There’s no doubt that everyone is looking for the answers to life’s big questions. Why are here? Is there more to life? What happens when we die? Millions of people around the world find their answers to these questions in various religions. While nearly everyone knows about Christianity and Judaism in America, many people no little to nothing about Wicca. Unfortunately there are many misconceptions about contemporary Wicca, even that it is satanic worship or a cult. However, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Wicca is a very peaceful religion that hinges on harming none and being kind to the world around you. Wicca is sometimes referred to as the Old Religion because of the similarities of the Paganism of long ago, however contemporary Wicca is in fact one of the newest religions around, beginning in the late nineteenth century.
Wicca’s central belief system focuses around the worship of the Goddess and God. Religions all over the world believe in a female goddess that is the mother figure of the world. The Goddess is usually worshipped as the triple goddess which means the triple form of the great Goddess, Mother, Maiden and Crone. According to Doreen Brown’s Wicca for Beginners, the Great Goddess is “at once the Mother of all life, creation, and the nourisher of all beings” and in Wicca this is especially tied to the natural world and its cycles (Brown). This a principle belief in Wicca. The Maiden-Mother-Crone is a triple force that acts as one deity somewhat similar to that of Christianity’s trinity. Maiden is representative of new beginnings, morning, spring, innocence and beauty. The Mother represents summer, nature, responsibility, marriage and nurture. The Crone represents night and winter, judgment and wisdom. She...
... middle of paper ...
...gion, but it has shown no sign of decline. The idea of living your life as you wish so long as you harm no one is certainly a beautiful practice that doesn’t seek to punish and control human nature, but celebrate and trust in it instead. While Wicca is an eclectic, inclusive religion that hinges on individual belief practice, there is no doubt that many people all over the world strongly believe in Wicca and consider the Great Goddess and Horned God sacred. They are both transcendent and immanent through ritual and represent how close the Divine is to us in daily life.
Works Cited
Brown, Doreen. Wicca for Beginners: Spelling It Out!. Get Publishing, 2014.
Cunningham, Scott. Wicca: A guide for the solitary practitioner. Llewellyn Worldwide, 1988.
Sabrina, Lady. Exploring Wicca: The Beliefs, Rites, and Rituals of the Wiccan Religion. Career Press, 2006.
Witchcraft is the most illogical and despised practices involving the supernatural power. “It implies the ability to injure others. A witch usually acquires his power through an inherent physical factor or through the power of another witch. Witch possess a special organ called mangu, located somewhere behind the sternum or attached to the liver.”[11] Woman/man may become a witch through the influence of another witch or contact with another witch. Witches do not intend to do harm; they are as much the victims of witchcraft as those upon whom they practice it. They have innate power and often don’t know what they are doing. The belief in witchcraft helps people explain the causes of illness, death and misfortune experienced by a person or a group when no other explanations can be found. Most of the time when witches create injury and calamity, they were punished by death, sometimes by exile. They also were forced into admission of guilt by torture, fear, or the hope for lighter punishment. “Most witches work by night, are capable of covering long distances very rapidly, tem...
The growing practice of Neo-Paganism in America has caused many to turn their heads. The misunderstanding of the religion has caused many to equate the practitioners with the popular conception of typical "witches," that perform black magic rituals, satanic sacrifices, and engage in devil-inspired orgies. After many years, the Neo-Pagan community has cleared up many misconceptions through the showing that many of them do not engage in activities, and are rather participating in a religion, just as those would that participate in a Christian community. It's unacceptance continues, perhaps due to its non-conformity to the ideal of worshipping a Christian God. Through the use of ethnography, anthropologists and sociologists are able to present the public with a much different view than what we are bombarded with in popular media.
The Holy Bible is the main essence of Christianity especially the New Testament. There are many parables and lesson learned in the Gospels in the New Testament. In the bible there is a Golden Rule found in (Matthew 7:12) which is, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus also touches on the importance of the Golden Rule throughout the bible. In Wicca there is such a Law that is very similar to the Christian Golden Rule called The Threefold Law. The Threefold Law is a cause and effect concept or whatever you do to others it will be done to you. (Dragonsong) So essentially the way an individual treats another should be reflected on how they want to be treated. For Wiccans
In history the pagans have been viewed as godless infidels. Many who practice paganism live in fear related to the judgment of others that hold differing views on religion. Much of the persecution of the Pagan has been related to their practice of magic. What is amazing is that much of the magic once practiced by pagans was similar to that of modern medicine (Some Basic Pagan, n.d.). Despite their apprehension and fear of persecution, it has been reported that Paganism has been described as one of the most rapidly growing religious movements in the world today (Eilers, p.
Defined by Margot Adler, writer for Reader’s Companion to U.S. Women’s History, “Wicca is the term commonly used to describe several different traditions of contemporary Paganism—an earth-centered religion that reveres nature; celebrates seasonal and lunar cycles; and worships a goddess, or many goddesses, or sometimes a goddess and a god” (637-638). It is a religion that focuses on worshipping an earth god or goddess, using their power and the earth’s elements for good. For a misunderstood religion it has much history behind it and a deep core belief system.
"Wicca is the most prevalent form of reconstructionist neo-paganism in the United States and is the pre-Christian spirituality of the Celtic peoples who resided in the British Isles and Brittany and on the western coast of France." Wicca is a religion based upon deep personal understanding of oneself and the multi-verse in which one resides.
Does Wicca mean evil? Is Wicca a witch? These are just a few descriptions and questions of what people believe Wicca represents. When I hear the word “Wicca”, I right away think of a witch. There is witches and witchcraft in Wicca but it is not about Hocus Pocus and spells. Wicca is a religion and not just a religion with one God but the belief of many Gods. Wicca is an earth based religion. I believe Wicca’s beliefs is similar to that of the Hinduism religion. There are three topics in Wicca that stood out to me the most. The first topic that stood out to me was the Wicca’s belief in how creation came to be, the second topic is the many Gods and deities that the Wiccan religion believes in, and the last topic that was the most interesting
The Wiccan religion is one of the fastest growing religions in the United States as well one of the most misunderstood due to the controversies surrounding its history and mystery shrouding its beliefs and doctrines. Due to a series of popular TV series that have shown Witchcraft in a positive light, such as Sabrina, the Teen-aged Witch and Charmed, the popularity of Wicca has grown, especially amongst teenagers; but sadly this popularity has not been partnered with a growth in understanding and respect (Kaminer). Although Wicca offers a nature-oriented, egalitarian belief system with a rich collection of customs and rituals, ignorance and historically-rooted misconceptions still dominate public opinion.
feeling that their own beliefs and ideas did not agree with those of main world religions, Shara H, a Wiccan since her early teenage years stated, “ Christianity in general, started not to feel right” Denice Gold, a 64 year old who was raised in a Baptist household and is currently a coven
"All religions are structures built on reverence of Deity. Wicca is no exception. The Wicca acknowledge a supreme divine power, unknowable, ultimate, from which the entire universe sprang," (Cunningham, 9). This is a Witch's concept of the Divine. However, it is a distant, powerful image that is not easily understood. For the purpose of worship, the Wicca recognize the duality of this power. It is both male and female, good and evil, and therefore is worshipped in the form of a Goddess and a God. These are the primeval gods o...
What images come to mind when you think of witches? Many people immediately imagine a black pointy hat, bubbling cauldron, green warty skin, and Halloween. Usually the image that comes to mind is something scary and evil. Real witches do exist. Most modern witches go by the label Wiccan now. Wiccans practice Wicca, which is a nature-based religion with many different branches or denominations. The basic tenant of all Wicca is called the Three Fold Law. The Three Fold Law states that whatever you do will come back to you times three, good or bad, so do not cause harm or, in other words, “harm none”. It is kind of like the concept of karma in one lifetime. There is debate over how old the religion actually is with some saying that it is an ancient religion that pre-dates Christianity and some saying it is more modern, starting in the 1950’s with Gerald Gardener. Regardless of how old the religion is, Hollywood’s portrayal of witches often does have some kernel of truth, albeit sometimes it is hard to find.
For hundreds of years, Wicca and witchcraft has been considered the practice of the Devil. In result, many witches throughout those hundreds of years have been tortured, burned, hanged, and killed outright. Although the “witches” from the infamous Salem Witch Trials were not actual witches, it is the thought that counts. The assumption that witchcraft involves summoning the devil and sacrificing animals is extremely inaccurate, as well as a little insulting. Wicca and witchcraft has been misunderstood throughout the time it has existed, and it is actually a very beautiful practice.
WITCHCRAFT: The word witchcraft comes from the word “Wicca.” Wicca means the wise one. Witchcraft is to be believed as a pagan worship and or religion, a stereotype as a “magical phenomenon. In 1000 A.D., the practice of witchcraft became a threat to the Christians and their beliefs. They believe that wit...
First, Wicca, the formal organization of witchcraft, is a mystery religion. Each practitioner is considered a witch, and practitioner of The Craft, which contains several different beliefs concerning theology and divinity depending on an individual because of their freedom to study what they seek. Members may choose to be solitary, or part of a coven, which is a group of Wiccans that share beliefs and conduct rituals together. Though different groups of Wicca may differ in certain viewpoints, there are few unambiguous attributes of the religion. These explain that “deity is inspiring, and immanent; Humans are a part of nature; Divinity is manifested in all things and is the central part of nature; God and Goddess images are recognized as higher forms of divinity.” (Church and School of Wicca). The main rule that the Wiccans abide by is the Wiccan Rede, which preaches: “An ye harm none, do what ye will.” (Church and School of Wicca). Magic plays a huge part in the Wiccan religion, with spells, rituals, ceremonies, healings, and divination, etc., among the fundamental practices.
In general witchcraft is sorcery, the magical manipulation of the supernormal forces through the use of spells, and the conjuring or invoking of spirits. Wicca is the most common witchcraft. During the middle ages and the renaissance, it was defined as evil magic. This is the very reason Joan of Arc was burned at the stake; she was accused of being a witch. Although many think that it is a religion that worships the devil, Wicca does not have anything to do with worshiping the devil or Christianity. The most common form of witchcraft is done with the use of spells. To set a spell, the person doing it will set up an altar/table in which to place the candles and symbols on. The spells consist of words that can either be chanted or inscribed in something. The candles are used to direct the spell towards a specific purpose, such as: pink-love, white-healing and peace, and black-death. These colors can be used for different meanings; however, these are the standard meanings. There are many other colors out there with their own unique meanings, like if a spell was being set on a person; a candle that was their favorite color could be used. The symbols used consist of charms, pictures, flowers and belongings depending on the spell being set. These symbols must represent the spell and they cannot just be anything done quickly without thought. For example, if the person were trying to make their friend heal from a sickness a picture of the person or something that represents them would work.