What is Wicca ?
Wicca is a belief system and way of life based upon the reconstruction of
pre-Christian traditions originating in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. While
much of the information of how our ancestors lived, worshiped and believed has
been lost due to the efforts of the medievil church to wipe our existance from
history, we try to reconstruct those beliefs to the best of our ability with the
information that is available.
With recent archaeological discoveries, we now have basis to believe that the
origins of our belief system can be traced even further back to the Paleolithic
peoples who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility Goddess. With
the discovery of these cave paintings which have been dated to be around 30,000
years old depicting a man with the head of a stag, and a pregnant woman standing
in a circle with eleven other people, it can reasonably be assumed that
Witchcraft is the oldest religion known in the world toady. These
archetypes are clearly recognized by Wiccans as our view of the Goddess and God
aspect of the supreme creative force and predate Christianity by roughly 28,000
years making it a mere toddler in the spectrum of time as we know it.
Witchcraft in ancient history was known as "The Craft of the Wise" because those who followed the path were healers, were in tune with the forces of nature, had a knowledge of Herbs and medicines, gave council and were valuable parts of the village and community as Shamanic leaders. They understood that mankind is not superior to nature, the earth and its creatures but instead we are simply one of the many parts, both seen and unseen that combine to make the whole.
What Witchcraft is:
Witchcraft is a spiritual system that fosters the free thought and will of the
individual, encourages learning and an understanding of the earth and nature
thereby affirming the divinity in all living things. Most
importantly howver, it teaches responsibility. We accept
responsibility for our actions and deeds as clearly a result of the choices we
make. We do not blame an exterior entity or being for our
shortcomings, weaknesses or mistakes. If we mess up or do
something that brings harm to another, we have no one but ourselves to blame and
we must face the consequences resulting from those actions. No
if's, and's or but's and no whining...
We acknowledge the cycles of nature, the lunar phases and the seasons to
celebrate our spirituality and to worship the divine.
Wiccans believe that the spirit of the One, Goddess and God exist in all things. In the trees, rain, flowers, the sea, in each other and all of natures creatures. This means that we must treat "all things" of the Earth as aspects of the divine. We attempt to honor and respect life in all its many manifestations both seen and unseen.
We also revere the spirits of the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water which
combine to manifest all creation. From these four elements we
obtain insight to the rhythms of nature and understand they are also the rhythms
of our own lives
What is Witchcraft NOT ?
