Magic Forums

Lets talk a bit about decolonizing witchcraft.

Im sure a lot of you who are witches know what "black" and "white" magic is. You've probably used the terms yourself.

"Black" magic is "darker" magic. Magic that is considered bad, evil, or shouldn't be done. Things such a Voodoo, Necromancy, etc. etc.

"White" magic is "good" magic. Magic that everyone should do, and shouldn't do the "evil" magic. Things such as candle magic, Paganism, whatever.

The Wiccan Three Fold Law too - that should also be mentioned here. Whatever you do will come back three times to you.

But, have you even considered what these words imply? When using magic, we should be mindful of our words and what we say, and the history behind them. Why do we call these sorts of magic - necromancy, summoning demons, etc. as BLACK magic? The color black is one of protection, stealth, safety, why is it used in such a negative fashion? Because of colonization of witchcraft.

Magic is about intention too, right? When you are conjuring the dead, its not like you are doing dark and evil magic if you are calling upon your ancestors, or summoning the spirits of the dead to ask advice to. We should label magic based on the intention used with it, not because of the stereotype of it. Like "negative" or "evil" or whatever else you have it, but black=bad. In witchcraft it has only been used negatively when EXPLAINING negative things.

Magic isnt inherently good or evil, and never will be. Its alright if you believe in the Three Fold Law, but things that are considered evil beneath this law is Hexing, Cursing, animal sacrifice, and much more. There's a lot of racism embedded within our practice, even if you never meant for there to be there, nor even known!

Either way, this is just one example of many, many ways that witchcraft and magic has been colonized (or other things have been appropriated, glossed over, or cherry-picked). I would recommend any beginner witch to look into decolonizing their craft, it helps a lot in making it make more sense to practice. Things such as:

• Racism
• Unethical use of natural resources
• Abuse and Misuse of Closed Practices
• Commercialization & Consumerism
• Appropriating Spiritualities that ARENT actually 'witchy'

and much, much more. You can get started just by looking up "decolonizing witchcraft".

Feel free to add your own thing to this, or move it if need be. This is my first time posting something so Im unsure how things work around here. Recommendations, experiences, anything else! I might make a part two to this on how to decolonize your craft, but thats if i feel like it. Please, go do some research on it, everyone should look into this!

Until the next full moon,

Agelio.