I am loving the discussion going on around this book. I hang out with the earth-based crowd who are into hugging (including trees) and trying to get along. And I love that, truly. But I am against toothless witchcraft. See, witches are dangerous. All the folklore says so and it's important to maintain standards.
I followed an Israeli witch's blog for awhile, before she stopped posting. She wrote one that, in her area, one of the beliefs about folk witches (that still practiced and that she was learning from) was that it was dangerous to anger them. She was very clear. It was not that it was unwise to anger them as they might curse you, but that the anger itself is magically potent and able to harm you. The witch's displeasure was enough to harmful to you all on its own. Big stuff, huh?
Granted, I'm pretty right-hand when it comes down to it personally. But I believe in assertive magic: banish that which doesn't serve you and draw in what does. And folks, actually walk that talk in your real life. While misfortune and bad things happen, witches aren't victims in or out of a circle. We shape and bend, heal and mend. Again, we do that in and out of circle, with our magic and with our actions.
