Do You Worship The Devil?

In this article I’ll be discussing an internet trend I hate. I see a lot of visual content fly around where witches applaud themselves for ‘not worshipping the devil’, usually with the aims of educating ignorant people.

 I want to address why I view this as harmful. This isn’t meant to shame anyone, I actually participated in these trends as well until I learned the history of the word itself. I had a lot of my own negative stigmas and biases to unpack… and while I was, I was pushing other practitioners further into the broom closet as I was stepping out of mine.

Do you worship the Devil? It’s a common question, almost every occultist will hear at some point in their practice.

While some occultists openly practice with lefthand path spirits, and therefore have no qualms saying, yes I work with the Devil… 

Other practitioners can feel flustered, even defensive, when asked this question. Especially if they carry their own negative perceptions about the Devil. 

The reason why this question can evoke such a strong response is because of the way the word ‘devil’ has been used throughout history. Which I will be further elaborating in this post. 

Before I begin, if you’re inclined to feel defensive, I am going to ask you to start reframing your perception of the word ‘devil’. Instead of vehemently denying worshiping the Devil, start asking the individual (and yourself), ‘what is your definition of the devil?’.

This is something I still do, even though I have absolutely no negative associations with the word Devil. 

I do this because I want to make people who are unfamiliar with different spiritualities begin to critically think about their choice of words.

 The word ‘devil’ is multilayered. If the person cannot explain what their perception of ‘the devil’ is in clear terms, the conversation will be unproductive until they do.

Many times, if a practitioner doesn’t work with spirits they’d readily define as ‘devils’, they quickly say ‘I don’t worship the devil.’ And move along…

There’s a strong possibility this is an incorrect answer, here is why. 

Throughout history, tyrannical powers called entire cultures ‘devil worshippers’ and their gods ‘devils’. This was done to erase the culture of those who already inhabited the land so it might be replaced by the one of the invader. This was also a tactic which was meant to dehumanise and demoralise invaded peoples. Break their faith and make them compliant.

If you are a western practitioner, who doesn’t incorporate the Abrahamic paths… and only the Abrahamic paths (and even spirits within those are up for debate), in your craft… your gods were most likely declared ‘devils’ at some point in history. (There will be exceptions… this is one of the reasons I urge everyone to research the history of their personal practice.)

If you do deity work, then yes… you just may work with a ‘devil’.  Learn to realise in owning this, you are letting cultures lost reclaim their power. These cultures consisted of humans who worshipped or collaborated with your deity, just as you do today. 

This is a time to start educating ourselves and others about the terms we use. Let’s ditch this archaic and insidious political tactic and let the gods be gods once more. And dare I say… be proud to worship whomever we chose, free of judgement. 

And yes… that also includes the Devil. 

Remember lovelies, do your research.