I happen to find this very intreaging, and thought I would share it with those of you who are confused about people who practice the Wiccan religion. (Borrowed from www.Wicca.com, if you were interested)










What Is Wicca
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Contrary to what those who choose to persecute or lie about us wish to believe, Wicca is a very peaceful, harmonious and balanced way of thinking and life which promotes oneness with the divine and all which exists.

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 Earths 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. If this path is yours, may you walk it with honor, light and integrity.

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.

With recent 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 which have been dated 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 the oldest religion known in the world toady. These archetypes are clearly recognized by Wiccan 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. Sorry guy's, carbon dating is a little hard to dispute no matter how bad you want to try...

Witchcraft in ancient history was known as "The Craft of the Wise" because those who followed the path were healers, 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 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 in kind 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 the press and Hollywood has given us simply to generate a profit.

What Witchcraft is:
Witchcraft 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.

Wiccan 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.

Wiccan 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. Wiccan practice tolerance and acceptance toward all other religions as long as those faiths do not persecute others or violate the tenant of "Harm None."

What Witchcraft is not:
More information about Witchcraft is available in the Frequently Asked Questions section, but in the interim, here are the main points.
Witchcraft or Wicca is not a cult. We do not proclaim ourselves to be spokespersons for the divine or try to get others to follow us as their leaders.


We do not worship Satan or consort with Demons. Satan is a Christian creation and they can keep him. We do not need a paranoid creation of supreme evil and eternal damnation to scare us into doing the right thing and helping others. We choose to do the right thing and love our brothers and sisters because it IS the right thing and it feels good to do it. I suppose it is a maturity thing.


We do not sacrifice animals or humans because that would violate our basic tenant of "Harm None." Anyone who does and claims to be a Wiccan or a Witch is lying.


We have no need to steal or control the life force of another to achieve mystical or supernatural powers. We draw our energy from within, our personal relationship with the divine and nature.


We do not use the forces of nature or the universe to hex or cast spells on others. Again, "Harm None" is the whole of the law.


Witches have a very strict belief in the Law of Three which states that whatever we send out into our world shall return to us three fold either good or bane. With this in mind, a "True Witch" would hesitate in doing magick to harm or manipulate another because that boomerang we throw will eventually come back to us much larger and harder then when we threw it.

This is not to say that Witches are perfect, we are human too just like everyone else and make mistakes and errors in judgment. Just as there are parents who love and nurture their children, there are parents who abuse their children. As there are many who devote their lives to giving and helping mankind, likewise there are those who devote their lives to taking advantage of and using people for their own gain. Unfortunately the same flaws in human nature applies to witches too.

Most of us continually strive to consider all potential outcomes of our thoughts and actions pausing to seriously consider the consequences before undertaking a ritual, spell or rite that could go astray. It is when we follow the path with the love of the Goddess in our hearts and adhere to the basic tenant of the Reed that our works are beneficial and we achieve harmony and balance with all things.

The heart of Wicca is not something summed up into a few short words and can often take on different meaning to each since the Lord and Lady touch us in different ways. To gain a fuller understanding of the Craft, I urge you visit the other pages on this site as well as following the links to a select group of exceptional Wiccan and Witchcraft sites. Through the wisdom and words set down through the ages, you will find that you are able to understand the basis of our beliefs and how they may apply to you. Your inner voice will also quickly let you know if the intent of what you are reading is for superficial purposes to benefit self instead of working to benefit the whole. Remember to read with your heart, for it is when you see life and the world with your heart and spirit that you truly gain an understanding of what Wicca is.

Blessed Be!

Herne

This is an interesting contradiction. They say they try to reconstruct those beliefs to the best of their ability, yet they won't sacrifice animals or humans. Never mind the fact that animal and human sacrifices were quite common...not that I really have a problem with people that want to practice Wicca, just the idea that they've actually recreated the 'old ways'. To think that pre-Christian religion was completely peaceable is highly romanticized and inaccurate.

yeah they just shoulda stuck a clause in there.

...and 'wipe our existance from history'? I doubt they were around at the time.

i have to agree with shadow and why many non wiccan witches find most wicca rather "fluffy"...the kelts who were pre christian in northern europe were amazing warriors given to bravado, drunkeness, and violent sacrifices both human and animal...read about the bog people from that area...anything on their warriors, or the baskets of cats...

there was nothing peaceful about pre christian religion...enlightening, empowering...powerful, but rarely peaceful and full of love...

sometimes we all like to believe that we're following something that was begun for the right reasons, we're force fed facts as if it's the truth and made to believe it as if we actually knew what happened back then for a fact.
most historical documents upon this kind of thing were mostly written by the people following that path and tended to sauce it up to make it seem like some great thing when in reality it's rather bleak and far from the truth of it, much like stalin really, he controlled every piece of history written by rusian historians to make sure that they glorified the nation and told the truth as he saw it.

you'll find that a lot of religions claim to have roots dating quite far back, when in reality a lot of them are just 'spin-offs' of already present religions. as much as we like to glorify what we're standing up for the harsh truth is nobody cares, if everyone took the time to find out what every single religion was really about i doubt they'd have much time left, it just doesn't interest them.

we question all the small things that should not need to be questioned, yet we swallow the lies as if they're the truth, spoon fed to us by companies only interested in what their latest ratings are. as a satanist i know only too well about the propaganda made up about my choice of path, i could sit here and explain for hours what it's truely about, but in the end people will believe what they want to believe and there's nothing that can be done about that.
with 6 billion people on this earth it's futile to even try to change it, a lifetimes worth couldn't even begin to dent it, you just can't change human nature.

don't get me wrong, i find all these facts quite interesting myself, i'm just trying to say don't have great expectations, i myself have tried to educate people with the facts of my chosen path, i've just learned the hard way that people will only change their view of it if they choose to accept what your saying as the truth.

= cop out. That 6 billion includes you.

yes it does, i never said it didn't, but that's not the point of this topic and i'd rather not turn this into an off-topic disscusion. my nature has always been that i find these things interesting however the majority is a different matter, they're the ones not interested and that's exactly the point.
were my nature to not care then i'd probally be alongside the majority and to just think that's "their life, this is mine, it's of no concern to me". what my natural instinct is does not reflect upon the majority, and the majority will always have the final say.

then why'd you bring it up?

you say 'why did you bring it up' as if there was suppose to be a point to what i said, not everything said has a point to it, i ment what i said exactly how i said it, i didn't say it as a debatable subject.

it does tie in with the topic of wicca, and his own example of satanism, as well as any other path that is not christ based. there are so many facets to the alternative spiritual paths...that there's a lot of misunderstandings concerning them...a person can try to explain and clarify...but some people just don't care to understand...you can't change people,only make them stop and think and there are even fewer that don't care to bother thinking about something that doesn't agree with their...comprehension of a particular subject...

six million people in the world...do you think they all understand wicca, witchcraft, satanism, the asatru path, demonology, satanism. necromancy...or any of the dozens of paths out there, how many even know the ones i listed?

a good example is myself...i still don't understand the concept of christian wicca...i've had people explain it...but it still does not make sense...after a time, there's no reason any longer in trying to explain it...i don't care to understand it, and they come to a point they no longer care if i understand it...it's works in the reverse too, there are those oni get exhausted trying to explain something in relation to my beliefs too...after awhile their questions become redundant...they're either not getting the answers they want or are being delibleratly beligerent...

try this...walk up to a person on the street and ask them what they think of satanists, witches, magicians etc, choose you own, heck, try making something up...i think then you'll understand how his refrence does tie in tot he topic of wicca and understanding it...better yet, try to explain to them being a witch, satanist etc...when they've had only one facet of belief...available to them, that's an even more difficult task...or something that should be simple...ask the difference between a witch and a wiccan...that's a simple way to see the difference between how people comprehend the arts, even those who practice them...

lets reverse your question...why with everything he detailed, you chose something as simple as...

how does that tie into wicca, or understanding it?

I think, though I'm only guessing and hypothesizing here, that the reason these old cults (like wicca) has been resurrected and are now presented as peaceloving and open-minded, has to do with the world around us...increasing violence worldwide, wars and unrest, makes people wish for the opposite.,..joining a religion based on love and happiness is a good counteract to the world-view we see everyday.

Most religions started out as rather bloody, even christianity has it's own story to be ashamed of...but now, that we get the war-stories from all over the world so close, the main focus lies on the loving entity Jesus, or at least the glossy fairytale image of him that is known now.

What worried me in that text, was on one side the 'we love all, we accept all, harm ye none' message that was focused on, and yet all the underlying kicks toward the christian religion...we love the world, just not the christians, because they were mean to us...

some still are but that's another trend i'm finding in "modern magick" a lot of people are hating the religion that they've had shoved down their throat for so long...i understand the why, but they should understand that hating an opposing religion is really no better than...as wiccans believe cursing someone for personal gain...both bring detrimental energy to the soul...

it's common i find among the younger people who are just now breaking the bonds between their family religion and the one that they are attempting to embrace...it's just too bad that they can't find the information for themselves...that's the best way to form personal decisions...not accepting other people's opinions and experiences as fact...but seeking and comprehending it for themselves...

who knows however, maybe in ten years, they'll be us, and we'll be in our rocking chairs hollaring at them to "get out of my yard you hooligan, or i'll set the bargest upon you!" *grins wickedly*

A school example of ignorance breeds ignorance... It's sad, really, there's a lot to learn from established religions, if you take the time to look closely...

oh yes, they prefer to burn and torture those that disagree with them

Well...that's kind of the problem...one fraction glaring at the other, stuffed full of premade misconceptions... I doubt the so called heathen religions were any better, Christian misdeeds is just much more known historically.