What is a Wiccan? What do they believe? And Pagan?

Question

What's the difference between a Wiccan and a pagan?

Answer 1

The real thing or all the college students?

The real thing is an evolution of the Celtic Druids who went underground to escape being killed by Christians

Answer 2

The wiccan religion is an offset of paganism. Pagans believe in many gods and goddesses; depending on the specific type of pagan religion, they may believe in only multiple gods or multiple goddesses or both. They also link each god and goddess to a specific aspect of life such as love or war or fertility or destruction/chaos. Therefore, when they want something in their life to improve, they can pray to that particular god or goddess for that particular aspect of life. Or if they want to appease a specific god or goddess, they can make a sacrifice or offering to that entity. Many celebrations and holidays even rituals of other religious groups, especially Christianity, stem from the Pagan religion. At the time Christianity was being formed, Paganism was in the forefront and Christian founders could pick and choose what aspects they liked or didn't like and incorporate it into their religion.
As far as the Wiccan religion goes, there are many types of Wiccans. There is even a form of Christian Wicca that combines aspects of the two religions. Wiccans do not worship Satan, which is a common misconception, nor do all Wiccans practice magick, which is only a sort of ritual usually directed towards a specific god or goddess. Wiccans believe that you should not harm anyone because it will come back at you threefold. This is similar to the golden rule of Christianity or the idea of karma.

Answer 3

Wiccan is a "new age" version of Paganism. I believe anyone that says they are "wiccan" is doing it for attention. Wicca is about "magical spells", chants, charms, and stuff like that ... Paganism (seeing as I am pagan and have been pagan my whole life maybe I'll be a little better at explaining this for you). Pagans believe in the worlds harmony. Earth, Air, Fire, Water, & Spirit (making up a pentacle). Very much about balance and harmony between people and nature, and believe in a god & goddess (in one body) ... Pagans believe that God cannot be male without being female, he cannot be good without evil, etc (ying & yang) ....

Modern day Christians have made Paganism out to be devil worshipping, or a cult. They have turned all Pagan symbols into satanic symbols (i.e. the pentacle) they turned all the Pagan holidays into Christian holidays, Easter (death & ressurection of Christ) ... Easter for Pagans is a WOMAN's holiday, celebrating procreation and fertility, and so on.

ALSO basic definition of Paganism is any religion (other than the recognized "world" religions) that is not Christian, Judaism, or Islam. So, Greek mythology, Roman mythology would be classified as Paganism.

Answer 4

The word pagan was a word used by the romans it means " country dweller " or " those who live in the rural areas "
In modern times pagans are those who believe in various Gods and Goddesses outside of christianity, wicca too is considered a pagan religion but it is more organized, where the pagan community is more eclectic.
If you are interested in Wicca there are many groups you can join that will give you a better understanding of what it is without judgment or bias.

Answer 5

I'm not expert on either, but I think Wiccan's believe in a sort of "magic" religion, actually goes back centuries. They believe in a summerland after life, and they think or do (I don't really know, but people have been certain of results from spells and stuff) spells to help or hurt people. And pagans merely believe in more than one God, and a female deity. Hey, noone really knows right? We'll have to wait and see. Pagans I think are more natural, earthy people, and Wiccans, well, I don't know.

Answer 6

The religions varies greatly within itself, because there is no "standard" definition of either. There is no "great book" like the Bible, Koran or Torah to follow and no national or world leader like the Pope to follow.
I am a Pagan, so I will answer for myself and only myself. I personally believe that energies rule the world. The energies were here before the Gods and Goddess' and it is those energies that I base my faith on. The Gods and Goddess' are manifestations of that energy that have been created by humans. This does not make them any less real, it just makes it easier for people to relate to the energy itself.
I believe in the duality of nature, male/female, good/evil. I believe that magic is the manifestation of the energy, therefor everything in nature is magic.
A spell cast is similar to a prayer in most religions, it is the sending out of energy to get a (hopefully) expected result.
Basically my religion is based on the energy that is the universe, I think it fits very well into scientific belief and logical thinking...and I am very logical so my religion fits me.
I do believe in Karma and the three fold law, and do follow the wiccan reed "Do what thou wilt, but harm none."

Please feel free to email me with any specific questions you may have.

A good book on Wicca is Scott Cunningham's Guide book for the Solitary Practitioner.

Answer 7

Not sure yet about the specifics-I think that's where the difference is.
I do know they believe in both a feminine and masculine source to everything. I'm not sure if they believe in one female and one male or a bunch of both. I think the term 'pagan' refers to any type of polytheistic religion but wicca is specifically drawn from ancient Celtic beliefs.

Answer 8

A Pagan is anyone who doesn't follow the "big three" religions -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Neo-Pagan is an umbrella catagory that covers a range of religions, usually based on or reconstructions of ancient Pagan belief systems. They tend to be earth-oriented and polytheistic. Some Neo-Pagan religions include Asatru, Druidism, and Wicca.

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

Hope this helps.

Answer 9

A witch or wizard as the sex may be.

That depends on the witch or the wizard as the sex may be.

Technically witches are Pagans but not all Pagans are witches. We have to see if they float first to see if they are made out of wood to see if we have to burn them, because witches burn. Truthfully, Pagans tend to be nature worshippers that embrace the sacred feminine seeing the world in terms of a duality of powers. Witches are an off shoot of this. They have a little more focus on the power of nature and less on the balance of nature. Of course, I have yet to figure out why they melt if you throw mop water at them. Perhaps it is the clorox.

Answer 10

Pagan is an umbrella term for many pre Christian beliefs that usually have Gods and Goddesses
they are generally natured based religions
and Wicca is one of those