In this Hub I will answer some questions I received concerning my Heb titled: Pantheism And Traditional Witchcraft located at: http://hubpages.com/hub/Pantheism-And-Traditional-Witchcraft You may wish to read that Hub before reading this one.

How do people "decide what is evil and what is not?" By "evil" I imagine you mean "wrong." In answer to your question, this is a matter of their own personal value system, whatever that may be, and perhaps of their sanity. The term "common sense" also comes to mind.

The writer of the question used the word "evil." That is an unfortunate word choice because this term is commonly misunderstood. This word presupposes a force of evil in this world, probably because the writer believes in the concept of the biblical Satan, or the nasty devil. We reject this as nonsense. There is no pervasive power of evil, anywhere.

As pointed out in the Hub, "Pantheism And Traditional Witchcraft," we consider "the Universe, Nature and divinity to be synonymous," or the same thing. Later I explained in a Comment, that "Nature is innately and absolutely neutral." This means that Nature (or the Universe or "God") is neither good nor bad." This implies that all good in the world and all that is bad in the world are created by men and women. We create our own trouble, or lack of it.

There is no devil and there is no innate evil. There are only men and women that do evil things.

The next question, "...concerning the spirits that never lived a lifetime on earth - what are they in your view?"

In short, it is our belief that on the Other Side (in "heaven") there are several forms of spirits that have never lived on Earth. For example, one form of spirit is angels. There are also the Elementals, which we often call the Directionals. But, there are others.

His next question, "Do these spirits communicate...?"

Usually, they do not.

The spirits we can communicate with are spirits that have lived on Earth, usually friends and family and other interested spirits, including perhaps some Land Spirits.

First of all, whether we realize it or not, spirits are usually around us. We can communicate to them by simply speaking. It really is that simple. They always hear what we have to say. You may be interested to know that when someone prays, it is the spirits that do the listening.

Spirits do communicate with us, if we are prepared to hear them. For most people, dreams are the most common form of communication. But most people ignore their dreams. We can begin to realize ideas and concepts in our dreams by writing our dreams down in a journal immediately upon wakening.

Another common way is through meditative techniques. Meditation is called by many names in old English witchcraft; the term we use is "Going Within." Going Within is a basic discipline in Traditional Witchcraft. Anyone can learn to meditate. The technique used is not important. However, after a basic technique is learned, new worlds can be opened.

Of course, there are also shamanic techniques. Such techniques are usually the domain of Hedge Witchery. But shamanic techniques are practiced to some degree by other Traditional Witches as well. Shamanism is a profound tradition found in almost all ancient cultures. Its principles remain very much the same worldwide, although ritual details may be different. Shamanism is difficult to learn as it requires intensive one-on-one training.

The one point I would like to leave with you is that aside from private moments, the spirits are always around us. We are truly never alone. Those spirits who like us and want to help us are readily at hand and always listen to what we have to say. We can always speak to them.