What Is WICCA?
By Lady Wolfen Mists c
1991; revised 2007
Wicca is a belief system based in
duality. That is to say that we believe in a Goddess and a God. We celebrate
living experience through the changing of the seasons . On specific days
(called Sabbats)we meet to celebrate the continuing cycle of life, death and
rebirth. For example on Lammas (in Aug.) we celebrate our Harvest time.
which is much like "Thanksgiving". We also meet a least once a month on
the full moon to work and worship our God and Goddess . For example we
would ask the Lady and Lord for help in healing someone of an illness or
thank the God and Goddess for their help in our lives.
We feel that the Lady and Lord are the embodiment of creative powers found
in all things. These creative energies are both positive and negative. Now
that's not positive and negative in the sense of good and bad, but in the sense
of positive and negative polarities. Yes we are considered a Pagan
religion.
On The God And Goddess!
The God and Goddess are both equally important in our religion. Although
the Goddess is often times paid "more Attention" to than the God, it is only
because He allows this. The Goddess is seen as the Mother Creatress, She
who gives us life and nurtures us. Her power is symbolized in the Moon and
the Earth and in all things/animals domestic. We do not worship the Earth or
the Moon as many believe we do, we only praise the powerful creative
energies that we see in the female energies of the Moon and the earth. We
feel, like many Christians, that the Goddess has Three aspects also, these
aspects are: Virgin, Mother, Crone which correspond to the times in a
woman's life and the phases of the Moon. The God is seen very much like
the Goddess . He is the provider and the sustainer for us. The God is seen as
the Father Creator. His power is symbolized in the Sun and the forests and all
things wild, especially those wild animals with horns.
Why Horns? In the
tribal time hunters usually hunted things with horns to provide food for the
tribe for the coming winter. An animal with horns was a prime catch as it
usually had more meat on it then say a rabbit. So to the tribe the Horns
became as sign of abundance and then a sign of divinity, thus the God
became seen as one with horns to provide the tribe with food for the coming
hard winter. We, as Pagans, do not worship the Sun or the forest but see it as
the manifested powers of the God and as such pay homage to such power.
Again, like many Christians, we see our God as having three aspects. Theses
aspects are: Youth, Father, Grandfather and like the Goddess these also
correspond with the life cycle of men.
On Satan
Wiccans don't believe in a place of Hell (fire and brimstone) nor a being called Satan or any being of Ultimate evil.. We feel that all beings make choices in life, some choices are positive in nature
adding to the growth of the spirit and adding in spiritual advancement. While
other choices are negative in nature, blocking the spiritual evolution of the
soul and causing that spirit to have to relearn "the lesson" until they unblock
there growth process. All beings retain a spark of the Divine Spirit of the God and Goddess, this spark is that of love (some hidden deeper than others but it is there) So as you can see there is no room for an ultimate evil,
as all things must remain in balance and the choices that you make for your
own spiritual evolution is 100% up to you .
However we do believe in
a manifestation of negativity and mis-aligned energies (some people call
demons) that can manipulate the energies of the air and weave negativity
around individual and the world. Such Negativity can be seen as servants of
the Darkness and fights to keep the Light (and spiritual advancement/ evolution) from us
all.
On Angels
In Wolfen Wicca we believe in Angels, as they are messengers from the Lady and Lord of Light. They come to this world sometimes in their spirit form, sometimes in physical form, to aid us and guide us. They help us keep our feet on the lighted path and protect us from the Negativity around us. They lift us up from the negative misaligned energies about us to keep it from breaking us down as we strive to come into the presence of the Lady and Lord and become one with Them.
The Angels can not interfere in our lives without our asking them to do so. Some people call them Angels, some see them as spirit Guides but whatever you call them they have your very best highest interest at heart and light the way to the presence of the Lady and Lord of Light for us many times.
On Jesus
Wicca doesn't ask you to give up any other beliefs to become a practitioner
of this belief system. So if you can incorporate Jesus and Christianity into
your own belief system along with Wicca then that's what works for you.
That is YOUR MAGICK and it is just as true as one who don't incorporate
other religions into their Magick. My PERSONAL belief on Jesus is this, Yes
there was a Jesus and yes he was a great man. Do I believe he was my
personal savior? I guess in a way, yet in the same way I believe that
Mohammed and Buddha and many others are. No I do not believe that Jesus
was my spiritual savior, but that He was a savior in the sense that he and
many others who are leaders in religions, DIRECTED us to believe in
ourselves, showing us that we are all sons/daughters of God Goddess and that we
can do what ever we wish through them (ourselves) I feel that He shows us
that we should love all things and that we must be responsible for our
choices in life. Did he die for my sins? No I don't think so. I think he tried to
show us what is positive for the soul and what is used as a guide to
encourage us to grow spiritually, just as he shows us what is negative and
slows the process of growth in the spirit and evolution of the soul. I feel that
many others , not just men, have directed us and guided us to "see" and
understand what is positive for the growth of the spirit and what causes
blocks. Once this has been shown to you, you are the one who makes
conscious decisions as to what you choose to do with your life what lessons
you will learn and what you will not. Up until that point you were still
making those choices but not on the conscious level , on the subconscious
level. He shared with us all a Christ Consciousness that reaches out to all in a
positive loving way,
What's This About Lessons?
We believe before you incarnate into this physical plane, Earth, you
contract with the God Goddess on what lessons you would wish to learn in this
life. Perhaps in this life you must learn compassion, and you choose to do
this through the use of pain and illness. Perhaps you will learn happiness
this time around so that you have a balance (there's that word again)from
which to draw from on your spiritual growth and evolution. In all lives there
are many lessons we choose to learn, if we accomplish learning this lesson
then there is no need to repeat it, but if you fail to learn the lesson that you
contracted for then you must return to learn it until you get it right. This also
accounts for the cycles in your life, those situations that always seen to occur
over and over again.
What About That Star That You Wear?
The Pentagram is one of the most misunderstood symbols that we have. To
followers of the Craft, it is one of our most Holy Signs of Protection, sort of
like the Christian Cross or the Jewish Star of David. OK I understand
that but what does it mean? The Pentagram denotes all the elements of
creation and the spirit of man, how they interact and are interdependent on
each other . The top point of the star is mans spirit, the following right point
is water, then fire then earth then air, coming back to Mans spirit. The circle
that surrounds the star is the symbol of life, birth, and death and rebirth.
What does it mean when the star is inverted? This is the part that has really
gotten a bad rap. Satanists, and modern media as well as a few others that
could be named here have taken this symbol and made it represent Satan.
Yet to followers of the Craft all that an inverted Pentagram means is, coming
from the spiritual plane to the material plane and brings those attributes with
you. That 's it , see nothing to do with Satan. You may see another type of
Pentagram, it shows a Pentagram right side up with a smaller one inside
inverted. To followers of the Craft this means, As it is above, on the
spiritual plane, so be it below, on the physical plane. See it's not so scary
once you really get the facts.
What about Sacrifices?
The Craft is a very gentle religion and we do not believe in letting blood or
killing any thing. We do not sacrifice animals or people or any thing of that
nature, as movies often show. The closest thing to a sacrifice one might find
in a Grove, is that of food or libations, maybe flowers or something along
those lines. When the food and libations are set out, it is with the full
knowledge that animals may partake of them and thus, the never ending
cycle of life, death, and rebirth is continued.
Do You Have Any Rules You Live By?
Wicca is a very open religion that encourages personal growth in all
areas. Someone once said trying to make Wiccans follow rules is sorta like
trying to herd cats, it just ain't done. That’s how it is with rules. We have no
"Thou Shall Not's" that are set down by our Goddess and God. Our religion
has no set doctrine or dogma really. It is for this reason that if you go to 100
different Groves/Covens you may find 100 different ways of doing things.
However we do all have one thing we agree upon, in some make or manner,
and that is called the WICCAN REDE;
"Bide the WICCAN LAW ye
must,
In perfect Love and Perfect trust
Eight word the Wiccan Rede
Fulfill:
And Harm ye none, do what ye
will.
Lest in Thy self defense it be
Ever mind the Rule of Three
Follow this in Mind and heart
And merry meet
and merry part. ( and merry met
again)
I would like to stress the Harm ye none
rule, that is the very foundation of our belief system. The rule of Three
mentioned here is concerning our belief that no matter what you do in this
lifetime, be it positive or negative, it will come back on you at least three
fold.
So that is a short overall of what we
are and what we believe. I hope I have managed to show you that we are not
evil and do not serve Satan or any other "evil" being. Thank you for taking
the time to learn about us. If you find yourself interested in learning more we
do offer classes in WICCA (Called the Wicca 101 tm class and other
ascending numbers) Just e-mail me!
Remember Tolerance is a two sided
coin, what you give is what you receive.
BLESSED
BE,
Lady Wolfen
Mists
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***Notice: I believe this art work is
by Robin Wood but I'm not sure as it was given to me by a friend
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