout a child's life until they realise it is nonsense, and therefore decide not to believe in witches at all!

So I consider it my duty to clear this up for you once and for all. With this in mind, I have compiled a list of helpful facts for you below:

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• Most witches are not dangerous.
That sounds a lot like I'm saying 'some witches are dangerous', but really it's only because there are bad people in every kind of circle in this world, so it's best to always be careful.

However, the majority of witches use magic, not to curse people, but to heal people and make their lives better.
They love nature, indeed a lot of witches worship nature, and the last thing they would want to do is harm an innocent person or animal.

• Ignore Roald Dahl's description. Please. I am a witch, and I have not got blue spit, toeless feet, a bald head or crazy eyes.

Neither am I green-skinned.

I am human, just like your mum.
I come from England and have white skin. I'm a little plumper than I'd like, I never really wear makeup, and I love Spongebob Squarepants and glitter.

In other words, I'm just like you.

• Witches do not worship the devil.
Seriously... this is very very wrong. Most witches do not believe in the devil, or Satan, or any other such character for that matter. To a witch, Satan is merely a villian in a book called the Bible, and to many witches, the Bible is equal to The Grimms Book of Fairy Tales.

• Some witches are religious.
Although I said that most witches do not believe the Bible and it's teachings, you get witches from all beliefs and backgrounds.

You can get Catholic witches, Protestant witches, Muslim witches, in fact, most witches have knowledge of religion.
What you might find, though, is that these might prefer to be quieter about their witchcraft, to avoid conflict.

• Witches can be any gender.
You heard me - you can get male witches, female witches, and witches of both or no gender. Witchcraft is for everybody.

• The 'Broom Closet'.
Sometimes you might meet witches who hardly tell anyone.

Often they may tell other witches that they practise magic, but do not want their family and friends to find out.

If you do not want to tell anyone, it is perfectly fine to keep it to yourself, and the same for others.

This is called the 'broom closet', as it's like hiding something precious in a secret cupboard.
It is important to respect the privacy of people like this.

• Types of witchcraft.
There are lots of different types of witchcraft. It would be confusing to list them all now, so these will be explained in each of the following chapters.

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