About Wicca and Paganism

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

I am Wicca-a type of Pagan religion. Wicca/Paganism is severely misunderstood. Paganism was the oldest religion, the main religion before Christianity was invented and took over. Wiccan people are called "witches" and no not like on broomsticks and couldrins.

We are peaceful, we value nature and believe in energy, also gods and goddesses. There are different kinds of Wiccans. There are white witches (positive+good) and black witches (negative+evil, and no it isn't about race). White witches practice white magick. Also, we do not worship nor pray to Satan.

The Pentacle is the symbol of Wicca, not the Pentagram. The below is a Pentacle while underneath that is a Pentagram. The Pantacles 5 points each represent an Element. The top point is spirit, then to the right is water, then fire for the lower right, earth for the lower left and air for the last one.

Pentacle:

Pentagram:

The definition of WIcca according to google is: a religion influenced by pre-Christian beliefs and practices of western Europe that affirms the existence of supernatural power (as magic) and of both male and female deities who inhere in nature and that emphasizes ritual observance of seasonal and life cycles.

There are different symbols used for WIcca.

Wiccans do spells. It usually involves certain colored candles, incense, herbs etc. We revolve around energy. Everything has energy, if you have a positive energy then that place will hold that positive energy,same for negative.

We believe strongly in the elements and also Tarot cards. Many different witches use Tarot cards, and of course there are preferences for which brand of Tarot to use. We cannot let other people handle our Tarot cards because our energy is in them.

When we do spells, it is for good only if you are a white witch. (Witch means male or female) and it is usually for luck, money, love, beauty, or protection.

We also have 10 commandments that may vary depending on what type of witch we are.

To be a witch, you do not need a ritual or initiation. Some witches prefer to work alone but some also work in covens.

Witches from the Wicca belief are peaceful and nature loving.

There is a lot more to Wicca than just this but this is all I will say for now. Please be respectful of our religion. Any questions and I will do my best to answer. :)

Resources: https://www.templeofthegoddess.org/FromTheDirector/What_is_Paganism.htm

https://justwicca.com/wiccan-spells-for-beginners-1/ Book: To ride a Silver Broomstick by Silver RavenWolf Book: A witches 10 Commandments by Marian Singer Book: Wicca for Beginngers by Thea Sabin

[Zorax]

Great Take, I have lots of Wiccan friends. By the way, real Pentagram is almost the same as Pentacle, whilst inverted/reversed Pentagram is called Baphomet. Of course, people should know the difference, Satanic Baphomet is a negative symbol, while Wiccan Pentacle is positive.

Proper Pentagram: upload.wikimedia.org/.../...-Pentagram-phi.svg.png

Famous Mage Eliphas Levi said:
1. "A reversed pentagram, with two points projecting upwards, is a symbol of evil and attracts sinister forces because it overturns the proper order of things and demonstrates the triumph of matter over spirit. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns, a sign execrated by initiates."
2. "The flaming star, which, when turned upside down, is the hierolgyphic sign of the goat of Black Magic, whose head may be drawn in the star, the two horns at the top, the ears to the right and left, the beard at the bottom. It is the sign of antagonism and fatality. It is the goat of lust attacking the heavens with its horns".
3. "Let us keep the figure of the Five-pointed Star always upright, with the topmost triangle pointing to heaven, for it is the seat of wisdom, and if the figure is reversed, perversion and evil will be the result."

[soffffixaz]

it actually looks pretty cool + i like the fact that they value the earth and nature :)

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Aw thanks :) And me too

[Humping_Tornadoes]

I recently had a conversation with an acquaintance of mine who is into Occultism and he reads very morbid stuff such as Alyster Crowley's work. I have an open mind about what everyone else has to say, but to me there's definitely a limit of when morals and perspectives just get awfully distorted. And based on what he said, this was definitely one of those instances. I just avoided the rest of the conversation and we started talking about else because there were firing alarms inside me lol

As a Christian I am wary of everything that involves witchcraft. In a sense, my own faith in Christianity is no different than believing in magic, since it all deals with spiritual realms (only resemblance we can draw on such things). I don't know much about your religion or anything, but as long as you are sure of what you're doing and use it for common good, then I hope you're right and I hope it is indeed that way.

If anything, I prefer dealing with atheists because it's easier to pin point their point of views and sympathize with their reasoning, even though I am not able to remove myself from my Christian beliefs. So with all this, I guess my only questions are why did you decided to pick this religion? Do you believe there will be a negative consequences to this belief? And finally, what is the faith/religion you grew up with?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

I picked this religion because this stuff fascinates me and i believe this. i do not think there are negative consequences and I grew up as an athiest

[KDA20]

Thanks for the education - Over the years I have seen and heard about the wiccan religion a bit usually in positive form but it is good to get a complete description like this.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Haha thanks for reading

[Anpu23]

I am a practicing pagan myself. I also ran a witchcraft circle for about 9 years (I don't have the ego to call myself a "high Priest") I live in a magical household and we just bought a new house with a HUGE backyard that we are planning on turning into ritual space. Good article, though we'll have to agree to disagree on certain points (IE: the law of three is the only law). Well blessed be :)

[Joc4Position]

Paganism isn't actually a religion. Wicca is, but paganism is a term Christianity come up with to lump together every other religion. Now there are some major religions that relate to what is deemed "pagan". Even Christianity in some forms.

[Nivekian]

At one point in time, likely around here (spread of christianity map data from roman territory map circa. 330)
www.animatedmaps.div.ed.ac.uk/.../ad250_3.gif
The many of the peoples North of Rome were called either Pegans or Heathens according to the terrain and climate they lived in

[Joc4Position]

@Nivekian Heathenism comes from Germanic paganism, and the word paganism was termed by the peoples of the Abrahamic Religions. Depending on where one lived also determined the customs and deities. Maybe you could call it a religion, but given that there are millions of religions besides that of the Abrahamic religion is just wouldn't seem logical.

[Joc4Position]

@Nivekian And I meant similar deities but slightly different depending on geographical area.

[Nivekian]

I wasn't trying to argue, merely adding data for the students.

[Joc4Position]

@Nivekian Oh alright.

[ChocoLada]

Very interesting MyTake, I always liked Wicca and Druidism :D

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

haha thanks

[ChocoLada]

You are welcome ;)

[Bluemax]

Interesting.

I have more to say, but that will have to wait for now.

Would it serve Wiccans better if they were to come out of the broom closet?

[Bluemax]

So, would it serve Wiccans better if they came out?

[pervertedjester]

Darn it all, you beat me to it. I'm actually writing a similar take now.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

oh really?

[pervertedjester]

Indeed but more or less dealing with misconceptions about Witches. And a little humor on how I used to try and date them as a teen.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

lol oh?

[pervertedjester]

Well 20 years ago it was my goal lol

[Phoenix98]

Believe me it's just as bad and evil as most people think it is you have no idea, I have unfortunately had personal experience regarding this so has my family.

[ConsultantIsBack]

I knew it!!! I so suspected you were just based off things you have said.
That is cool, I'm Christian but i love everyone <3

[redeyemindtricks]

Denomination?

[ConsultantIsBack]

@redeyemindtricks Mormon. But I don't obey many of the rules lol

[Waffles731]

Do you drink, My dad was born and raised in salt lake.
He said that some of them were the nicest people ever, but they were boring.
And in the words of the immortal john wayne
"I never trust a man that doesn't drink."

[ConsultantIsBack]

@Waffles731 hahaha well. I actually don't drink. Based on growing up in the religion, seeing my alcoholic grandpa throw his life away, and personal health reasons, i guess I just haven't gotten into it. But I hang out with people that drink literally every week and have a great time regardless. I'm the designated driver lol.

[Waffles731]

Damn, thats why mormon weddding tend to be boring

[ConsultantIsBack]

@Waffles731 hahaha i would likely agree with you on that.
lots of mormon people can be boring, but some are fun too!

[CoolSky01]

Not sure if trolling or serious but you are seriously misguided if you truly believe you are witch... witch? dafuq? did i read that right? are you actually explaining to us why you chose to be a witch?

This is not an RPG game you know its real life, you dont change clans and learn spells for shits and giggles its the real deal , do you know how silly you sound right now? iam sure in a couple years you will regret it but... a witch? really?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

LOL People who believe in Wicca are CALLED witches. Do your research, I did mine. :)

[CoolSky01]

i have no doubts about their name thats not my point, my point is: are you for real?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Yes?
This is a real fucking thing.

[CoolSky01]

have fun then

[RedAmulet]

Enough of this education, can we please get to the naked dancing now? :P

[matheus_mb]

How much did the old Celtic religion influence Wicca? It's something I was always curious about.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

The symbols and some of the beliefs are based off of the Celtic

[matheus_mb]

No gods?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

I think so but I'm not sure. I am only a beginner Wiccan. I had to read those 3 books and i'm not even done. Also, google helped me a lot lol
my mom probably knows more than i do

[matheus_mb]

Got it. It's interesting to see that pagan things went through the dark ages and reached our days. It can give us kinda an understanding of how some things worked back then, before Christianity took over Europe, even though they're not exactly the way they were centuries ago (as a History major, I think it's interesting). There's a group in Finland that also follow the old gods of that place, I'm don't know their name though.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

I don't know much about history, thats why i had to google Pagan history.

[matheus_mb]

Much of it was lost. In a nutshell, we know many things about the Greek and Roman paganism because they're "classic", there were many things that they wrote, many big temples and this kind of thing. In the rest of Europe though, they didn't do this kind of thing. Celtic and Norse religion, for example, were passed through the generations by the oral way, they told stories about the gods and wrote nothing. What we know was written by the Christians later on.

[Mártainn]

Maybe I can help a bit with that.
Wicca and the like are based on the (romanticised) Victorian concept or idea of what Celtic paganism looked like. From what we know now it would be wrong to say that Wicca is based on the Celtic religion since the Victorian concepts seem to be mostly incorrect or completely wrong.

[TadCurious]

You say that Wiccans are peaceful. But are black Wiccans (negative + evil) peaceful as well?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

No.
Most Wiccans are peaceful and they're supposed to be but there are Wiccans whom go against the peaceful ways.

[Nivekian]

The would not be Wiccan at that point.

[xxNDMxx]

Cool! I had heard of people who practice magic, but never heard of a religion using it. Do you do magic as well?

[ArchDruidMordred]

Ummm, Wicca was created in the 20th century by an old fart in Britain.

[Indigocloud]

Op said paganism...

[ArchDruidMordred]

She also talked about Wicca as if it had been around for hundreds of years.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

no Paganism has been. Wicca is simply a TYPE of Pagan

[TheSpartan]

Wicca was created in 1954 (at the earliest). Could you explain, then, how it's the world's oldest religion?

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

Paganism is the worlds oldest. not wicca

[TheSpartan]

Well, paganism isn't a religion per se. It's a blanket term for all native religions consisting of gods and goddesses. So, of course, a long lost religion under the pagan banner would be the oldest.

[SuperOzgurX2]

Eh. It's basically Buddhism but with Magic.

[SweetHomicidalQueen]

sort of

[SuperOzgurX2]

Fair enough if you believe in it. I personally don't.

[Nivekian]

Buddhism contains magic and spells.

[SuperOzgurX2]

@Nivekian so it's the hipster version of Buddhism? Lol

[Nivekian]

I doubt it, hipster haven't been around that long.

[Dipsy]

@SuperOzgurX2 What a cute pizza cat ^.^ :)

[SomeOtherGuy]

@Nivekian ROFLMAO no.
Buddhism has 0 spells. Unless you're talking about that new-age crap that has "Buddhism-Lite" sprinkled in it. But even then, I don't think there's any magic or spells in it.

Karma isn't even the same thing that people in the west think it is. It's not a supernatural force. It's a philosophy, which takes more than 1000 characters to explain.

Buddha is gnostic, Wicca isn't.

Buddhists believe that a great man, not unlike Jesus, named Buddha, created a lot of doctrines we should live by to attain happiness. His teachings weren't unlike the 10 Commandments. But they're a lot more clear, a lot more universal, and deeply philosophical.
They're also far more peaceful and social, and far less steeped in barbarism.

Buddhism can be twisted, like any religion (See Firebrand Monks) but there's less instances of it.

It has it's mythology, much like Abrahamic and the angels and Solomon, but I personally love it's philosophy. It's compliant with science.

[Nivekian]

@SomeOtherGuy Sorta' depends what you think magic and spells are, doesn't it?

[SomeOtherGuy]

@Nivekian Couldn't think of a context in Buddhism where spells would be considered a part of it. Even if the term spells is used subjectively.

As for magic, sure. But in that context, everything theological is basically magic.

[fenixx0083]

Didn't the Sumerians have their own religeon as far back as 4-5,000 years bc?

[skeptic007]

lol no you are peaceful
pagans and wiccans real ones are crazy

[Maxemeister]

So glad u posted this xD