What do Wicca believe?

Question

Im a devout Christian and i recently made a decision to learn of other religions. I of course know what Christianity is, as well as Judaism, and islam. My next is Wicca.

Please enlighten me.

Lets get one thing clear, im not looking for a new god. I know him already. I dont want to be bigoted upon from people saying that i dont know anything.

Answer 1

Wicca is a very complex faith which embraces widely varying practices and many different Traditions. The following, however, is what I consider to be "the basics".

Wicca is about 60 years old, with roots in Masonic practices, ceremonial magic, and the Romantic era's ideas of classical religions. It is in many ways a postmodern faith, embracing religious relativism, and one that resonates powerfully for increasing numbers of people.

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. Many Wiccans also believe in the Law of Threefold Return, sometimes called the Rule of Three: “Whatever you do, for good or ill, will come back upon you three times over.”

Wiccans honor Deity as both male and female, God and Goddess -- or at the very least as Goddess. Many Wiccans 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 generally 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. Some Wiccans practice in covens, which are generally initiatory and require a long period of study (traditionally a year and a day) before entering. Others practice in loosely affiliated groups of solitaries, which are Wiccans who practice outside of traditional coven structure. Others simply practice alone.

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.

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

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

Another useful article:

http://www.religionfacts.com/neopaganism/paths/wicca.htm

A good site by Wiccans:

http://wicca.timerift.net

And the US Army Chaplains Handbook excerpt on Wicca:

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

If you're looking to do some reading, I'd recommend "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunningham, and "Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton. I advise you to stay away from anything by Silver Ravenwolf, for reasons outlined in the following essay:

http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.shtml

If you have any further questions, please feel free to email me.

EDITED TO ADD: Oh, lordy, no, El Indio... I didn't mean that as an attempt to convert you! Wiccans don't hold much with prosyletizing. All I meant was what I said: if you have further questions, I'll be happy to answer them. I have no need to try to sway you to my religion. As far as I'm concerned, all faiths are valid paths to the Divine, including yours.

Answer 2

Wicca is the Fertility Cult of the Lord and Lady of the Isles. It is a lineaged, oathbound, initiatory mystery orthopraxy (unlike Christianity, which is a non-lineaged, semi-initiatory revealed orthodoxy). Most people claiming to be "Wiccan" are really nothing more than eclectic neopagans or, in rarer cases, some other variety of neopagans. Anyway, I would not suggest searching on the Internet for information as at least 90% of what you will find is pure fluff. Look in books, but not just any books, since they're as prone to fluffyism as Teh Intarwebz. Start with Gardner, as he's the one who created the religion. Then move onto Sanders since his tradition of Alexandrian Wicca holds to the basic beliefs and practices of Wicca. Once you have a strong background, THEN move on to other authors, passing off anything TOO contradictory to Gardner and Sanders' writings as fluff. Do not, under any circumstances, read Silver Ravenwolf, or most of Cunningham's and Buckland's works, unless you're looking to understand the fluff problem that's plagued Wicca over the last twenty years. I'd also stay away from anyone who wasn't initiated by a Gardnerian or Alexandrian coven, or one that branched off from one of those two.

Answer 3

Wicca is an earth-based neopagan religion. It worships the God and Goddess, and all gods are part of the God and all Goddesses are part of the Goddess. Some people think that there is an "All" and that the Lord and Lady are the female and male polarities of the "All"(there are other names for it). But Wicca is a very diverse religion, that you can personalize, so much as you can still identify it as Wicca. Dianic Wicca for example oly worships the Goddess. You could go to Wikipedia or the Religious Tolerance websites to find out more in depth. Religious Tolerance will also be good for when you research other religions, I think it has a section on every religion imaginable.

Answer 4

prairiecrow gave a good syponsis.

I would add that Wicca is less about belief than it is about experiencing spirituality and divinity first-hand. It's not about any single book, author, prophet, doctrine, etc.

While prairiecrow and others place it at about 60 years of age, others say it is a continuation of pre-Christian European paganism.

I tend to see it as a mix of the two - a lot of (re)invention, a lot invented in the past 130 years, but a good amount of material that seems to have come from centuries before that. But the point is far from resolved, and not really that big of a deal - if someone "proved" it was invented circa 1945, that doesn't change the meat and bones of it.

Answer 5

Well... I will point you in the direction of the author to read.
Gerald Gardner... he created wicca in 1952 (roughly), it bases around a dual deity, a male and female god, which personify the power of the all or the one, which varies tradition to tradition.
You have Orthadox Tradition like Garderian, Reformed Tradition like Dragon Tradition, and you have Ecclectic which is mental case crystal hugging selective wiccans.

Read books by Gerald Gardner if you want to know what the Original form of wicca was. His Book of Shadows covers his Tradition of wicca... "Gardnerian"... obviously.

There are a lot of different forms of wicca, due to reformed and ecclectic. Its really hard to sift through the selective ecclectic crap, and find the core.

I love your stance...
"Dont judge what you dont understand" ... know before you Judge.
I probably love it, because I do the same.

Answer 6

Wicca is a peaceful religion that's focus is on the worship of the One God and One Goddess that can be worshiped in any form the practitioner sees fit.

The Wiccans Practice Magic, But they follow the Wiccan Rede which says

"Bide the Wiccan Laws you must in perfect love and perfect trust, Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill:
If it Harms none do what you will."

Answer 7

short answer.

*8 Holidays centered around the Solstices and Equinoxes and their cross quarter days.
* Belief in God AND Goddess
* Yes we cast spells, just like other religions Pray.
* No, it isn't the movie "The Craft" or like Charmed.
*We DON"T believe in the Devil.
*First rule is HARM NONE.
*No, we're not sacrificing anything to anyone.
*No orgies (Contrary to popular belief.)
*Yes, men can be Witches, too.
*we don't try to convert people

Long answer
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=white&id=1938

Answer 8

Ancient British gods

Answer 9

Wicca is a religion that is ancient. Wicca is based on nature. We dont believe in God or Satan and dont sacrifice animals. If you are truly wanting to find out about wicca search on the internet you will find alot of useful info on it.

Answer 10

I think something to do with witchcraft. Why don't you learn a real religion like Buddhism or Hindu philosophy. Theology would do well. Try Augustine "confessions" or Boethius "consolation of philosophy"

Upanishads or Baghavad Gita are good ones,

as is Autobiography of a yogi.