Wicca FAQ and FACTS

What is Wicca / Witchcraft ?
Wicca is a Neo-Pagan religion with many traditions that date to pre-Christian (and prehistoric) Earth religions. It 's roots are founded in a deep respect for nature and the knowledge that we do not have the right to exploit it for our own gain. You will find conservation and ecology, very dear to the heart of Wiccans . We believe, as in all Neo-Pagan religions ,that both animate and inanimate objects possess a spirit which forms part of the Whole. Yet here you will find the term "spirit" does not equate to the Judeo-Christian term ghost, rather that essence which everything possesses , linking it to nature, making it an inalienable part of the universe. Wiccans celebrate the life-forces of nature as personified by the Goddess and her consort, the God. It is NOT a cult. You would be very hard pressed to find a Wiccan anywhere who would blindly follow anyone else. Wiccans are historically very independent people who seek truth from within through rituals, meditation, magic, studying and communing with nature. Wiccans respect the right of everyone to worship in their own way. Believing that everyone must find their own path.

Wiccans all have a range of theological, ideological, and philosophical beliefs. The most important beliefs of a religion are the theological ones.Wicca believes that it is important for each individual Wiccan to name their gods. Wiccan covens gather in the name of a few gods agreed upon by all who join the coven circle. Each coven may have a different pantheon. Some emphasize the Goddess force while others include the God force. Wiccans can be atheists only believing in the power of themselves to bring about change, or they may be agnostic not deciding where the higher power comes from. Yet most Wiccans are animists believing that the divine is contained within the elements of the earth, water, fire, and air. Expressed in dreams as female and male divine forms worshipped equally as compliments and finally as the totality of one divine force in the universe which benefits humankind and helps to improve it. A few Wiccans these days are called pantheists believing that divinity is in the entire range of beliefs from atheist to monotheist. We call the divine force which is nature and in all nature God/dess. The God and Goddess as one loving and hating force

What Wicca is Not
Wicca is not a cult. A cult presupposes blind faith in a central figure whose every word is regarded as ultimate truth, and the utter conviction that no other way or philosophy will lead to this truth. You would be very hard pressed to find a Wiccan anywhere who would blindly follow anyone else. Wiccans are historically very independent people who seek truth from within through rituals, meditation, magic, study and communion with nature. Wiccans respect the right of everyone to worship in their own way. We do not feel that Wicca is the only way -- only that it is our way.

Wicca is not synonymous with Satan worship. The very concept of a supreme evil spirit is alien to Wicca. In fact, most Wiccans do not even believe in Satan. The devil is a Judeo-Christian construct and as such, it has nothing to do with Wicca. The notion that witches worship Satan was propounded by the Roman Catholic Church as it made its way across Europe, in an effort to suppress the native earth-based religions prevalent at the time. They succeeded to the extent that they drove the practitioners of these religions underground where much of their knowledge and traditions were lost. Through the work of the Golden Dawn, as well as anthropological and archeological research, many of these traditions have been rediscovered and incorporated into Neo-Paganism, an umbrella term for most modern earth-based and shamanistic religions.

If you are interested in pursuing magickal studies, the best advise I can give you is to read, read and read. Other resources available to you are workshops and study groups hosted by your local Pagan or Wiccan bookstore; network locally and on the internet through participation in newsgroups and on-line study groups; use my internet links page to other Pagan and Wiccan pages; visit my Wicca page to learn about my on-line study groups and workshops.

Learn about ritual and spell design, learn about correspondences, educate yourself about the powers associated with different herbs, crystals, foods, and other gifts from Earth. With this knowledge and some practice visualizing, you can create your own spells to suit your own needs and more easily adapt spells you come across.

Remember, there is nothing "unnatural" about magic--as if anything unnatural could exist within nature--it is simply forgotten. Visit my reading list if you need references to some books that can get you started remembering the magic within you.

Worship the 'devil' ?
No. Satan, or the Devil, has absolutely no place in Wicca or Witchcraft. The worship of Satan is the practice of profaning Christian symbolism and is thus a Christian heresy, rather than a Pagan religion. The Goddess and God of the Witches are in no way connected to Satanic practices. Satan, or the Devil, it is a Christian creation and they are more than welcome to keep him.

No, although women do seem to predominate in the Craft overall. A male Witch is simply called a Witch, never a warlock . The word "Warlock" actually means "oath breaker" or "trader.".

Yes, Witchcraft is a nature based religion and it has been recognized as such in the United States and Canada. In the U.S., Wicca has full recognition as a religion and is granted all rights as such under the Constitution. The American Heritage Dictionary defines religion as "a belief in and reverence for a supernatural power recognized as the creator and governor of the universe". So yes, it does qualify as such. Our definition differs slightly in that to us, the creator of the universe IS the universe. Witchcraft, or Wicca, is not something that can be followed once in a while or when it is convenient or we need or want something. It is a dedication made to nature, the deities and yourself. It is a way of life, and as such we are mindful of the balance between ourselves and all things within the universe at all times.

Many Witches believe in reincarnation and/or Summerland. After passing over, Summerland is where the spirit waits to be returned into a new physical form. We do not believe in a Heaven or Hell where the spirit spends eternity as reward or punishment for ones earthly actions.
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Most Witches believe in reincarnation. Like the Buddhists, we believe that we keep coming back to "purify" ourselves; when we've reached a certain level of "attainment", we are "absorbed" into the Godhead and don't come back any more. We feel that it's a cruel God that would "sentence" a soul to eternal Glory or Damnation based on the (relatively) short span of one's life. We don't believe in a "Final Judgment". We believe in the "3-Fold Law" , which states that whatever you do, be it good OR bad , comes back to you (in this life) three times over. And so, there is no incentive to do evil. Witches who do do evil are NOT" Witches"; just as "Christians" who murder people aren't Christians, because they aren't following the tenets of their belief system,

'Holy' day of the week?
No. All seven days are "holy" for, didn't the Creator make 'em all? To set one ONE aside as being "holy" tends to put one in the mindset that "I can do anything I want during the rest of the week", which is wrong thinking. One's religion begins when you LEAVE the building; not for the one hour you're THERE! EVERY day is holy.

We believe that Genesis is an allegory symbolising how the world was created; for example, the "seven days " could've been 7 million years. Like the Buddhists, we believe that the two opposite polarities (God/Goddess, positive/negative, yin/yang --whatever you choose to call 'em) merged and created everything.

Witches worship the same Creator (for there is only One) as all those who believe in a deity. This is the same Creator who is worshipped by Jews, Hindus, Moslems, and Christians. As no one knows what the Deity looks like (or even if the Deity has "looks"!), people have given the Creator physical form. After all, it is much easier to worship something you can see or imagine, rather than an abstract concept.

As was pointed out as early as 1584 by Reginald Scot in his Discoverie of Witchcraft, the original word in Hebrew, chasaph, means "poisoner", not "Witch". As the time of the Bible's writing, a poisoner could ruin a well and kill many people and livestock. This is what the Bible originally referred to. So why did the incorrect translation occur? King James I had a paranoid fear of Witches (as evidenced by his book, Deamonologie), and deliberately had his translators alter the text of the Bible to provide grounds for the extermination of Witches. (Also, the "Witch" of Endor was originally the Woman of Endor).Unfortunately, these incorrect translations are still being used in the same way today. It's not difficult to understand why Scot's book was burned at the command of James I.

We believe that the Creator exists in every single atom in the Universe : rocks, buildings, the sky, yourself, and even the mouse you're holding! This concept is called Pantheism. We don't believe that the Creator is "removed" far away from us in some far-distant "heaven".

After planting their crops, the people of long ago would take brooms (or poles, & pitchforks) into the fields. They would put them between their legs, & gallop around the fields, leaping into the air, in an effort to "show the crops how high to grow". (This is known as "sympathetic magick", the belief that "like attracts like". It's modern-day equivalent is the idea that washing your car will cause it to rain!). Early Christians, in an effort to destroy our faith, deliberately distorted this idea, saying that Witches "flew through the air on brooms"

Since Wicca is an "Earth Religion", we celebrate the Solstices and Equinoxes (the first day of Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter). We call these "Ostara", "Litha", "Mabon", & "Yule", respectively.We also celebrate 4 days mid-way between the above dates. These are known as "Imbolc" - 2/2, "Beltane" - 5/1, "Lughnasadh" - 8/1, and "Samhain" - 10/31.On these days, we observe & celebrate the changing of the Seasons, & seek to attain balance within ourselves and to become attuned to the rhythms of Life.

The word "Witch" originally meant "Wise One" -- what's wrong with calling yourself a "Wise One"? ("Witchcraft", therefore, means "Craft of the Wise Ones"). Witches were the doctors, midwives, psychiatrists, and lawyers of a town -- a noble profession. It was only due to Christian distortions that the word became associated with "evil" and "devil-worship".

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