For many, many years within the occult community there has been a debate surrounding the use of the words "Witch" and "Warlock".
Many in the occult/magickal community - (yes we have spelt this correct with a "K" as to us and many others this differentiates between stage magic and occult Magick) - have debated that anyone, whether they be male or female, who practices Magick should be called a "Witch", regardless of their gender. Many say that the word "Warlock" is a defamatory word which means "oath breaker". The answer to that is yes it has meant this, but we would argue that this is a much newer definition of this word and that originally it was a word that was meant to describe a male practitioner of the occult, and correspondingly the word "Witch" is a word that describes a female practitioner of the occult. If we look at history of words in general there has generally been descriptive words to describe and differentiate between a male and female who do the same occupation. This is not discriminatory in any way, it just obviously makes very practical sense! - Examples being Waiter and Waitress, Actor and Actress etc.
So here at our ministry, we are reclaiming the use of the word "Warlock" for those male members that practice the occult, ie: perform and practice Magick, and yes we are also an advocate of using the word Magick spelt with a "K" to describe the practice of occult Magick!
We have devoted considerable study to the above from a great many different sources. This in turn brings us to what we consider is a point of interest and will in its' own right be a source of great debate for many. As previously mentioned elsewhere on this site we have studied in depth the Christian Bible which brings us to the following verse: In the book of Exodus chapter 22 verse 18 we have the following statement from the King James Bible - "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". Many have interpreted this statement to mean that anyone who practices witchcraft (the occult) should be put to death. This belief was adamantly shared by King James I and was pretty much responsible in many ways for the witch trials and persecutions of Witches and Warlocks that took place across the world!
However if we look at this translation from the Hebrew word for Witch in greater detail we see that the word used is of female origin meaning that if we translate the Hebrew word literally as is done in some other Bible translations, (for instance in the New King James Bible translation), we end up with the following translation: "You shall not permit a sorceress to live". As you can see when translated literally you can see that this statement makes it clear that it relates specifically to a female practitioner of Witchcraft. This opinion is also born out in many other Bible translations.
Having studied this point extensively this is mirrored throughout the Bible in many areas in the sense that it proves that the god of the Bible did not agree with female sorcerers but didn't mind male sorcerers. The proof of this is found in the Bible in the book of Exodus chapter 7 verses 8 to 13. The god of the Bible actually commanded a Magick contest! - The difference being is that the contest was carried out by men!
We point out all the above from a scholarly perspective and from a historical context, not from the point of view of wanting to sound sexist in any way!
Read for yourselves and see what you think. As Bible and Occult scholars we find all things like this truly interesting.
Happy studying!