Could you tell me about Wicca?

Question

What can you tell me about the religion Wicca? I need to know. Thank you!

Answer 1

HI, Wicca has a lot of aspects, the most well known is magick, but little is known to the general public to describe how magick is performed. I will try to explain the best I can and you can watch the videos to help.

These help you understand where we draw our power from and how magick is performed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF4DsggUcPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P3utVi8GsQ

This will help explain our holidays.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1590377409630299605&q=wheel+of+the+year

You still haven't seen how magick is performed, so here ya go.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQRyIYr3DZM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLn_Q73uPDI&mode=related&search=

Answer 2

Adian Kelly wrote a book on the history of Wicca called "Crafting The Art of Magic" in the 1980's. Wiccans had a fit when it was published, and pressured Llewyllyn to take it out of print. It was supposed to be the first in a series of books. I think Adian Kelly probably summed it up best when he said this about the Gardnerian "Book of Shadows", the closest thing Wicca has to a sacred book:

" [M]any of the Book of Shadows rituals did not exist in 1954 (when Witchcraft Today was published) but instead were still being written. [T]he major sources from which the rituals had been constructed included: (a) Mather's edition of the Greater Key of Solomon; (b) Aleister Crowley's Magic in Theory and Practice; (c) Leland's Aradia (d) some Masonic rituals akin to those described by Duncan and those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (aside from those transmitted by Crowley; and (e) Margaret Murray's The Witch Cult in Western Europe. There were also bits and pieces from other works by Leland, Jane E. Harrison, Gilbert Murray, James Frazier, and other great classicists from the 19th century. That accounted for EVERYTHING in the rituals! There was nothing left that differed in any important way from what you can find in those sources- - but that is NOT at all what Gardner had claimed!"

It's a religion where anything can be added in, where the followers mistakenly think they have magic powers, and it's not older than rock and roll, even though it's called the "Old Religion". Authors like Gavin and Yvonne Frost, Silver Raven Wolf, Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham crank out books about how to get love, money, and above all else "protection". The Frost's Magic Power of White Witchcraft says "Witchcraft Can Make You Rich in a Ghetto" according to the title of chapter 11. However, the Frosts themselves aren't rich. Coincidentally, they claim to have taken a "vow of poverty" according to one of their webpages, to explain why they apparently can't make their spells work either.

When I visited England (the birthplace of Wicca) in May, I found it was practiced mostly by juvenile deliquents, much the same way Satanism is here in the U.S. No one seems to take it seriously over there. An very knowldgeable historian I talked to in Kent, when asked about Wicca, told me I should try a pub!

Eventually Ronald Huitton wrote his own history of Wicca, called "Triumph of the Moon". Hutton is a history professor at Oxford, so he is not easliy dismissed. Even though some Wiccans have realized their history is a sham, they still want to cling to the "witch" fantasy by calling it a "reconstructionist movement". But you can't reconstruct something which never existed in the first place. Even so, these types still seem to allude to their religion being thousands of years old.

Answer 3

Princess of Egypt? Sounds like you're into it already.

I can tell you the REAL way to learn Wicca.

1. Forget all those stupid websites listed. You can only be initiated in person by another witchj That's the ONLY way to become a witch!

2.There is no such thing as a "solitary Wiccan". Chances are none of these people have been initiated.

2. FIND A COVEN. Find a real coven where they celebrate skyclad and have the Great Rite (i.e. sex and nudity). Don't find a coven with a bunch of self loathing blimps who won't take their clothes off and wear ridiculous robes. Robes interfere with the aura, don't let them tell you it doesn't. The great rite is s-e-x, not just putting an athame blade in a chalice. If you're afraid of sex and nudity, you're not ready for Wicca.(sorry!)

3. There is no such thing as "Christian Wicca" (ugh!). This was created by closet xtians who were afraid they would wind up in the xtian Hell. If you're afraid if you practice witchcraft that you'll wind up in Hell, you're not ready for Wicca.

Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Algard,and Frostie are your best bets.

Answer 4

Wicca is an initiatory mystery tradition. Its origins are in the New Forest area of Britain. It is not Celtic. Here are some excellent sites to get you started.

http://www.newwiccanchurch.net/
http://www.wargoddess.net/essay/btw.php
http://www.tradwicca.org
http://bruncreate.www8.50megs.com/wicca/wiwicca.html
http://www.geocities.com/wyrmweb/main.htm

I wish you the best.

Matt

*Edit: In response to Jenny M below...um...you are wrong. Wild speculation about a dead man's sexual preferences is a pretty ludicrous way to support your claims. Gardner was a nudist. He was pretty open about that. That's as far as it goes. There are no accounts anywhere that substantiate any of the "facts" you give about his sexual proclivities. And they have nothing to do with the subject at hand. As far as binding, etc. again...that has more applications than those of a sexual nature. Are the Freemasons and any number of Hermetic Lodges also practicing BDSM? Of course not. I think my favorite is your statement that Gardner was Crowley's "disciple". That's rich. First hand accounts from people who were there have clearly illustrated that Gardner met Crowley twice...and that was toward the end of the latters life. Not much of a disciple. And..you show one piece of a rite that was written by Crowley as proof? And you are making an assumption. You are assuming this is a Wicca rite. Unless you are an initiate you have no way of knowing what our rites are. Oh, I know, I know...sacred-texts blah, blah, blah. You don't know. You won't know. Wow. You are some kinda' detective! If only someone would have told us Gardner used material from outside sources earlier. Oh wait...they did...it was Gardner himself who first said this! As to your sources: Hutton is an educated man and a pretty good researcher. But he shapes his data to support his pre-conceived notions and insists he is using the standard scientific approach. Three classifications of people put any merit in what Aidan K says....Wicca detractors such as yourself....People who like the fact that he says You're a Gardnerian if you say you are....and Aidan himself.

If you hold Wicca in such contempt, I have some suggestions for you. 1. Stay away from it. Yep. Just stay clear and let us deluded folks have our fun. 2. Don't use out-dated, regurgitated "factoids" in feeble attempts to answer questions about it on message boards.

Answer 5

My husband and I are learning about it. Here are some books I have that are very interesting and informative. Exploring Wicca by Lady Sabrina, The Wiccaning by Sister Moon and The Wicca Handbook by Eileen Holland.

Answer 6

www.witchvox.com

It was started in the 1950's by Gerald Gardner. Tends to bring in a lot of hippie influence, nature-worship. Margaret Murray's now discredited theory of the European Witch Cults that stayed alive in England even through modern times. Generally very Celtic oriented with 8 main Sabbats equally spaced through the year and esbats on the 13 full moons in the year. Cakes and Ale after the ceremonies. Good stuff.

Answer 7

Please visit these non-biased links.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/neo_paga.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm

Blessings )O(

Dana S. Just to let you know, I was initiated into Traditional Wicca in in 1981.

Answer 8

It was mostly a sex cult started around 1950 by Gerald Gardner. He was a disciple of Aleister Crowley, a man who called himself "The Great Beast 666". Gardner plagarized many things from Crowley's writings for his book of shadows. Later Doreen Valentine re-wrote parts the BoS to try to hide this fact.
Wiccan Third Degree Initiation From The Gardnerian Book of Shadows

O Circle of Stars Whereof our father is but the younger brother
Marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, Before whom time is bewildered and understanding dark, Not unto thee may we attain unless thine image be love. Therefore by seed and root, by stem and bud, by leaf and flower and fruit, Do we invoke thee, O Queen of Space, O dew of light, Continuous one of the heavens Let it be ever thus, that men speak not of thee as one, but as none; And let them not speak of thee at all, since thou art continuous.

Crowley's Gnostic Mass:O circle of Stars whereof our Father is but the younger brother, marvel beyond imagination, soul of infinite space, before whom Time is Ashamed, the mind bewildered and the understanding dark, not unto Thee may we
attain, unless Thine image be Love. Therefore by seed and root and stem and bud and leaf and flower and fruit do we invoke Thee. Then the priest answered & said unto the Queen of Space, kissing her lovely brows, & the dew of her light bathing his whole body in a sweet- smelling perfume of sweat; O Nuit, continuous one of Heaven, let it be ever thus; that men speak not of thee as One but as None; and let them speak not of thee at all, since thou art continuous!

It's no coincidence they are word for word.

Gardner was into S&M and a nudist. He also had a thing for knives. Coincidentally, he discovered Wicca, which had somehow escaped detection for thousands of years on a tiny island nation, and it just happened to also be into tying people up and flogging them while naked and having sex (as well as knives and swords).

The thing you need to know about Wicca is that it is a hoax. I have never met a Wiccan with magic powers. They're just people like everyone else who live a fantasy life to escape reality.

Answer 9

I can point you to www.witchschool.com, about.com, and religioustolerance.org to find more information.

Answer 10

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'. By large these ethics are taught to Seekers and new initiates to help them understand the possible outcomes of their actions, Neo-wicca tend to follow these ethics/morals far more than Wicca.


LINKS ON 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


BOOKS ON WICCA:

The Witches' Bible: The Complete Witches' Handbook - Janet & Stewart Farrar.
The Witches' God - Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Witches' Goddess - Janet and Stewart Farrar
The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft - Ronald Hutton.
Witchcraft Today - Gerald B. Gardner.
Witchdom of the True - Edred Thorsson
Wicca: the Old Religion in the New Milennium - Vivianne Crowley
Advanced Wiccan Spirituality - Kevin Saunders
The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle - Deborah Lipp
What Witches Do - Stewart Farrar


BOOKS ON NEO-WICCA:

Witch Crafting: A Spiritual Guide to Making Magic - by Phyllis W. Curott
Positive Magic - Marion Weinstein
Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - Scott Cunningham
The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition - Dianne Sylvan
Book of Shadows - Phyllis Curott
The Second Circle - Venecia Rauls
The Heart of Wicca: Wise Words from a Crone on the Path - Ellen Cannon Reed
Evolutionary Witchcraft - T. Thorn Coyle
The Wiccan Path: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner - Rae Beth
21st Century Wicca - Jennifer Hunter
Witchcraft: A Concise Guide - Isaac Bonewits
Way of Four - Deborah Lipp