anyone tell me about wiccan what is it, a religion a cult????

Question

can anyone tell me, are there any good web sites to explain wiccan, when was wiccan founded, does it have a leader like other religions? are there priests, do they have ceremonies? is it something you learn, an art" any and all comments and info about wiccan will be welcome, thank you

Answer 1

Its a cult.....Go there only if you enjoy being decieved.

Answer 2

Wicca is a polytheistic religion. Wiccans believe in a god and a goddess, the balance of male and female energies, Yin and Yang. Wiccans celebrate holidays that follow both the rotation of the earth around the sun, as well as the moon around the earth. Wiccans believe in harming noone. There is very little dogma, so you will probably find that everyone you ask will tell you a different variation of what the religion is about. Beliefs, riuals, etc. differ from group to group and from person to person.

It is the combination of religion, science and it is an art form. Because it is a religion based off of science there is plenty of room for free trade of ideas and it is very diverse. Many different group and individuals study the different various other religions from all over the world. They typically don't believe they have all the answers. They typically pursue knowledge and revere other cultures and belief systems. They typically believe that there is much to be learned from other people. You will find Christian Wiccans, Buddhist Wiccans, etc, etc.

Wicca is a religion recently formed, but it is based off of the oldest religions in Europe, before the romans began forcing christianity on everyone.

There are priests and priestesses. There are ceremonies, but not everyone has the same way of doing them, there are some similarities in the style of ceremonies, but there are really no requirements on how to perform your ceremonies.

Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca
http://www.llewellynjournal.com/

Answer 3

here are some good sites about wicca that may be of help:
Basic overview of Wicca:

http://www.magicwicca.com/wicca/beliefs.htm

http://www.magicwicca.com/wicca/definition.html

http://www.magicwicca.com/wicca/wiccan_beliefs.html

http://www.magicwicca.com/wicca/wheelexp.htm

Wicca is not a cult, its a spiritual path, a religion I suppose. It is dereived way before christianity and is referred to as pre-christianity. The goddess and gods were worshipped and still are today. The wiccan rede states "harm none, do what ye will". We believe in karma, what you do comes back to you 3-fold, so we do NOT do harm to others or things, creatures, etc. There are covens which have leader called priestesses or high priestesses, then there are the solitary wiccans who practice alone and do not have an acual leader but themselves.Wiccans do have ceremonies...or rituals for the moon cycles and sabbats (holidays) and ceremonies such as handfastings ( marriages) and wiccanings ( baptisms). as you can see these were here long before christianity took over and renamed them. Hopefully the sites I sent you will be of help :) also, like with anything wicca is a spirituality, if you feel that is your path then you will know and all the knowledge will come easily.

Answer 4

If you decide to Google the term "Wicca", be prepared to sift through the information and read critically. There's a lot of BS about it on the web.

These are some good sites where you can learn about it:
http://www.geraldgardner.com/ Good articles
http://www.tradwicca.org/beginnings.html
http://www.starkindler.org/
http://wicca.timerift.net/
http://www.controverscial.com/index.html
http://www.waningmoon.com/ethics/rede.shtml
http://beaufort.bravepages.com/index.html (about different traditions of Wicca)

Contrary to popular belief, Wicca is not based on any ancient Celtic religions:
http://www.clannada.org/wicca.php
http://www.tangledmoon.org/wiccanotceltic.htm

These will answer most of your questions. Wicca is a religion of clergy so each Wiccan is a priest or priestess. The leaders of a coven are usually considered "High Priest" and/or "High Priestess". I wouldn't really call it an "art" but a religion and a way of life and of worshiping deities. I consider magic an art. Wicca embraces the practice of the art of magic but magic is only a very small part of the religion.

Answer 5

I can assure you wicca is not a cult. It is a very open ended nature-based religion, free from restricting dogmatism and hierarchies. It is very much a religion of independence, it's a collection of people with similar philosophies wishing to express these philosophies in a communal setting. Most wiccans do practice ceremonies and when performed in groups there is usually a priest and/or priestess that leads the ceremony. There is a basic framework to be learned in which you are encouraged to be creative with, bringing in your own ideas and beliefs. While the "occultic" language and symbolism can certainly seem complicated and threatening to an outsider, I assure you that once you learn about the ideas and beliefs behind them you will find wicca to be a beautiful philosophy.

Answer 6

Wicca is a cult... when you consider that a cult is a group of people who gather together to practice a religous belief. I am a Christian so i do believe that wicca is wrong ... but that's besides the point. Wicca is one of the worlds oldest religions. They don't really have a heirarchy like say the catholics do. They do have preists and preistesses. and many ceremonies but the thing about wicca you can find many different wiccans who believe in the basic goddess but they practice different rituals and believe in different other minor gods and spirits and such. it's a very individualistic religion meaning that each person finds their own way... for the most part. And yes it is something that takes learning... When it comes to things like witchcraft it is very dangerous to just go whilly nilly when you have no idea what you are doing. A wiccan would tell you that but as a christian I say that because you are dealing with spirits that are trying to decieve you. It's appealling to the humanistic part of us... being able to make our own way and such but its is nothing to be triffled with. Please be careful.

Answer 7

For the record, Wiccans aren't, in technical terms, members of cults (not most at any rate, as with any other religion, there are a few extremists). I'm wondering how this conversation started, though. Did you start talking to her about your religious beliefs? If so, I can see where she might have thought it was an open exchange of ideas instead of you trying to convert/persuade her that she was wrong. I'd suggest simply telling her that while you appreciate she has a different outlook that you really aren't interested in learning about other religions. In my opinion, though, this is sort sad for you. I've found that learning about other religions has helped me understand and appreciate my faith more. It's surprising that you care about her feelings as you're being rather disrespectful about this issue. Hope that helps.

Answer 8

The wiccan religion is not a cult. I am not a wiccan, but I knew people who were. They are pagans (they believe in more than one God).

The people I knew felt very connected with the earth and performed rituals (much like native americans and other religions) for different happenings. It's a culmination of the ancient celtic (Irish, Scottish, Wales, etc...) religions that were around before Jesus's time.

They worship the earth and the God and Godess of fertility and hunting. I do not know much more than this, but I do know that it is not a cult. No thing or person is harmed in rituals. It is just very much like the Native Americans way of thinking. They respect the earth and the beings who live on it. And basically praise life.

Nowadays it may seem more "hippy-ish" or "weird" to those who read about it because it is not widely accepted or practiced in terms of a global scale. It just really goes back to the roots of Celtic religion before Jesus.

Most people are very misinformed about other religions and ways of life. It is not really a lot of peoples fault for being ignorant, but it is because of other people brainwashing them or making them believe that another religion other than their own is "wrong." There is no right or wrong way. Whatever works for you within reason. The people who do not research a religion (or only do so within their religious confines) do not know what they are talking about. People should look outside their religion and study things on their own to see what the other religions are really about without judgement.

Answer 9

wicca is an earth based religion which believes in primarily a goddess. it is a matriarchal religion that pre-dates christianity, however the whole part of wicca went bye bye for a few years and suddenly sprung up around the 60's and 70's by many feminists.

as far as i know, wicca does not have a leader. there are things called covens - a group of people lead by usually a high priestess or priest. normally it's by a priestess. they have ceremonies which vary from tradition to tradition. those who are not in a coven are called solitary witches. i am one of those.

the path of a solitary is to depend on themselves rather than a group. a person, regardless if they are solitary or not, can either learn it later in life or early in life. i learned it early in life but didn't know what it was until i was 15.

wicca/paganism is not a cult, however some would say it is because it's evil or stupid to them. they don't understand the true nature of the way of the witch. we don't all stir a cauldron or create spells or put hexes on people. we practice our beliefs just as any other person does.

there are three kinds of witches: practitioners, ceremonial and spiritualist. practitioners and ceremonial witches are pretty much the same. they both do spells and rituals, however ceremonial witches are more formal with these. spritualists do not depend on acting out in a physical way. i am a spiritualist and i'm not speaking for everyone who's a wiccan/pagan spiritualist, but all i do is read tarot (for myself only), do natal charts, meditate, visualize and pray pray pray.

hopefully this helped you out.


and to repeat myself again: earth based religions pre-dated the christian era and did not originate from celtic traditions. archeological findings can support this debate.

Answer 10

Wicca is witchcraft based on nature-oriented customs that came from the pre-Christian religions. It is a practice that endorses good acts. Wiccans are the practitioners and are not Satan worshipers as a lot of people think.Nor are the people who practice this way of life anything like our idea of typical witches. My daughter went to school with a girl who was, along with her parents, a Wicca. The family was normal and very friendly. Pretty cool, actually. I am not sure where you would find out about this other than the Internet. Try looking in Google under religious practices or religions.

Answer 11

wicca is a revivalist movement. That is to say it is a new system of beliefs that draws from older systems of belief. Unlike, say, methodism, it draws from mostly celtic pagan beliefs rather than christian beliefs. I am a bit biased against wiccans in spite of keeping some pagan beliefs simply because I have found that many of the wiccans I have known are lost sheep looking for solace in a scary universe. In other words, Wicca is an attempt to organize and lend a hierarchy to a belief system that is inherently personal and individual. It has some wisdom, some truth, and some value, but in the end it all boils down to the individual. Some of the best people I know are christian. Some of the best people I know are wiccan. And they are very similar to each other, just as some of the worst people I know are christian, and some of the worst people I know are wiccan, and they are are also very similar to each other.