Lets say I'm a Christian person. And. I love casting spells but in the religion of Christian magic is satan works and and we need him to cast spells but. In articles spells and magic is a practice not satan or evil. What I do now I don't know what I do
Yes this is very correct indeed, firstly the Wiccan faith predates the Christian one by far and inadvertently allot of the Christian values have been adopted and changed as history as developed. However as Thor has said, the color of your magic is very much dependent upon your initial intention.
Many people go under this basis of thinking, I was certainly one who thought this misconception in my earlier years. However Christians do not practice what they would call magic, not just because it may be attributed to Satanic influences, but more over Christians do not need to engage in magical practices because they already have a set of their own which they already follow.
The bible is in a way like a spell book, a spell is an intention, a wishing something to happen. Spells are not magic, a spell is an attempt to make magic happen. Spells come in many forms; like wishing someone a happy birthday, or when prayers are said in church or when a person sneezes and we say, "bless you".
As long as you have love in your heart, then everything you do will be a genuine intention regardless of what religious doctrine says. However it is also respectful to follow the views of a particular faith, magic is not always about picking up a wand, or even using magical tools to achieve a desired result. Sure these things can help, but the real magic all comes from within you.
One correction Just_William, Wicca does not pre-date Christianity. Wicca was put together by Gerald Gardner in the 1930's and 1940's. It isn't ancient at all. There are other religions which predate Christianity including many Pagan ones, but Wicca isn't one of them.
My apologies, I had read in a book titled the Wicca Bible (although not claiming to be the actual bible per say for Wicca) said that Witchcraft dates back over 5000 years. And this is where I think I have gotten witchcraft confused with actual Wicca itself.
Another correction is that Christians did practice magic, and they most certainly did not believe it came from Satan nor did the majority of the church.
If you look at the history of witchcraft in Britain you can see countless sources of Christians practicing magic deriving from works such as Agrippa and incorporating angels and names of God into their magic. These people were called many names, one of the popular ones was cunning folk. They would be sought out to heal the sick, animals, to just give general protection and see to it that their village had good health.
The church did not prosecute these people and good Christian people went to see them. The only form of magic which was frowned upon was intent to cause harm and oddly magic to find lost treasure.
In fact for hundreds of years before Wicca the predominant practice of witchcraft in the British Isles and subsequently America was Christian oriented. I'm speaking from an Academic standpoint, but also one of experience. My grandmother and her grandmother practiced and knew of other people who practiced, all of them devout Christians.
Some good reading for Christian based witchcraft:
The Charmer's Psalter by Gemma Gary.
The Cunning Man's handbook by Jim Baker.
Ancient Christian Magic by Marvin Myer and Richard Smith.
Agrippa's books on occult philosophy because they influenced every Western tradition.
Now if you are interested in general magic which uses Judeo/Christian principles you may want to look into hermeticism and the Golden Dawn system: Modern Magic by Donald Michael Kraig is by far the best introductory work.
1. Magick is a natural energy that is not good or evil, it is the casters intent that gives it a positive or negative charge.
2. Satan isn't someone everyone believes in. If you are Christian, you believe in the devil. There is no devil in the craft.
Christianity frowns upon magick [though they practiced magick and still have some rather pagan rituals but that's beside the point] look inside and ask yourself if spells and magick is 'devils work'. You could also talk to your minister/priest/reverent for further insight on the topic as well as pray to God for his answer. This is a personal matter. Do what you feel is right.
I agree with chris. The Christian religion and the practice of magic (using this term, since many people could argue that prayer is a form of magic, but all Christian prayers are channelled via Jesus) are not compatible, because the Bible forbids it. You may believe it or not, like it or not, but the Bible has rules. If you don't like them, you can stop believing in them and just practice magic with no restrictions whatsoever. :-)
