All About Wicca

So you want to know about Wicca. Well you come to the right place.   In the pages that follow I will try to explain to the best of my knowledge what Wicca is and what it means to be Wiccan.   Anybody can call themselves a witch and anyone can call themselves Wiccan.  What does it all really mean?   Below you will find a list of essay's and articles that I have written that will help you to understand exactly what Wicca really is. Enjoy your visit here and be sure to bookmark this site as I am constantly adding new pages and tons of new information.   Be sure to email me with your concerns and questions.
As Above, So Below.








What is Wicca?



I will start by telling you what Wicca is, and then I will go into what Wicca is NOT!

Wicca is an earth based or nature based religion. We try to live in harmony with nature and take responsibility for the environment. It is not surprising to see a Wiccan leading a “Help the earth, Grow a tree, Save the whales” type of organization. It is their way of taking that responsibility, although it is not the only way. Wiccan’s work together or alone to achieve balance and harmony within nature and self. You will find your own way of giving back to nature. Everyone is different, everyone has their own way. This is unique to Wicca.

Some Wiccan’s worship The One; a single power which does not rule over the universe it is the universe. They believe that The One is in everything and is not some force standing "out there" watching us. The One created everything we see, touch and know. The One is known as the Goddess to some and the God to others. In Wicca the Goddess gave birth to the God that is that she divided herself into the God. The Goddess is spirit, the universe; the God is the physical aspect of the universe. The One knew that having a female and male aspect of itself would bring balance. Neither male nor female is stronger, better or more important, they complement each other. Wiccan’s worship both a Goddess and God deity although there are some Wiccan’s who only worship the Goddess. Wicca is a polytheist religion meaning they worship more than just ONE deity.

(This is an example of polarity. Polarity is basically opposites, male and female, positive and negative, day and night. If you notice everything in the universe has an opposite. More about Polarity here.)

Some Wiccan’s find it difficult to worship Goddess and God because of the impersonal fact of being faceless. To help make spirituality more personal, they will give Goddess and God a name like Astarte, Isis, Odin, Pan, Dianna, Cernunnos, etc., when invoking them.

This is the basis for the Wiccan creation story. Not all Wiccan’s will follow this creation story but most do. If you want to learn more about the creation story follow the links below. If you want to become a Wiccan, you should learn as much as you can. It is a long and joyful road though; there is so much to learn. It is not like being a child who has been raised in a certain belief system that is programmed into their brains as to what they WILL believe. This is a self learning journey, one that you take responsibility for.

Most if not all Wiccan’s follow the Wiccan Rede, “An it harm none, Do what ye will”. Basically this means that you are free to do what you want as long as it brings no harm to you or anyone else, including plants and animals. What the Rede does not say is that a witch can do what they want as long as they justify it to themselves. Living by the Rede means we live in harmony with all things that exist, both in spirit and physical. To see the Wiccan Rede in its entirety please click here.

Wiccan’s believe in the morals of most faiths, we do not think we are better or that our religion is the only true religion. We believe that all paths lead to the divine, and that not one way is the only true way. Click here to read about my vision I had while meditating one evening. A truly inspirational adventure.

How do we know what is right and wrong you ask, well have you ever heard that little voice inside you telling you “you shouldn’t do this it isn’t right”? Well The One has given us the gift of a “Conscious”, which helps guide us in the right direction. Everyone has evil in them, evil is everywhere after all, and it is this little voice that helps us stay away from evil. Our Conscious is our connection with the divine, by listening to it; we are communing with Deity and therefore following the path of divine intentions. Ok more about this in the essay “To be a witch”.

Now lets talk about what most of you are wondering about, Magick. I chose to spell Magick with a “k” to differentiate from stage magic. Now I believe that Magick is one of the most popular reasons that people are drawn to Wicca. You must remember that not all Wiccan’s use Magick, some do and some don’t. Lets talk about what Magick is to Wicca. Magick is a way for Wiccan’s to grow closer to the divine; it is used to accomplish things, and to help make our lives better. Some people will disagree with this and say that you shouldn’t use Magick for personal gain, but isn’t this exactly what our ancestors used it for. They used Magick to help with the hunt, and to bring forth a new growth in the spring for their crops to grow. Let’s face it, times have changed and we would not use Magick for the hunt as we do not depend on the hunt to provide food for our clan but we have other reasons to use Magick in our modern age. To learn more about Magick click here.

Wiccan’s believe in reincarnation, we believe that life is to be lived this lifetime, we live for the here and now. We do not deny ourselves the pleasure of life or wait for some reward that we will get after we die. We do not put up with unnecessary pain because it is our punishment, (speaking of childbirth here). We enjoy life’s pleasures now so that we can learn what it means to be on this earth and what our lessons are. We believe that we all have a purpose or “job” to do while we are here and after we have completed our mission we will part from this life and move on to the Summerland (Wiccan’s concept of “heaven”) Wiccan’s don’t believe there is a place in the afterlife to punish sinners, we believe in a Universal Law called Karma, that what you do or put out there will come back to you threefold. Karma is not meant as a punishment rather a way to learn from our mistakes so we won’t or at least try not to repeat them. It makes us think about our behavior.

The previous is my interpretation of what Wicca is to me. It is not meant to be any form of holy doctrine or the only way a Wiccan can or should believe. You chose this path, it should be personal to you. You make it what it is as I make it what it is to me. I only wish to give you a guideline, it is up to you to search and find your way. Blessed Be





What Wicca is NOT!



First off, let me say that I am not going to go into the history of Wicca or Witchcraft here that is for another article. What I will discuss here is those little rumors that have been going around about Wicca for centuries. Isn’t it true that what people don’t understand, fear? Well, this seems to be the case with Wicca. Think about the reactions you received since you have been interested or researching Wicca. It is not uncommon for family and friends to be totally appalled by the concept of their sister or best friend being a witch. What they are reacting to is the unknown and they fear that. All they can relate to “witch” is “evil” and all they can envision is that little old witch from “Snow White” who is trying to poison her. Well, you know and I know that this is the furthest thing from the truth. It is our job to educate our family and friends about our religion so that they can better understand it and will no longer fear it. Ok now on to those nasty (but funny) little rumors that just won’t seem to stop.

  • Witch’s worship the devil.

    • Well let’s see here, Witch’s don’t believe in the devil, therefore, how can they worship such an entity. The devil is actually a character made up from a Christian prospective to scare people into converting to Christianity from “the old religion”.

     

  • Witch’s put hex’s, curses on you and turn you into frogs.


    • “turn you into a frog”

    Ok this is probably one of the most hilarious accusations I have heard thus far. Hey all you witch’s out there, how many times have you wished that you could turn someone into a frog even if for just a minute. This is entirely Hollywood Magick and just plain does not happen in the real world. Now I am not saying that Magick isn’t real but this type of Magick is not.



    “Hex’s and Curses”

    Yes a “bad witch” can put a hex or curse on someone, whether that curse will work is entirely up to the practitioner, HOWEVER, this goes against EVERYTHING that Wicca stands for. The Wiccan Rede clearly states, “An ye harm none, do what ye wilt”, with that said, putting a curse or hex on someone would not be following the rede, not to mention Karma would kick your butt. So no Wiccan’s will not put a hex or curse on you.

     

  • Witch’s can fly (on broomsticks).

    • Ok now really can you honestly say that you have ever seen a human fly? ***shakes head*** The human imagination can be very creative can’t it? This rumor I believe started a long time ago, possibly prior to or at the same time of the Burning times. You know that time in history when mostly women, but men and children too, were being burned alive or hanged for presumably practicing some form of Witchcraft. I believe this “flying” is linked to the concept of Astral Travel. Somewhere someone overheard a “Witch” talking about flying through the “otherworld” and then that person told another and so on and so forth. BINGO, Witch’s can fly. Now I do not have factual proof of this connection this is merely my opinion. Ok? Ok!

     

  • Witches can change their hair or eye color with a swoosh
    of a hand or maybe that was a twitch of a nose.

    • Don’t we wish! I know I do, I wouldn’t be spending so much money on beauty products if I could. Obviously this is not true, why would you believe such erroneous hogwash anyway?

     

  • Witches sacrifice children and animals.

    • Wow! I can not believe anyone could be so cruel. Most Wiccan’s love children, animals of all sorts, in fact, they love them so much that some of those advocates for abused children, and humanity associations are full of Wiccan volunteers. Ask around, you will see. The child sacrifice has most recently come into play more so because of abortion being legalized. Now I will say this, a lot of Wiccan’s, pagans and other earth based religious followers support abortion. Not because they believe they are thinking it is a child sacrifice but because they believe that it’s the women’s body and her choice. I believe “to each their own”, I am neither for nor against abortion. I myself could not and would not get one, but I won’t condemn my neighbor if she did, it is her choice. Yes I can say I would NOT get an abortion, I have been in a situation once in my life where it was recommended to me by a physician and I refused it then and I would still refuse one today.

     

  • We corrupt your children

    • The problem with people that think this way is that they are scared. They think that Wiccan’s are out there recruiting their children so that we can gain control or something. All Wiccan’s want is to be left alone to practice their religion and are usually very cautious with whom comes searching it out. Wiccan’s have been the victim’s for so many centuries of trying to be converted into the mainstream religions that we do NOT wish to convert anyone. This is our path for our reasons and it may not be the path of others. This is ok to a Wiccan, is this so hard to understand because the ones spreading these rumors are actually the ones who can not fathom the idea of other religions being OK? Wiccan’s welcome other religions, we do not wish to put down or bash another’s belief, but we will defend our own beliefs and have a right to do so. Basically don’t throw the first stone and we won’t bother you.

    WICCAN’S don’t proselytize. We don’t need too; people are flocking to Wiccan like bees on honey to escape the dogma of more mainstream religions. They seek out the open mindedness that Wicca offers, the freedom to chose for themselves and not be told how to dress, what to read, or what TV show you shouldn’t watch. These are your choices to make and no one else’s.

    In conclusion, Wiccan’s are fun and loving creatures, who wish no harm on humans, animals or land. We want peace on earth, and cringe at the thought of war. Please take the time to educate yourself about Wicca and other pagan religions so you don’t fall victim to throwing stones at a glass house.  Blessed Be Ishtar Morgaine


     


    Wiccan Traditions

    Added April 14, 2002



    Below is a list with links of each of the traditions that I have been able to find. I am sure there are tons of other traditions out there as new ones are starting everyday, however, I am going to give you the most popular ones because most of the new ones are pretty much eclectic anyway. If you know of a tradition that I have not included, please feel free to leave a message in the message board “The brewing Cauldron”and I will be sure to add it here.

 
 

Now that you have a basic understanding of what Wicca is and what it isn't, and if you still want to learn more about Wicca, go to the Wicca 101 section and find the lessons that suit your style and availability. I suggest that you take the year and a day recommended to learn about Wicca.   If you decide that Wicca is not for you, that is ok, you haven't wasted a year of studying, you have gained a wealth of knowledge that no one can take from you; Knowledge is power! Remember that you have free will and it is your choice, your path, your religion. Some will say you cant do this, you cant do that but in the end it is you who decides what feels right for you. I hope you have enjoyed yourself so far and I look forward to providing you with as much information as I know and can gather together. Blessed Be, Ishtar Morgaine

Email me! Ishtar Morgaine