Welcome All!  My name is Selene Sagewoman and I am very delighted that you have come to visit this site.  Before we begin the actual lessons of Wicca (i.e. tools, laws, sabbats, etc.), I would like to tell you a little about myself.  I am a 45 year old mother of 3 practically grown children.  I have been interested in Wicca/Witchcraft for as long as I can remember...about 20+ years.  (Not getting specific regarding the +)  There was always something magickal about everything to me.  I am a daughter of Diana and  am very drawn to elemental magick and weather lore.  I  practice  solitary most of the time, but I do participate in public circles here in Southwestern Connecticut.  Now for a little groundwork.  What we call Wicca today was once referred to as witchcraft. There are those  who believe that traditional witchcraft and Wicca are not the same thing because where Wiccans follow the "Wiccan Rede", traditional witches do not.  Also, traditional witches do not worhip any particular diety.  In Wicca, we believe that the divine is made up of the God and Goddess, who may be called by many different names depending on the tradition one is drawn to.  We do not believe they are actual people sitting on thrones somewhere ruling the universe.  They are the energy forces behind everything that exists in the universe...matter and energy combined.  Also, the one thing that may startle many people is that as witches, contrary to popular belief, we do not worship a being called "Satan".  This personage was created in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic ("Shaytan") belief systems, so if you have been interested in the study of witchcraft and have had a sense of fear of damnation for worshipping "the devil", fear not!  We don't believe in or worship the devil.  However, there are people who do and are known as Satanists, and some people within that sect may call themselves  witches, but this has nothing to do with what Wicca promotes or with what we'll be learning in this forum.  In our next lesson, we'll discuss the energies, positive and negative, that we as humans use in our everyday lives, and how Wiccans use this energy known as "magick".