WICCA |
In Palaeolithic times, early humans ascribed to each aspect of nature a deity or god the most important being the Great Earth Mother without whom there would be no fertility of their tribe as well as the Horned God of the wild animals they depended for survival. They began performing simple rituals for a good hunt, for fertility, for protection, healing. As their society developed, so did their religion and rituals and a priesthood formed comprising of wise men and women. These group of priestesses and priests were known as the Wicca (Wicce)-- meaning the "Wise Ones". They were not only the religious leaders but also the tribes doctors, magicians, councellors, astonomers and they had a vast knowledge of divination, herbs, magick and so on. The Wiccan religion was forced to go underground with the coming of Christianity but it did not die out as Raymond Buckland puts it " With the coming of Christianity there was not the immediate mass conversion that is often suggested.Christianity was a man-made religion. It did not evolve gradualy and naturally over thousands of years, as we have seen that the Old Religion did. Whole countries were classed as Christian when in actuality it was only the rulers who had adopted the new religion, and often only superficially at that.... Pope Gregory the Great thought that one way to get people to attend the new Christian churches was to have them built on the sites of the older pagan temples, where the people were accustomed to gathering together to worship.....when the first Christian churches were being constructed, the only artisans available to built them were from amoung the pagans themselves. In decorating the churches these stonemasons and woodcarvers very cleverly incorporated figures of their own deities. In this way, even if they were forced to attend the churches the people could still worship their own gods there." No intentions of angering anyone, just to show why there are similarities between the Christians and the Pagans. |
1.) Wiccans conceive of the Divine Creative Power in the universe as beeing a balance of feminine and masculine which we call the Goddess and the God, both equal, warm and loving. We value neither above the other, knowing each to be supportive to the other. 2.) Wiccans do not view deity as distant but in us and around us, in every tree, lake, bird, flower, and each and every aspect of nature. We are all One. 3.) Wiccans do not believe in the concept of absolute evil nor do we worship Satan which is a purely Christian concept and he has no place in the Wiccan religion. 4.) Wiccans do not offer sacrifices nor harm anyone or anything in anyway. All life comes from the Divine and to hurt another living thing is immoral and unethical and goes against the love and teachings of the Divine. This is summed up in the Wiccan Rede, " An' it harm none, do as ye will." Everything you do onto others, good or bad, comes back to you three times. We are responsible for our own Karma. 5.) Wiccans recognize their responsibility to their environment and see the Earth as a manifestation of the Divine. All nature is constantly revealing Her secrets to us and Wiccans listen to the Earth and not shut out the lessons that She has to teach. By taking care and loving our planet do we take care of ourselves in return. 6.) Wiccan know that although we honor the Goddess and God, we do not believe in predestination but that we are in full control and responsible for our lives and actions. 7.) Wicca is a religion that embraces magick although not all people of the Wiccan religion do magick and not all practioners of magick are followers of Wicca the religion. Magick is NOT supernatural and NOT a means of forcing nature to do your will. Magick is the practice of moving natural energies to effect needed change. 8.) Wiccans do not shut out the physical world in favour of the spiritual realms or magick for it is only through nature that we are aware of reality and the purpose we were put on Earth. We do however use rituals to expand our awareness to be truly one with all creation. 9.) Wiccans believe in reincarnation, that we are born, live, learn and die to be reborn again to learn lessons we still have not in a previous life or to experience all we need to evolve. 10) Wiccans do not believe that theirs is the only TRUE religion and do not try to preach and convert others to their faith but believe that All positive religions are true and just different roads leading to the same Divinity. I like to think of Divinity as a tree and different religions as different parts of that tree; each part of a tree looks different has has different ways of working just like different religions but ultimatly all serves the same Being and is part of the same Being. |