would i be called a wiccan or just a pagan?
i worship the way wiccans do, but i do not worship the God and Goddess of wicca. wait is every God and Goddess a wiccan God? or is it just the Horned God of wicca and the moon Goddess of wicca? please answer i am confused :)
2006-11-11 17:59:30 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Wicca is a very specific Pagan religion, precisely it is a priesthood that is initiate-only, lineage and oath-bound – in order to be Wicca you have to be initiated into a BTW coven, this is a coven with a direct line back to Gardner or the New Forest coven, this is because the 'inner-court teachings' of Wicca are only taught to those initiated and passed down through their line.
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 as these names are oath-bound so only taught to people once initiated.
Wicca is hard-polytheistic meaning that their gods are specific identities, Wicca is not a monist religion so their gods are not all part of one god or vice versa – many Neo-wicca are monist, but not Wicca.
[Monist = belief that all gods are aspects of one god]
2006-11-12 03:23:16 · answer #1 · answered by Kasha 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Hello,
So which goddess's and gods do you worship? The goddess' and gods are many in wicca. so chances are you are worshipping them. There is dulism in Wicca many things overlap.
Pagan is an umbrella term to describe beliefs that aren't christian, hindu, sikkh, muslim etc. It is used to describe a system of beliefs that are very much nature related. The worship of the seasons, nature, mother earth etc.
Wiccan is a set of beliefs and a way of life. Being wiccan is rituals, spells and worship of the goddess's and gods. Adhering to "And it harm none do what thou will".
I hope this helps you and I hope you don't get more confused. You ask different pagans/wiccans you will or might get different answers.
And for the record I don't think it matters what you call yourself. What matters is your personal connection to whatever goddess's or gods you are worshipping.
Blessed Be
Bright blessings.
Nimue
2006-11-12 02:20:59 · answer #2 · answered by Tania S 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
the Horned god
Cernunnos is an ancient Celtic God. and is the most likely inspiration fo rthe Wiccan Horned god. the tripple Goddess of the Wiccans could be seen in many of the triune gods/goddesses fo the Celts.
most Pagans will have a pantheon that they follow. a set of gods that cover every aspect of life.
Wicca is a defined religion with it's own rituals and Gods and goddesses.
if you use these rituals and follow these gods then you are most likely in the Wiccan bracket of Paganism.
anything out of the box of Wicca so to speak puts you into the solitary practicioner bracket. i think that this is where you are. you have your own beliefs and your own moral code and you ahve found a religion that suits them.
solitary practicioners of Paganism may well end up useing gods from various faiths. and find it easy to accept other beliefs.
i started a solitary Celtic pagan meaning that i follow the Celtic gods and gossesses but do not have a tribe or ao grove that i practice with or learn from. that was years ago. now i ahve ended up the priest of a grove. as friends and family came together and asked me for teachings a grove was formed.
so now i am a Celtic Pagan.
i think that Wicca does allow the use of alternate gods and goddesses. but most of them are much older than Wicca.
hope this helps.
Yogi
2006-11-12 02:24:58 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
It depends on the particular "tradition" you're following. Some trads have a specific manifestation of the Lord and Lady they follow. Others use all sorts of different names & faces.
You could certainly say that every God & Goddess is a Wiccan god, because they can all be seen as different "aspects" of the gods, or different peoples' interpretations of them.
2006-11-12 02:05:36 · answer #4 · answered by watsonc64 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I am going to post a few links for you.
Meaning of the word Pagan and Paganism
http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm
Traditional Wicca http://www.newwiccanchurch.net/articles/btwfaq.htm
Neo Wicca http://www.witches-tutorial.com/paths/neowicca.html
Traditional Witchcraft http://www.shadowdrake.com/HSDwitchFAQ.html
These links will lead you to many others that will help you.
Blessings on your path. )O(
2006-11-12 02:02:30 · answer #5 · answered by Epona Willow 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You can worship any god/goddess you wish; mostly it depends on your coven, if you are a member of one.
2006-11-12 02:04:12 · answer #6 · answered by analystdevil 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋