What really is a Wiccan?

Question

from my past question--- a lot of u guys said about Wiccans-- what is it, seriously?

Answer 1

Wicca was started by Gerald Gardner in New Forrest England circa 1950. He was a nudist & masochist and basically created Wicca as a sex cult. Followers nowadays like to forget that part, and instead fantasize they have magical powers.

Adian Kelly wrote a book on the history of Wicca called "Crafting The Art of Magic" in the 1980's. Wiccans had a fit when it was published, and pressured Llewyllyn to take it out of print. It was supposed to be the first in a series of books. I think Adian Kelly probably summed it up best when he said this about the Gardnerian "Book of Shadows", the closest thing Wicca has to a sacred book:

" [M]any of the Book of Shadows rituals did not exist in 1954 (when Witchcraft Today was published) but instead were still being written. [T]he major sources from which the rituals had been constructed included: (a) Mather's edition of the Greater Key of Solomon; (b) Aleister Crowley's Magic in Theory and Practice; (c) Leland's Aradia (d) some Masonic rituals akin to those described by Duncan and those of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (aside from those transmitted by Crowley; and (e) Margaret Murray's The Witch Cult in Western Europe. There were also bits and pieces from other works by Leland, Jane E. Harrison, Gilbert Murray, James Frazier, and other great classicists from the 19th century. That accounted for EVERYTHING in the rituals! There was nothing left that differed in any important way from what you can find in those sources- - but that is NOT at all what Gardner had claimed!"

It's a religion where anything can be added in, where the followers mistakenly think they have magic powers, and it's not older than rock and roll, even though it's called the "Old Religion". Authors like Gavin and Yvonne Frost, Silver Raven Wolf, Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham crank out books about how to get love, money, and above all else "protection". The Frost's Magic Power of White Witchcraft says "Witchcraft Can Make You Rich in a Ghetto" according to the title of chapter 11. However, the Frosts themselves aren't rich. Coincidentally, they claim to have taken a "vow of poverty" according to one of their webpages, to explain why they apparently can't make their spells work either.

When I visited England (the birthplace of Wicca) in May, I found it was practiced mostly by juvenile deliquents, much the same way Satanism is here in the U.S. No one seems to take it seriously over there. An very knowldgeable historian I talked to in Kent, when asked about Wicca, told me I should try a pub!

Eventually Ronald Huitton wrote his own history of Wicca, called "Triumph of the Moon". Hutton is a history professor at Oxford, so he is not easliy dismissed. Even though some Wiccans have realized their history is a sham, they still want to cling to the "witch" label & call it a "reconstructionist movement". But you can't reconstruct something which never existed in the first place. Even so, these types still seem to allude to their religion being thousands of years old.

Answer 2

My answer to a similar question that was asked earlier this afternoon:

The central tenet of the Wiccan religion is the Wiccan Rede: "If you harm none, do what you will." This is a deceptively simple "commandment" which can take a lifetime to contemplate and to master.

Wiccans honor Deity as both male and female, God and Goddess -- or at the very least as Goddess. We believe that the universe is the body of God/dess, and therefore that all things contain Divine energy and that the world itself is sacred. Some Wiccans are polytheists (many God/desses); others are duotheists (God and Goddess, of whom all other Gods and Goddesses are simply aspects); others are monotheists (God and Goddess Themselves are simply aspects of an unknowable Source).

Wiccans do not believe that God/dess is separate from the world; therefore, we have no concept of salvation, since God/dess is present to all and always. Many Wiccans believe that God/dess is too big to fit inside one religion -- all religions/spiritual paths are ways of reaching the same goal, and atheism and agnosticism are honorable perspectives on the mystery of life.

Each Wiccan operates as their own priest/ess. We do not have a distinction between clergy and laity. Therefore, each Wiccan is responsible for their own personal development and for forging their own relationship with God/dess.

Wiccans do not usually have churches. We create sacred space as and where needed, by casting "circles" of energy which function as temples. When inside those circles, we invite the spirits of the four Platonic elements (air, fire, water, and earth) to join us, as well as the Goddess and the God (or at minimum the Goddess).

Many Wiccans practice witchcraft, which we see as working with the Divine energy that permeates the world to bring about change. In accordance with the Wiccan Rede, the vast majority of Wiccans will not curse or perform magic to bring harm upon anyone else.

An objective (non-Wiccan) set of articles on what Wiccans do and believe:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm

Edited to add: In response to The Notorious Dr. Zoom Zoom's statement regarding the ownership of religioustolerance.org, from their own Statement of Beliefs page:

"We are a multi-faith group. As of 2006-JAN, we consist of one Atheist, Agnostic, Christian, Wiccan and Zen Buddhist."

That doesn't sound much like being "run by two Neopagans and an atheist" to me. The main author of the religioustolerance.org articles is in fact "an Agnostic -- a person who has concluded that the existence or nonexistence of God cannot be proven at this time. Because he does not hold a specific set of theistic beliefs to be true, he is relatively objective when describing a range of religious beliefs..."

From http://www.religioustolerance.org/statbelief.htm and http://www.religioustolerance.org/credentials.htm

Answer 3

Wiccan is a modern section of Paganism
they are a nature based religion

Answer 4

I think Raven Fuqfest gave you the best answer. It's a lot harder to become a real Wiccan than people would like to think.

Answer 5

I don't want to sound avoidant, but no two people will give you the same thing.

Wicca is essentially a neo-pagan religion [I am not Wiccan, but I love Gardernarian Wicca, not that ecclectic crap.], that focuses on the interplay of masculine and feminine divinity. It's usually combined with simple witchcraft.

Answer 6

Abner! Witches! Oh, wait. It's just Wiccans. They don't have any powers. Never mind.

Answer 7

A practitioner of Wicca, a modern Neo-Pagan religion started by Gerald Gardner from inspiration from ancient sources.

Answer 8

It's a Neo-Pagan nature based religion.

Answer 9

Wicca is the study of witch craft. It is no game, and the cantations are real. They are Satan's way of getting people to follow him.

Answer 10

Find a real coven and ask them. If they practice skyclad, they're for real. If they have The Great Rtie (sex magick) for real and not just symbolic, they're for real. When you find one you'll know.