Wicca?????

Question

I know very little about Wicca and I want to know more, can someone explain me, please?

Answer 1

Wicca is a henotheistic religion, which recognises its own specific gods, while not denying the existence of gods and goddesses from other pantheons. Wicca itself is a 'hard polytheistic' religion, meaning that Wicca see their deities as specific individual beings. The gods of Wicca are known as the Horned God and Great Mother, these are outer court references meant to be used as place holders for the real names of their gods until the Seeker is initiated and taught those names.

Wicca was founded by Gerald Gardner in around the 1930's, although the exact date is open for discussion, also open for discussion is whether Gardner founded Wicca entirely or whether it was an already existing spirituality which he merely re-introduced and re-invented, either way he is considered the founding father of Wicca. Gardner brought together Paganism with influences from many sources including the rituals and teachings of Freemasonry and Golden dawn resulting in a unique orthopraxic religion. Wicca embraces it's early Pagan roots in history, the history of Pagan faiths and the gods whom they followed and worshipped, Wicca also introduces eastern philosophy into it's primarily western path, along with this possibly one of Wicca's best known features, that of religious witchcraft.

Wicca is gaining much attention due to a change in peoples approach to religion and the increase in public awareness of the religion through media attention and with this attention there has come much change to the face of Wicca with many forms:

WICCA:

Wicca is an initiate only mystery tradition, or more precisely a priesthood, where one can trace their lineage back to Gardner or the New Forest Coven. Initiation is the only way into Wicca, and is carried out by a Wicca coven, initiation into a coven requires formal training after which initiation and a system of degrees is followed.

Wicca follows a strong set of doctrines, one who takes on the name 'Wicca' is also taking on these doctrines as well as practices and beliefs of Wicca, the title of 'Wicca' implies more than that you are a member of Wicca, but also that you have worked long and hard to earn that title.
Seekers are those who wish to become Wicca however have yet to find a Wicca coven. Wicca covens can be hard to find let alone become a member of, often those whom are without a coven continue to study Wicca and surrounding subjects while seeking a Wicca coven to join.

Often Wicca is described as 'Traditional Wicca' or 'BTW:British Traditional Wicca'.

NEO-WICCA:

Neo-wicca is a new phenomenon, which is usually wholly eclectic, however like Wicca there are various different traditions. Neo-wicca often learn on their own terms, from books and other sources, but have little or no formal training and no initiation into Wicca. The beliefs of Neo-wicca are generally similar to that of Wicca however the details can often vary greatly as it follows the new age idea of personal belief/spirituality over formal religious doctrine. Neo-Wicca have varied views of the divine, either following soft-polytheism seeing all gods and goddesses as one god/goddess, polytheism working with gods and goddesses from various pantheons or pantheism working with a single divine present in all.

The 'Neo' in Neo-wicca refers to the New Age approach taken by Neo-wicca that puts emphasis on personal spirituality or belief over the organized religion of Wicca. It also refers to a new take on Wicca, this has less to do with the age of the religion but the idea that this is a belief system which may have come naturally from Wicca if it was allowed to evolve in it’s own time, media influences have brought about Neo-wicca, it develops paralleled to Wicca, but is not part of Wicca.

Often Neo-wicca describe themselves as 'Eclectic Wicca' or 'Solitary Wicca', although not actually Wicca.

Although Wicca is heavily influenced or based upon witchcraft it is not the main belief behind Wicca, the terms 'Wicca' and 'witch' are not interchangeable. The practice of witchcraft fits well with the Wicca way of prayer and ritual, which often involves a highly personal relationship with the divine, the witchcraft of Wicca also works well with how Wicca views the universe as working, however it should be noted that witchcraft can be practiced by many religions as well as by Atheists and Agnostics.

Wicca is not dogmatic, much of the morality and ethics of Wicca are in fact determined by the individuals take on a given situation. Often followers of Wicca will incorporate utilitarianism, which means that an act is carried out for the greater good or elements of their own morality rather then seek to find suitable behavior based on Wicca doctrine.

The rede plays a large part in the morality and ethics of Wicca, there are many takes and much documentation on the rede that can be found in many places, the rede however in itself can be clearly understood by the quote below given by Gardner himself.

"[Witches] are inclined to the morality of the legendary Good King Pausol, "Do what you like so long as you harm no one". But they believe a certain law to be important, "You must not use magic for anything which will cause harm to anyone, and if, to prevent a greater wrong being done, you must discommode someone, you must do it only in a way which will abate the harm." Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft, p 127 in the 1982 and 1999 printings

Another aspect of the Wiccan ethical philosophy is that of the 'law of return' often known as the 'three fold law' which is similar to that of western karmic philosophy, that anything you do either good or bad will come back to you. Law of return is often more closely associated with magic ethics rather than the everyday ethics covered by the rede or other Wiccan ethical beliefs, however is often thought of as cause and effect. This is also often referred to as the 'rule of three' or 'law of three'.

Both the rede and the law of return are often taught only to Seekers and new initiates to make them aware of their actions, these are not laws but ideas added to Wicca formally later on in it's development - largely Wicca rely on their own morals and ethics. Neo-wicca however seems largely to follow the rede and law of return as guidelines on moral and ethical actions and choices.


SITES ABOUT WICCA:

http://amberandjet.spiralpaths.org - Amber & Jet
http://www.cyprian.org/Articles/gardchron.htm - Gardnerian Chronology and Bibliography
http://www.wargoddess.net/index.php - Enyo`s Workshop
http://wicca.timerift.net/ - Wicca: For the Rest of Us
http://www.starkindler.org/ - StarFire Rising
http://www.asiya.org/ - Asiya`s Shadows
http://www.whywiccanssuck.com - Why Wiccans Suck
http://www.newwiccanchurch.net - New Wiccan Church International
http://members.tripod.com/~Moonpfyr/gardnerian.html - Gardnerian Tradition
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/2416/wildrose.html - Wild Rose Outer Grove
http://members.shaw.ca/stoneandcauldron/ - Coven Of The Stone And Cauldron
http://www.oldeenchantments.com/coven/ - The Hollywood Coven
http://www.geocities.com/DesertHenge - Desert Henge
http://www.geocities.com/firestonecoven/ - Firestone Coven
http://draknet.com/proteus/proteus.html - Proteus Coven’s Webspace
http://belladonna.hypermart.net/Sage-and-Sickle/index.html - Sage & Sickle Coven
http://paganwiccan.about.com/ - PaganWiccan
http://www.cogcoa.ab.ca/ - Covenant of Gaia
http://www.chasclifton.com/ - Chas Clifton
http://www.ravenwood.com/coven.htm - Ravenwood
http://www.avalonia.co.uk – Avalonia
http://www.rosemoon.com/ - Rosemoon
http://www.geocities.com/k_garber/wicway.html - The Wiccan Way
http://www.wildideas.net/temple/ - The Temple
http://www.candledark.net/silver/ - Pour Down Like Silver
http://www.thewellhead.org.uk/ - The Wellhead
http://dasa.on.ca/qs/ - Quicksilver Site
http://www.gis.net/~nagel/grovepage/ - Page of the Mists
http://www.geocities.com/gwydionfl/ - Pagan Place
http://www.geocities.com/reikihealer2001/ - NFTD
http://www.nectw.org/ - N.E.C.T.W.
http://www.doreenvaliente.com - Doreen Valiente 1922-1999
http://www.boniface.us/CTW/index.html - Compact of Traditional Wicca
http://www.pagansunite.com/ - Witch/Pagan Resources
http://www.geocities.com/thespiraloak/ - The Spiral Oak
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/4177/ - Manor-House For Wiccan Studies
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~sjgavula/wiccahist.html - History of Wicca in England
http://geocities.com/sphinxmuse/wicca/index.html - Wiccan Religion
http://davensjournal.com/index.htm?Header.xhtml&0 - Daven`s Journal
http://www.pangaeasanctuary.org/darkwood/ - Darkwood of PanGaea
http://www.wicca.utvinternet.com/ - Wicca na hErin
http://www.tryskelion.com/ - Tryskelion
http://www.mothersmagic.net/ - Breathless Noon
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm - Wicca, the religion
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/religions/wicca/faq/ - Wicca FAQ
http://www.allonewicca.com/ - All one Wicca
http://www.cuew.org/cffn/index.html - Coven of the Far Flung Net
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/gbos/index.htm - Gardnerian Book of Shadows
http://www.paganspath.com/ - The Pagan`s Path
http://www.rantingwitches.com/ - The Ranting Witches
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca - Wicca
http://janus.spawnfar.net/ - The Janus Gate
http://www.hiddenmuse.com/ - Hidden Muse
http://www.geraldgardner.com/ - Gerald Gardner
http://beaufort.bravepages.com/index.html - Beaufort House`s TradList
http://www.tradwicca.org/beginnings.html - A Traditional Alexandrian Coven
http://www.waningmoon.com/ethics/rede.shtml - The Wiccan Rede
http://www.glasstemple.com/home/ - Glass Temple
http://www.witchipedia.org - Witchipedia



[Edit - Silver Ravenwolf and Scott Cunningham do not write about Wicca, they write about Neo-wicca, Ravenwolf is a terrible source for information about Wicca specifically. Wicca is not evil or similar ideas posted in reply here. The majority of people who claim to be Wicca are not Wicca rather Neo-wicca or Pagan.]

Answer 2

I am also new to Wicca and I have been told by many people that the best thing is to read books and come up with your own ideas about Wicca. I am reading "Wicca, A Guide For The Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunnungham, and I have found it to be full of information about Wicca. But he also lets you come up with your own ideas about Wicca.

Answer 3

I will give you some links to things such as the Principles of Wiccan belief and a few videos you should watch. Here are some guidelines.

1. Wicca is a polytheistic religion that believes in many Gods and Goddesses on many levels.

2. .Our dieties are not like the Christian God. They are beings with power, but we do not claim that they are perfect or infallible. There is a natural balance to Nature. Male/Female, dark/light, etc. That balance is reflected in the Mother Goddess and Father God. Their names vary by tradition.

3. We believe the Universe is infused with Energy, That energy flows within all of us and all things in Nature. We can categorize this energy to be broken down into five categories.
Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Spirit. I encourage you to learn more about these.

I will leave you as many links as I know are good resources for learning without beling too redundant. If you have any further questions feel free to contact me thourgh Yahoo Answers.

Answer 4

Wicca is a peaceful, beautiful, earth based religion. It is centred around the worship of both a Goddess and a God, and places neither above the other, making female and male equal. It does not acknowledge the existance of the Christian Devil, nor any other entity which in inherently evil.

Wiccans believe in the freedom to do as we please, as long as it doesn't hurt anyone, including ourselves. There is nothing evil or wrong with this religion, any more than there is anything wrong with any other religion.

If you truly want to learn about Wicca, I would suggest reading books written by Scott Cunningham, Starhawk, Raymond Buckland, and at the insistance of a friend of mine, I must also include Silver RavenWolf in this list.

If you want to know more about Wicca, start by readying the following:
http://origin.org/ucs/sbcr/wicca.cfm

Answer 5

This is an excellent question with some already great answers by people who ACTUALLY know what they are talking about, as opposed to the christians who want to suggest that we are eeeeeeevvviiilll demonic people who want to lure you in with promises of magical superpowers.

Hilarious! Oh... Don't forget that we also lure people to satanism (even though we don't have satan or any equivalent) with free Tarot card decks and Hot Topic coupons, too!

I particularly like the one retarded response about how you shouldn't even ask, because you'll be "opening a door... you can't close". LOL Thank you for proving how close-minded your faith can be for the intolerant.

As to the others who offered helpful, insightful information, alot of that information is valid. Be sure to check out the works of Gardner, definitely buy "Drawing Down the Moon" and look to other general texts (such as Coven Craft, a History of Druidism, etc.)

I also highly recommend:

"Wicca for Life: The Way of The Craft - from Birth to Summerland"
by Raymond Buckland. It is my personal favorite and very special to me.

I also have a link to contribute to a great INDEX with some very concise explanations and an essay about the major differences between our Faith and that of the Judeo/Christian traditions.

Answer 6

Well, it depends on who you ask. Unlike christianity, catholicism, etc., there is no specific answer that everyone holds. To me, it is, as most places say, an earth based religion, honoring and respecting the earth, holding the 4 elements, earth, wind, fire and air as being most powerful. I believe that there are a Goddess and a God and all different gods and goddesses of all religion are each a different side of the Goddess and God.Wicca is a very personal thing, and I think most people call themselves eclectics, who take bits and pieces from different forms of paganism, such as Druids, Gardinians, Alexandrians, Draconeon, etc. into their own little religion.
Here are some of the books that I have:
Wicca For Beginners- Thea Sabin
Solitary Witch- Silver RavenWolf
Wicca For Life- Raymond Buckland
The Wicca Handbook- Eileen Holland
Gypsy Magic- Patrinella Cooper

And heres an online pagan group that I beong to, it's a pretty cool site too. It's on MSN though, so it might not work for some people

http://groups.msn.com/MysticForestofProtection

And, to people who think we are evil, worship satan, sacrifice animals, and all that, heres something for you to think about: WICCANS DON'T WORSHIP SATAN!!! We don't even believe in Satan or a hell, so how can we worship something we don't believe exists? Also, wiccans revere nature, we believe it to be holier than any church, synagogue, mosque, etc. Animals are part of nature. So to us, killing an animal or human, would be like a christian killing another christian person from their church. AND we have this law call the Wiccan Rede. Christians have the ten commandments, we have a rede. The shortened version, is "AND HARM NONE, do what thou wilt" Meaning, so long as you don't hurt anyone,including yourself, do what you please.

Hope this helps.
Lady Tiger PhoenixStorm

Answer 7

Wicca is an Earth-based religion that worships the forgotten Gods and Goddesses and the Elements Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. Wicca is not evil in any way! We believe in the three-fold law which is to harm none and what you give comes back on you three times good or bad. Our spells are like Christian prayers only using nature as our guide.

I will give you some sites for more info on Wicca and religioustolerance.org for all religions, or at least most other religions.

Answer 8

Here are some good resources for you. To try to explain the whole belief system here would be like trying to summarize any religion.

Happy reading, and Blessed Be

P.S. Ex Witch.org is a Fundementalist Christian website aimed at debunking Wicca and Paganism because, well... it's not Christian and there are those Fundies out there that really think everyone should be just like them and everyone would be happy. Well, they'd be happy if everyone was like them.

Follow your own path.

Answer 9

Some good books to read are The Good Witch's Bible by Gavin and Yvone Frost, Mastering Witchcraft by Paul Huson and What Witches Do by Janet & Stewart Farrar. Don't waste your money on anything published by Llellyn, including Scott Cunningham, or Sliver Ravenfool. Starhawk says she isn't even a Wiccan. In fact, any book published after 1980 on Wicca you can pretty much dismiss.

Try to find a REAL coven in your area (not one that has a bunch of self loathing blimps) that isn't scared to work "skyclad" (i,.e., nude) or afraid of The Great Rite (ritual sex). Alexandrian, Frostie, Gardnerian, and Algard (some) are good choices.

Most Wiccans nowadays aren't "real" Wiccans but "solitary Wiccans", i.e., people who masturbate to internet porn while they read Silver Ravenwolf outloud. These people are really just closet xtians.

Blessed Be!

Answer 10

To allu ppl. Wicca is not an evil religon. All religipns have the tendency to negate themselves look at the catholic church or to cause havoc look at the nation of islam. Wicca is a religion that is grounded on the principles of nature and the essence of good. Its not a form of devil worship we are not satanists. We believe that we and mother earth are interconnected lifeforms. God and the Goddess are essentially one true sentient being just as many religions give their gods different names...its the same thing at the end of the day...GOd Is GOd! I worshiop the female aspect of God because im a woman and i can associate with her...its like speaking to a compassionate all loving mother that doesnt judge or criticize. I can do the exact thing with saying God is the same way and he is. I just see God as a woman thats all. Blessings from the Goddess above...all of her love

Answer 11

Check out Covenant of the Goddess website which is an international organization listing groups and individuals and attempts to create some sort of cohesive and factual representation.