what exactly is wiccan?

Question

i told my hubby i was wanting to find some info on it...he said its devil worshiping i dont think thats true....does it involve magic&spells? what do they believe in?

for those who cant read...im not bashing wicca. i was wanting to know more about it....my hubbys family is very christian and im sure family playing a role in feelings that wicca is devil worshiping.........no body was bashing the religion...take a pill.

Answer 1

Tree hugging dirt worshippers....and we like it that way! ; )

Answer 2

A Wiccan is a practitioner of Wicca.

Wicca is a religion which keeps its Faith as diverse as the many individuals who practice it.

It might be politic to say that it is a Faith of many shifting forms. It has a very few guiding principles of which the most well-heeded is, "If it harms none, do what you would."

As a religion, it embraces life, living to co-existence, and harmony. It often incorporates spells, magic, and prayer of many diverse kinds.

As a some-times/all-times Witch, I have studied the Wiccan faith. I respect and honor its beliefs, while not always ascribing to it. I enjoy a faith that shares traits with Wicca. I encourage everyone to study it before making any claims on it.

Good Luck and Goddess Bless.

Answer 3

I think it's more like tree hugging than devil worship. In any case there's no established definition of Wicca. Even Wiccans don't know what Wicca is. Ask 10 Wiccans what it is and you'll get 10 very different answers -- as you're about to find out.

Answer 4

Devil worshipping? Come on. That is such an ignorant statement.

In my experience with it, Wicca is an system of beliefs that is centered around worshipping earth and the things in it. I find it's adherents to generally be positive with a realistic consideration of negativity.

Answer 5

wicca doesnt have many exact rules. there are two usual statments about wicca, the first is usualy an automatic defencive statment " there is no devil in the craft" this statment means that they do not worship an evil god or goddess there is no evil entity that is preyed to. the second statment is "do what you will, but harm none" and this one is pretty self explanitory as long as you dont hurt anyone yourself included do what you wish. it can involve spells and magic, but doesnt have to. it can involve preying to a god or goddess or many gods and goddess or none at all. everyone practices it diffrently and to each there own way. and i am a pagan

Answer 6

Ok, I will repeat this AGAIN

Wiccan is an earth based religion, with usually 2 deities, known as the Lord and Lady or Goddess and God.

We do believe in magic, but not the ride on the broomstick kind. Due to the Wiccan Rede: Eight words ye Wiccan Rede fulfill - An' it harm none, Do what ye will. ... we try not to cause injury to others.

WICCAN IS NOT THE WORSHIP OF YOUR DEVIL. HE IS NOT EVEN A PART OF OUR BELIEF SYSTEM. SATAN IS AN ABRAHAMIC CONSTRUCT, THE EVIL FULCRUM FOR WHICH YOU MUST BALANCE GOOD. Forgive the yelling, but I am really tired of people that don't know what they are talking about calling me a satanist.

Answer 7

Technically, Wiccans are the Priest/ess to the Pagan population. Pagan being all earth based beliefs (varying depending on which path you follow); and there exists NO devil in Paganism -- easiest concept is Paganism is to Europe as Native Americans are to America.

However, since the Pagan belief is that one can commune with the God/dess on a personal level; that might make one Wiccan in a sense.

Technically; it is Wiccan, Witch, Pagan. Not all Pagans are Wiccans (i.e. Priest/ess) and not all Witches are Wiccans or Pagans -- as Witch tends to deal with magick (as in energy not slight of hand); but all Wiccans ARE Pagan, but not all are Witches.

There's a lot of confusion and you will have a lot of disagreement and many Pagans will say they are Wiccan because it sounds *cool*...or they try to be Witch and fail.

You can do magick and spells; but you do not have to do such things merely to be Pagan -- a simple follower of the faith.

Pretty much follow the Rede.

Answer 8

Wicca began with a book written in 1961 titled 'Modern Paganism' by Anton LaVey. Mr. LaVey was a self declared satanist who lamented the disappearance of the many pagan religions of yesteryear. He tried to imagine what a pagan religion would look like if it had continued into the modern age. In the forward of his book, he was very clear he would wish to recreate such a religion because it would meet his goal of leading people away from God.

Wiccans are those who are deceiving others or have been deceived into thinking their "religion" has some historical reality. Wicca never existed as a religion in real life.

The word wicca does appears in ancient literature, most commonly in the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus, where it is used to describe the style of construction of the Celtic houses. They would weave sticks together and cover them with mud plaster. It means "woven" and is the word from which we get our modern word "wicker" basket.

In short, Wicca is a known fraud.

Answer 9

It is a religion that worships nature. Nothing wrong about it just different. God has different ways for different people. No religion is right or wrong as long as respect for others is foremost.

Answer 10

No, it is nothing to do with "devil worship". The Devil is a Christian concept -- Wiccans have no being even close to the Devil in our cosmology.

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. Its founder was a British civil servant named Gerald Gardner.

http://www.geraldgardner.com/essays.php

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).

Wiccans have celebrations which are timed to both the solar and lunar calendars. The solar festivals -- held at the solstices, the equinoxes, and four points in between them -- are called sabbats.

http://paganwiccan.about.com/library/basics/blsabbats.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_year

The lunar holy days are called esbats, and are held at the full moon each month, and sometimes at the new moon as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esbat

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 "The 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: Regarding Malachi's post... I think the members of other Pagan religions would be VERY surprised to hear that we Wiccans are "their priesthood". A Wiccan is a priest/ess in their own religion -- period. While other Pagans may honor our achievements and learning, I do not think we can presume to function as their priesthood.

And as far as "Ski"'s post goes... the fact that he doesn't even have the most basic facts correct about where Wicca started (with Gardner in the 1940's and 1950's) speaks for itself, in my opinion.