Does White Witchcraft still exsist?

The law would depend on where you live. However, there are people who practice what they would term “white” Witchcraft.

Personally, myself, I find it an interesting line to draw in the sand, that line between “white/good/beneficial” and “black/evil/harmful,” as it seems that anything that benefits something usually harms something else, leaving everything a kind of grey color.

apparently there is no such thing as black magic (according to the internet(it was an edu site, but you never know if it is true or not))

I believe that most people that use the term “black magic” use it to describe that which is done to harm.

Where is Wrestlemaniac when we need him?

If you mean are there people who call themselves witches, perform rituals and cast spells for good purposes, and believe in what they practice, the answer is yes.

@Laureth, I am generally of the opinion that most things have an up side and a down side. But I can’t see how someone’s incantation for healing is any different in essence from someone’s prayer for healing (isn’t the main difference just how you think the healing might take place?) or what the offsetting ill effect would be if, say, someone’s cancer were cured.

I am speaking as a nonbeliever and a nonpractitioner here, but I think people’s own beliefs can affect their physical well-being. The only intrinsic harm I see in that is if someone eschews proper medical care in favor of a magical belief that can’t really help them.

Because “The Craft” still comes on TBS every Saturday morning.

Don’t members of the religion Wicca perform white witchcraft?

@Jeruba: I very much agree with you on the point of a spell for healing being very much like a prayer for healing. That was part of my standard Q & A spiel when I considered myself Wiccan.

However, even by simply living, we cause harm. We need to eat to live, and feeding us humans takes up a lot of land and water. We pollute massively, destroying the quality of life for others. Food you and I ate today could have fed someone else if we were not here. Because I have a job, someone who would have had my job may be unable to earn a living. These are things that would be “harm” if someone lived longer due to a healing prayer or spell. Also, what if this person, who now lives longer, is somehow in a flaming car wreck that takes out a whole family of kids? What if one of those kids was fated to cure cancer or become President? There’s no way to know the “what-ifs” or consequences that the future might bring. (Imagine the good in the world if Stalin had died of cancer while still a child. On the other hand, all those people that would be alive today might contribute to overpopulation if they’d had many children, causing more harm.) You can begin to see how nothing is black and white when it comes to fate.

@Bluefreedom: That’s the generally accepted idea. :)

“You can begin to see how nothing is black and white when it comes to fate.”

I’m pretty sure, when it comes to the thread of fate, the color is gold. : )

@Laureth, I think you’re just talking about the chain of cause and effect. I don’t see that that proves that attempting to ameliorate a situation necessarily produces a harmful effect. It’s just that all actions have consequences of some kind. And, as you say, some of those will be perceived as beneficial to this human being or that and some won’t. But that does not make the act itself good or bad. I think it is always good to relieve suffering.

Your assertion about causing harm just by living: would you extend that to all living things? The bird that pecks the cherry is preventing that seed from germinating and creating a new tree; but is that harm? Do we want as many new trees as there are cherries on the tree, or is the excess of cherries compensation for the fact that some will be eaten by birds? Do we want the birds to die for lack of cherries? Do we want to eliminate destructive bacteria and have the earth piled high with dead bodies because there is nothing to decompose them? I see all these things not as gray but simply as neutral, not good and not bad, because I don’t see them as existing in a moral state. The concept of goodness and badness is a moral judgment that has no relevance to grass and seeds and cherries and bacteria. We’re the ones who bring goodness and badness into the picture by casting things in moral terms; in other words, it’s a matter of human perception and not of intrinsic morality. Is it “bad” of a fox to kill a chicken, and is a forest fire doing “harm” to bring down a tree?

@Bluefreedom: Many Wiccans do practice what would be called white witchcraft, that is, good witchcraft that is beneficial and not harmful. However, there are some people who either do not realize they are harming people or who do not care. A lot of magic involving love or romantic feelings is generally considered darker magic because it is deeply manipulative. By this, I mean if I cast a spell to make a specific person love me. However, if I cast a spell to find love, that’s different.

@ Comedian: I don’t think there are any specific laws, but in individual circumstances, witchcraft/Wicca of any kind can be banned. Example: a teacher who is not allowed to wear a pentacle.

@KatawaGrey. Nice insights and information on Wicca and white witchcraft. Thanks for the good response.

@Jeruba: I think that which you call neutral, I am calling grey. The bird, I imagine, would think that eating the cherry is a pretty positive thing, whereas in this (very specific) case, I’m sure the tree would as well – fruits are designed to be eaten so the bird will poop out the seed somewhere else, spreading the tree’s genes. On the other hand, what if that cherry tree grows up to fall on someone’s roof during a hurricane? Good and bad things happen all the time.

I don’t think we are essentially disagreeing, though. You say it’s “neither good nor bad” because it’s neutral, I say it’s both good and bad, making it neutral. Different words, same idea.

I think it’s commonly understood that magick is the product of either good or bad intent. Sometimes even the the best constructs have a (sadly) unanticipated negative effect.

I’m not trying to be weird or evasive, but I think witchcrafts would be better classified as “lighter” or “darker” rather than white, black, or even grey.