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Showing posts from December, 2017

Being a Witch in India

- Swapnil Desai “Witch” – The one word that is as fearful or dreaded as a Demon. Wicca – A religion shunned by the New World. Witchcraft – A subject more feared than accepted.   When I was asked to write on this subject, I willingly and promptly accepted, not because of any “folklorish” elements of this topic that I will be addressing, but its because Who I am and What I believe is hugely misunderstood.   As much as the origin of the word “witch” is still debated, One popular etymology for witch maintains that it is related to the English words wit , wise , wisdom [Germanic root * weit- , * wait-, * wit- ; Indo-European root * weid -.* woid- , * wid- ]. 1   Another theory claims that witch is derived from a root meaning “holy” or “sacred” and thus reflects the witch’s ancient religious role [Germanic root * weih- , * waih-, * wih- ; Indo-European root * weik -, * woik- , * wik- ]. This appears in the Modern German word for Christmas, Weihnacht, literally “holy night,” and i