The wiccan culture? I'm just asking out of curiosity, not to bash or prove anyone right or wrong. I seriously want to know what all it entails just so that I can bring some educated answer to the table when different religions come up in conversation. How did it start, is it true that spells are like prayers? Is it really based on nature? The most informative answer would be best.
2006-09-07 16:54:26 · 5 answers · asked by Elora 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
To address some of your specific questions first…
How it started, I'm not touching with a barge pole that is a hell of a lot of history; generally speaking it was founded by Gerald Gardner early on in the 1900's, but there is a lot of history behind it all. Ronald Huttons Triumph of the Moon is a great book for explaining where modern Paganism comes from within a social context, that I think does give a lot of insight as to where Wicca came from, although a lot of people would say his book is badly researched.
Spells like prayers is not really accurate, people generally tend to use this comparison to explain to others and defend their beliefs in spell work, and religious forms of witchcraft do have aspects similar to prayer – i.e. they will ask their gods for help in their working.
[Lower] Magic however is not just asking the divine for help, generally deities are invited more to look over them as they work, I like to compare a lot of what witches do to Darren Brown – he is a magician (like stage magicians, not the sort of magic Wicca use) who relies heavily on psychological knowledge to effect how people act, spell work can be very similar. Darren Brown - http://www.derrenbrown.co.uk
Witches don't live in a dream world, they rely on their knowledge of themselves and the world around them, this spans from smaller talents such as the use of herb lore (using herbs for healing or magical properties) through to using their knowledge to effect the world around them and use power/energy as they will, the latter being a far more tricky ability to pick up, generally working with meditation and other techniques to strengthen and clarify the mind.
Most people will say it is a 'Nature-Based' religion, but it is a little complicated, normally when people talk about a religion being 'Nature Based' they mean pantheistic religions – i.e. a religion that believes the divine is present in all/present in all of nature, such as Gaia worship. Wicca gods are based in nature, practitioners follow the seasonal holidays that reflect the life cycle of their god and goddess, however Wicca are not strictly classed as pantheist, more polytheistic meaning that they believe in many gods.
The below is a description of Wicca that comes from a group I run for Wicca and Neo-wicca, as well as people interested in Wicca, it has over 2000 members now and they contributed to this description so it is a good representation of how Wicca, as well as Neo-wicca, describe their own religion. I've also included some reliable links on Wicca.
WICCA IS....
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 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.
Often Wicca is described as 'Traditional Wicca' or 'BTW:British Traditional 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'.
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
2006-09-08 07:20:34 · answer #1 · answered by Kasha 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It really depends on the Tradition you choose..they're all pretty similar, but there are some strategic differences. Some basic info: Wicca was founded by a man named Gerald Gardner, back in the 50's. It is an intiatory religion - you have to be initiated into the faith by someone, similar to baptism in the christian faiths, though there are many solitaries out there who have done dedicated rituals to self-initiation. Yes, it is very nature-based. It is also polytheistic - Wiccans pay respect and worship to both a god and goddess (which god/dess varies. depending on the Tradition and/or Coven you're dealing with.). Not all Wiccans are witches, contrary to popular belief. So, yes, spells are vaguely like prayers, for some witches, those who choose to call upon a particular deity for help with their workings.
Many Wiccans will tell you the number one Rule is " An it harm none, do as ye will"... this is a rather abbreviated line from a poem known as the Wiccan Rede, which really lays out all the basic principles of Wicca, including another biggie, the threefold law, which states that any energy you send out in to the world (positive or negative) returns to you threefold. I suggest you google Wiccan Rede, that would give you the most complete rundown.
Wiccans are not necessarily Goth, just happens to be a lot of fluffy bunny kids out there who like to play Goth and claim to be Wiccan. Yes there are plenty of self-respecting Wiccans out there who also happen to enjoy the Goth culture, but they are by no means interrelated.
Also, bear in mind that many pagans out there (myself for one) are NOT Wiccan. Wicca is just one small cross-section of the Pagan community. And we're all generally pretty open-minded, and welcoming of questions, as long as they are respectful. There are some fundies among us, but you can find those in any religion. Just ignore them, the rest of us don't bite....
2006-09-08 00:10:21 · answer #2 · answered by Randi L 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
the occult is dangerous dear. Seek the true Lord Jesus instead
Romans 8:1
2006-09-07 23:59:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
The occult is safer fireball226 because there is no "all powerful, all seeing" god to smite you if you wander from "his path".
2006-09-08 02:08:21 · answer #4 · answered by Phoenix 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I asked this question also and i got some wonderful answers., Please check my Q&A.
2006-09-07 23:58:30 · answer #5 · answered by Gorgeoustxwoman2013 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋