What is Wicca?

Question

and what is it based on? What is practiced? I have heard of it but have know idea what it is

Answer 1

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.

Answer 2

the short answer is that is a nature based religion which worships the goddess and the god. wiccans are not necessarily witches, but some use the term interchangeably. wiccans may or may not practice magick. that's a personal choice. the choice of how you percieve the god and goddess is also up to you. most wiccans hold a belief in the summerlands as where the soul goes after death. they understand that good and evil exist, but don't necessarily believe in a supreme evil like satan. they generally follow the wiccan rede (an it harm none, do what thou wilt) and the rule of three (whatever you put out there returns to you 3fold.)
some folks will claim that it is an ancient religion. however, wicca as it is known today is a religion brought to life by gereald gardner about 50 years ago. that being said, some of it's practices are indeed ancient because ceremony and tradition don't change much over the years.
so now that i've confused you go check out the witches voice aka witchvox. you'll find a ton of info there on wicca and paganism in general. here's the link:

http://www.witchvox.com/

Answer 3

Wicca is many things to many people and is basically open to peoples perceptions and beiefs. Some people look at it as pure evil and witches and while others look at it as black and white magic, and other see it as peace and harmony with mother earth, some look at it as a combination of all the above and then some. What is it? It is a pagan religion often guided by an ancient god or goddess depending on the person(s) in practice. What is practiced? often when you hear about earth, air, fire and water and some who use the craft nowadays add in spirit as an element. Also when you hear ... from the four corners of the earth: East west, south and North a pagan/wiccan ritual or magic is being envoked. They have many observances such as: seasonal soltices and esbat. Some even observe Halloween in their practice because it is the day of the dead. Wicca has to do alot with guardians and spirits of a realm unknown to most. People are often scared by wicca because of this fact of spiritual beings and the sterotypical witch and his/her craft. People who practice wiccan beliefs are often a part of a coven but not always. I've heard of some eclectic wiccans see the practice as natural healing of one's inner self. Wicca is many times misunderstood and misinterpreted by outsider for lack of knowledge. I think that people are scared of the unknown, yet some things are probably meant to stay in the realm of the unknown. I think that wicca is also like any religion that it is often taken out of context and branched into other practices of an entirly different concept. I hope this answered some of your questioning and gave you more of an idea about some of the belief systems.

Answer 4

They believe in a God and Goddess, but some denominations only worship the Goddess. Yes, there are different denominations. There is Gardnerian Wicca, Dianic Wicca, and others. Wicca is a Pagan religion. Pagan religions are religions that aren't Abrahamic(such as Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) and aren't Eastern(such as Buddhism, Hisduism, Taoism, et cetera). Some other Pagan religions are Druidry, Asatru, and Shamanism.
But back to Wicca, most use witchcraft, most believe in reincarnation, and most are solitary practitioners, though many work in a coven of 13. Most Wiccan denominations have nothing against homosexuality. In fact, their only notable rule is 'Harm None'. 'Harm None' means they cannot harm anyone, including themselves, physically or mentally. Obviously that's impossible, but I guess they try. They believe in a karmic rule, so they believe any good or bad they do returns to them times 3. This religion is fairly new, created in the mid 1900s by a man named Gerald Gardner, though some people dispute that he was taught Wicca by an old woman named Dorothy.
For more information, head to www.witchvox.com www.religioustolerance.org or check out a book by Scott Cunningham from your library.
I hope I have explained this well.
p.s. They don't believe in the devil. They do have a high respect for nature and celebrate the cycles of nature. They have 4 major holidays spread throughout the year.

Answer 5

I'm not sure what you mean by "based on". It has no holy book, if that's what you mean. It was created by Gerald Gardner in the mid-twentieth century. It's a polytheistic religion centered around relationship with a patron god and goddess. It's concept of history was originally based on the work of Margaret Murray, who theorized that medieval witchcraft was really a pagan religion. Wiccans saw their religion as the continuation of that religion (which looked very little like how witch-hunters described it) We know Murray was wrong, and many Wiccans accept that they follow a modern religion (among other things, there's no evidence that something looking like Wicca ever existed in the past) influenced in varying degrees by older religions.

The Wicca of today is vary varied, but it is not "free form religion" and while we accept the reality of magic, there is no requirement for spellwork, and it certainly is not the focus of Wicca.

Answer 6

Wicca is the name for a group of religions that in general are polytheistic and believe in a number of gods and goddesses. They generally revere nature, are socially conscious and peace-loving.

Their practice is based in many cases on the work of Gerald Gardiner who developed a system based on the historical gods and goddesses, as well as the magick of secret societies of the day.

It can involve other occult practices and arts such as Kabballah, Tarot, astrology and other beliefs and systems.

If you would like to see a good introduction, check out http//www.magickaschool.com.

Answer 7

Best thing for you to do is to start reading to get a variety of perspectives. That's the best thing to get yourself the basics of Wicca and paganism. Here are a few sites to get you started:

http://www.witchvox.com
http://www.twpt.com
http://www.davensjournal.com
http://www.rendingtheveil.com
http://www.spiralnature.com
http://www.thegreenwolf.com/links.html

As for books, here are my three of my favorites:

"21st Century Wicca" by Jennifer Hunter - the most grounded intro to Wicca I've found, not just the usual "stuff"
"Contemporary Paganism" by Graham Harvey - a basic overview of some of the more common neopagan religions
"The Four Powers: Magical Practice for Beginners of All Ages" by Nicholas Graham - takes an even broader view of neopaganism, ceremonial magic, shamanism, occultism, and others, and is a *really* good book for helping you to figure out where to take your path next

You can find other books reviewed at http://lupabitch.wordpress.com

Finally, get out and talk to people--there's nothing that can replace that. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com and http://www.meetup.com and put the name of the nearest city and the word "pagan" in the search engine to find online groups of local pagans. Also, the various pagan and magic-themed communities at http://www.livejournal.com are a good resource as well. Meet folks online, then when you're comfortable check out some of the public events in your area.

Answer 8

It's a paganistic earth-based religion, where nature is worshipped. People like to believe it is "witchcraft," but those are just the narrow-minded that believe any faith or religion outside of their own is satanistic or witch-like. In my opinion, the Wiccan religion is no different than any other religion that is nature-based, like the Indians or past religions of the ancient Romans, Greeks, and Chinese. You can research Wicca pretty easliy on the web to find out more or even check out your local library.


I'm a comfirmed Catholic, but I find the Wiccan religion very interseting...

Answer 9

Christian Wicca is a secret to maximum of. C.W. is an eclectic form of Christianity. people who can not evaluate the different teachings different than the Bible are very uncomfortable with this faith. Christian Wicca believes in the trinity of God the father, God the mum (Goddess), and the Son God Jesus. We additionally learn and prepare the concepts of the Bible, Kabbalah, Gnostic Gospels and Wiccan teachings. in all probability the main serious theory of C.W. is their inclusion of the Divine female. easily, there won't be able to be a start without a father AND a mom. We worship the mum Goddess as having equivalent potential in creation. the mum is present in each ingredient of non secular teachings, even the Bible. (even however you ought to look stressful to locate it there.) additionally, there's a difference between being Christo-pagan and being Christian Wiccan. earlier you pass on the air with your document, look up the two and take into consideration the biggest modifications. I won't do it right here because of the fact it is going to easily get too long. in basic terms comprehend that they are different. i'm generally criticized with the aid of Christians and Wiccans alike. (extra so Christians. Wiccans tend to be extra open-minded.) i desire I quite have replied a number of your questions. stable success with your radio document....reward!

Answer 10

I could be wrong but I believe it is earth based and they worship nature and they belive God is both masculine and feminine. I am christian and I have a friend who is into Wicca. It is not satanic though because I don't think they believe in the devil. I really would have to ask her and she is out of state working and I can't really reach her.