Wicca's....what similarity is there between your beliefs and christian beliefs...if any?

Question

do you have a god you follow or a doctrine? if so what?
I have also heard wiccas claim and take ownership of the word pagen, yet, I thought that term meant anyone outside of the christian belief.

Answer 1

Ask 10 Pagans and Wiccans for an explanation, and you'll get 20 answers...at least (g)...

As I've learned it, "Wiccans" __tend__ to work more towards the magical aspect of things---which is actually more of "using a trained will to try and influence stuff". This tends to work most effectively if you take natural forces and law into consideration; I don't care HOW good you are: it's darned difficult to make water flow uphill. "Pagan" tends to be used as a general-purpose term for those of us who aren't monotheists and who also don't follow classical Eastern spiritual paths.

As a REAL general rule: most Pagans/Wiccans I know believe in a deity or deities---very commonly, a male and female force. But there isn't any particular name or manifestation that's "right", and we don't argue if your vision or name of the Eternal happens to be different---if it works for you, ok...

We generally don't happen to believe in a ferocious deity that sends people to eternal hell, but there IS a justice after death, and if you do "bad things" (leave the definition loose, please), you are going to have some price to pay and some fixing up/amends to make, down the road. And YOU'LL have to take care of this, personally: no copouts, or "let George do it"---it comes back to personal responsibility.

Basic doctrines? we're as independent-minded as cats, if not more so. Doctrine and dogma are not big issues here. But common beliefs, in my experience:
Whatever you do will come back towards you, at least three times as much as you sent it out (which is why we giggle or get offended when people think we go around casting curses).
You should not work magic on someone (even healing magic!) without their permission---that's coercive and abusive.
There ARE consequences for your actions, so think carefully about what you do, and try to minimize harmfulness. Live in peace with others and with nature, respecting all. Give thanks and respect for the things you've been given, and enjoy them. Search for knowledge, and accept that there are a LOT of ways to communicate with the Eternal---respect the paths of others, because NO ONE has the *one true way* for all people.

Specific definitions WILL vary, and I'm not speaking for the Pagan/Wiccan communities as a whole, by the way---this is just from my own personal experience. Take it as you will.

If you'd like some good general-purpose information, I'd suggest you read _The Spiral Dance_ by Starhawk, and/or _Drawing Down the Moon_ by Adler.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Wicca - Religion
Wiccan - People who follow it

Wiccan Rede -

"Bide the Wiccan Rede ye must, in perfect love and perfect trust. With these eight words the rede fulfill, and it harm none do what ye will."

I think really the only similarity is that they believe in the golden rule......sort of. There is structure but no doctrine. There is a God and Goddess, the Lord and Lady. Everything in nature has a male and female aspect but there are many branches of Wicca and all do not believe the same way. Some believe solely in a Goddess and some in many different Gods and Goddesses.

They do not own the word pagan. It does indeed mean, at least the modern definition, anyone not of Christian beliefs. They are not evil, they do not sacrifice animals or children or worship the devil. The christian concept of Satan does not exist in Wicca.

I hope that my answer has been a little helpful.

Answer 3

Wow.....you ask a BIG question. In the many years that I have studied and in all the time that I have been a part of the Pagan community I have found no easy answer to your question.
The only similarity that I would possibly see is that both religions claim some sort of idea along the lines of "do onto others as you would have....etc." As the Pagans put it "An it Harm None Do As Ye Will". Christians like to say "thou shall not kill".
Between the two I would have to say that only the Pagans "put their money where their mouth is". No one ever died in the name of Paganism. We have not wages wars in the name of the Goddess. We have not commited genocide against people who did not believe as we do. For that matter even today we do not put down other religions that feel they know the path to divinity.
In regard to your other question, if you look them up in the dictionary both the word Pagan and the heathen mean someone who does not have a religion. Obviously this is not accurate as Pagans certainly have a religion, we just do not ascribe to one of the organized religions that you find in the phone book. We do not pass around a plate and ask for money for what we do.
In another sense the word Pagan is sort of a catch all phrase for all the religions such as Wicca, Witchcraft, Druidism and the other New Age religions.
Let me add just for good measure that we are in no way associated with satanism, Satan is an invention of the Christian church and we do not acknowledge his existence.
Personally I do not consider Satanism to be a religion as the definition of a religion is something that serves as a guide to right and wrong. Satanism has no sense of right and wrong and is totally immoral. In my opinion it does not qualify as a religion. I know that there are those that disagree with me, that is simply my opinion.
It occurrs to me that I have not answered your question very well in regard to whether or not we follow a god or a doctrine. As I said it is a big question.
Take care and Blessed Be
Lady Trinity~

Answer 4

First off, the word Pagan has had a colorful past. Originally it meant someone who lived in the country as opposed to a city dweller. Nowadays it is commonly used to mean someone not of the Abraham faiths (Christian, Hebrew, Islam). That is a very broad spectrum and no one faith is the end all of that.

Wicca honors the Universe and all is sacred. The Earth is mostly the focus of our faith as we list ourselves as an Earth based faith. We believe in order for creation the All is divided into male and female, as in the Earth is female and the Sun is male. without both, there could be no life.

Our principle rule (Wiccan Rede) is "An in it harm none, do as you will" which I suppose could be compared to the Golden Rule.

But two of our fundamental differences is that we don't "bend our knee" to the Divine, we work with the Divine to better ourselves and the Earth.

Secondly we don't believe that anyone should have power over us in our faith. No one can tell us how to perform a ritual for only we know what is best for ourselves. (This is the thing that usually upsets the "organized" faiths).

Blessed Be )O(

Answer 5

We don't 'take ownership' of the word Pagan, we are a branch of Paganism, like Druids, Kemetics, Asatru, Heathens etc... are. There is no strict doctrine or 'Bible', only the simple rule of 'an it harm none, do what ye wilt' which is reinforced with the rule of whatever you send out, good or bad, you get back times 3. It is the principle that most live to and why we never cast hexes or curses or bad spells of any kind.

BB
)0(

Answer 6

I am wiccan and I have a very strong Christian background. It depends on the wiccan you ask. Many if not most wiccans pull from a variety of gods and goddesses to worship, Jesus and other forms of a Christian god INCLUDED. It has been my experience that the "pagan" label assisgned to wicca actually comes from Christian groups.

Answer 7

I've never heard of a Wiccan that claims Wicca is the only form of paganism out there.
They freely admit that they follow one of the many pagan paths that there are.
Peace )O(

Answer 8

This sounds suspiciously like a query for a institution magnificence. Glad to listen to Edith remains to be round. Try those: Genesis one million and the Gilgamesh Epic. Christmas and Easter celebrations as tied to solstice parties. Check out the heavy one among Son of God...which all of us are and Son of Man...which Jesus used to be. It blows away a lot of Greek mythology approximately humanity.

Answer 9

I am wiccan and I believe that all gods are one god. Ultimately I feel we all worship the same god in our own way and most of us do not know this. I also feel there is a female divinity in all things.

Answer 10

Wicca is outside of the christian belief. The only real similarities are that good begets good and evil begets evil. Wiccans are pantheonic in that they worship with many "gods" depending upon their need. The usage of god given herbs to heal, balms to soothe, potions to ease the hurt of daily living these are the tools of the Wiccan. We are proud to be outside of the christian and any other religion for we feel you worship that which is not real unlike Mother Earth who is here for us to see, why must your god hide himself?