“Ask a Priest: Could I Practice Witchcraft and Still Get to Heaven?”

Q: I want to start practicing a form of witchcraft for self-healing but am scared that this would be considered paganism. Can I practice witchcraft and still believe in God and go to heaven? – B.A.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: To practice witchcraft is, by definition, a repudiation of God and his providence, even if you still believe in the Almighty.

You would certainly put your soul at risk of eternal loss by getting involved in witchcraft.

You would deliberately be inviting satanic powers into your life.

The devil would love that, since he is out to destroy you.

A few numbers from the Catechism are worth quoting:

Divination and magic

2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to “unveil” the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have a supernatural power over others — even if this were for the sake of restoring their health — are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another’s credulity. [end quoted material]

If you need healing, it is better to turn to Our Lord. You might need medical help, too; that is OK.

In any case, you don’t want to turn to the evil one. The price for his help can be eternal agony.

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