Alternate Article on the General Beliefs  of Wicca

                      Generally speaking, both Witches and Wiccans view divinity as the balance of masculine and feminine powers and personify these powers as a Goddess and a God. Forming a personal relationship with these deities is central to the practice of Witchcraft and Wicca.  Witches and Wiccans often worship the Goddess in a three-fold form: Maiden, Mother, and Crone. The Maiden is the Goddess in her virgin aspect; she represents youth and purity. The Mother aspect represents nurturing, fertility, and the giving of life. The Crone represents age, death, and the wisdom that comes from experience. Healing, love, and the bearing of children are all believed to be sacred to the Goddess, though there are many death and war goddesses, such as the Morrigan, Hecate, and Andraste. The Goddess is both the giver and the taker of life. The God, often referred to as "the Horned One," is associated with the Sun, the wildwood, and horned animals. Most Wiccans believe that the Goddess and God are equals, though the God is most often represented as the consort of the Goddess. They personify the feminine and masculine sides of "the All" or the "Great Spirit" - the one power that Wiccans believe makes up the universe and all creation. Therefore, in Wiccan theology, the Goddess and God are simply two halves of this single power, and different names for them represent different aspects of the same universal power. Explanations of Wiccan deity concepts can take up whole books, so I will not go into further detail in order to be brief.

                      The elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are revered in Witchcraft and Wicca but not worshipped. They are believed to be very powerful energies that may be called upon to aid in ritual observance. Each of the four elements is believed to exist in a state of balance with the others, and all are needed to sustain life in our universe. The idea of four elements as the "creative energies" of the universe is believed to have originated in Greece during the Classical period. The element of Earth represents fertility and stability; Air, motion and intelligence; Fire, purification and energy; Water, healing and love.

                      The elements also contain dark aspects which go unacknowledged much of the time in the modern forms of Wicca and Wiccan writings. For instance, earthquakes and degenerative diseases of the body may be attributed to Earth, tornadoes and mental instability to Air, volcanoes and destructive passions to Fire, and floods and emotional pain to Water. The four elements are often personified as the Elementals, or beings of Earth (gnomes), Air (zephyrs), Fire (salamanders or firedrakes), and Water (undines or mermaids). The idea of four Elementals or Guardians stems from ceremonial magick. Some sources say that the ancient Celts believed in only three elements (the number three being sacred to their people), Land, Sea, and Sky, with Fire representing the element of Spirit (which is the fifth element, or Akasha, to Wiccans). Wiccans correspond the elements to certain directions that the particular element is believed to rule in. The element of Earth is placed in the North, Air in the East, Fire in the South, and Water in the West. Traditional witchcraft circles, however, usually have different directional and color correspondences from those taught in Wicca.

                      Both Witchcraft and Wicca are religions with few written laws, which attracts many new followers.  Wicca: The only major Wiccan code of ethics is stated in the Wicca Rede, "An ye harm none, do what ye will." (Note the similarity to the traditional OTO teaching of Crowley, "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law; Love is the Law, Love under Will.") This expresses the belief that Wiccans are free to spend their lives however they want as long as by doing so they "harm none," usually meaning by magick. This law can be made to be restrictive depending upon the interpretation, which for many modern Wiccans can be quite literal. Hence, many of them are vegetarian or vegan. Both Traditional Witches and Wiccans generally believe in karma in some form or another and accept the existence Threefold Law, also known as the Law of Return, as a literal, universal fact. According to this belief, whatever energy is sent out when a spell is cast returns to the sender magnified three times, whether the energy is positive or negative.  Witches and Wiccans also have certain unwritten laws or codes of ethics.  Witches and Wiccans are encouraged to take responsibility for their actions without blaming their misfortunes on others or on "blind fate." Ecological issues are of some importance to many Witches and Wiccans, though this is a relatively recent addition to the Craft.

                      The majority of Traditional Witches and Wiccans believe in reincarnation or some form of afterlife. (Some non-Wiccan witches don't believe in any afterlife at all and are completely atheistic, but from what I've seen this is a very small minority belief.) It is believed that through the process of reincarnating in many different lifetimes the soul eventually reaches a state of perfection, at which time it can again merge with the Goddess and God, or "Great Spirit." This belief allows Witches and Wiccans to view life as an opportunity to learn from new experiences. According to their belief about the afterlife, the soul does not immediately "jump" into the next incarnation but spends a time of rest in the Summerland, as this stage of the afterlife is often called, before rebirth. There is no Hell or place of eternal punishment in Witch or Wiccan belief, but most do believe that those guilty of serious offenses pay for their crimes in proportion to its seriousness, possibly in their next incarnation.

                      Prayer is a very essential and personal part of the religions. It is often used in combination with ritual to help worshippers contact the divine and manifest their needs.  Prayer is not only directed outside the self for an answer, but is also directed inside because of the belief that the divine dwells within as well as without the physical self.  The Witch and Wiccan philosophy teaches that in order to be effective, prayer must be charged with the right amount of emotional energy, and they consider it to be a form of religious magick.

Wicca is and is not

 

Wicca is not what it started out as. Nothing ever is. Wicca started out as an almost exclusively magickal system with no emphasis on the goddess. Then Doreen Valiente came into the picture. She enhance and deepened what spiritual tradition Wicca carried. A lot of stuff has since drifted in. That is not a bad thing. Just because it wasn’t there “before” doesn’t mean it can’t be now. A lot of what was in the very early parts of Wicca are rarely relevant now. I go on about a few here below.

 

Wicca is:

 

-                A religion of Love, love of oneself, others, and nature.

-                A way of taking oneself to a higher level.

-                A pagan religion. There is no ONE GOD or force behind everything. There are two or many gods and goddesses.

-                Honoring the gods, nature, ourselves, and all life.

-                Taking care of you and yours in any way you must

-                Not judging others

-                Allowing people of other religions to have their beliefs without trying to change them

-                A religion that sees life as flwoing in tides just as nature does.

-                A way of life for those who don't see the body as sinful

-                A chance to revere the wisdom of our ancestors; all of them, not just a few.

-                An opportunity to grow

-                A place where age is a GOOD thing

-                A home for those who have just KNOWN things at times

-                A place where death isn't the end of the journey, its just another step in the adventure

 

 

Wicca is not:

-                About being all about the light. The shadow to must exist and coexist in order to create the balance one finds in life

-                Being naked. While some traditions stipulate nudity in ritual, I don’t agree with it. It is to distracting and for many embarrassing. Also, Sometimes the                  weather may make it a danger to your health.

-                Magick only. Magick without spirit is not only unenlightened, its downright sad

-                Satan. Does NOT exist and is NOT a part of Wicca. PERIOD!

-                About being Vegan. Vegan is a dietary Choice, not a religion. We as humans are designed to be OMNIVORES not herbivores. If you want to be one be                  one. I respect your choice, but I still like my meat. I merely give thanks for each animal that gave its life to feed mine. Plants die just like animals. All life                  feeds off of life in one fashion or another. After all, plants die to make soy burgers and tofu. Why disrespect THEM by disrespecting another’s dietary                  choices.

-                About being an environmentalist. While its good to be one, being an extremist is not good. Respect nature, don’t try to go back to the pre human world.                  Many creatures would be lost if this was done, in fact, many more would be lost if humans didn’t intercede than if they did intercede.

-                Being anti Christian. While you may have a beef with some of them. Ignore them, don’t hate them. Feelings of hate return just as much as anything

-                Casting love spells to make that hunky dude/ hot girl fall in love with you.

-                Enslaving the will of others

-                Going on a power trip

-                About fighting bad spirits like some exorcist priest.

 

Keep these things in mind any you won’t offend very many people regardless of education and knowledge level.

Here are the links to sites on Witchvox that give you the heads up and the 411 on the 101 of Wicca

 

Wicca FAQ                                             http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2870

Tools of the Craft                                   http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2874

What is Magic                                        http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2879

The Law of Three                                  http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2872

Witchcraft 101 Begining Practice        http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2883

The Wiccan Rede                                   http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2876

The Pentacle                                            http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usma&c=basics&id=2875

So you wanna be a witch                      http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usfl&c=basics&id=2881

Behavior and Ethics for Healers          http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=iexx&c=basics&id=8818

Ritual Creation Worksheet                   http://www.apath.org/docs/Ritual%20Creation%20Worksheet.pdf

What do Wiccans Believe? That’s up to the practitioner. Below are a list of common beliefs that most of us share. Research them on the sites in the links section. What I believe is covered on my page for that.

 

The Goddess

The God

Many Gods

 

Rituals

The Esbats

The Sabbats

 

Magick

The Craft

Spells

 

Divination

Eco-life

 

Respect for other Cultures and Religions