Wiccans only please!?

Question

I have a quick question. I have read a few questions put on here asking what wicca is and have seen multiple responses saying its a new religion only 60-70 years old. these people do not mention though that Gardner didnt "create" the religion he simply brought it back to light after being initiated into a very secretive coven that he found. I was under the belief, and really have been for quite some time so I want to know if I was wrong, that wicca is an "old religion" that predates most others. am I wrong in this? lol I feel like I am new to the craft all over again lol. thank you for your help

First I want to say I am sorry if it came off as me trying to validate the religion by saying its ancient. Personally I agree with wiccanrider in that I dont care if its 50 or 50,000 years old I will believe it and it will be my religion regardless. Second, Dr. Zoomzoom I have told you before in forums that I feel you are, as kind as I can say it, ignorant. If you ever really did follow wicca then I get the feeling that you followed it in hopes that you could cast some spell and be rich and powerful. this is not what wicca is to me and im sure its not what it is to many other wiccans out there. Fourth, I did not post this question to get people to come in and try to convert me to christianity this is why I posted it as wiccans only please. I dont have a problem with your religion I want to happily pursue knowledge about mine. Finally, I appreciate many of the answers here and do not know how to choose. I dont want to put it to vote but I dont know who to choose.

So I will choose one but know that those I did not choose was not because I felt it was not as good as the others it was simply that I was stuck having to choose only one. Thank you for your help

Blessed Be.

Answer 1

There is a lot of debate about this even in the Wiccan community. Some feel Gardner did not even find and acnient coven.

Wicca as we know it is a new religion about as old as I am, I am 55. However it does have roots in ancient ways. It does not really matter to me if it is 50 or 50,000 years old it is still a valid religion.

I do feel that the major tenants we hold dear like the law of three and karma Reincarnation and the Harm None rule is only 50 or so years old. History teaches us that many people of old did things that in Wicca today is frowned on.
BB

Answer 2

Wicca is neo-Paganism. Like Druids are Pagans, so are Wiccans, celebrating the Moon Goddess and the Sun God.
Once upon a time, people didn't feel the need to label themselves, harvest festivals were just a way of saying thanks to the Sun for the crop, and for asking the Goddess to ensure the God returned in the Spring.

Paganism is one of the oldest recorded religions, certainly long pre-dating Christianity, Islam & Judaism.
Christians have placed all their holidays on and around the 8 Pagan Sabbats. All except Samhain (Halloween). The reason Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate Christmas is that they know it's actually a Pagan festival (Yule) and therefore shun it, and I admire them for that.
Moving the date 4 days doesn't make it Jesus' birthday, the general consensus of opinion is that he was born nowhere near 25th December.

If, as many do, the polytheist religions of the Ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Aztecs & Incas are taken into account, Paganism is THE oldest religion.

The word Pagan comes from the Latin 'Paganus' which means country dweller. The Romans didn't like the country folk running off into the woods performing fertility rites on Beltane and decided to kill them all. The Christians have always persecuted Pagans, but I think you'll find Pagans are still the most tolerant and forgiving members of society. Wiccans even more so because of the 'Rule of Three' - whatever you give out, you get back threefold. Other religions call this Karma.

The 'burning's are largely a myth. Matthew Hopkins was the most famous Witchfinder General in the UK. He lived in Manningtree and most of the witches he accused were ducked at the Hopping Bridge which can still be seen along The Walls in Mistley and those who survived this ordeal were tried at the Chelmsford Assizes and hung.
I have read extensively on this subject.

Paganism is not devil worship, Pagans don't believe in the devil.
The pentacle is not the sign of the devil, it is the shape Venus traces in the sky and the five points symbolise the 4 earthly elements + spirit. It is a symbol of protection.

The link between FreeMasons and Pagans is also misconstrued and it's because Masons use the pentacle as a sigil.
They use it because the pentacle was carved into the stonework of Solomon's temple. He wasn't a Pagan, but he was a stone mason.
Masons are Christians, at 'Ladies Nights' the Lords prayer is said before eating, and I should know, I've been to them.

EDIT: Crowley did not found Wicca, and I know for a fact that FreeMasons are not Wiccans, my Dad hated the fact I wear a pentacle because FreeMasons frown on religions other than Christianity. I'm speaking from first-hand experience, not conjecture and half-baked web research.

Answer 3

"Wicca" as a belief system is a reconstruction of ancient practices and beliefs, and nobody can know how accurate this reconstruction is.

True is that Gardner invented a lot to fill in the gaps. True is also that there were several ancient religions that practiced similar rites to modern wicca, as far as we can tell from contemporaneous records. It is also true that these ancient peoples lived in peace with nature, so emulating them should be all for the good.

So it's up to everybody to make up their own minds, the true believers will want their religion to be THE real, ancient tradition, other people may doubt that. I myself am always a bit amused that people feel the need to justify their beliefs and convictions by tradition. Age has nothing to do with value, or with truth. If there is one, being mere mortals, we'll never know for certain, at least not in this world.

Answer 4

You are correct in your belief that Wicca/Witchcraft is an old religion dating back to pre-Christian times.

The mistake that many people make is to think that Gardner created Wicca, when in actuality he was just brave enough to write a book & get it published in a time when people were frightened of all things non-Christian.

However, it is my understanding that the old ones did not necessarily call the religion Wicca, and many associate the term with neopaganism.

Also, remember that depending on who you ask, some people think that all pagans, witches, wiccans practice the same thing which could be leading to the confusion over the term.

Blessed Be...

Answer 5

There were the crafts. They are as old as Humankind.
There were the crafts. There came the animists, and the shamens.
There were the crafts. There came the Pantheons.
There were the crafts. There came the religions of the Bibles to the middle East.
There were the crafts. There came the labelling of crafters as Witches by the religions of the Bibles in Europe and the "New World."
There were the crafts. There came the laws and the burning times.
There were the crafts. There came the time the laws fell away and the neo age of Paganism and the formation of religions picking up the bits and pieces of the old ways and conceiving a way into the future for those who would be of the crafts and a newly born Wicca, Asatru, and many others.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

DR. Zoom zoom uses http://usminc.org/famous.htm l as a cite to back up his "facts." It is not a valid source of information. It is a bigoted site of what Christians believe about Pagans and the Occult, it is neither fully factual or fully correct on any of it's opinions and essays. It seeks to place both Pagans and the Occult into a full negative situation for any reader of its information.

Answer 6

You are wrong in that, or at least that's the current consensus. Wicca can be reliably traced no further back than about the 1920's, although the practices it "borrowed" from (including Freemasonry) are in many cases quite a bit older. As a religion in its own right, Wicca is young.

I highly recommend the book "The Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton. He is a non-Wiccan professional historian, and the book is an excellent primer on the roots of modern Pagan witchcraft.

EDITED TO ADD: Indiana Raven, Wicca and witchcraft are NOT the same thing. Leaving aside the fact that most of the people "burned" during the Inquisitions were Christian, witchcraft is a technique that is practiced in several different religious contexts. Wicca happens to be one of the religions where witchcraft is practiced by most members.

And Free.Indie... you call the religion "Wiccanism", and expect us to believe that you actually did any research? *raises an eyebrow*

EDITED TO ADD 2: I see Dr. Zoom Zoom is at it again...

In an earlier thread, at

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Al4NRqEwdqTc37.yGeDygtrd7BR.?qid=20070217130210AALXwKz

He advised another poster:

"3. Don't worry about the religous doctrines of other people that you don't believe in. Do something more constructive with your time."

Apparently he isn't very good at taking his own advice. Yes, Wicca didn't work out for him... we get it, already. Oy.

Answer 7

wicca is modern but has much older roots.

The danger is people then taking this to conclude wicca is ancient, ancient people practiced proto wicca.

This is garbage

people were eating food thousand of years ago, eating cooked food has ancient roots too, This does not mean deep frying chocolate bars is ancient!


conclusion: wicca is "new" embrace that fact. Stop pretending otherwise. Just because something is new does not make it lesser.

The woman washing the stone in the river for all eternity (celtic spitual thing) reveals new levels, new depths, new parts of her stone...

spirituality evolves...grows...if religion does not grow it dies. Embrace wicca for what it is...do not seek to validate it and make it "better" by claiming it is ancient.

Unless you are really happy with so called wiccans running around saying cave men were wiccans....because sadly, it happens...

Answer 8

Well I'm not a certified Wiccan but for a while I was thinking hard about converting so anyways I did my research and no it's not a new religion at all. It was created by the Celts, it's an ancient religion like Paganism. No one knows when it really started exactly but it's ancient religion so it's really old. Also not one person has created Wiccanism.

Answer 9

Wicca is a modern religion based on old Pagan ways.

Answer 10

It is old. My family from Scottland were wiccans hundreds of years ago and lived on the coast of Scottland and were in huts and were pictish. We have many documents documenting this. We did NOT sacrafice animals or call apon the devil or any of that. I do not practice wicca but after I was told my family history I did research it. I did get a few books but I never tried it.