Just a blast from the past Bolt.com Journal..
This is from the Bolt Journal I used for over a year before they tryed re-vamping... It made me cry when I couldn't read old entries there...
By Benbenbenj
The Beginners Guide To Wicca - Authored by Wicca Board members, old and new.
Wicca is not a means to cast spells on people, exert power over enemies or loved ones, or anyone.
It is a particular spiritual path of earth-based neo-paganism, which worships a God and Goddess or many Gods and Goddesses and reveres nature, the environment, the beauty of poetry, music and animals, for example. Wicca as it is today is largely based on the work and writings of Gerald Gardner, a British man who set out some ideas of the "Old Religion" in the 1950's. Wicca has moved on, however, and many other writers have produced very important works. The term "Old Religion" refers to the many and varied religious practices of pre-Christian North-Western Europe (pre-Roman conquest), and in particular the British Isles. http:These practices have been rather muddled and lost through time but can be traced to modern day folk-festivals without an explicitly religious theme. You may have heard of Mother Earth, The Green Man, The Maypole, Harvest Festivals, Hallowe'en and such, to give examples of a few traditions and ideas that survive from Pagan origins. In modern times this joyous, celebratory and non-judgemental religion has spread to become especially popular to people seeking answers to the questions that the modern world asks of us spiritually, and has been particularly successful in North America and Australasia as well as being revived in its traditional Anglo-Saxon-Celtic base.
A word on Magick/Spellcraft: these are seen by most Wiccans as tools of spiritual communication and methods for directing energy for the benefit of others and for oneself as far as this does not impede on others. Wiccans will never use magick to deliberately harm someone.
The following are some basic principles of the Wiccan path and are the result of some development by Wicca Board Regulars of an initial description by TragicNothing.
- Most Wiccans worship a God and a Goddess, with the exception of Dianic Wiccans who only worship the Goddess.
- There are many different forms/aspects of the God and Goddess and different Wiccans will feel happier revering different ones, although there are some Wiccans who believe that each one is a deity in their own right and so call upon specific ones during spell working (that's if the Wiccan in question practises magick of course).
-The majority of Wiccans believe in reincarnation, but as always there are exceptions.
- Wiccans do not believe, worship, or even acknowledge the existance of 'Satan' or the 'Devil'.
- Wiccans do not sacrifice animals or people in rituals. We believe that all nature and living creatures are sacred and should be treated with respect. The Wiccan Rede - (a very widely accepted philosophy on basic Wiccan premises but still not an official written in stone set of rules) -
says "An it harm none, do as thou will" and we follow that. We don't cause harm to others unless it is in self-defense.
- Almost all Wiccans respect the beliefs of others and will not try to convert or 'recruit' people to believe what we do. We (generally) do not insult other people because of their personal beliefs either.
- We acknowledge 8 major Sabbats (holidays) in the year which correspond with the changing of the Seasons. The Sabbats are: Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain (The 'Witches New Year')., although the names vary from place to place and vary especially within Celtic traditions. We also have Esbats, full moon rituals, that take place every full moon.
- Many Wiccans believe in the Three-fold Rule (Whatever you send out, whether it's positive or negative, comes back to you times three), some believe in the Nine-fold, others believe that it comes back to you once and some just disregard the whole idea.
- The closest thing to a 'Sacred Writing' (rule book, Bible, Torah, Koran etc etc) that we have is our Book of Shadows, which are all individual to each with and are a collection of rituals, recipes, prayers and so on that have worked or mean something personally. They are either kept to ourselves or sometimes within covens.
Recommended reading is as follows, but you should find something that particularly appeals to you and use the "suggested reading/bibliography" sections of the books you read as further references for new material. This list is by no means going to teach you everything, or even one hudredth of what Wicca is, isn't and means, but these are books that have been tried and tested by people and found to be a rounded way of guiding you along your path of curiousity about Wicca.
Scott Cunningham - Wicca - A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.
Rae Beth - Hedge Witch; guide to solitary witchcraft.
Gerald Gardner - Witchcraft Today
Starhawk - The Spiral Dance; the rebirth of the ancient religion of the Goddess.
Edai McCoy - Celtic Myth and Magick
Scott Cunningham - Living Wicca; a further guide for the solitary practitioner.
Raymond Buckland - the Complete book of Witchcraft
These books are listed in no order of preference and all provide good introductions, but you should try to read *at least* 3 to get a balanced view before deciding if Wicca is the path for you and then accessing some more advanced writing.
websites relating to Wicca
http://paganwiccan.about.com
http://www.avalonia.co.uk
http://www.religioustolerance.org
http://www.witchvox.com
Lastly, if you have any queries, especially serious ones, ask the Wicca board, we will always try to be helpful and non-judgemental but don't take anything we say for granted, make sure you follow your own path. :)
Blessed Be.
By Benbenbenj
The Beginners Guide To Wicca - Authored by Wicca Board members, old and new.
Wicca is not a means to cast spells on people, exert power over enemies or loved ones, or anyone.
It is a particular spiritual path of earth-based neo-paganism, which worships a God and Goddess or many Gods and Goddesses and reveres nature, the environment, the beauty of poetry, music and animals, for example. Wicca as it is today is largely based on the work and writings of Gerald Gardner, a British man who set out some ideas of the "Old Religion" in the 1950's. Wicca has moved on, however, and many other writers have produced very important works. The term "Old Religion" refers to the many and varied religious practices of pre-Christian North-Western Europe (pre-Roman conquest), and in particular the British Isles. http:These practices have been rather muddled and lost through time but can be traced to modern day folk-festivals without an explicitly religious theme. You may have heard of Mother Earth, The Green Man, The Maypole, Harvest Festivals, Hallowe'en and such, to give examples of a few traditions and ideas that survive from Pagan origins. In modern times this joyous, celebratory and non-judgemental religion has spread to become especially popular to people seeking answers to the questions that the modern world asks of us spiritually, and has been particularly successful in North America and Australasia as well as being revived in its traditional Anglo-Saxon-Celtic base.
A word on Magick/Spellcraft: these are seen by most Wiccans as tools of spiritual communication and methods for directing energy for the benefit of others and for oneself as far as this does not impede on others. Wiccans will never use magick to deliberately harm someone.
The following are some basic principles of the Wiccan path and are the result of some development by Wicca Board Regulars of an initial description by TragicNothing.
- Most Wiccans worship a God and a Goddess, with the exception of Dianic Wiccans who only worship the Goddess.
- There are many different forms/aspects of the God and Goddess and different Wiccans will feel happier revering different ones, although there are some Wiccans who believe that each one is a deity in their own right and so call upon specific ones during spell working (that's if the Wiccan in question practises magick of course).
-The majority of Wiccans believe in reincarnation, but as always there are exceptions.
- Wiccans do not believe, worship, or even acknowledge the existance of 'Satan' or the 'Devil'.
- Wiccans do not sacrifice animals or people in rituals. We believe that all nature and living creatures are sacred and should be treated with respect. The Wiccan Rede - (a very widely accepted philosophy on basic Wiccan premises but still not an official written in stone set of rules) -
says "An it harm none, do as thou will" and we follow that. We don't cause harm to others unless it is in self-defense.
- Almost all Wiccans respect the beliefs of others and will not try to convert or 'recruit' people to believe what we do. We (generally) do not insult other people because of their personal beliefs either.
- We acknowledge 8 major Sabbats (holidays) in the year which correspond with the changing of the Seasons. The Sabbats are: Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Summer Solstice, Lughnasadh, Mabon, Samhain (The 'Witches New Year')., although the names vary from place to place and vary especially within Celtic traditions. We also have Esbats, full moon rituals, that take place every full moon.
- Many Wiccans believe in the Three-fold Rule (Whatever you send out, whether it's positive or negative, comes back to you times three), some believe in the Nine-fold, others believe that it comes back to you once and some just disregard the whole idea.
- The closest thing to a 'Sacred Writing' (rule book, Bible, Torah, Koran etc etc) that we have is our Book of Shadows, which are all individual to each with and are a collection of rituals, recipes, prayers and so on that have worked or mean something personally. They are either kept to ourselves or sometimes within covens.
Recommended reading is as follows, but you should find something that particularly appeals to you and use the "suggested reading/bibliography" sections of the books you read as further references for new material. This list is by no means going to teach you everything, or even one hudredth of what Wicca is, isn't and means, but these are books that have been tried and tested by people and found to be a rounded way of guiding you along your path of curiousity about Wicca.
Scott Cunningham - Wicca - A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner.
Rae Beth - Hedge Witch; guide to solitary witchcraft.
Gerald Gardner - Witchcraft Today
Starhawk - The Spiral Dance; the rebirth of the ancient religion of the Goddess.
Edai McCoy - Celtic Myth and Magick
Scott Cunningham - Living Wicca; a further guide for the solitary practitioner.
Raymond Buckland - the Complete book of Witchcraft
These books are listed in no order of preference and all provide good introductions, but you should try to read *at least* 3 to get a balanced view before deciding if Wicca is the path for you and then accessing some more advanced writing.
websites relating to Wicca
http://paganwiccan.about.com
http://www.avalonia.co.uk
http://www.religioustolerance.org
http://www.witchvox.com
Lastly, if you have any queries, especially serious ones, ask the Wicca board, we will always try to be helpful and non-judgemental but don't take anything we say for granted, make sure you follow your own path. :)
Blessed Be.