So, if you want to call me a witch

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
September 20, 2023

There was a lifetime joke in my family about me being a witch. We lived near Salem MA, and visited there several times a year. My oldest brother gave me my first baby broom. When my daughter was young as soon as she discovered we were going to Salem for the day she'd smile and say that we were going to visit my relatives. Well, she had to be reminded if they were my relatives, they were her's too!

This may seem strange considering I not only went to church, I was involved in it, taught Sunday School, sang in the choir, and served on a charity board. Later in life, I was an Administrator of Christian Education and then ended up becoming a Chaplain. So how did this "witch of the family" end up doing all that? Easy! The spiritual power I was born with.
 

Season of the Witch: Mind-Body-Spirit Books

Publishers Weekly
By Lynn Garrett
Aug 02, 2019

Witchcraft is one of the hot trends in the mind-body-spirit category

“Mystical Wellness”

Mental and physical health is under siege in the modern world, and preserving and enhancing wellness has become a central cultural quest. In Wellness Witch: Healing Potions, Soothing Spells, and Empowering Rituals for Magical Self-Care (Running Press, Sept.), author Nikki Van De Car offers rituals, spells, and recipes for healing remedies—tinctures, tonics, mantras, and meditations—that aim to unite body and spirit for what she calls “mystical wellness.” “Everyone’s connection to their own spirituality is different, and my goal here is to invite readers to investigate what feels right to them,” she writes. “Whether it’s hearkening back to the herb witch practices of our ancestors, or calling on their own intuition to create something entirely new, there is something deeply powerful—even magical—in making something yourself, for yourself. For me, wellness magic isn’t just something you do, it’s a way of life.” Van De Car is the author of Practical Magic and Magical Places. (learn more here)

It may be hard to understand for some readers but when you consider how people once viewed those using their gifts of the spirit to help humanity while asking for nothing in return have been recorded throughout history. If you know anything from the bible, consider the following examples of what you will not hear repeated in church, yet is there for you to find.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

You only hear about the 12. Not the others. When they returned, this is what was reported.

Luke 10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.”

Acts 1:15-16 lists their numbers at even more.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty) 16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.

And there you see there were far more than just 12 with Him. You also see that the Holy Spirit was active in what Judas did.

And in John 4:24 you see why we know that when you hear anyone say "In God's Image, it is the spirit that lives within all of us and not our bodies.

24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

Each of us has gifts within us that we were born with. I suggest you read all of 1 Corinthians 12 for the rest of this.

7 The Holy Spirit is given to each of us in a special way. That is for the good of all. 8 To some people the Spirit gives a message of wisdom. To others the same Spirit gives a message of knowledge. 9 To others the same Spirit gives faith. To others that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. 10 To others he gives the power to do miracles. To others he gives the ability to prophesy. To others he gives the ability to tell the spirits apart. To others he gives the ability to speak in different kinds of languages they had not known before. And to still others he gives the ability to explain what was said in those languages. 11 All the gifts are produced by one and the same Spirit. He gives gifts to each person, just as he decides.

One thing that keeps popping up lately is when some religious Christians condemn those whom they call witches. What they ignore is the reality that the only ones being condemned in the Scriptures are harming others and not helping them heal. Those condemning people using their spiritual gifts to help others are either uninformed or living in fear of such goodness.

Many of those accused of witchcraft in Salem and around the world were using their spiritual gifts to heal and were hated by others. We see that happening today. We all need to heal our minds if we have #PTSD. We also need to heal our bodies since our minds affect our bodies. The thing we need to heal most of all is our spirituality. That is what makes us who we are. Being able to turn to a healer is a wonderful thing. Being told they are evil and banned by scriptures is BS!

As for the word witch, I am not offended by it. After all, Jesus was accused of serving Beelzebub by the Pharisees. They wanted Him dead. That fact shows that Jesus was not religious since the religion He was born into wanted Him dead. He prayed and preached outside with the people and gave away what He had to give without asking for anything in return. He did not interrogate anyone. He didn't ask for payment. He didn't even ask the Roman Centurion to renounce the gods he worshiped or to walk away from serving in the Roman army.

This is also why most of the people I helped over the years said they were spiritual but not religious. We are able to contact God directly. That reassurance also came from Jesus when He taught the people to pray to their Father wherever they were.

So, if you want to call me a witch, I suggest Ekklesia witch. It means "called out" and became the "church assembly" but not the way you may think. It was a gathering. Where did Jesus gather the people? Outside~

Kathie Costos

Author of The Scribe Of Salem, The Visionary Of Salem, and the 13th Minister Of Salem where you can open your eyes to what has been there all along.