WHAT IS WICCA?

The word Wicca, comes from the Old English "Wita" which means "Wise One or Witch". In fact English kings would consult the Witan" or Counsel of the Wise before acting on matters of great importance. Wicca is an ancient European religion, also known as witchcraft, Wicca creaft,The Craft of the Wise or simply the Old Religion. Wicca is a religion, perhaps the oldest religion in the Western world and predates Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism. It is closer in spirit to Native American Traditions .

Wicca is a nature religion whose practitioners worship "Deity", a deity who is divided into both male and female (duality) aspects, also known as the god and goddess . We have Personified these aspects of the Gods. Giving them physical form and stories to help us better associate and understand these different aspects of "Deity". I should also point out that some Wiccans believe that the God and Goddess are actually two separate beings, with the Goddess presiding over the God consort.
The God is seen as the Lord of animals, Lord of Death and beyond. He is the beginning life force, the essential creative energy in all men and women. The God is visualized as a horned being, or as the sun. He is the energy and wildness of all things. The god was seen as having horns or antlers, as so apparently did the christian devils, and so the church equated the two as being one in the same but of course they are not
The Goddess is the personification of nature: the Moon and Earth. She is conceived as the triple Goddess in her aspects: Maiden, Mother, and Crone and we look for her attributes around us and within us.
Whether or not the God and Goddess are viewed as real, the concept of the God or Goddess, that is personification of the gods, is the means to make contact with the divine . And it is worthy to say that "DEITY", as nature, is within all life, all of the world seen and unseen, including manifest within each person. So to contact the deity, One must be awakened within oneself. This means that God/ess is always with us and around each being. Our Gods are very much a part of our everyday lives. The practitioners of Wicca attempt to attune themselves with nature and to see themselves and all life as part of nature. Our soul is part of "DEITY". We are of the Gods and they of are of us.

Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the act of the spiritual body being reborn after the death of one life; with the soul resting in the place Wiccans call the Summerland. Death is not an end; it is a stage in the cycle that leads to a new beginning. This can be seen as a young soul moving through the different grade levels of school. We are born and through life we learn, at death we cross of to the Summerland for rest, Our summer vacation; Then we are born into a new life. As we move up through this learning process, our life experiences get tougher with each incarnation, learning untill we graduate and become one with "DEITY". Different cultures have many different ideas on reincarnation; the first of the two main beliefs is, that the journey of incarnated life starts with the simplest plant or animal and progress up the ladder to more advanced life form; The second is, once human always human.

The Wiccan Rede
Although there are indeed many traditions of Wicca, Wiccans have one law in common "An' it harm none, do what thou wilt." also known as the Three Fold Law of Retribution; Meaning that what ever type of energy weather bad are good comes back to you three times. So to do evil, you will receive evil, three times in return. But do good and you will be rewarded Three times as much.Wicca has no concept of sin per se, but it does have a strong system of ethics--the individual laws may vary slightly from tradition to tradition. These ethics are based in a kinship with all things and all beings. We believe that we must weigh our actions in relation to the good of all as far as we are able to, not just to others in our group. Magick
Magick or the working of magick is basically the manipulation of energy, energy that surrounds and flows through everything. We manipulate this energy with Thought, emotion, action, timing and will. To pray, is to do magick.

Is Wicca a cult?
The label of "cult." According to definition, a cult is a religion based on the teachings of a charismatic leader, or a set of teachings or ideas put forth by one person. By this definition Christianity is more of a cult than Wicca. Wicca has no dogma or set of beliefs; This means that Wicca has no strict set of beliefs that everyone agrees upon. Specific beliefs vary from tradition to tradition and person to person. There are small groups that call themselves Wiccans, that maybe cults. However, the majority of Wiccans are highly individualistic as are their beliefs and ideas. So by definition, Wicca is not a cult.

As far as worshiping Satan, Wiccans do not worship the devil or believe in Satan or any all powerful personification of evil. We believe that nothing in nature is of itself, is evil. Most Wiccans believe that what evil there is, is caused by our own human actions. All of us are responsible for our own actions and what we do returns to us threefold ,via laws of retribution (see wiccan rede above). If we do good, then good returns; if we do bad then bad things come our way. We are not tempted by an outside force to do evil, the potential for evil is within us and it is only when we try to separate that potential from ourselves that it can gain control. If we accept that some times we are selfish and that is a part of us, then we can be unselfish. So Wicca is not Satanism nor is it evil. We cannot worship that which we do not believe in and we do not choose to give power to a personification of evil.

Mystic Haven