truewicca

WiCCa! The Old Religion!
Accurate info and the discovered TRutH!
Research provided and written by: Faeriena
What you think you know is just myth!
PLEASE scroll/read to the end of page!.



	As I walk around town, saying hi to everyone walking around, people looking at me with smiles over there face, I overhear something. A person gets scolded about bein' a trouble maker rah rah rah..... then I hear "You act like a witch with their evil magic and demonic praises with no knowledge of God." UGH! This page is to clarify a few things....... it's sad how people are so ignorant in religion. I AM Wiccan. Even people that DO consider themselves Wicca are inaccurate in the explaination of the Old Religion. I am disappointed. People, it's time for you to get taught RIGHT, I'm not talking about the sabbats, spirit, ect... I'm talking about shit that should be common and are very much mistaken stereotypes. WITCHCRAFT, THE REAL MEANING: Witchcraft comes from the Anglo-Saxon word wicce-craeft meaning "the craft of the wise" Many people have different variations and beliefs of the orgin and meaning of the word however it is quite to the point in the true meaning. Thousands of years before Christianity, there were many different varieties of Pagan worship. Big cities such as in the Greek and Roman times, were well organised with priesthood and devoted temples. In the smaller areas such as the country, however they didn't have this luxury. They would worship the same deities except it would be in the woods, fields or even mountains. Man and woman alike were their own priest or priestess, able to congregate divinity as the same level as the priests in bigger towns. Even though principle deities were worshiped in same in most places, names changed frequently in different areas of Asia and Europe, with local naming for titles with that name prevailing. The Religio-magic beginning can help fully make you understand the development of the relationship between gods with man and woman. Twenty-five thousand years ago in upper Paleolithic times, humans lived in an astonishment of nature. Majority of life was dominated by factors such as weather and bounty of the hunt. Before irrigation and farming in general, it was necessary to hunt in order to survive. Australopithecines (first upright primates) of East and South Africa evolved from vegetarians to meat-eating hunters. Cave art shows magical images to bring a successful hunting time for that particular era. In early times, humans were fearful of nature in particular ei: the thunder and lightning of storms, raging rivers, strong winds. It was believed all Gods were dwelling within the confines of these. Unlike anthropoids, humans are omnivorous by nature and believed the outcome of the hunt was ruled by the gods. To make a hunt successful, they performed rituals. The God of the Hunt was acknowledged in performances close to that of a theatrical staging. The priest would act out as the God, usually a horned or antlered form. People who adopted this technique were: Mandari hunters of eastern Sudan, Australian aborigional hunters, and Native Americans. Accompaning the God of the Hunt was the extremely important female deity. The Godess of fertility. Primitive paintings and carvings of animals mating were often together with pregnant female figurines, dubbed as Venus figurines. The mating of animals was obviously magical figures to promote growth of herds to be hunted. Female figures were also a way to ensure expansion in mortality, and later found to be highly important as the fertility of the fields along with native wildlife. As populatity with the deity of fertility, the Godess, grew, The God of the Hunt took on shape as simply the God of Nature as time went on, pushing the God into the background. This was the outcome from the gradual progress of domestication of both plant and animal, leading to storage of food for winter instead of hunting. The spreading of humans across Africa, Europe and Asia, also accompanied the concepts of the deities. The several gods and godesses of wind water fire ect., were always let by the God of Nature/Hunt and the Godess of Fertility. As for the development of the great cities such as Greece, they used sophistication of their gods and godesses but as stated earlier, the countrymen had a simpler way of ritual performances. In Western Europe after the Roman Empire crumbled, the Celts had much influence on what now is considered "Wicca". Witchcraft today comes from the Celtic way of living. The Druids structure with it's articulate tales of heroic legends and beautiful designs combined with the Roman customs and traditions kept the Old Religion, even though alot of the religion was pushed into others such as: New Romans, Saxons, Normans, Vikings, and Anglos. The religion was saved still by the farmers and outer villages. Legend and practice lived on in many of the old cities. It was common and ACCEPTED for mates(husband and wife) to practice magic in a field, the magic consisting of them exchanging in intercourse to ensure the fertility and productivity of the field's crops. When crops sprouted it was known for them to take tools such as poles, brooms, and pitchforks out in the field and dance, riding the tools like hobbyhorses. As they danced they'd jump in the air as high as they could to show the crops how high to grow. This was considered simple magic. After the crops grew it was time to thank the gods and godesses for their blessing. This is form of Pagan ritual is still found in areas of Europe and elsewhere. Villages commonly pronounces a few people as "wise ones", the ones that had knowledge of herbs and magic that were responsible for passing on charms and spells to future generations. They were the people called "doctors" and came up with creating, deleting, infusing and macerations in these times. The female "wise ones" were called "wicce" and the males "wicca". In worship the Wise Ones performed rites while priests and priestesses lead villages in ceremonies and celebrations of changing seasons. Later the followers of this practice were finally labeled Wiccans or Witches. My religion was preserved and finally received a title for it's sacred practice. To fellow Wiccans...... We SURVIVED! NEW RELIGION RISE: The rise of Christianity, the new religion, the ones who came to threaten and almost destroy Wicca and it's beliefs, the belief in the gods of nature. Unlike Wicca, Christianity was a human-made religion that contradicted itself within it's teachings and scriptures. For hundreds of years, Christianity exsisted alongside with Wicca, but that wasn't good enough for the followers of the Christian faith. Their gradual gain in popularity wasn't quick enough for their worshipers, they became impatient and ruthless..... In these next few paragraphs I will show factual information on the creation of Christianity and attempt of total power over Wicca. Note: This is NOT to put down any other religions. This is FACT. Please do NOT take offense, for that is not it's intent. I respect and accept other religions no matter how this section is titled or seen as hate towards Christianity. I couldn't hate a religion I used to be a part of. CONVERSION TO THE NEW RELIGION:In Great Britain, a king of a certain region was converted to the New Religion, when then it was declared by the church that all subjects in his rule were to be affected even though the majority still worshipped the old gods. Between 597 and 604 Common Era (C.E.) most of London still remained Pagan during Augustine's mission to Britain. Even so, King Aethelbert of Kent was converted. After his death, Kent was reverted to Paganism. In 604 C.E. the close to the same event occured with the king of the East Saxons, by the king turning to the New Religion but upon his death, his successor reverted to Paganism. The people of 627-628 C.E. respectively witnessed the conversions with the kings og Northumbria and East Anglia. The king of Wessex was converted in 635 C.E., followed by the king of Mercia in 653 C.E., however by 654 C.E. it was necessary for the Christians to reconvert the king of the East Saxons. Therefore, there was NOT a smooth, regular transition from the Old Religion to the New Religion. The Old Religion was a part of every day life for generations upon generations, naturally getting rid of our religion for another would not be thrown out easily, far from it. THE THEFT OF THE OLD RELIGION:To entice more pagans into the New Religion faith, the New, in this effort, adopted numerous ancient conventions. The Christian Trinity: based upon the Ancient Egyptian triad of Osiris, Isis and Horus. The conception and resurrection were copies of the old Pagan beliefs found in alot of areas of the ancient world. For even more appeal for the Pagans to the Christian religion, they even took the name Jesus from the Pagan originated god, Esus, a very popular name used then as the Celtic nature god. The Pagan festival of Yule was shortly taken after as the birth date of "Jesus", and was so similiar to the festival traditions, they even included the phallic tree that was used in the celebration. As for Easter, the death and rise of Jesus, (The Christian Trinity maybe??) was based upon the Pagan godess Eostre's springtime festival. The festival of contact with the spirits of the dead, better known to Wiccans as Samhain, became Christian's All Souls' Day. Many centuries were filled with priests who served both the Pagan and Christian population to attribute more New Religion worshipers. The idea of the "Santa Clause" was taken from the figure "Befana," a Witch in Italy. Folklore stated as her being a benevolent Witch who brings gifts to children on the night of January 6th. When it becomes night and the children are asleep, she fills their stockings hung above the hearth. In tradition, a wooden figurine is made of her. A cone shaped pyre, six or seven meters high, made with chopped wood placed at the bottom of the stack, brambles then horse chestnuts are set along with straw. The pyre is then set on fire. The snapping of the chestnuts represent the spark of life. The burning of Befana is designed to return old life into new life, representing the decay of winter feeding the soil of spring. The figure of Befana as an old hunch-backed crone, is merely a reflection of her being aged by the harsh winter months. In Spring Equinox, Befana is said to be renewed, born again, returning as Fana, the woodland godess of spring, bringing gifts to children as everyone celebrates the arrival of new life. Does Easter ring a bell here??? A huge step for the New Religion in 590-604 B.E., derived from Pope Gregory when he issued details to his bishops in Britain that they were to invade pagan temples and consecrate them to the New Religion, install new altars and re-dedicate the temple to their God and where open sites (fields, parks) were to be taken over by them with new churches being built where pagan gatherings were held. This was an attempt to fool and coerce people into attending Christian churches. For a long period this seemed to work in the nominal sense and made the population Christian. The father's of the church got a taste for power by this time and then was decided that Christian faith should be the only faith. It was then declared that non-Christian to be labeled anti-Christian and undesirable, other religions were to be destroyed. LIES ABOUT THE OLD RELIGION: The concept of the Old Religion being lumped together with Satanism. This is the time where Witchcraft began to be shown as a dark meaning when others other than Wiccans used the term. The wise ones, for instance, knew about and understood poisons, being a need for other's who consumed wrong plants so they had the cure. Persecutors changed this information against them by saying they used this knowledge to poison people. More ironically, King Jame I's later translation of the bible, whether this mistake be meticulously designed or just plain ignorance, interpreted this scripture of the bible as "Thou shalt not suffer a Witch to live," when in fact truely means, "Thou shalt not suffer a poisoner to live," by her virtue of her knowledge of poisons. King James I confused the Latin words veneficor and maleficor up, generating several people to suffer for his mistake. What a genius! In 1235, Pope Gregory IX instructed the archbishop of Sens that "Thou shouldst be instant and zealous in this matter of establishing an Inquisition ... to fight boldly the battles of the Lord." Thirteen years later Alexander the IV proclaimed a papal bull against Witchcraft itself, then another one two years after the first. The invention of the printing press was invented in Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 and with this came a wide distribution with utterances in public writing. After the writing of a devious book by two German monks (Heinrich Kramer and Jakob Sprenger) the Inquisition came into a reappearance after a two year absense and proclaimed, designated by the pope "Inquisitors of these heretical depravities." Heretical depravities referred to as the generations of old Pagan practices such as fertility of human, beast crop and worshiping the old gods. The monk's book was titled "Malleus Maleficarum" or Hammer of the Witches. Seemingly typical of a monk's perspective, writing attacking fertility and sexual ways of the Old Religion. All good positive things of Wicca were reversed to be known as "evil" and were accused of being against fertility, even be so stretched as to have said to have sex with demons. Nefarious volume of this magnitude would later be used by trial judges for the next two hundred years, persecuting Wiccans and convicting them to unmentionable fate. It was discovered at the end of the nineteenth century that the monks forged a letter to give themselves more prestige to the theological faculty at the University of Cologne. The persecution turned to be a highly used political tool. Accusing people of Witchcraft and convicting them led to land and all other goods forfeit to the state therein or the church. In Scotland and Continental Europe, the convicted of Witchcraft were often burned at the stake alive as penalty. In England and New England, instead of burning at the stake, they were hung. The Salem Witch trials in New England in 1692 were typical doings through-out much of Eurpoe. Most accused were actually devout Christians that were indicted by scared children, puzzled neighbours and over excited church officials. The accused had no way out, even with an alibi they were said to have the ability to be in more than one place at once, making them guilty no matter what was provided in their defense. Eventually people were wrongfully put to death in New England however be reminded that it was a small number compared to that of Europe's fatality rate. In Europe it was known for two to three hundred people at a time be executed at the approval of a bishop. The bishop of Treves in France put an entire village to death from having a severe winter, saying it was the cause of Witchcraft and since he had no knowledge of the Witches who made the winter harsh he killed everyone. Another case was on Feburary 16, 1629, when Prince-Bishop Phillip Adolf von Ehrenberg in Germany executed 157 people for a similar occurance. All from lies spawn from the New Religion churches. SURVIVAL OF THE OLD RELIGION: The type of slaughtering continued for many hundreds of years until the New Religions promise of a peace loving, all forgiving God seemed to have forever rid the earth of their rival religion. It went so far as to even believe Witches exsisted became illegal in the early eighteenth century. However this religion has been around thousands of years. The ones who survived the Inquisition kept their faith alive in secret, passing down their knowledge to future generations. When encountering native practices, the New Religion proclaimed them as Witchcraft for having the unability to understand them from biblical categories. Soon the only label Witchcraft represented for many people was books on African Witchcraft, Native American and Australian aboriginal Witchcraft. The law against Witchcraft finally was uplifted in England in 1951 and was disregarded until mid- twentieth century in most of the world. Gerald Gardner is the person who changed the way of Witchcraft thinking by becoming fascinated with religio-magic. He became aquainted with the Dyak headhunters of Borneo along with many other tribes, learning their practices. After many years away from England, his homeland, he was shocked to reveal a surviving coven in their midst. Since he was an ancestor of a Witch who had been burned as a Witch in Scotland in 1640, he was initiated and set in the group. He found out that Wiccans were just a continuation of the pre-Christian era and wanted to clear the bad name of their beliefs. Dr. Gardner was told not to and explained the reason they still remained was their silence in their ways. After the leader passed away, Gardner publicised a book called Witchcraft Today, the first documented book written by an actual Witch, giving a view of the Witches' side of the story. This book began the re-emergence of Wicca and made it a more accepted practice around the world. SATANISM IN GENERAL: Ahhhhhhhh yes, misnomer more correctly known as Satanism, Early days of Christianity were very strict and harsh in their teachings. The ones strictly governed by the church were farmers, serfs, and servants..... the common people. They were allowed very little freedom and many doings were forbidden. They even regulated the sex life and reached a stage so far that there was rebellion. Some found they got no satisfaction from praying to their newly found God, so decided to turn to the opposite of the God......... Satan. Doubtful this fullfilled their lives any but at least they got some form of gratification by opposing the church that forced this religion upon them in the first place. So....... Satanism is really a reversal and DENIAL of having to be forced into Christianity. The concept of SATAN was really unknown to PRE- Christian people. In older religions the gods were MUCH more human with GOOD and BAD moods therefore no need for an all evil deity. The Christian idea of an all "good" God NEEDED such an entity for it is impossible to have the "light" without the "dark" to contrast. This idea ACTUALLY came into being and originated in PERSIA in the seventh century B.C.E. and was later adopted by Christianity. Therefore, there is a CLOSER relation to Christianity and Satanism than there is Witchcraft and Satanism. GOOD WITCH BAD WITCH: There is NO SUCH THING AS THIS. For the Wiccans who say "I only do good and the three fold law" BLAH BLAH BLAH. A REAL Wiccan would know that you cannot determine good and bad spells. Witchcraft is witchcraft. You cannot say that if a witch does a bad spell on another person that they are not Wiccan. It simply means that they will receive that spell upon themselves some time in their life three times worse than the original spell and they accept the consequence. Like I stated and will repeat again....... it does NOT mean they are NOT WICCAN if they do a bad spell. Every witch is also a person that makes good and bad decisions. Think about it. Referring to a "white" Witch is redundant for there is really only good. A good spell all depends on the actions which they are meant for. Who is anyone to determine a good and bad spell besides the one performing the ritual?? NOONE that's who. Any religion such as VooDoo, Satanism ect is NOT to be confused with Wicca. Satanism was created by the Catholic church to make people fear the Wiccan religion so that the major population would convert to their ways. WICCAN AND OTHER RELIGION INTEGRATION: Many ask if they can be a Witch but continue being a Christian as well. Hmmmmmmm Wouldn't that be like being an Islamic-Jew, Misnomic-Hindo or any other religion mixing. It IS possible to combine religions on a personal level seeming MOST religions follow pretty much the same paths anyways. Labeling however doesn't seem to have a useful purpose. Ok..... example, a Christian-Witch. Hard to grasp and reconcile a belief in many gods(or a God and Godess) with the belief of a single male God with a male son that combined say to have no other god but me, let alone "THOU SHALT NOT SUFFER A WiTCH TO LIVE"!!!!!!!!!!!! If you're a Witch, be happy with just being a Witch; you will realise that most other religious teachings, esp. POSITIVE ones are found in Wicca anyways. Wicca is a RELIGION not a damn past time to show your friends! Be a religion that suits you, not intrigues your friends. (Even though Wicca is one of the oldest religions in the world, it was not considered a "legitimate" religion to all others until 1994 at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago, Ill.) BASIC WICCAN KNOWLEDGE: 1. Wicca is indeed a RELIGION. It involves a belief in worship of gods and godesses. 2. Deities: from gradual development over several thousands of years from many magical beliefs does NOT have formal theology therefore several names are used. 3. Most Witches believe in the same belief system: There exsists an all-powerful energy form. The entity Lazarus, channeled by Jach Pursel refers to it as the "God, Godess, All-That-Is". Even without this name, all Witches can relate to the energy form it represents. 4. The God and Godess are perceived as many forms, however mostly a human form with an animal-like head or simply human. 5. Spirit is male and female. The female familiarized in the warmer months and male the cooler. Spirit is the combination of the God and Godess. 6. Having in your posession of Wiccan tools and knowledge does not make you Wiccan. You must practice the religion in all aspects, not just play around when you have the time. 7. Be sure this is the religion for you and you're right for it's practices. Not because it's the popular fad at that time. 8. You are responsible for your practice and bring your own "instant karma" also known as the three fold law. Keep in mind the saying: You reap what you sew. 9. Having the belief of reincarnation and life after life. WICCAN NAME:Your Wiccan name is NOT for others to KNOW. You MAY say your Wiccan name is such and such, like I say mine is Faeriena. BUZZZZZZZZZ... That IS a NEGATIVE!!!! That is the Wicca name ones besides Spirit and MYSELF are allowed to know. For those who are ignorant enough to say their TRUE Wiccan name out loud are NOT true Wiccans. To choose a true Wiccan name, you are to go through many days, even weeks of meditation until it comes to you naturally. Not something that's going to pop in your head after 20 minutes of thinking. That's like lust..... it comes for a bit but you get sick of it. This name must speak to you from the soul. After you find a name suitable for yourself and Spirit, you may choose a name you would like others to refer you as whilst performing ceremonies or in the general population. Remember, never your true Wiccan name. More of an alias. Those who break the code of silence between you and Spirit aren't completely one with Spirit. THE SACRED CIRCLE: Also known as the magic circle, it is thought of as a space between the worlds, being neither in this world or the next. It is a place to commune with the deity and be one with the gods. It is conscecrated for a one time meeting place because you may need to go to another place. If you are a solitary Witch you may keep your circle if in a safe place. The size does not matter of the circle as long as participants can set comfortably within the circle. The circle can be marked with any line such as a clothesline. If it is a permanent circle paint, trail of salt, sand or any other way of showing the boundaries of the circle. No unusual stuff or a pentagram in the middle of the circle ect. The ONLY reason for a circle is to SHOW the markings of consecrated portions of the area you are in. No other purpose! ALTAR AND IT'S TOOLS (GENERAL): The creation of an altar is very important. Suitably it should be small like a table, wooden box or a trunk. Preferably a wooden altar instead of other types such as metal. You may have any shaped altar as you wish, however remember you will be standing much so try for a comfortable height. Place the altar within the circle facing east or more traditionally the north. East is prefered as it is the direction the sun rises. It is recommended you have your altar in the center of the circle for easy roaming if you are in a coven. Solitary Witches need not worry of the altar being in the center. If desired you can cover your altar with a cloth but this isn't necessary, just a nice idea if you'd like to change the setting of your altar with the seasons. On your altar is where either your coven or the solitary set their tools. Tools are as follows: Incense burner(hold incense for rituals), Candle or candles(for symbolising the fire element), Deity figures(signify the God and Godess), Small dish holding water(For casting purposes), Small dish holding salt(Casting purposes), Large wine goblet(to hold wine when annointing), Plate(to practice rituals in with potions), Athame(main tool to open, close circles along with blessing elements, recognising the elements and watchtowers, performing non-sacrificial rituals, creating other tools, digging herbs for spells.... used in everything), Libation dish(to set cakes and ale (or wine if prefered), hand bell (atmosphere helper and a way to call upon the past living), scourge (used in initiations, you scourge a person causing the blood to course through one's body.... not in a painful manner, it's usually made with the tails of a silk cord), cords (the belt for an athame to be worn at all times usually 9 ft in length), priapic wand(represents the male organ of generation), bracelets(High Priestess' usually wear a wide silver bracelets as a show of office), crowns(usually decorated with some moon phase,traditionally only worn by a Witch Queen: a High Priestess who had more than one coven), besom(a witch's broom used in some rituals), wand( used in ritual coven implements...... is NOT a TRUE Wiccan tool, power can be equally done with your athame, really has NO true USE) oil (used in rituals), corn dolly (doll made of corn husks from the first harvest, just a symbol of tradition), cakes(cakes and ale are common for a coven or used as an offering to Spirit), and water(used in rituals). NEEDED WICCA TOOLS: Your Wicca tools are personal referance. Inexperienced Wiccans believe you need certain tools for rituals, tools that, in all honesty can be substituted with the main tools you use making them much more powerful. Your athame is the ONLY dagger needed. This is the MOST used tool in a Wicca's rituals. Example: I have seen where some Wiccans believe you need another tool such as this to dig in the earth to retrieve substances for special tasks. NO. You may use your athame for that. Any other tool used for these type of tasks are for the Wiccan that uses their religion as a brag note. Book knowledge and actual knowledge of the religion are two different things. Tools You NEED: Incense burner, Candle or candles, Deity figures, Small dish holding water, Small dish holding salt, Large wine goblet, Plate, YOUR ATHAME. Any other tools are cliched and I mean ANY!!!!!!!!!!!!! POSITIONING YOUR TOOLS: There is NO exact way to position, however it is common to have the ELEMENTS in this position: East = air, South = fire, West = water, and North = earth......... the incense holder is ass. with air from the rising smoke of incense, candle is ass. with fire, water is to the west, and salt is ass. with the earth. The problem with this is that if you have your candle to the south especially if your altar is pointing north because you would have to reach over it all the time. It is much safer and more true to your feelings if you place the elements where you see fit to suit yourself. RITUAL WARDROBE: Ok, when performing rituals, the most accurate way is to wear NOTHING. Any other wardrobe as such is fabrication. You can wear anything you want if you are insecure of nudeness. Alot of inexperienced Wiccans think of ellaborate crap. As for other clothing outside of rituals......... casual normal dress, not the stereotypes most are prone to using. However some DO wear black goth look ect., and that is OK..... other Wiccans shouldn't frown upon them. I hope you have a better understanding of my religion. If there's any other information I have left out that you would like to know. Please contact me and I will add it expediently.