what's a wicka religion?

Question

sorry WICCA instead WICKA

Answer 1

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 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'. For the most part these morals and ethics are held more strongly by Neo-wicca, within Wicca these are often only taught to new initiates and Seekers to help them learn responsibility for their actions, for the most part Wicca rely on personal moral and ethical philosophies.


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


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

Answer 2

Wicca is a pagan religion

First of all, Wicca and witchcraft are not the same thing. .

Fundamentally, Wicca is a modern-day religion based on pre-Christian religious practices. Wicca was founded by Gerald Gardner back in the early '50s. We don't deny that it is a new religion, but the basis for our beliefs goes back thousands of years. Besides, even Christianity was new at one time.

Some Misconceptions:

Wiccans worship Satan - The figure of Satan is part of the Christian mythos, and those of us who do not follow Christianity, do not accept the existance of this character.

Wiccans engage in ritual orgies - This misconception may have arisen from the practice of doing ritual in the nude. Not all Wiccans practice this way, and there is nothing sexual about it.

Wicca is only for women - Wicca has attracted a great number of women because of the focus on the Goddess. But Wicca is open to everyone, male or female.

Wicca has no rules - This little untruth is often used by our detractors to show that we must live wild and unrestrained lives. We may not have books of commandments to bind our lives, but most Wiccans do follow one single law: Harm None. Those two words have as much power as an entire book of rules.

Wiccans cast spells and hexes to control people - If we really did this, Wiccans would all be wealthy and we would not suffer from discrimination. We believe that for every action, there is a re-action, and that includes using magick for negative manner

Wiccans don't believe in a punishing God, but we do think that bad actions will come back and bite us in the butt.

Wicca is a cult that is trying to recruit people - Wiccans believe that each individual's path of spirituality is valid, and no one path is better than any other. We do not convert or recruit anyone. Proselytizing is not a practice we follow.

Real Facts About Wicca:
Wiccans celebrate the 8 Sabbats - We don't necessarily worship the Earth, but we do hold it sacred, and celebrate the cycles and the seasons, as well as the traditional harvest days.
Wicca is polytheistic - Not all Wiccans follow precisely the same path when it comes to Deity, but typically we believe in multiple Gods and Goddesses often taken from different cultures and time periods. Many Wiccans will work with 1 or 2 Deities, rather than worshipping the entire gamut.
Wiccans do practice magick - Magick and spells are part of our religion. This sometimes seems far-fetched to those who don't understand. Forget every magick spell you've ever seen on TV or in the movies. Magick is nothing more than utilizing the energy that exists around us in nature. It's a delicate art that takes time, study and practice to master. We don't spend our days casting spells willy-nilly.
Wiccans do gather in covens - The media has made this sound more sinister than it really is. A coven can be any number of people (not just 13), and involves a group of Wiccans who gather regularly for ritual, magick, study and celebration. It's not that mysterious at all. Many Wiccans are not part of any coven, and folks who work alone are called 'solitaries'.

Answer 3

Wicca is an earth based religion, which worships the God's and Godesses. Wicca is another name for Witch.

Answer 4

That last answer, with its long list of resources, is really good (in fact, I'm bookmarking it for the resources! ;-)

Part of the confusion and disagreement comes from a lack of community consensus about definitions. So I'll discuss the terminology.

First off, nobody owns the word "Wicca," just as no one Christian group owns the word "Christian". Many different self-proclaimed Christian groups claim that the others aren't "real" Christians; there are some similar disagreements in the Pagan community.

For purposes of my answer, with the caveat that I'm oversimplifying a bit: PAGANS are practitioners of Nature-oriented religion. Most Pagans who actually call themselves Pagans were not born into Pagan families, but came to their religious path independently, thus being NEO-PAGANS (or PAGAN REVIVALISTS). WITCHCRAFT is the religious practice of magic, particularly a family of Pagan revivalist magico-religious traditions. WICCA is a subset of WITCHCRAFT.

The most strict, but not widely used, definition of WICCA is British Traditional Witchcraft in the lineage of the Gardnerian and Alexandrian traditions. These lineages are * duotheistic *, always mixed gender, follow a specific ritual structure, and are strictly initiatory, with the initiation being the culmination of disciplined training (much as a Bachelor's Degree in mathematics is the culmination of specific mathematical study). It is obviously impossible to initiate oneself into Wicca, so defined.

Most Pagans, however, do not use the word so strictly. By and large, the word WICCA is in common use to refer to Pagan magico-religious practice that espouses the Wiccan Rede ("An it harm none, do as ye Will") and follows a more-or-less British Traditional ritual format, including purification and charging, casting a Circle, calling Quarters, and invocations of Deities, in (roughly) that order. This part of the Pagan spectrum includes most of the people referred to by others, above, as "Neo-Wiccan." Wicca by this definition is comprised of a great variety of both solitary and group practice, with different groups (and families of groups) operating according to their own rules and ideas. Self-initiation and solitary practice are both widespread (but not universal) here.

Religious Witchcraft of a different and/or less-structured style is sometimes also called "Wicca", though many Witches explicitly refuse the label (I am thinking here of most of the Feri Tradition Witches I know).

The broadest definition of Wicca makes it simply a name for the entire Pagan revivalist movement.

Why is the word "Wicca" being stretched so far beyond its original scope? I think it is because many people don't want to use the word "Witch". That word tends to spook non-Pagans, who often assume we are Satanists.

Other Pagans avoid the word "Witch" out of respect for historical accuracy. Most of us recognize that even British Traditional Wicca, by that name, is a fairly recent (50 or 60 years old) religious movement with, at most, a tenuous connection to anything commonly called "Witchcraft" before the modern era.

Light on your path, and Blessed Be!

Answer 5

People go shopping with Wicka baskets and then offer the contents to the great Wicka god.

Answer 6

I suggest that you look it up at religioustolerance.org instead of relying on the statements of those who could very well be biased.

Answer 7

Visit this non-biased link.
http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm

Answer 8

Witchcraft.

Answer 9

WICCA
It`s a trendy name for what used to be known as White Magic.

Answer 10

i was going to answer,but "I'm a Stupid Idiot!" answered better than i could and i've been practicing for awhile now

Answer 11

its spelt Wicca, and its a religion that tends to focus on black magic and witchcraft, not like the Druid religion which practices the worship of the Earth.