Anyone Wiccan?

Question

Im doing a college level research paper on the wiccan subculture, I was wondering what some values, and beliefs of Wiccans are. thanks in advance

Answer 1

I would strongly recommend going somewhere that has a strong Wicca community, simply because a large number of people who claim to be Wicca are in fact not Wicca at all but Witches, Pagans or Neo-wicca. I've noticed a lot of people here claiming to be Wicca without following Wicca themselves, so the chances of getting reliable information and options on Wicca here is pretty slim.

You will get what are known as 'Fluffy Bunnies', these are people who claim to be Wicca while not Wicca, not through ignorance but through wilful ignorance – in other words not willing to study Wicca seriously, taking the term Wicca for fad value alone to describe their beliefs, which are normally solely eclectic and self-created rather than having any relation to the beliefs of Wicca.

The best place to go is Amber & Jet - http://amberandjet.spiralpaths.org – This is a specifically Wiccan e-group, although of course not all members are Wicca but as they have a British Traditional Wicca perspective it does mean that the members and moderators are quick to correct any misinformation or anyone misrepresenting themselves as Wicca.

I'm sorry to sound negative, however if you are not already well versed in Wicca then it is going to be near to impossible to carry out a research paper very simply because of the misinformation and misrepresentation, for most it takes years of study to find their way to Wicca through misinformation – some see this misinformation as a result of cashing in on the Wicca 'fad' others see it as a way to determine true seekers as only they will carry on study to the point where they can determine what Wicca is.

As Wicca are oath-bound in nature it also means you will only be able to find information on outer-court teachings, often this is placeholders and basic concepts rather than the true beliefs – this is done in order to maintain the integrity of Wicca. Wicca will generally stop you if you try to push too far for information; some will not even talk to you to begin with regarding their tradition or lineage.

When it comes to values things tend to be very simply, they are not tolerant of others but respect others (tolerant suggests they dislike or disagree with others), there is no doctrine teaching against other religions, sexes, sexualities, races, and so on. As Wicca is henotheistic in nature it means there is none of the typical religious attitude of 'I'm right, you're wrong' as Wicca believe everyone is right only they choose the path they do as apposed to another persons path.

Wicca do not believe in 'harm none' as many quote, the line in question is 'an if it harm none, do as thou wilt' the essential message that most take is that you in fact cannot do as you will as you may harm others. As Wicca are primarily concerned in the importance and sacredness of life it would be detrimental to their belief to follow an idea of 'harm none' as harm is a necessity of life. There is then of course the question of what harm means, some would say for example taking another life is harm, but without doing so human beings would not survive – this includes plants as well as animals – if things were as easy as 'harm none' someone would have brought up this moral statement long before Wicca existed.

http://www.waningmoon.com/ethics/rede.shtml - The Wiccan Rede, this may be of some importance to you.

Wicca are also certainly not 'love & light' they are just as capable of being mean-hearted at times as anyone of any other religion, they are only human after all. They are also just as capable of being sexual deviants afor example, and not in terms of Wicca's attitude towards sex in a positive light either. Some would like to think Wicca are saints, they are moral certainly but I think a lot of people paint them in a certain light when they over compensate for prejudices of others towards Wicca.

Below is a description I always give for questions on Wicca for the very simply fact that I wrote it, heh, but I also had help from my own group LJWiccan which has 2000 members – all of whom agreed to this definition of Wicca;


WHAT IS WICCA?

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.

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 behaviour 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'.
For the most part the rede and law of return are ideas taught to Seekers and new initiates to Wicca as a means to make them understand the consequences of their actions, most Wicca follow their own moral and ethical code, and many Wicca do not take on the ideas of the rede or law of return.


WICCAN LINKS (Wicca-specific reliable sources, rather than Neo-wicca);

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.homecircle.info - Homecircle
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.glasstemple.com/home/ - Glass Temple
http://www.witchipedia.org - Witchipedia

Answer 2

I am not a Wiccan, but here are a few sites that might help you.

http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/g/gardner_gerald_b.html
A short bio on the founder of Wicca, Gerald B. Gardner

http://www.geraldgardner.com/History_of_Wicca_Revised.pdf
A very good (but lengthy) essay on the history of Wicca

http://www.waningmoon.com/ethics/rede.shtml
The history of the Wiccan Rede (ethics)

http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm
http://religiousmovements.lib.virginia.edu/nrms/wicca.html
A couple of non-biased websites for information about Wicca

http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_usbk.htm
An excerpt from the US Army Chaplain's handbook stating how the US government views Wicca

Answer 3

Make sure you hear both sides of the story. Many Wiccans don't like my opinions. Since I left Wicca I have a different opion of it than they do.

You would want to read "Triumph Of The Moon" by Ronald Hutton, a Professor of History at Oxford. It is perhaps the best researched book to date. "Crafting The Art of Magic" by Adian Kelly details the evolution of the Book of Shadows, but it would be hard to come by. You would have to get the library at your college to get it on loan. I don't agree with his opinions on the Judeo-Christian religion, but he did have access to the actual archives of Gerald Garnder. Gardner was a disciple of Aleister Crowley mentioned above. Crowley was a psychotic junkie who thought he was the Antichrist. He died in a flophouse.

My past answers may be of help to:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ApPY1sSxhurAHRXVkLIT7s3sy6IX?qid=20060915145049AAkDSCG (it does have a few typos. "thing Pagan" should be "things Pagan").

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuehzYB6sWcVLlrdluRjTJ7sy6IX?qid=20060913085041AApmNpm (Has a quote from Kelly that pretty much sums it up)

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqKvmKI1u4vYjmp1.ECGkPYjzKIX?qid=20060920141547AA0e3fT (An interesting one about Frostie Wicca, a branch which most other Wiccans condemn)

Answer 4

Thelemite, similar to Pagan and Wiccan
philosophy: "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" and "Love is the law, love under will."

[excerpt:]
Thelema is the English transliteration of the Ancient Greek noun θέλημα: "will", from the verb θέλω: to will, wish, purpose. Early Christian writings use the word to refer to the will of God,the human will,and even the will of the Devil...

Answer 5

The law of three states that what you do will be returned to you threefold. This is why they say, "an ye harm none, do what ye will" because the harm wil rebound, just as the good will. As long as you don't attack, but only defend yourself, you're fine.

Answer 6

Pagan here.
Our creed or motto is "If it harms none do what thou will"

Con'd


The Pagan Creed

A passage of self dedication that sums up in words better than my own that which a pagan aims to be. Read, digest and live! Paganism is a way of living and being - not a label to wear or a trip for an ego to journey.


I am a Pagan and I dedicate myself to channeling the Spiritual Energy of my Inner Self to help and to heal myself and others.

I know that I am a part of the Whole of Nature. May I grow in understanding of the Unity of all Nature. May I always walk in Balance.

May I always be mindful of the diversity of Nature as well as its Unity and may I always be tolerant of those whose race, appearance, sex, sexual preference, culture, and other ways differ from my own.

May I use the Force (psychic power) wisely and never use it for aggression nor for malevolent purposes. May I never direct it to curtail the free will of another.

May I always be mindful that I create my own reality and that I have the power within me to create positivity in my life.

May I always act in honorable ways: being honest with myself and others, keeping my word whenever I have given it, fulfilling all responsibilities and commitments I have taken on to the best of my ability.

May I always remember that whatever is sent out always returns magnified to the sender. May the Forces of Karma move swiftly to remind me of these spiritual commitments when I have begin to falter from them, and may I use this Karmic feedback to help myself grow and be more attuned to my Inner Pagan Spirit.

May I always remain strong and committed to my Spiritual ideals in the face of adversity and negativity. May the Force of my Inner Spirit ground out all malevolence directed my way and transform it into positivity.

May my Inner Light shine so strongly that malevolent forces can not even approach my sphere of existence.

May I always grow in Inner Wisdom & Understanding. May I see every problem that I face as an opportunity to develop myself spiritually in solving it.

May I always act out of Love to all other beings on this Planet -- to other humans, to plants, to animals, to minerals, to elementals, to spirits, and to other entities.

May I always be mindful that the Goddess and God in all their forms dwell within me and that this divinity is reflected through my own Inner Self, my Pagan Spirit.

May I always channel Love and Light from my being. May my Inner Spirit, rather than my ego self, guide all my thoughts, feelings, and actions.

SO MOTE IT BE