| A Wiccan Circle of Friends Teen's Circle |
| Frequently Asked Questions |
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| Q: "I'm curious about Wicca and Paganism. How do I decide what path to follow and whether this is right for me? |
| A: Wicca is a name given to a form of paganism (nature-based religion) which holds as it's center the adherance to a Rede (moral code) which states in its conclusion: "and ye harm none, do as ye will". Not all Pagans are Wiccan. Not all Wiccans consider themselves "witches". Not all witches are wiccan. There is a tremendous amount of information available through books and on the internet which you can read to educate yourself on Wicca in particular and Paganism in general. Both our main links page and the links page in Teen's Circle can provide you with many good sources on-line. Witchvox (www.witchvox.com) can even help you locate individuals, groups and shops in your own area. As for books, we recommend Scott Cunningham's "Wicca, A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" as the best "first read" for beginners. Silver Ravenwolf's "Teen Witch" is also extremely thorough in it's coverage for teens exploring a wiccan path. The Teen's Circle "recommended reading list" will give you further reading suggestions. No matter where you look for your information and education about The Craft, remember to evaluate each source based on whether it adhere's to the "harm none" Wiccan Rede. (you can find the link for the Wiccan Rede where it is posted in this site, at the bottom of this page.) By letting the Wiccan Rede be your "ruler" to measure each thing you read and hear, and by listening to the "voice" of the Goddess and God within your heart you will find what path is right for you in your spiritual life. Be wary of anyone or any source that tries to tell you that you must join their group or that Diety is telling them to tell you something! Diety is able to communicate with each of us directly...we are all equally able to access spirituality and make our own decisions about that spirituality as it is right for us. There is no rule that says you have to put any kind of label on yourself in terms of how you choose to define your own spiritual path. There is also no rule that says you have to make a decision about your spirituality by a certain age or that you can't change your mind as you grow and mature. Most adults will tell you that they have evolved and perhaps even been redirected throughout the course of their lives in regard to their spirituality. Your spiritual path will be your own unique experience. |
| Q: "I have decided that Wicca is the path I want to follow. How and when should I tell my family and friends?" |
| A: Welcome Sister or Brother to The Craft! You will want to study and ponder the "Witch's Pyramid" and allow the Goddess and God to guide you through meditation on it. You will find the link to where we have posted the "Witch's Pyramid" in this site, at the bottom of this page. The phrase, "and to be silent" teaches us to open our eyes and ears and senses for learning and to keep silent unless or until the circumstances are appropriate to speak of our beliefs and practices. You may have heard other teens who decided that they would follow a wiccan path suddenly start blabbing to everyone whom they come in contact with "I'M A WITCH! I'M A WITCH!" Then they cry and moan about being persecuted and ostrasized and wonder why no one understands them. Well, let's face it, our society hasn't had much education, to say the least, in the last 2000 years in regards to The Old Ways. There has been a lot of effort put into perpetuating the lies and sterotypes that were created to malign witchcraft. Your average person on the street doesn't have much more to go on for information about what a witch is other than Halloween costumes and Disney villians. If you "come out" to family and friends you WILL experience some level of negative response from some people. If you are just starting out on your path, you may not be as prepared to handle this negativity as you would if you have a little more knowledge and growth under your belt. It is not necessary to make some kind of declaration to everyone you know. If you chose to share your new choice of spiritual path with someone, let the first people you tell be those whom you feel you can trust and confide in. You have a lot of learning to do and a lot of growing to do. It will be a lot easier for you to concentrate on that if you don't have a lot of negativity to contend with. It is quite natural to want to share this wonderful thing you have found for yourself with those close to you......just avoid rash decisions which you have not had time to think through. If someone has been raised to believe that witchcraft is evil, it will be difficult for them not to have a fearful reaction to your news. Try to see things through their eyes, and be kind. Do keep in mind that Wicca is not a religion that seeks to convert others to our way of thinking or believing. Consider your reasons for wanting to tell someone about your beliefs. If you think they will think you are cool, or that you will shock them, or that they will be upset, then maybe sharing with them is not wise. A good reason to tell someone might be because the person cares about you and vice versa, you trust them, you have a close relationship in other areas and sharing this information seems appropriate. Once you have decided to share your beliefs with someone you will want to think about the best way to do that. You could illicit a completely different response from someone depending on what you choose to say and how you choose to say it. Some words stir up different images than others. Also, doling out small, easilly understood aspects of your new-found belief system, a bit at a time, can be easier for some people to digest than giving them a wholloping announcement of huge proportions all at once. You could, for example start with saying something like, "lately I have been re-thinking what I believe about God....I really believe that God isn't just male, but both male and female"...and see what kind of reaction you get. Putting your beliefs into words can be difficult at first. That is often why people rely on standard words and phrases. But try to learn to describe what you believe without those "catch phrases". A lot of them are riddled with pre-conceived notions that may or may not be what you intended when you used the word. To get some practice, try keeping a journal where you can write out some possible questions you might be asked and different ways of answering those questions without falling back on those "catch phrases" and stereotypical responses. Of course it is almost never a "must" that you have to answer a question. Depending on who asked the question and what their motivation is for asking, you certainly don't have to answer anything you don't wish to. Even when it comes to your parents or others whom you want to show respect to, you can always say you are still pondering that subject and you'll get back to them when you have sorted it out further in your mind. For those who are just being nosey, you certainly don't have to answer innapropriately asked questions. If you'd rather not bluntly say, "it's none of your business", you can always just change the subject. |
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| Q: "Now that I have chosen Wicca as my spiritual path, how do I get started?" |
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| A: Well....actually....you have already started! You have been searching out information and you found your way here to this site. You read down this far...so you have already started. How do you continue? It can't be said enough, "read, read, and keep reading!" We are so fortunate in this day and age to have a vast amount of written work available just about everywhere on the subject of Paganisim , wicca and witchcraft. Some of it is very very good, some so-so, and some isn't worth the paper it was printed on! How do you decide? Listen, the Goddess and God got your attention and got you this far. Trust that they are leading and guiding you. Listen to your gut. Compare everything to the Wiccan Rede. Obviously, if something you are reading doesn't feel right, you need to pay attention to that! Anything that advocates trying to manipulate, control or harm another person is not in line with the Wiccan Rede. Now, here is the tricky part...some books have some good and valuable stuff in them even though some of the other content is obviously not! Ok, so digest the good stuff and disregard the rest. Even Scott Cunningham, one of the most well-respected authors and most revered wiccan leaders of our time has some stuff in his books you will not agree with or choose to accept for your own practice. This doesn't in any way, however, negate what a good source his writings are for anyone seeking to learn about wicca. You don't have to swallow anything "whole". You decide what you agree with and what you don't. You can order books on-line, you can buy them from pagan shops, and even the big chain book stores have a lot of books to choose from in their "new age" or "religious" sections. If you are "in the closet" or just don't want to have others know about your beliefs at this point, you may want to purchase books with cash (as opposed to a credit card, or checks if you have those) . It also wouldn't be a good idea to take your books to school. There is also a huge amount of information on-line. It can be a bit overwhelming. Depending on what you enter in a search engine, you will likely pull up more sites than you could go through in your lifetime! So how do you decide which ones to visit and which ones to frequent? On first glance, you can usually tell the sites that are geared towards helping people learn about wicca verses those that are primarily for selling things. Beyond that, you might want to avoid those sites that have obviously adult content. If your parents find out you are visiting wiccan web sites they may not like it...but if they find out you are visiting sites with inappropriate material for their minor teen they will likely go through the roof! This will not help you in trying to win them over in accepting your decision to follow a pagan path. As for the teen wicca sites, keep a few things in mind; 1. if the site is created by teens, for teens you will not be getting any mature guidance or hearing any input from those older and more experienced at that site, 2. just because someone on-line says they are a teen (or a guy or a girl either!) doesn't mean they are telling the truth! Don't assume, or take things at face value when interacting with others on-line. Keep in place all the appropriate safe-guards when interacting on the internet. In general, you can tell a lot about the people who frequent a site from the content on that site and from postings on their message boards. Are the people kind, resectful of each other, sincere, etc? Does the site content reflect adhereance to the harm none rede? If anything makes you nervous or seems "off" you can move on to another site (afterall there are a kazillion of them out there). After you have studied extensively you may reach a point at which you feel confident that wicca is the path for you. If and when you come to this point, many wiccans decide it is time to do some kind of ritual or ceremony called a Dedication, during which they formally commit themselves to the Goddess and the God on their wiccan path. This can be done alone, or with a group, whatever feels right to you at that time. In Scott Cunningham's, "Wicca; a Guide for the Solitary Practitioner", Silver Ravenwolf's "Teen Witch" and Alpha books' "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Wicca and Witchcraft" you will find information on Dedication and dedication rituals. Scott Cunningham's book has a nice ritual for dedication that is intended for solitaries. "Teen Witch" even has a ritual titled a "teen seeker's ritual", and the Idiots Guide has a lot of nice information about designing your own dedication ritual as well as how to go about choosing a magickal name should you choose to do so. Whether you write your own Dedication ritual or use one you find pre-written is not as important as what is in your heart and mind in making the decision to do a Dedication. It is not to be taken lightly and should not be rushed into. |
| Q: "What is the difference between a Dedication and an Initiation? |
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| A: Just as there are many forms of Paganisim, of which Wicca is just one form, so are there many different forms of Wicca. The various types of Wicca are called Traditions. Realistically, if you were to interview 1000 different Wiccans you might come up with that many different traditions of Wicca as well! This is because there is so much variety which is possible within the open and flexible concept expounded in the Wiccan Rede. There are some things which most wiccans have in common.....but there is a lot more that they do not. This is pretty cool when you think about it, since it allows so much individuality within one basic religion. A Dedication refers to a ceremony where the dedicant makes a commitment to the Goddess and the God in Wicca. This does not mean that the dedicant has to adhere to a particular Tradition or specific set of theological beliefs beyond those spelled out in the Wiccan Rede. However, an Initiation usually refers to a ceremony marking one's acceptance of a particular Tradition in Wicca involving specific theological beliefs more defined than those in the Wiccan Rede. This can be a self-initiation in which you define your own personal beliefs more specifically, whether that be those of a known tradition, or your very own tradition which you have created and defined for yourself. An initiation can also refer to being initiated into a group or coven. If you have heard of the phrase, "a year and a day", this refers to the length of time that a dedicant is usually asked to study before they can be initiated. Some groups or covens have one initiation, and others have many. For those who have many, each initiation raises the initiant to a higher level of study, responsibility, and rank within the group, coven or tradition. Being a Solitary is no less valid a status or religious choice than being a member of a coven or wiccan tradition. It is purely a matter of personal preferance and choice. There is also no need to compare yourself to anyone else's "level" of initiation. Each person's path is their own. What is important is your relationship to your Diety and the personal fulfullment you both find and extend from your spiritual path. |