Can you explain your personal beliefs and how you practice your religion?

I am a solitary traditional witch. My craft is intuitive before it is anything else. If something doesn't work for me, it doesn't belong in my craft. I work primarily within the context of traditional/historical European witchcraft, but I also incorporate some Hoodoo practices and a couple of nods to Hindu folk magic.

Avoiding cosmological speculation, I am a polytheist with a focus on a single God, whom I place in a position of supremacy in my worldview and revere in a primarily-masculine and a primarily-feminine form, as well as in a hermaphroditic form. The Witch-Father, the Devil, or the Black Goat is the masculine. The Witch-Mother, the personification of Death, is the feminine. Combined together, I call him the Devil, the Red God, the Black God, and the White God, the Dead God, the Undying, and a number of other names. I view him as the personification of the death and darkness which overcomes all life and light and restores all to its original state. This might sound like a dark, depressing path if you have in mind a sort of stereotype of who or what the Devil and Death are, but in my practice, it's a beautiful, life-affirming, even joyful path.

As for how I practice, most of what I do is witchcraft. I do a lot of protective and talismanic magic, as well as some healing and luck work. I'm not opposed to curses, but I've not yet had the need to work one. In addition to the magical side of things, I do have a devotional practice. I offer meat, blood, intoxicants, and fire to my God, as well as to the vættir or nature spirits in my place of residence.

While not strictly central to my practice, I do honor the Æsir and Vanir, the Gods of the Germanic peoples, out of reverence for my ancestors and the Gods nearest my cultural identity. On two or three occasions per year, I also honor the Hindu Gods Shiva and Kali, particularly in their fierce aspects as Mahakala and Mahakali.

/r/pagan Thread