to the wiccans?

Question

i am agnostic and know basicly nothing about the wiccan faith could you please tell me about your belief stucture and why you believe in it. i am asking to better understand.

feel free to im me

Answer 1

There's way too much for me to list here, so I'll just give you the basic tenents of what Wiccans believe. They believe in a mother goddess and father god who together created everything in nature. Everything has a male and female energy. The God and Goddess are also present in you because they created you and every living thing, so you are really an extension of them. We believe in reincarnation, meaning we will come back again after we die if we haven't learned the lessons we were supposed to while alive. If we have learned all our lessons, we will go to the Summerlands and our spirits will dwell with the Mother and Father for the rest of eternity.

One thing that we must abide by is harming none. Our Rede says "An harm none, do what thou wilt" which means as long as don't hurt anybody or anything we are free to live our lives as we please. Some Wiccans practice spellcraft, which is perfectly acceptable, but not all. I don't do spellcraft, simply because I haven't found any need for it. But I do rituals to honor my Mother and Father and all they created.

There's more, but this to me is the most important things I could think of. Hope it helps.

Answer 2

Wicca is an earth-based religion. It's extremely difficult to give a short overview because our beliefs tend to vary widely. However, common to most Wiccans is a belief that deity is omnipresent and immnent (i.e., in everything), that there is power to be found in the natural world, and that good/bad/right/wrong are highly subjective concepts. Many Wiccans are polytheistic; others see different deities as "aspects" of one overarching power. Many Wiccans also believe in reincarnation. Common to all Wiccans is the central tenet of sending only positivity out into the universe (as much as is possible, anyway). Some types (traditions) are highly structured; others have no structure at all. Some Wiccans work in groups or covens and others are solitary.

Most Wiccans are quite open-minded and accepting of other religions. We feel strongly about freedoms of equality, religion and speech.

People come to Wicca for many different reasons. Personally, I embarked on a quest to find a religion that matched my personal beliefs. This eliminated almost all mainstream religions. Once I released my need to be part of a widely accepted group, I was free to choose the faith that felt like "home." My wish for all people is that they choose their beliefs the way I did, rather than simply believing what they're told or what they grew up with or what they think is "acceptable."

Answer 3

Wiccan beilefs vary from person to person. In genral we belive in a goddess and a god, both of which have many different faces and aspects. Some do spell craft some dont. some are very ritualized and some simple. Wicca is a religion that is adaptable to each persons needs and desires. There are covens and solitaries. the wiccan rede below is some of the basic principals wiccans belive. The most important being HARM NONE.


The Wiccan Rede:

Bide ye Wiccan laws ye must
In perfect love and perfect trust
Live and let live,
Fairly take and fairly give.
Form the cricle thrice about
To keep all ye sprits out.
Soft of eye, light of touch
Speak ye little, listen must.
Deosil go by the waxing moon,
Singing out the wiches rune.
Widdershins go by the waning moon,
Chanting out the baneful rune.
When the lady's moon is neew,
Kiss your hand to her times two.
When the rippling waters flow,
Cast a stone and truth ye'll know.
When you have and hold a need,
Harken not with other's greed.
With a fool no seasons spend,
Nor be counted as his friend.
Merry ye meet, and merry ye part,
Bright the cheeks, and warm the heart.
Mind the threefold law ye should,
Three times bad, three times good.
When misfortune is anow,
Wear thy star upon thy brow.
True in love ye must ever be,
Least thy love be false to thee.
In these eight words the wiccan reed fullfill:

"AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT YE WILL"

Answer 4

You do have the internet at your fingertips.
Type Wicca and see what its about.
I am all about the earth based aspects. Someones gotta love the planet.

Answer 5

http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/neo_paga.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm
These 3 non-biased links hold a wealth of information.

Blessings )O(

Answer 6

ask wikipedia, it wont deceive you.

Answer 7

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. 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.

Some Wicca are those initiated but who are between covens, or even converted, as once initiated you are always considered Wicca as this is a title earned.

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 ethical philosophies made their way into Wicca at a later date, for the most part these are taught to new initiates and Seekers to help them understand consequences of their actions, later allowing initiates to go without this moral guidance.


WICCA LINKS;

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:

Many people who claim to be Wicca are not, due to Wicca fad there is a lot of misinformation surrounding Wicca, and often people who claim to be Wicca are in fact Neo-wicca unaware of the differences between the two religious groupings.