Jesus Through the
Eyes of a Witch
It’s funny that I have a better relationship and understanding of Jesus now that I’m a High Priest in the tradition of Witchcraft than I ever did as a Catholic. I really didn’t have any particular love or understanding of Jesus back at the Central Catholic High School for Boys. I didn’t really understand him. The voluntary sacrifice made no sense to me. I didn’t understand the point of it all.
What I did like was some aspects of the rituals. I liked the candles, and on the special occasions when it was lit, the incense. I liked some of the singing, but as I grew to have a more critical ear, I found that the Catholic Church was probably not the best place for good religious music. I like the vestments of the priests and deacon, though I never desired to be an altar boy because I didn’t like the idea of taking orders. I like the altar and the statues, and all the things to look at and be absorbed into the details of their craftsmanship. At heart I was really a Pagan waiting to happen, but I think a lot of Catholics are.
The theology of original sin and the need to be saved and redeemed didn’t sit too well with me. I didn’t understand why Jesus needed to sacrifice himself to save us. I thought if I understood this was all rather silly, and probably made up by religion, not God, then why didn’t he? It never occurred to me that perhaps there was a difference between the historical Jesus and the one painted in the scriptures, assuming such a person existed as flesh and blood in the first place. I assumed if there was another view of Jesus, then of course, to be fair, the Church would present that. Looking back, I thought myself so jaded and worldly, but I was really still innocent and naïve.
It was only through the study of witchcraft that I got a new view on Jesus, quite unexpectedly. When the topic first came up in conversation with a teacher, she said, “Well, we think he’s one of us, not one of them.” I was perplexed. What did she mean? “Well, he’s a witch, a magician, an initiate of the old ways. Think about it: a man who went around with twelve other men like a coven, wandering place to place in nature, performing magic. He respected and honored women. He spoke with prostitutes. He gave wisdom and advice. He’s a lot closer to us than to Christians today.” I didn’t quite believe it until I started to think about it, and I had to agree. Perhaps Jesus was some kind of witch or magician of the old ways.
Through the mysteries of initiation, I saw the parallels of Jesus’s ordeal in my own training, the descent to the underworld and the resurrection to the stellar (or heavenly) consciousness. I saw that it was not just Jesus’s story, but the story of many initiates on the path. Through historical research, I saw the influence of the ancient mystery schools upon the early Gnostic Christians. The Egyptian iconography of Isis, Osiris, and Horus influenced Catholic artwork in depictions of Madonna and Child, and there was some influence upon the story. The Mystery Schools of the Greeks, looking to Dionysus and Orpheus as models of descent, also influenced the Christian vision. Jesus and Dionysus were both associated with wine and miracles. And of course one cannot discount the Sun god Mithras in the evolution of Christianity. All of those traditions, images, and icons have also influenced modern witchcraft traditions. I saw the mystery of Jesus in terms of the agricultural and solar cycle, the returning and triumphant Sun of God if not the Son of God. He is the Child of Light, Hope, and Promise.
As I learned more about magick, particularly studying the influence of Hermetic and Qabalistic influences upon modern witchcraft, I got to understand more about the principle of Christ beyond the personality of Jesus. For the Christian alchemist, Jesus can be seen as the philosophical gold, the perfected man who has found the secret of the Philosopher’s Stone. He has been elevated from the lead of the world into the gold of heaven. To the Qabalist, he is the heart of the Tree of Life. He is Tiphereth, solar harmony who grants the Vision of Sacrifice and the Vision of Harmony. He is an expression of all the sacrificed gods, not just sacrificed for religion, or agriculture, but of the selflessness of doing for others without thought or return for the self. It is the vision to be willing to give up everything to be the solar light for others. And in that realization, one truly gives up nothing, for all is gained. You pass through the veil of illusion and enter a new level of spiritual initiation, a new path with other challenges and blessings.
Rather than blind belief, in these ceremonial traditions one must be Christ-like in action, and through the arts of alchemy and magick, attain this perfected state. The body and consciousness is the laboratory as well as the more traditional workspace of tools, herbs, and metals. Ideally, through this path of magick, one reaches enlightenment. There it was again, Jesus as magician. In this sense, he didn’t seem so bad. I could almost like the guy if not for those who supposedly followed his teaching and named themselves after him.
But not until I met and studied with those who inherited the Theosophical traditions, today known as light workers and ascension practitioners, did I experience Jesus in a new light. To divorce him from the teachings of the Christian church, some practitioners believe that Master Jesus is an ascended being, one of many who attain this level of “Christ Consciousness.” These ascended masters come from all religions, races, traditions, and time periods. They believe his name on the “inner planes” is Sananda, and I was okay calling upon Master Sananda rather than Jesus Christ. He is the Cohen, or master, of the sixth ray, the ray of devotion, religion, and philosophy, which is giving way to the seven ray in the new age, the violet ray of magick and ceremonial order. One of the assignments in a particular ascension course was to make peace with your birth religion. Done! I had no problem with Catholicism. It wasn’t for me, but I wasn’t at war with it. Or was I? I had to admit upon meditation that I had a lot more resentment than I realized, but I also had a lot of resistance to this particular task, as I had no idea how to go forward with it.
Then something happened in meditation that was like a dream, surreal in the way that dreams can be. I had a vision of Jesus making his way through a crowd of other deities, spirits, and allies with whom I had more familiar relationships. He came in to my meditation rather politely and though much of the salient details were lost in the dream-like state, he basically wanted to make peace with me. He was not my guide. He was not meant to be my guide, but he was not my enemy and he didn’t endorse all the actions done in his name. But he gave the world a view on the mysteries, a new particular slant that will be the Christian mysteries. They had a purpose. They are part of the greater whole and can be valued without getting into politics. Then he disappeared back into the crowd.
After that vision, I was much more at peace with the figure of Jesus Christ and those who profess to be Christians. I stopped looking at myself as a persecuted person, as a modern Pagan, a witch, a gay man, a non-Christian in a Christian-dominated world. I realize now that if I truly believe everything happens for a reason, that everything and everyone serves the Goddess, whether consciously realized or not, then so does Christianity serve the Goddess. I’m not sure how, but it has had a purpose in the evolution of our society. Like the Theosophists, I also believe its time of dominance is over. A plurality of voices in the age of magick, of the violet ray, will rise. It has set the stage for what comes next, to transition from the Age of Pisces to the Age of Aquarius, and must now be one of many voices, one of many viewpoints on the mysteries, along with witchcraft and all the Pagan traditions, along with all the world religions, East and West.
About the Author
Christopher Penczak is a modern Witch, teacher, and award-winning author. His books include the Temple of Witchcraft series, as well as Magick of Reiki and The Three Rays of Witchcraft. His aim is the synthesis of magickal, philosophical, and healing traditions through the lens of Witchcraft and magickal spirituality. He is co-founder of The Temple of Witchcraft, a nonprofit religious organization devoted to education and service, and co-owner of Copper Cauldron Publishing, a company devoted to the creation of books and tools for spiritual development.