What is the basis for the Wiccan "religion"?

Question

Just curious.

How are Wiccans different from Christians? The first impression is that Wiccans believe in spells and magicks.

Answer 1

Four BASIC elements to Wiccan Belief

1) Belief in multiplicity of divinity.
2) Observance of the seasonal Sabbats and Esbats
3) Practice of Magic
4) Adherance to the Wiccan Rede

That's what makes us different from the Christian "religion"

Answer 2

Wicca is a pagan religion. Wiccans do not believe in the Christian god, the devil or hell. Yes they believe in spells and magick, and generally worship a Goddess and God. Wiccans believe that deity is immanent within nature and honor the planet and its forces by celebrating the seasons and cross quarter days. Some are solitary, some work within covens. There are no absolute fixed rules, with the possible exception of its central principle "an it harm none, do what thou will". There are many different traditions within Wicca, worshipping a variety of deities or no particular deity at all.

Answer 3

The word Wicca comes from Gaelic for 'wise one". villages at the beginning of humans settling down to an agriciltural life style needed to know when to plant, reap the harvest; There was a need to know animal husbandry, mid-wifery, the local laws, medicinal use of herbs, and much more. The "wise one" of the village, or "witch" was there to inform and help. They were usually female, due to the matriarichal leadership of that time. As to spells and magick, they are only a small part of the belief system. I personally don't work with them, they are a crutch to gain the harmony and understanding that Wiccans strive to achieve. I do it by way of meditation. Now for the Christian vs Wiccan, Pagans (Wiccans, Druids, etc) come from the word paganii (Roman for 'country dweller'). These were the poor village people and Christianity in the beginning was a relgion of the poor and down trodden in that part of the world. I suppose it can be surmised that Christianity was originally a Pagan religion.

Answer 4

The wicca is based on the Mother Nature and is to her to whom we owe allegiance and to pay tribute. We believe in the duality of the energy and we are polytheistic. In contrast to the Christians we govern our religion for advices (Rede) and not for the only book (Bible). We use the ritual magic as way of gratitude to the earth, and we loves all kind of life on earth. We don't believe in saints or devils, only in spirits. It depends of the heart of the wiccan, can be a good religion or a bad religion, like all the other ones. Man is the only one who can make evil from any tool, even to transform a stone into weapon or into castle.

Answer 5

It depends, mainly on who you talk to and what they believe.

The base claim of Wicca goes back to Celtic or early pre-Christian beliefs that focus on an earth goddess and a sky god. They believe that every individual can use herbs, magic or ritual to communicate with the goddess and god and that these dieties can manifest themselves in the bodies of the priestess or priest.

It's important to note that though wiccans are generally classified as pagans, not all pagans are wicca. In addition, there are different groups of wiccans that can vary widely in belief and observance.

Wiccans are different from Christians on a number of different levels. Their views and defintions of dieties are more carnal, closer to the way greeks and romans viewed their gods and goddesses. Christians are monotheistic, seeing and worshiping one God (even with the trinity). Christians also eschew magick, putting their desires in prayer to God.

After reading the wikipedia entriy on Wicca, I find that it lines up quite well with what I remember from the past.

Answer 6

Ah finally a good question! We believe in living life to the fullest.The basis for our religion is birth, life death and rebirth. We see this in the ever changing seasons of the year, which we call the wheel of the year.

We have a duel deity system of a Goddess and a God and we liken them to the cycle of the seasons of the crops and the foilage as it is born in the spring, grows to adulthood, then ages and dies in the winter only to be reborn again in the spring. Christians have all male deities in their God and Jesus Christ. Our Goddess is our supreme deity with our God as her consort.

We are not told to fear our Goddess and God, we do not expect them to smit us if we make mistakes. We know the three fold law will be our punishment if we do wrong. It states that what we do will come back to us times 3, 3 times good or three times bad. And we take personal responsibility for our own actions. We do not blame it on a evil entity or devil.

There are many traditions in Wicca. Just as Christianity has many different types.

As for mine we follow the changing seasons. We celebrate 8 sabbats which are mark the changing seasons and various planting, growing and harvest seasons of the year. They are, Samhain, Oct 31st, Yule Dec, 21-23 (depending on the sun) Imbolc, Feb 1st, Ostara, April 21-23 (depending on the sun) , Beltaine May 1st, Lithia June 21-23rd (depending on the sun), Lammas, Aug 1st, Mabon/Harvest Home Sept. 21-23 (depending on the sun), (Yule is Winter Solstice, Ostara is Spring Equinox, Lithia is Summer Solstice, Mabon is Fall Equinox)

There is far too much to explain about Wicca to do so here, but not all wiccans are witchs. Not all witchs are wiccans. Not all Wiccans do magick. Witchs do however perform magick. You have your Wiccan witchs and your non wiccan witchs.

There is an old joke that Christianity has Pagan dna, if you look closely many of the holidays have much pagan symbolizism in them. Our God dies and is reborn of the Goddess at our Yule in December, it is said that the christian God is born at your Christmas, when it has been proven (although many christians still argue this) that he was born at tax time in Bethleham and that occured in the summer time probably in July not in December.

I suggest you look up the mythology of Mithra.

If you would like more information on the religion of Wicca please feel free to contact me. I will be happy to aid you in obtaining more information.

Answer 7

We believe in a multi-faceted deity. Yes, we believe in working spells and magic (I don't use the adjusted spelling like most do), but it is more of a spiritual belief and working in harmony with nature. There are many different paths that Wiccan's follow, But the term Wicca (meaning Willow) dates back to the Celtic/Druid groups long before Christ!

Answer 8

The universal higher power is the same "being" whether you call it Jesus, God, Allah, or Fred. A rose by any other name....

spells and magic are about the same as praying -- you ask your version of god for what you want, concentrate on it, use things to help you focus (colors, candles, rosary beads), you repeat words that rhythm (whether it's a "spell" or the Lord's Prayer or something you memorized out of the Catholic Mass). You believe that "god" is going to grant what you want, and you have faith that your request is heard. Call it whatever you want, but it's all the same thing.

People get so hung up on the words that they forget the details. Christians, especially, are so frightened by the word WITCH that they don't bother to do any really research to see just what we believe.

Oh, and I'm offended by the " " around the word religion in your question.

Answer 9

Christians believe in Jesus. wiccans believe in the things that the Creator created, like sun, moon, earth even weather. they like to say that wicca was around before Jesus, maybe it was, but it wasn't here before God. It was God who said not to have false gods, that is what the wiccans do. they just make up their path, as they call it, as they go. they don't believe in any basis for their religion except their own rules.

Answer 10

Wicca is a religion concocted by a man named Gerald Gardner in England circa 1950. Prior to Gardner, there was no Wicca. Gardner's original Wicca seems to have been little more than an excuse for him to be tied up and beaten by strong willed women, according to Adian Kelly, a Wiccan traditionhead and author of "Crafting The Art of Magic".

History of Wicca
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AhU3APMDMy3JSWiLuyb6vR_sy6IX?qid=20060915145049AAkDSCG
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnmpBWCNQ4STCeOacIJt2avsy6IX?qid=20060923114119AAAusg9&show=7#profile-info-85e3efd122e8f209277b7bb6e4c2d432aa
Meaning of word Wicca
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgXeuUT6PMwvqlnBRPezIfvsy6IX?qid=20060915145049AAkDSCG&show=7#profile-info-AA10929287
Meaning of word Witch
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AvAGLfx2yAunbOKyoditCmXsy6IX?qid=20060924205638AAvbb6K&show=7#profile-info-68090b5d557ec89c0e51a9c78de0dafbaa
Silver Ravenwolf Wiccan Money spell
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgXeuUT6PMwvqlnBRPezIfvsy6IX?qid=20060918191343AA1dAL3&show=7#profile-info-f49ad034abd28a4bd6e30b7088b096a3aa
Jenny's Frostie Wicca Expose'
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiPNdQz1cyOLeB7iTkvU9R7sy6IX?qid=20060920141547AA0e3fT&show=7#profile-info-79401d523b04ee9784e7438998679c4daa
Christian Wicca
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AtY0mxKoZHtpI56Zxm67CtHsy6IX?qid=20060922162423AAcU9lu
Salem Witch Trials
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjJ7TpnKS_XXcZfDiK0CpNTsy6IX?qid=20060904163917AAcBiEQ&show=7#profile-info-AA11725587
Wicca vs. Satanism
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=An.v6DF_RGP.oG2FNsRshDzsy6IX?qid=20060924212214AA8bflE&show=7#profile-info-8c76be37c6da788dc5d6e0fe923aaef1aa

I'm an ex-wiccan.