What is a wiccan?

Question

Is Wiccan a religion?
What do they actually believe in?

From what I heard, its just a fancy word for people who believe in magic, and witches, and all that stuff.

Answer 1

A Wiccan is a person who practices the religion of Wicca. Just as there are many sorts of religions under the umbrella term of "Christianity", from Unitarian Universalists, to Unity to Catholicism to Pentacostalism and others, so are there a variety of Wiccans.

In general, Wiccans do believe in Magick (opposed to magic; the difference is that magic is illusion and stage-craft, while Magick is defined as 'effecting change in the physical world through the use of the will'). Wiccans are likely to be polytheistic, worship through ritual, have a high regard for nature and respect the cycles of life, death and rebirth. Most all Wiccans revere the Goddess and God under various names. There are some Wiccans, mostly the Dianic Wiccans, who worship the Goddess alone.

Wiccans do not believe in Satan, as Satan is a Christian deity. Some like to believe that we are an old religion, surviving through the ages underground while our religion was persecuted. Others believe that Wicca is a reconstruction of that religion. Some Wiccan traditions are initiatory, some are not. Some Wiccans worship in covens, some alone, and some in informal groups.

Wiccans ARE witches, but most people don't understand what a witch really is, just as they don't understand Magick.

There are witches who practice Magick who are not Wiccans, but all Wiccans are Witches. A Witch is a person who practices a certain type of Magick, but does not necessarily practice it as a part of a religious system. A Wiccan is a Witch, and also uses Magick as a part of a religious system.

There are multiple forms of Magick as well (just to complicate things), and there are a variety of people who use it. It's not the sort of thing that you see on Disney or Harry Potter, but it is a system of training the will, imagination, body and mind to actually effect change in the world. Sometimes, in some people, it can be as simple as taking advantage of the placebo effect. If you've watched the movies "The Secret" and "What the Bleep do we Know?", you've got a good start on what Magick is all about.

Magick is obviously not the sort of thing that can be measured and quantified today; but it is at least as effective as prayer. People have done studies with random number generators and found that certain individuals do seem to have a very real effect on the outcome from such machines. Science knows that an observer can by the simple act of observing an experiment, affect the outcome of that experiment. We have the ability by being simply observers, to change physical matter. Using our minds, that effect is even greater.

That's a real basic idea of what Wicca and Magick are about. If you would like more information, I'd be glad to help. You can email me if you like.

Answer 2

It is an actual religion. You've heard wrong. Believing in witches is something we're all going to have to do. There are witches, and this isn't superstitious belief; it's fact. A witch is anyone who practices witchcraft. You don't have to believe that witchcraft works, but there is no disputing the fact that witches are real. Wiccans believe in the divine power of nature and the duality of the universe. We follow the Wiccan Rede which states, "An' it harm none, do what thou wilt." Each tradition of Wicca differs in it's beliefs. Do some research to better understand it. Blessed be. )O(

Answer 3

Yes Wicca is a religion! We celebrate the seasonal shifts in the year. Their are eight holidays which take place at the equinoxes and Solstices. We do not believe in fantastical versions of magic, and stereotypical fantasy witches. This is the realm of some pretty good authors and also in the modern era Hollywood. Our commandment is "Do you what ye will, so be it in love that it harms none." There are many variations of this commandment but that is the basic principle. We believe in Karmic debt and also personal responsibility. We are primarily a Nature based religion with a belief in a God aspect and Goddess aspect of The Great Spirit. They are Mother Earth and Father Sky, or in Native American Tradition Father Sky and Grandmother Moon. Wicca is too complex to detail on Yahoo answers... please go to your book store and look for books by Raymond Buckland, Silver Raven Wolf, Llewellen publishing.

Answer 4

It is a religion, or rather many branches of religion. We believe in a Deity that is multifaceted. Yes, we believe in magic and we are often called witches. We are healers, teachers, councilors. We respect the beliefs of others and live our beliefs. And the word Wicca dates back to the Druids and the Celtics (Before Christ) which means "Willow" and is not a fancy word as you put it.

Answer 5

Try this website: http://wicca.timerift.net/wicca101/index.shtml
and also http://www.witchvox.com.

And Wiccan is a term for someone who practices the religion of Wicca

Answer 6

Well, just about every religion beliefs some form of 'magic' (they might call it miracles, they might call it novenas, it might be making holy water, etc.-- same premise).

But like any other religion, that doesn't mean 'hocus pocus' to us (though there are gullible Wiccans as there are in any other religion). And like other religions, it's not the focus of ours.

I just wrote this in another answer but in a nutshell:

- Wicca is a Pagan, polytheistic fertility religion. A relationship with a personal God and Goddess are at the heart of it-- this is what all of our rites, rituals, sabbats, etc. revolve around.

- Tenets include things like taking personal responsibility for oneself, finding a healthy balance in life, not doing unnecessary harm, considering the consequences for your actions, etc.

- we honor nature, seeing man as not IN nature, but OF nature. We celebrate the cycles of the seasons, and see them as reflected in the cycles of our lives.

- practices and beliefs can vary, because there is room in that for Wicca. We are not a dogmatic religion... that doesn't mean Wicca is "anything you want to be" (there are definitely things that are 'not' Wicca, and that's okay too); it's about taking responsibility for your spiritual pursuit to achieve personal gnosis, so it's highly experiential (experiential should not be confused with experimental).

Answer 7

I am a wiccan and I Worship the Goddess and the God. Nature and the mystic. It is an actual religion, but it is one where the one who worships can choose how they celebrate the goddess.

Answer 8

Go to this question. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ak3AXeF0RSyTbUvNuOgeTxHsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20071010192125AAn1vSm&show=7#profile-info-221f459bceaeb6ad6999af00fe5228beaa

Answer 9

Yes it is a religion as for the rest of your question I copied this:

Wicca is a deep appreciation and awe in watching the sunrise or sunset, the forest in the light of a glowing moon, a meadow enchanted by the first light of day. It is the morning dew on the petals of a beautiful flower, the gentle caress of a warm summer breeze upon your skin, or the warmth of the summer sun on your face. Wicca is the fall of colorful autumn leaves, and the softness of winter snow. It is light, and shadow and all that lies in between. It is the song of the birds and other creatures of the wild. It is being in the presence of Mother Earth's nature and being humbled in reverence. When we are in the temple of the Lord and Lady, we are not prone to the arrogance of human technology as they touch our souls. To be a Witch is to be a healer, a teacher, a seeker, a giver, and a protector of all things.

Wicca is a belief system and way of life based upon the reconstruction of pre-Christian traditions originating in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. While much of the information of how our ancestors lived, worshiped and believed has been lost due to the efforts of the medieval church to wipe our existence from history, we try to reconstruct those beliefs to the best of our ability with the information that is available.

Thanks to archaeological discoveries, we now have basis to believe that the origins of our belief system can be traced even further back to the Paleolithic peoples who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility Goddess. With the discovery of these cave paintings estimated to be around 30,000 years old depicting a man with the head of a stag and a pregnant woman standing in a circle with eleven other people, it can reasonably be assumed that Witchcraft is one of the oldest belief systems known in the world today. These archetypes are clearly recognized by Wiccans as our view of the Goddess and God aspect of the supreme creative force and predate Christianity by roughly 28,000 years making it a mere toddler in the spectrum of time as we know it.

Witchcraft in ancient history was known as "The Craft of the Wise" because most who followed the path were in tune with the forces of nature, had a knowledge of Herbs and medicines, gave council and were valuable parts of the village and community as Shamanic healers and leaders. They understood that mankind is not superior to nature, the earth and its creatures but instead we are simply one of the many parts, both seen and unseen that combine to make the whole. As Chief Seattle said; "We do not own the earth, we are part of it." These wise people understood that what we take or use, we must return to maintain balance and equilibrium. Clearly, modern man with all his applied learning and technology has forgotten this. Subsequently, we currently face ecological disaster and eventual extinction because of our hunger for power and a few pieces of gold.

For the past several hundred years, the image of the Witch has been mistakenly associated with evil, heathenism, and unrighteousness. In my humble opinion, these misconceptions have their origin in a couple of different places.

To begin, the medieval church of the 15th through 18th centuries created these myths to convert the followers of the old nature based religions to the churches' way of thinking. By making the Witch into a diabolical character and turning the old religious deities into devils and demons, the missionaries were able to attach fear to these beliefs which aided in the conversion process. Secondly, as medical science began to surface, the men who were engaged in these initial studies had a very poor understanding of female physiology, especially in the area of a women's monthly cycles. The unknowns in this area played very well with the early churches' agenda lending credence to the Witch Hunters' claims and authority. The fledgling medical professions also stood to benefit greatly from this because it took the power of the women healers away giving it to the male physicians transferring the respect and power to them.

Unfortunately, these misinformed fears and superstitions have carried forward through the centuries and remain to this day. This is why many who follow these nature oriented beliefs have adopted the name of Wicca over its true name of Witchcraft to escape the persecution, harassment and misinformation associated with the name of Witchcraft and Witch, not to mention the bad publicity of the press and Hollywood has given us simply to generate a profit.

Wicca is a spiritual system that fosters the free thought and will of the individual, encourages learning and an understanding of the earth and nature thereby affirming the divinity in all living things. Most importantly, however, it teaches responsibility. We accept responsibility for our actions and deeds as clearly a result of the choices we make. We do not blame an exterior entity or being for our shortcomings, weaknesses or mistakes. If we mess up or do something that brings harm to another, we have no one but ourselves to blame and we must face the consequences resulting from those actions. No ifs, ands or buts and no whining...

We acknowledge the cycles of nature, the lunar phases and the seasons to celebrate our spirituality and to worship the divine. It is a belief system that allows the Witch to work with, not in supplication to deities with the intent of living in harmony and achieving balance with all things.

The spells that we do involve healing, love, harmony, wisdom and creativity. The potions that we stir might be a headache remedy, a cold tonic, or an herbal flea bath for our pets. We strive to gain knowledge of and use the natural remedies placed on this earth by the divine for our benefit instead of using synthetic drugs unless absolutely necessary.

Wiccans believe that the spirit of the One, Goddess and God exist in all things. In the trees, rain, flowers, the sea, in each other and all of natures creatures. This means that we must treat "all things" of the Earth as aspects of the divine. We attempt to honor and respect life in all its many manifestations both seen and unseen.

Wiccans learn from and revere the gift of nature from divine creation by celebrating the cycles of the sun, moon and seasons. We search within ourselves for the cycles that correspond to those of the natural world and try to live in harmony with the movement of this universal energy. Our teachers are the trees, rivers, lakes, meadows, mountains and animals as well as others who have walked this path before us. This belief creates a reverence and respect for the environment, and all life upon the Earth.

We also revere the spirits of the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water which combine to manifest all creation. From these four elements, we obtain insight to the rhythms of nature and understand they are also the rhythms of our own lives.

Because Witches have been persecuted for so many centuries, we believe in religious freedom first! We do not look at our path as the only way to achieve spirituality, but as one path among many to the same end. We are not a missionary religion out to convert new members to think the same as we do. We are willing to share our experience and knowledge with those who seek our wisdom and perspective, however. We believe that anyone who is meant for this path will find it through their own search as the Goddess speaks to each of us in her time and way. Wiccans practice tolerance and acceptance toward all other religions as long as those faiths do not persecute others or violate the tenant of "Harm None."

Answer 10

Someone who worships nature, especially trees.