Whats your thoughts about Wiccans?

Question

Ive cought a lot of crap just for wearing the pentacle. i was just wondering if its my community or are we still disliked. (wiccans used to be burned as witches)

im hearing alot of "wiccans were never burned." according to the solitary wiccans bible, wicca is a practice that dates back by centuries. it was not recognized as a full religion till the 50's. it also said that they were prosicuted as heritics and non believers. so granted, they may not have been burned, but they were mistreated due to beliefs

Answer 1

All the wiccans I know (admittedly just a handful of folk) are good, kind and gentle people.

However, let's get history straight.

No wiccans have ever been burned as witches. not ever. Wiccans date from about 1950, maybe as early as the 1920's depending on who is to be believed.

HTH

Charles

Answer 2

Hon, WICCANS weren't burned. Nor were witches for the most part. Mostly it was Christians killing their neighbors for stupid reasons. Most of the victims were Christian, and most weren't burned. You could be accused of witchcraft if you had a better harvest than your neighbor. Wicca has NOT existed for centuries, and there is no proof that any old religion followed a religion anything like Wicca, even by a different name. Both ideas are fluff bunny red flags. If a book is telling you that this is true, it's not a reliable source. Wicca takes ideas and symbology from pre-Christian religions, but they don't come from one Old Religion. For instance, many Wiccans worship Venus, but she wasn't the "Goddess" by herself. She was one of MANY Roman goddessES. To answer you're question though, if you want to wear a pentacle and not hide in the broom closet, more power to you, but study more of the religion before you become labeled as a fluff bunny. Please find a decent book (I've heard that Scott Cunningham is good), and blessed be.

Answer 3

Speaking as a Wiccan, not a one of us was EVER burned as a witch. Not one. Ever.

You need better source material. I don't know where you're getting your information, but it's VERY flawed.

Edit: I've never head of anything called "The Solitary Wiccans Bible" and it certainly sounds disreputable. Wicca is NOT an ancient religion. It's young enough that I had the honor of meeting some of the people who were there at the start.

Edit, again: The Solitary Wiccan's Bible is by the Frosts, who are VERY disreputable. I STRONGLY suggest getting better source material.

Answer 4

Wicca is a practice that dates back to circa 1939. Wiccans are not true witches because their beliefs consist of Thelema, Golden Dawn, and modified Freemasonry rituals with some goddess worship thrown in. Gerald Gardner wasn't allowed to release any info from the coven he was in (oathbound), so he had to replace it with the things mentioned above. Wiccans are only emulating what true common historical witches do.

True Witchcraft goes back to Paleolithic times. Of course, the rituals and certain practices have changed, but it is not wicca. There is a huge difference. Of course, there are people who disagree, but they only do so because of misinformation from people like Silver Ravenwolf, Scott Cunningham, and numerous other bunny writers.

Wiccans have *never* been burned at the stake. Witches have. They were for centuries.

Answer 5

Wicca itself is only abut 70 years old. The cultures and belief systems that they draw off of are very old yes. But it's a mix of Celtic and Druidry and other beliefs. Not to mention most people who were burned, hanged, or pressed where Christians who pissed of the wrong people. As a PAGAN I am tired of the whole "burning times" crap. we are NOT persecuted. Discriminated against, possibly. But no one has been burned at the stake in quite a long time.
I think Wiccans are nice people. I don't subscribe to the path as I am Heathen Reconstructionalist, but that's just me. I still respect their beliefs and feel sorry that they get the majority of fluffy bunnies as the path has been so heavily commercialized.
I live in a small Texas town and I catch very little crap, but in my defense, very few people are versed in our symbols. Most Christians have no idea what Mjolinir is let alone looks like. I have a vast support system on line and in real life of pagans of all trads. So I don't really think about the "outside" world much. If you are at peace with who you are and what you are doing, don't worry about these people. Feel sorry for them.

Answer 6

The "Solitary Witches Bible" is incorrect.

Wicca can be reliably traced no further back than the beginning of the 20th century. I highly recommend that you check out the book "The Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton for a non-Wiccan professional historian's view of the origins of our faith.

I also recommend the following website:

http://wicca.timerift.net

which is full of excellent information.

Answer 7

You're confusing witch with wiccan. Wicca wasn't created until around the 1950's. Witches are different.

I myself don't have any issues with wiccans because there are some things about that belief that makes sense to me (but not much). I believe people are free to believe the way they want to, (provided they get their information right). I wear a pentacle, but have yet to encounter anyone who interprets it the wrong way. I'm sure....no positive that there are people who are against it, because, frankly, there are people out there who are against everything. There are plenty of people who are out there who severely dislike wiccans because they just don't take the time to find out any information about it and live on the propaganda that's bottle-fed to them. If it's not their way, its the wrong way. It's sad that people out there still believe like this.

Answer 8

It is ignorance, love, pure ignorance, or as we say down south, ignit. Wiccans are witches but we are not. I am a christan witch that practices some of the wiccan values because I like the connection it brings me with nature. The values wicca brings are similar to those that my granny, who is a full blooded creek, taught me as a child. Some people are extremely misinformed and close-minded, and it is our duty as people, not wiccans, pagens, etc., to educate them on the values of our practices. Some may listen, others may not, but don't preach, just speak, and act accordingly. After a while your actions will speak for themselves. I went from a small southern town to the mid-west, and regions do play a role, but not to the extent you would lead yourself to believe.
FYI: Most of the witches that were burned at the stack were not witches at all, just innocent victims. Take the salem witch trails for example, that was argot. So were a lot of the trails in france.
Ignore what they say and still show people kindness. Offer help where help is needed, and always be kind, nice, and polite, and after a year or so, people will just shrug their shoulders and accpt it as you being you. Keep the faith love.

Answer 9

Wiccans were never burned as Witches, that is a lie.

I don't care what you wear but don't expect me to acknowledge you with respect if your religion includes hiding your face.(just an example of the only thing that bugs me associated with religous dress codes).

Apart from that symbols mean very little to me. There is a symbol I would not like to see used by people that don't understand it, but it is too complex to make a common symbol of and it is almost unknown.

Wiccan beliefs and their codes of practice have never troubled me in my life.

Answer 10

Maybe if you give us a little more information about Wiccans I could give you my thoughts. I'm not so sure what Wiccans are. Is it a race, a belief/religion, or some type of group?