grimygurl
I’ve seen people ask about the “who’s a secular witch around here” post, and trying to find out what is it. So here goes: What is Secular Witchcraft?
Secular Witchcraft is a witchcraft practice that does not refer to, venerate and otherwise “work with” any deities (or, in some cases, any supernatural beings at all).
As with any pagan concept, there’s no single truth about everyone who identifies as a secular witch.
Generally, a secular witch is a person whose practice is not meant to serve as worship of a deity, or as means of getting attention and help of a deity. Secular witches might still accept an idea of universal, immanent energy (think Star Wars - the Jedi know the force exist and train to use it, they even respect it, but they don’t worship it, right?) and try to reach it through their practice. Or they might find material things “holy” and worthy of veneration (this in turn can be similar to some Druidic paths, which venerate nature in itself, in its material expression). Or their practice might not really be religious at all, and they might do witchcraft in the same way one does aerobics, because it’s good for you and makes your life better. These witches are not somehow less (or more, either) serious or committed or witchy than the Brighid-worshiping ones or whoever else you know.
Modern religion sciences distinguish between religion and spirituality, two phenomena that might go hand in hand, but might not, and between religious and spiritual needs. Not everyone has religious needs (atheists don’t, for instance), but everyone has spiritual needs, which tend to have a certain common denominator in most people (hence why atheists can still feel the solemn beauty of some religious hymns, or the immense energy of an old forest, why fire-related rituals are present in most religions in some form etc). Atheist Pagans are definitely a thing, and secular witches can be said to be part of that group.
