Witches, Vampires, and Ghosts

hauntmaster · Post by **hauntmaster** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:19 pm

I. myself, believe in ghosts, vampires, and witches.

But not the stereotype of each.

WITCHES: No, they may not fly around on brooms, but some people do practice witchcraft.

VAMPIRES: I believe there are people who do drink blood, but not the whole afraid of light, turn into a bat thing. Like Gothics, Satanics, Suicides, they prefer to call themselves as vampires.

GHOSTS: This is a stretch, but I think them not as dead human beings, but as an entire species of their own.

Please share your comments here.

ZombieChipmunk · Post by **ZombieChipmunk** » Wed May 31, 2006 4:07 pm

Do you believe in the magic based in the ancient "darkside" of Christianity? For instance, the worship and invokation of Satan and the lesser demons(Samael, Ariel, Lucifuge, etc.) as opposed to God, Jesus, and the Archangels? This is where witchcraft in most European traditions stemmed from and many, many books were written in the Middle Ages on the subject, ranging from grimoires (The Key of Solomon) to persecutive exposes (Malleus Maleficarum).

I'm not very religious myself, but I do believe there are powers to be tapped into and energies that can be focused for "good" or "evil" purposes. I am very certain that Wicca is a bunch of <deleted>, though. I think there is real magic and power in the older forms of the craft and the practise of sincere worship.

Any thoughts?

hauntmaster · Post by **hauntmaster** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:56 pm

Yes, I do believe there are many devil worshippers out there anywhere. Some religious are different... Some are forced to drink blood too, some are forced to have sexual intercourse, some are forced to kill one others... I won't join that Satan cults because they're insane!! I've heard some stories about them, they're awful!

FYI, I don't wanna to try and curious to see what they're doing and how they're planning to worship over the devils because I really don't want to turn into fallen angel! LOL

kraken · Post by **kraken** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 6:20 pm

IMHO I believe Wicca to be an movement of modern witches that are seeking to break themselves of the typical stereotype associated with the practise of Witchcraft. I.e. that WC is not "evil", "satanic", or some such.

The Middle Ages, and specifically the age of the Inquisition perpetuated every stereotype we could possibly think of in respect to Witchcraft. Accused witches told the Church exactly what they wanted to hear. Attendence of a Black Mass, worship of the Christian Satan, and so forth. Much of this stemmed from a power trip of the Church hierarchy and greed (the accused's property, wealth, and personal items were often confiscated). I hold many of the volumes, written for and against the occult in that period, in suspicion. A good book, if you haven't read it, is The Black Arts by Richard Cavendish, an historical text written in the 70s about ancient traditions of the occult. His ideas on Witchcraft are out-moded but a majority of the material is fascinating.

In respect to the power, real or imagined, I do not believe that Wicca deflates in "power" when in contrast to Pre-Wicca practise. Perhaps modern Wiccan rituals seem "tame" compared to the outlandish rituals of the past (as conducted by Crowley for example) but if the intent and will of the participants are driven by as much desire as ancient folks, I cannot see how the power will wane. Those are my thoughts anyway...

Celtic Ghoul · Post by **Celtic Ghoul** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 3:56 pm

As a practicing Pagan/Wiccan I suppose I should be offended by Zombie Chipmunk's remark that Wicca is <deleted>.

But if you look at the books on Wicca in most bookstores, with titles like To Ride a Silver Broomstick or <deleted> Magick, I can see where people get that idea. Television shows and other media protray Wicca as a very shallow, magick-only faith.

Wicca is a genuine faith and cannot be found within the pages of books or on dvd. The heart of Wicca lies in the beauty of the green earth and the white moon among the stars and the mysteries of the waters if I may quote The Charge of the Goddess. Central to Wicca is the belief that not only is there a masculine divine (like you find in the Abrahamic faiths) but there is a femine divine as well: the Goddess. Like every other faith, a true understanding comes from practice of that faith. But it is not any more absurd than a belief in that a virgin impregnated by a spirit resulted in a carpenter who was nailed to a tree and thereby redeemed mankind.

kraken was dead on with his (her?) comment. Wiccans don't believe in Satan at all and thus don't worship him. In terms of the practice of magic, kraken is also correct. Wicca did not invent any new way of practicing doing magic; in fact Wicca uses the same techniques used by shamen since the dawn of time. So, either the energy is there, real and useable by anyone and everyone or it is not.

And yes, Wiccans consider themselves witches, even the male Wiccans.

Vampires? I agree with our hauntmaster on them.

Ghosts are a lot harder. The scientist in me dismisses the concept. But then I have a difficult time explaining how and why some things happen... I'd have to say I just don't know.

tantraman · Post by **tantraman** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:04 am

these are intresting topics. I argree with the ghost are a species thing I have heard that before.

BlackCat · Post by **BlackCat** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:31 am

Oh I believe in ghosts! I know they exist, and I know they are around us more than we know.

tantraman · Post by **tantraman** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:38 am

describe? have you had an encounter.

BlackCat · Post by **BlackCat** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:42 am

I've had many. The house I live in right now is very old, with beautiful wood working everywhere.... We belive that my boyfriend's grandfather is here. He died 30 years ago about. His wife(boyfriends gramma) lives upstairs. We hear her talking to him all the time, but stuff happens alot too. Light switches go on and off right in front of whoever is there. Doors lock and unlock right before our very eyes. I have had other encounters as well but none of them were ever scary or dangerous. I belive a lot of spirits look after us and are always around us, sometimes even portecting us.

tantraman · Post by **tantraman** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 10:49 am

yea my house has ghosts in it as well you can see them in the corner of your eye.

Pennywise11 · Post by **Pennywise11** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:46 pm

Witches - yes. I too am a fellow Pagan to a degree and living in a country setting I truely appreciate the world around us, the forces and energies that be. I celebrate holy days, the balance between life and death, God and Goddess, Sun and Moon and I am 100% sure there are witches in this world that come from all corners. Now the witches we see in movies and cartoons and different... they are fun to watch and enjoy the entertainment, I know the differences and I would hope the majority of the population would have the know how to research the topic if they have any questions regarding this topic. Witchcraft is a natural way of life for me and allows me to look at the world through a secret window so to speak. To each his own I guess.

Vampires - Well as for blood sucking vampires and ones from movies I suppose there could be some sort of a vampire lifestyle. I love the idea of vampires and I am sure there is many out there that feel the same. The powerful beings in my Anne Rice collection...beautiful Lestat or Marius, Pandora and Armand..... hmmmm lovely. What I see on tv now is more of a fetish lifestyle and I think that is ok. I think I hold a secret place in my mind in hopes of these beings being real just he mysteriousness of the cloud that surrounds the vampire image I think is attractive to many. My absolute fav movie is The Lost Boys....

Ghost - Yes I do believe in Ghost. I think out of the three topics we have here most people would believe in ghost more so then vampires or witches. Ghost or spirits I think haunt the world and provide a significant impact on peoples lifes even if they know it or not. The energy the have whether strong or not is though our daily lives and it is only people who consider the possibility of a ghost may actually have a good sense of the world around them. I agree in a lot of cases it could be a persons imagination that is playing tricks on oneself however I believe I have had run ins with ghost figures on a few different occasions.

uncletor · Post by **uncletor** » Wed Aug 30, 2006 12:56 pm

VAMPIRES: I believe in Bela Lugosi. The scene in Ed Wood that always makes me cry like old Hank Williams or a Verdi opera..(crying but feeling like a million bucks)..is when Ed gives Bela that 'I have no home' speech while filming BRIDE OF THE MONSTER..and Bela uses it to find dignity in a career that was so sadly derailed. He gets to do it one more time before a clapping audience on the street..then...he's gone..
WITCHES: I beleive in Barbara Steele and Christopher Lee..Babs in BLACK SUNDAY, LEE in HORROR HOTEL..Babs gets that mask hammered into her face and tries to pass herself off as her double at the end..Lee has this creepy vibe and oozes like a lizard. And he is SO squirrely through the whole thing you would not trust him to take out the trash.
GHOSTS: I believe in THE HAUNTING..brought to you by the guy who did the Sound of Music, Robert Wise..famous last words from my daughter;"OH, DAD...there is no WAY a black and white flick from when YOU were a kid is gonna scare ME.." It took her two nights to get through it and she slept with the lights on both nights..