What is Wicca?

Question

What is Wicca?

Answer 1

Like every religion, Wicca has a few core beliefs and a whole lot of trimming. The trimming may have considerable significance, but it is still, ultimately, trimming. One of the problems that newcomers sometimes experience is that they get so caught up in the details (what color the altar cloth should be, for example) that they lose sight of the bigger picture.

On the other hand, there is still debate within the community as to what exactly Wicca means. There are Fluffies who will literally tell you that is can be whatever you want it to be. Meanwhile, there are staunch Traditionalists who have a very specific list of requirements for one to be considered Wiccan, based upon Gardner's original beliefs. In the middle sit the vast majority of self-described Wiccans, many of which subscribe to definitions describing what I personally consider legitimate, evolutionary development of the religion.

The Wiccan Church of Canada, which represents the Odyssean Tradition, provides what I found to be the most useful and workable definition:

Wicca is an initiatory, oathbound mystery religion...
...which is polytheistic, honouring a variety of gods and goddesses...
...but also dualistic, seeing individual deities, at least to some extent, as aspects of one God and one Goddess...
...and pantheistic, viewing divinity as immanent within the natural world.
It centres around the mysteries contained within the Charge of the Goddess and the Legend of the Descent of the Goddess...
...and encompasses the practice of magic...
...as well as religious devotion.
Its ethical basis is expressed in the Wiccan Rede ("An it harm none, do as ye will")...
...and the Threefold Law ("What ye send returns three times over"). [Referred to here as the Law of Return]
Ritually, it involves casting a circle as the basic setting for spiritual and magical work...
...and emphasizes the Platonic four elements of earth, air, fire and water...
...plus some form of gender polarity, be that theologically in the image of the God and Goddess, and/or mundanely in the physical gender of participants as well...
...and usually incorporates some form of the "Great Rite" (union of the God and Goddess), frequently symbolized in the blessing of the ritual wine by the conjoining of the athamé and chalice.1
This is not, however, meant to be an all-or-nothing definition. As the WCC site explains:

Wicca itself contains a lot of diversity, and not all forms of Wicca include all these elements, but most include most of them to some degree, and the more of them a given tradition, group or ritual includes, the more sense it makes to describe it as "Wiccan" rather than simply "pagan".2

For example, as an Eclectic, I have not been initiated into a coven nor sworn any oaths to one. I clearly do not fall under rule #1, yet I identify myself as Wiccan, and a great many people acknowledge me as such. I do not see a problem with this. After all, members in good standing of many religions stray from canonical definitions. However, it is just as important that I recognize the points where I stray from the original theology, understand my reasons why, and consider just where that puts me in the overall scheme. It may not make me less Wiccan in the commonly accepted sense of the word today, and it certainly doesn't not mean that my spiritual practice is less valid, but it just as certainly makes me less traditionally Wiccan, and it places me within a category that some people consider non-Wiccan.

For the purposes of this website, my use of the word Wicca generally follows the above definition, in the sense that Wiccans generally follow most of the things on this list, with a couple of exceptions. I expect that very few initiated Wiccans are reading this website looking for guidance, because they already have guidance through their covens. Moreover, the facets of initiatory Wicca that separate it from Eclectic Wicca are largely unknown by me because (wait for it) I'm not initiated (and if I was, I would have sworn oaths promising not to repeat such things.) So, this website is written from the perspective of a non-initiate to other non-initiates.

Second, magic is a sticky subject. Many equate the word specifically with spellcasting, and some Wiccans do not practice spellcasting. Partly for the sake of clarity, I deal with magic mostly as spellcasting, which I categorize under witchcraft. I also go into more detail in the magic section

Answer 2

There have been some good points brought up. I don't think anyone mentioned there are spirtual consequences to practicing Witchcraft, and I don't think that gets stressed enough by followers of the Craft (and I'm guilty of that too). Yes, some people do have bad expirences in Wicca, and other forms of occultism as well. Even if one person tells you they never have had a bad expirence, that doesn't mean you won't. No one can guareentee what you will or won't do or what mistakes you may make when you practice Wicca. This is not a game.

The Good Witch's Bible for instance does come with a disclaimer that the authors are not responsible for what happens to the user, even including spirit possession. That's one reason I reccomend it so much.

This is why I bristle when I see fluffies giving out spells online like candy. They'll mention the law of return (probably learned it from watching Charmed), and then turn around and give out a "an ancient Celtic love spell" that's minutes old. Arrgh.

If you really want to learn Wicca, you have to go to a real coven that practices skyclad (nude) and really has the great rite (tantric sex), and doesn't simply stick a blade in a chalice. If they're scared to take off their clothes, their probably scared of real witchcraft too. You also sound like you're not 18 yet, so your parents would have to sign a waiver to let you join a coven (a real coven anyway).

In order to become a Wiccan, you will have to be intiated via the Great Rite by a High Priest. You cannot do this by reading a book or a website (this isn't meant to be mean, it's just reality).

A lot of people will email you and offer to "train" you. Often times these types only know what they read out of a book or a website, and haven't actually been initiated. There are just somethings you have to do in person. So, just keep those things in mind.

Answer 3

Christian Wicca is a mystery to so many. C.W. is an eclectic form of Christianity. Those who can not consider any other teachings except the Bible are very uncomfortable with this religion. Christian Wicca believes in the trinity of God the Father, God the Mother (Goddess), and the Son God Jesus. We also study and practice the principles of the Bible, Kabbalah, Gnostic Gospels and Wiccan teachings. Possibly the most important concept of C.W. is their inclusion of the Divine Feminine. Basically, there can not be a birth with out a father AND a mother. We worship the Mother Goddess as having equal power in creation. The Mother is present in every aspect of Spiritual teachings, even the Bible. (Although you have to look hard to find it there.) Also, there is a difference between being Christo-pagan and being Christian Wiccan. Before you go on the air with your report, look up the two and take note of the major differences. I won't do it here because it will simply get too lengthy. Just know that they are different. I am often criticized by Christians and Wiccans alike. (More so Christians. Wiccans tend to be more open-minded.) I hope I have answered some of your questions. Good luck with your radio report....Blessings!

Answer 4

Wicca is a Neopagan religion and a religious movement found in various countries throughout the world. It was first popularised in 1954 by a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner 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 witchcraft religion, 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 written 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 distinctive beliefs, rituals, and practices. Many traditions of Wicca remain secretive and require that members be initiated. There is also a movement of Eclectic or Solitary Wiccans who do not believe that any doctrine or traditional initiation is necessary in order to practice Wicca. The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey estimated that at least 134,000 adults identified themselves as Wiccans in the US.

Answer 5

Wicca is a modern religion based on the beliefs of the Druids of pre-Christian Europe. The religion is primarily nature-based. Although there is no unified Wiccan church, most Wiccans share certain core beliefs:

1. Wiccans believe in the existance of a God and a Goddess. These dieties are considered to be equal in power, and Wiccans strive to maintain the balance between them.

2. Wiccans believe that all forces described in nature occur as a manifestation of the four hermetic elements (earth, air, fire, and water).

3. Wiccans believe that the reverence for and protection of nature is the best way to worship and obey the God and Goddess.

4. Wiccans are pantheistic. They believe that the God and Goddess can be found everywhere and are a part of everything.

5. The primary maxim of Wiccan morality is, "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." Essentially, Wiccans believe that nothing is a sin, unless it harms another person.

6. Most Wiccans (though not all) believe that nature can be influenced by the practice of certain magical rituals.

Answer 6

Wicca, one of the fastest growing religions in the world, reveres the duality of divinity and nature. We worship both a god and a goddess, under various names and aspects. We respect nature, seek to do good, and perform rituals and acts of magick to improve our lives.

Answer 7

Wicca? Never heard of it.

[Sniff, sniff. Does anyone smell a sock puppett?]

Ya know, if your nickname wasn't "Ember Tounge" as I write this, and in your other question you hadn't shown you clearly know what Wicca is....ah well, what I know. I'm one of those evil "xtians" now, aint I?

Answer 8

Before my sister found 'her new religion" she was Wicca, which is a person who uses spells in a "good" way, it is also a form of religion, in which the person worships nature. She considered herself a white witch. The modern derivation is of a cult that is many thousands year old.

Answer 9

A Neo-Pagan Nature based religion.

Answer 10

wicca is a dualistic faith involving the celebration of life death and rebirth as according to ones dominant culture of spirit and the deities worshipped it is a religion like no other a great religion that lives by love peace harmony and life itself promoting a greater balance between good and evil in the world and promoting love over hate and the traquility and serene nature of love for all things versues the hatred created by misguieded values of human nature and the world as created by Abrahamic faiths and many other faiths who just rape the world out of hate versues love as love is the most potent power of creation so wiccans empower themselves and practice love towards all things over hate to promote a planetary balance of divinity based on love upon ones own eyes of culture as given in a dualistic path blessed be and may you have much true wisdom of the faith as opposed to all the false dogma in which so prevails ignorantly and hatefully against our faith my the god and the goddess be with you