Wiccans and Pagans?

Question

are there any misconceptions that you wish to put right about your beliefs ?
now is your chance to speak
i would love to hear from you xx

Answer 1

Pangel, Thank you for this oportunity.

I was writing up this whole long list...and I reconsidered.

What I'd like most is for people who only "know" things about us because of what some other relgion tells them, to stop for a moment and actually listen to what we say when we talk about our religion.

And I guess I'll just say now what I've said before.

I believe that there is a sacred force that manifests in living things, which are all things in the natural world. This creative force, which has no gender, is imminent in all the natural world, and is also transcendent of the natural world.

I experience this divine Source in maleness and femaleness, in light and dark, in community and individuality, in the cycle of life - gestation, growth, maturity, decay, death, and transmutation, in cold and heat, etc.

The God is one polarity, the Goddess the other.

This is the world view of of Wicca - not a fight between good and evil, but a dance between the Goddess and the God.

The balance of God and Goddess is ever-changing and yet follows a repeating pattern. At any moment, the God energy/force may be in ascendancy (Summer) or the Goddess energy/force may be (Winter), but the dance has a pattern that does not change.

We circle around and come back to where we started from.


Since the Divine is *manifest* in the natural world, we can learn about the Divine from observing that natural world. It is the primary source of our understanding, and the reason that Wiccans (and Pagans, generally) cannot claim to know the "one truth" or "one right way" - for just as there is no one right way to be a flower or tree or dog or bird or rock or cloud, there can be no ONE right way to experience the Divine or have a relationship with It.

We celebrate the Dance of the seasons, and the dance of our own lives, which also follow the pattern; we grow, and mature, and decline, and die, and change into something else.

Our holidays (holy days) mark the most important of the balance points, and also the seasonal changes: the solstices and Equinoxes, and the seasons of planting and harvest and fallowness. We gather also at full (and for some, dark) Moons, and we look inside ourselves and see what we need to work on.

We gather to celebrate LIFE.

Our altars are everywhere, for the entire Earth is sacred. Our names for the Goddess and the God are myriad, for They have been experienced in many cultures through the ages.

Our purpose is to align oursleves with the sacred pattern that exists in the natural world, to be an active part of the cycle of life, NOT to try to make the natural world conform to our convenience or greed or hunger for power.

If you can be deeply moved by listening to uplifting music in your church or synagogue or a concert hall, then you know how I feel when I listen to birdsong or breezes; if you can just NOT help but clap or shout "Amen!' or "Hallelujah!", then you know why I dance in celebration to drums and chants; if your eyes fill with tears of joy at knowing that you are loved by your God, then you know how I feel when my feet touch the flesh of our Mother; if you weep over the story of the crucifixion, then you know how I react to seeing people polluting and degrading the good green Earth that we live on.

The Divine is in all things in the Natural world. We don't own the Earth. She is not our posession, but our Mother.

Answer 2

Well for a start, we do not worship, or even have anything to do with Satan, he is a Christian concept, we do not believe he exists, evil is in the hearts of man, not a supernatural entity.
We do not use Witchcraft for evil ends or selfish ones. I mostly do spells for healing for friends, and rituals to thank the Lord and Lady for the healing help they gave.
We are not all wacky tree hippies. I'm a builder with both feet firmly planted on the ground.
Paganism in a variety of forms was around long before most other forms of religion, and most of the celebrations common to many modern religions are pagan at root.
the pentacle is not a sign of evil, it is a symbol of unity, of earth, air, fire, water, and spirit. Witchcraft is a spiritual way of life, we're not cackling over our cauldrons!

Answer 3

I think the Largest misconception would be that alot of the fundamentalists out there think we are Devil or Satan worshippers.

Where in fact Pagans / Witches dont believe in the Christian Devil or satan.
I Feel this is the most insulting of all the misconceptions.
Also that we are some whacked out evil doers.
If only they realised that we are not evil or believe in doing evil.
And stop judging us..

I think the barriers would come down a bit.
Knowledge is a wonderful thing.


Blessings ALD

Answer 4

That we do not all believe the same thing.

The joke is that, if you ask a dozen Pagans what they believe, you'll get 20 answers. That's rather true. Paganism is a collection of diverse religions, some of them closely related, some of them not. As such, you can't safely make too many assumptions about a particular Pagan's beliefs. Not everyone believes in the God or the Goddess; not everyone believes in "Harm None"; not everyone is earth-based; etc.

Answer 5

Wicca and Witchcraft are two completely different concepts, although it is possible for a Witch to also be a Wiccan it is not mandatory

Mind you - A lot of Pagans and Witches fail to realise this as well

Let the thumbs down begin.

Answer 6

First of all, we are not satanic or devil worshippers of any type. Our faith is based around the powers of nature, and the spiritual forces behind nature. We cherish life for what it brings us, the gifts out deities allow us to have. Most of us don't believe in a hell or even a satanic figure, nor do we believe that there is an entity that makes people do evil. People are subject to the whims and consequences of their free will. I could go on and on about things all day, but I'd take up all the room in this question, so I'll stop here.

But mainly: We are not evil, in fact one of the main teachings of any Pagan faith is "Harm None." So we're not out to kidnap your kids and eat them. In fact, most Pagans are really nice people to know.

Ár nDraíocht Féin
/|\

Answer 7

One myth i would like to put straight is a lot of people think Wicca is devil worship......so not true wiccans use the natural healing and the energy of the earth to help people not harm them.
White Magic cannot be used to harm others if it is that harm comes back 7 fold on the person who uses it in this way.
I feel people should really read authroised writtings on the wiccans and not listen to stupid movies creating a lot of confussion to this subject

Answer 8

We are not Satanists. Satanists have their own religion and their own beliefs. We neither worship nor recognize Satan. We are not "deceived by the Devil." We do not sacrifice people or animals. Our Gods and our beliefs are just as valid as those of every other religion.

Personally, I do not care if you do not believe they way we do, your right to believe as you choose is just as valid as mine. But I do not like being misrepresented.

We do not proselytize or recruit. We are not out to convert anyone. We have just as much of a right to worship as we see fit as everyone else does.

Thank you Pangel.
Blessed be. )O(

Answer 9

Saxon and Pagans did live in harmony eventually ...but not until the Romans, left these shores.

Answer 10

We do not believe in Satan, We do not believe that Christ is a savior.
I personally believe that Christ was a man a teacher.