What can anyone tell me about Wicca, in general?

Question

I had another question and learned that I was being too ignorant about a friend's faith but she's really busy right now and doesn't have time to explain it to me. (I think she may actually be mad at me for some of the things I said to her before about it...) I don't know what to look for really on the internet, and I wanted to know some of your opinions about Wicca, what it is, and how it is typically followed. Thanks.

Also.. how do you think I should apologize for what I said? I've already said I'm sorry, but I think I hurt her more than that..

Let me add that I am NOT interested in FOLLOWING Wicca!!! Jesus and GOD are the only one's I need to follow! I just wanted some more information about it since I don't know much and aparently what I DO "know" is wrong. Thanks to all of you who are TRYING to help me!

Answer 1

You have said you are sorry, it all depends on what you said to her but I am guessing if you are still friends it will soon be forgotten.

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 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.


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.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.waningmoon.com/ethics/rede.shtml - The Wiccan Rede
http://www.glasstemple.com/home/ - Glass Temple
http://www.witchipedia.org – Witchipedia

Answer 2

Well first off i dont like some of the answers that people are postiing to this question. Wicca is not a Satan based religon, infact we do not believe in giving evil a name. We are a quiet people...we do not offer blood sacrifices and scream to the gods at the tops of our lungs like barbaric savages. We believe that there is a common good that is in all and nature is the focus of our beliefs. God is in all of nature and we respect it. Some of us are humanitarians, some of us are conservationists, while others help the world in our own ways. I worship only one God, this is the way that i see it, I see God as a female, the Goddess. People can call God male or female and I choose to view her as a sweet loving nurturing mother entity that gave birth to the earth and to me. I still believe that Jesus is the divine son. Also that MAry conceived without sin carried Him in her womb. The maghic that i practice connects me to Goddess, because the magic always needs Spirit in the atmosphere to bless it for success. All spells are in her hands. If the spell was not meant to be cast, she does not allow it to manifest but sometimes when I need to learn something she lets it come to be. I do not use it to harm ppl although I am sometimes tempted. What you said to yr friend was said without knowledge of the subject. Please understand what i have told you. Blessed be.

Answer 3

Wicca is a Neopagan religion and a religious movement found in many different countries. It was first publicised in 1954 by a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner[1] after the British Witchcraft Act was repealed. He claimed that the religion, of which he was an initiate, was a modern survival of an old witch cult, which had existed in secret for hundreds of years, originating in the pre-Christian Paganism of Europe. Wicca is thus sometimes referred to as the Old Religion. The veracity of Gardner's claims cannot be independently proven, and it is thought that Wiccan theology began to be compiled no earlier than the 1920s. Various related Wiccan traditions have since evolved, or been adapted from, the form established by Gardner, which came to be called Gardnerian Wicca. These other traditions of Wicca each have specific beliefs, rituals, and practices. Most traditions of Wicca remain secretive and require that members be initiated. There is also a movement of Eclectic or Solitary Wiccans who claim to belong to the religious movement, but do not believe any doctrine or traditional initiation is necessary in order to substantiate the claim.

Answer 4

Wiccan ideals stem from a mixture of druidism, paganism and so-known as witchcraft. There is a robust perception in an Earth Goddess....and gatherings are geared towards therapy the Earth and tapping into the average vigor throughout us. There are, of path, posers who say they're Wiccans and haven't any clue what they're speakme approximately....simply as there are persons who declare to be Christians or Buddhists, or something, and are without problems striking on airs.

Answer 5

#1) search for " witchvox " and do some more research.

#2) if she's still hurt or mad, don't just say that you are sorry, explain that you never meant to offend her, denigrate her or her beliefs, that you now know that your statements were made in ignorance and arrogance, and that you are obviously in desperate need of instruction in these matters, which she is evidentally empowered to give you, and ask what action you should take to make it up to her and return the good feelings between the two of you.

I'm not a Wiccan but I know many of them.
I don't wish to be redundant, but Wicca is a religion that makes use of magic(k) to connect its participants with Nature, the local planetary gods and goddesses of nature and of past (usually Celtic or Italian) cultures.
Every religion makes use of magic, but most of Wicca doesn't try to hide it or make it something that only the clergy are able and encouraged to do.
Wiccan rituals focus on celebrating aspects of Nature, like the turning of the seasons, the reflections of gender in everything, and things like that.

Unfortunately there's no 'typical' way of following.

If you have access to some money, one over-the-top apology could be registering you and her to go to Pantheacon in San Jose on President's day weekend in February, when you could learn in person about all the flavors of Wicca, and she could learn more of whatever she was interested in.

Answer 6

I gave you some links on your other question. Religioustolerance.org is a great place to start. Also go to the Wicca/Paganism section at About.com. Just look around and you'll find something.

The BEST thing you can do is explain to your friend how sorry you are (if you really are) and why you reacted the way you did. Once you two are talking again, ask her. That'll be your best bet!

Blessings! )O(

Answer 7

Oh dear, Epona, you appear to have a clone - Epona Widow.

All the above links are useful in telling you about what Wiccans do and believe. We do not believe in the Devil nor would we try to convert you, it isn't our way. If people want to become Wiccan, that is their choice, it is not for everyone.

BB
)0(

Answer 8

Epona should be along any time now. In the mean time, I hope this link helps. Its for another religion that is similar to Wicca, but isn't as much about magick.

Answer 9

try this site:
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm
Like most religions, Wicca is silly and fanciful. Wiccans, I know this one hurts but, you nor anyone will never, ever, ever, ever be able to cast spells to any effect that is not purely random coincidence. If people were able to really do this it would eventually go to someone's head and they would flaunt their 'power', that part would be inevitable as people tend to crave attention, fame and power.
The part I do like about this religion is the acknowledgement of the part of nature in the religion. However, to believe in sprites, elves and trolls is a whole other ball of wax and those people need to seriously seek help.
As for apologizing to your friend.....depends on what you said. Did you mock her religion w/o knowing anything about it? Whatever you said, within reason, she will eventually get over it (really, she will). Just keep being her friend and don't bring it up again.

Answer 10

http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_stat1.htm

Here's the Wiccan Principles of Belief

Answer 11

Wicca is the belief in witches and spells. I have a friend that is into really deep and loves it. I myself believe in Jesus and would never practice wicca. Read more about it on the web.