by Dan Stannard

Created on: April 27, 2009

As a Witch, let me tell you now, I am no Satanist. I don't follow your Christian God, so why would I be following your Devil? But that is not saying that Satanists can't be Witches. Far from it in fact, they just follow a different Path to many other witches.

What is a witch? That must be the first question answered I think, before any comparisons are made between Witches and Satanists. Well, the easiest way to describe a witches function would be as this. A witch is a practitioner of Magic, whether it be Personal, Divine, Natural or Infernal. Indeed, many witches follow pagan, earth-based religions, such as Wicca, but it doesn't have to be as such. In fact, there are also Christian witches, Islamic witches, even - would you believe it - Atheistic witches. You don't need belief in the Divine to perform miracles, nor do you need belief in Nature to change it. Anybody, literally anybody can be a witch, should they so desire it, and so practice as such. Divinity in some form just seems to smooth out the process.

I would just like to point out here, that there is a school of thought - and one which I agree with - that states that those priests, vicars, clerics, rabbis, bishops and so forth are glorified and non-stigmatised witches. Magic is a prayer, and an exertion of will to create physical change through a metaphysical medium. What are these holy figure heads doing? Magic of course!

Now we move onto Satanists... Admittedly, this is not a specialist subject of mine, but I think I should know enough to give you, my wonderful reader, a basic, yet informative Overview.

Satanism, like all religions, Abrahamic or not, is diverse and flowing, constantly changing and evolving, all claiming to be the "true" form. Yet there is a large difference between most sects of Satanists compared to the public misconception of them. I have met a couple of Satanists, in my short seventeen years of this Cycle, and while I can honestly say, that I wouldn't trust them with my life, I would quite happily trust them with the life of my gerbil, my dad's chickens... maybe even one of my Nana's goats... Maybe. The point being made is that they don't sacrifice anything. All "sacrifice" is symbolic - in the same way the grape juice and crackers at mass are symbolic of Jesus' blood and body. They may use Blood in rituals - but only their own, or maybe other Coven members (willingly given and volunteered - of course).

Who do Satanists believe in? This is a very important question which needs to be

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