Anyone know much about Wicca or witchcraft?

Question

Is it evil? Is there "devil " in the craft? Are spells real or entertainment only? Tell me about Ojia boards? Black magic?
Any good websites for me to look for? Tell me about the candles, which color mean things. Oh thanks evryonePlease be kind :) Oh yeah and are horascopes and stuff real?

Answer 1

I'm not a Wiccan (I'm not trained in, nor initiated into, a Wiccan Tradition i.e. Gardnerian, Alexandrian, Mosian, CCW, etc.) but I know probably as much about it as a non-initiate can.

It's not evil. It's a different religious philosophy and religious practice, but not evil.

There is no "devil" in Wicca. That is a completely foreign concept to Wiccans.

Spells - well, if you're thinking that Witches or Wiccans wave things around and ~poof~ something happens...no. Spells are directing energy towards a result. That's all. There may or may not be props involved, but the essence is that energy is directed towards a result. Kind of like prayer.

I suggest the following websites for general information about Wicca in particular and Witchcraft in general:

http://www.cog.org/wicca/about.html

http://www.newwiccanchurch.net/articles/btwfaq.htm

As for astrology - that really depends on the astrologer. Many people use the symbol system of astrology to awaken their inner eye - and others use tarot, or scrying with a mirror.

Answer 2

Well you have quite a few questions :) Always a good sign.
Is it evil? You would have to define how you view the term. The Wiccan Rede says harm none and my version of evil does harm, so from my viewpoint the answer is no.
The devil is a Christian construct. It does not exist in Wicca (or Judiasm either).
There is a reason people are told to be careful what they wish for! Be it a prayer that is answered or what most people view as a "spell" (incense, candles, etc), these are all spell. If you want something and get it, it could be considered a spell. Some groups define witchcraft as the process of spell work and Wicca as the religion. This means that even Christians can be witches!
Ouija boards can be effective in communicating with either those on the other side or just your higher self. As with candles, this is a very large subject and I don't have the room here.
Black magic is a hollywood creation. It is usually defined as magic to do harm and therefore is not a part of Wicca.
Horoscopes were originally created based on observations of both the skys as well as observations about the people born at certain times. It has been centuries since this was examined but I'm sure you know one or two people who match their astrological sign. The more specific you try to get, the more likely there are to be errors. Add to that the daily horoscopes are for such a large group (all those within a given sign) and their accuracy becomes like winning the lottery!
Shakespeare said it best "there are more things on heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophies".

As for web sites, I run one which points to other sources or information. You can visit it at http://www.neinfo.net/Shrine_7_Spheres/index.htm

Answer 3

A sincere question. No Witchcraft is not of the devil. Wiccans do not even believe in the devil. Spells are a very real part of Witchcraft and Wicca. Sometimes they are for worship and ritual only but sometimes they are directed towards a directed goal. Ouija boards are considered a form of communication or divinations. Not all Pagans believe in or use Ouija boards. Some do. It is a matter of personal preference. If you decide to use on I suggest reading a little about them first. There is no such thing as black, white, or gray magic. All magic is is manipulating energies towards a desired goal. There are no shades of gray invoved. Whatever you send out will come back to you three fold. Which means if you do something negative, something negative will come back three times as bad. So you just have to be careful and do not affect anyones free will.

An' it harm none, do what ye will.

Answer 4

wicca is to pagan as catholic is to christian...lol

i think the best part about paganism is that you take responsibility for your own actions. If you need a thing you don't have to beg God for it and hope you will get whatever it is, you can take a more active role in obtaining it. There are many different views of the ethics involved in doing this, with a great deal of the people saying that if you create a "black" spell--one which interfere's with the free will of another person--you will have negative events happen to you, and likewise if you use a "white" spell good things will come your way. I don't personally give a hoot about that stuff. If someone is doing something evil to me the heck if i'm going to say "oh, well it's their will to do so and i should just let them". AS IF!

Ouija boards are just entertainment for some people and a useful tool for others. It really depends on whether you can forge a link with the spirit world while using it--and when you do forge one be careful you're not talking to someone or something that doesn't have your best interests at heart.

I personally study astrology and use it to make decisions, but the first thing you need to realize is: just comparing the sun signs of two people doesn't tell you squat about how well they would get along. Need to know where ALL their planets were at birth and when they got together, and lots of people also like to figure out the half way point between each planet and make a chart out of those too. And those daily horoscopes are so generalized it isn't even funny. gotta compare current position of planets to the position of your planets at birth to get a personal horoscope.

i could go on for hours about this topic so i think i'll stop now. Just run a search for magick, that ought to give you plenty of info.

if astrology does interest you i like going to
astrology-numerology.com

Answer 5

First of all Wicca and Witchcraft are two different things.....You can be a Witch without studying the religion of Wicca.....but if you are wiccan, you are also a Witch.....Wicca and Witchcraft are not evil unless you practice evil ways.....there is good and bad in every religion and culture.....it depends on the person and how they use what they learn.....The only rule of Wicca is "Do as you will but harm none".....Wiccans do not believe in a Devil.....The Devil was made up by the early christian priests to scare people into their religion.....They turned the Horned God of the Forest into the Devil.....The rest of your question would take too long for me to answer.....I have taught workshops on all of your questions, and each one was about 2 hours long.....I suggest you buy a couple books.....Good luck with your studies.....Blessed Be, Elkiyah

Answer 6

Its an earth-loving religion that focuses on a loving goddess and (usualy) god. Spells are using your own powers to bring about good changes to your life (and others but that can ONLY be done if the other person is told beforehand and agrees to it, wiccans have a strict belief in Karma and a three-fold law that states that anything you do will come back to you three time as severe, though this is usualy considered symbolic, and simply means that good things will come to you if you are a good, non-manipulative person, and bad things will come to you if you are..well the opposite)

Religioustolerance.org has some good information

Lot of stuff about candles and colors that you can easily find on the internet.

Ouigi boards and black magic aren't really part of the religion.

Horoscopes aren't really defined by the religion either though most Wiccans do pay attention to astrology as part of magick.

Answer 7

Historically, the word "witchcraft" WAS used to represent evil practices: specifically malevolent magic. Workers of benevolent magic might be respected in a community and were not called witches. However, most historic witches are fiction. People thought they were executing people who were magically blighting crops, causing sterility, etc., but in fact the victims were generally innocents swept up in a panick hysteria. The modern use of the term "witchcraft" is morally neutral. It is a form of magic. Good and evil comes from how the witch uses it. Many, but not all, witches have very stringent ethical guidelines by which they work. Not causing magical harm is a common (although not absolute) rule among witches. Wicca is a polytheistic, modern religion that acnkowledges the existence of magic but doesn't require practical applications of its use (i.e. spells). Witchcraft is a magical practice generally focusing on practical applications. Witches may or may not be religious and may or may not include religion in with their magical beliefs. Lord and Lady were originally the Outer Court names for the Wiccan deities. Those who had not yet been initiated would not know the proper names of the coven deities but instead would refer to them simply as Lord and Lady. Today, some people prefer to just address their deities by such terms, or they use it as a general placeholder, recognizing that we all follow a Lord and Lady, but their identities differ from Wiccan to Wiccan and coven to coven.

Answer 8

Such terrific questions, good for you for asking!

Neither WIcca not Witchcraft is evil. I am a Witch, not a Wiccan, and a good place to read about the differences between the two is www.goecities.com/ech879/

Many people are both, some are one or the other. In both cases, spells are real, but they are not like you see out of Hollywood. For me and for many Witches, a spell is simply focused concentration and visualization on a goal that you want to accomplish, and when you focus, you might use candles to quiet your mind and concentrate your mental energies, then visualizing the goal as ACCOMPLISHED. When you focus your mental energy on seeing the goal as completed, you find that reaching that specific goal becomes real in your life. You can see it, you know how to get there.

I personally don't know that Ouija boards or horoscopes are particularly true, but I am always open to having it shown to me to be true. That for me is the essence of Witchcraft. It has to be real and true, none of the fakery that I left in Christianity.

I wish you the best on your spiritual journey in Wicca and Witchcraft!

Bright Blessings,
Lady Morgana )0(

Answer 9

No its not evil. No Pagans don't believe the Devil even exists, that is a Christian entity. Yes there are real spells, its a form or ritualistic prayer. I personally don't believe in Ouiji boards but I know people who do. Black magic goes against the flow of the universe and the laws of return. I suppose you could do it, but it comes back on you. Most people don't mess with that. Not all witches are Wiccan. Not all Pagans are witches.
witchvox.com and paganspath.com are good websites and Scott Cunningham writes good books....I think that covers everything you asked. LOL
Blessed Be!

Answer 10

Jilly, Wicca is not evil at all. Of course the Fanatics on here will surely tell you that you will wind up in Hell for even asking this question, but then again, what do THEY know?

There is NO devil in Wicca at all. No Hell either. Spells are essentially a prayer to goddess or God with a few props to enable us to concentrate our intentions on the task at hand. Ouija boards are RARELY used as tools of divination, Tarot cards and runes tend to be the most predominant. Magic (Witches tend to spell it Magick, to differentiate from "sleight of hand tricks" used by staqge magicians) IS real but it's NOT the way that most people tend to think. It's NOT the sort of "in your face" kind of showmanship that you see on TV and in the movies. It tends to be VERY subtle and not all that extraordinary. Magick is NEITHER Black nor White, it's JUST Magick (Christian prayers aren't Black or White, they're just prayers).

Candle colors don't necessarily have ANY significance. It's ONLY the relationships that SOME Witches put to the colors that has a meaning for that particular Witch.

I think the web site http://www.religioustolerance.org can explain a lot more about Wicca than one can in the amount of space allowed in here. I admire your willingness to LEARn about us and who we are and what we do. I believe that by learning most people will learn that they have nothing to fear from us and may come to understand our Religion a little better and come to tolerate and accept us as fellow contributing members of our society and civilization.

Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch