Becoming Pagan or Wiccan?

Question

I've had exposure to Pagans and Wiccans in the past. I want to know more about it and find people who practice these faiths. How do I go about this? Also, does anyone have difficulty reconciling the use of spells? I grew up Christian and get the heeby-jeebys about that aspect, but I want a more nature-based faith to follow. Thanks in advance for your help with this.

Answer 1

As far as I can tell, Paganism (or more accurately, Neo-Paganism) is an umbrella term covering a related group of earth-centered and generally polytheistic religions. Wicca is one of the religions within that cluster.

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 (but not all) 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.

Answer 2

You can be a Pagan or Wiccan and never work a spell. I've been Pagan for, almost, all my life and only worked spells when I was younger. Witchcraft is not mandatory in any of the Pagan religions. It's only done when the follower feels like doing it (or feels they need to do it). You can have a full, spiritual experience in Paganism without ever touching a wand ^_^

I'm sure others will post this - www.witchvox.com

You may want to take a look at this site as well - http://wicca.timerift.net/

Answer 3

One becomes a Wiccan by choosing that spiritual path. All the world's spiritual paths are sacred, and all are true, but Wicca may be the one that is right for you. If it is, you will know it; the saying is, "The Goddess calls Her own to Her." When you are feeling sure in your heart that it is right for you, then you make yourself a Wiccan through a ceremony of self-dedication under a new Moon. Follow your heart and your most sincere, honest inner beliefs and you will not be mistaken.

The best way to take next steps is to look for competent teachers in your own area. If you cannot find a teacher, find others interested in the same things and start working with them. Often, when people are looking for a teacher, they tend to find others with whom they can practice. This sometimes takes some looking. In the meantime, there are some good (and many crappy) books you could look into. I suggest the following writers: Dianne Sylvan, Starhawk, Robert Graves, Scott Cunningham, and Margot Adler.

Your concern about spellwork is understandable, but this is maybe not what you think it is. For most practicing Wiccans, this is essentially a metaphorical way of describing prayer practices. But the essence of Wicca is the sacredness of the Universe as it is. If Nature is the focus of your sense of meaning in the world, that may make Wicca right for you--only you can know and decide.

Answer 4

You don't have to use spells to be Pagan. It's entirely optional. Pagans view spells much the same way as Christians view prayer and various rituals that they do. Blessing something with holy water, crossing yourself, and offering a wedding bouquet to Mary is all very spell-ish too. Anyway, it's still not required. You don't have to reconcile it, because you don't have to do it.

http://www.sacredhearth.com has lots of info about various Pagan paths. Start in the "Articles" section. Then move to the Book of Shadows section. The Tutorials are all about magic, so you can probably skip those.

Answer 5

Well, I'm an Asatruar (Not all of us are Wiccans), I don't have much use for casting spells...not all Pagans use witchcraft. There's nothing wrong with it, but you shouldn't do something if you do not feel comfortable. It is certainly not a requirement to being Pagan. The use of ritual magic does tend to be more predominate in Wicca than in some of the other Pagan religions, but then not even all Wiccans use magic.

There's plenty of us Pagans here on Yahoo Answers and you can also try looking at some Pagan forums online such as http://www.MysticWicks.com as well as http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10015.html and http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_40313.html

Answer 6

There are many places online where you can learn about Paganism and Wicca.

Don't fear casting spells. We never cast spells to hurt anyone, because that would violate the Rede: "An ye harm none, do as ye will".

One of the places where you can find information and pagan/wiccan groups in your area is through http://www.witchvox.com and you can find other useful information at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pwfo/ .

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. There are many of us Pagans/Wiccans here in Yahoo Answers, I know that they too will be glad to help you out.

Blessed Be )0(

Answer 7

You don't have to advocate spellwork to be Wiccan. Just to be a Witch. There is a difference. :) Follow you heart and it will lead the way.

For the difference, check here:
http://paganwiccan.about.com/cs/whatiswicca/a/wiccanwitch.htm

You can also feel free to contact me with questions about Wicca.

Answer 8

I'm a Pagan, and at one time was Wiccan.
I'd be happy to help you in any way I can.
I have no problem with the use of spells, but you don't have to use them in order to be pagan, sweetie.
If you'd like more help, feel free to email me offlist.

Answer 9

I'm an ex-Wiccan myself. My parents were Christians, I became a Wiccan in my teens, and eventually tried other forms of occultism.

In 1897 Godfrey Leland wrote "Aradia Gospel of The Witches". The book was plagiarized from two of his other books, Etruscan Remains and Gypsie Sorcery. Leland claimed he was given an ancient manuscript, which is the same story he used about one of his other books. This is the same era when Joseph Smith Jr., was finding “gold plates”, so maybe it sounded possible. The manuscript was never produced for examination, like Smith’s plates. Even though the book doesn't mention "wicca", it was the inspiration of what was to come. "Aradia" deals with Diana and her brother Lucifer, a being "banished from paradise for his pride" and was obviously the Christian devil. Diana and Lucifer have a daughter named Aradia, who was supposedly a witch avatar who lived in Sicily in the 14th century. No witch cult like Leland's was ever found, and the document is obviously fake.

Next came Margaret Murray. A quack anthropologist, Murray hatched her own witch theory inspired by Leland's hoax. Murray invented the idea that witches of medieval witch-hunts were actual part of a Pagan cult that survived into 1600's or so. Murray wasn't above lying as her writings about Joan of Arc bear out. If she had actually read the trial transcripts from St. Joan's trial as she claimed, there are no way she could have drawn the conclusions she did about the devout Catholic Joan being a witch. Murray tests the limits of the reader's patience with ideas like an poor accused witch being tortured crying "Queen of Heaven help me!" as an incantation to a Pagan goddess, rather than the obvious St. Mary. But Murray's books inspired (and continues to inspire) others.

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. Many American Wiccans deny Gardner's sexual fetishes, but they're commonly accepted as fact in the U.K. Gardner was a member of Crowley’s O.T.O. and plagiarized his writings for his Book of Shadows.

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 Llewellyn 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!"

Wicca 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.

Eventually Ronald Hutton 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" fantasy (like Kelly for one, he calls himself a "Christian Pagan") by calling 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.

My advice: Forget Wicca and find a "thinking person's" Christianity instead. The many non-fiction works of C.S. Lewis are a great start.

Answer 10

google it