This FAQ list is designed to answer many of the questions I frequently receive about Wicca. Some of the questions in this section are answered elsewhere on the site, but I listed them again here for a handy reference source. New questions will continue to be added as I am asked. Without further ado, here they are:
Does Wicca have any connection to Satanism or devil-worship?
Certainly not. Wicca is a pre-Christian nature religion, and as such is a Pagan religion. The word "Pagan" is derived from the Latin word paganus, which literally translates into English as "country dweller," and it does not mean "anti-Christian," as the Bible would have us believe. It has no connection whatsoever to Satanism, which is an entirely unique and categorically non-Pagan religion.
For those who are curious, Satanism was founded in America in 1966 by the late eccentric dark magician Anton LaVey, who wrote several books on his religion's unique theology, The Satanic Bible and The Satanic Witch [sic] being the two most well known. The latter book title was inaccurate and unfortunate, since it incorrectly implied that witches are Satanic. Pagans do not even believe in Satan! Satan, which is derived from a Hebrew word that translates into "adversary" in the English language, is a strictly Christian invention that first appears in the New Testament. In fact, true Satanists do not even believe in Satan as a distinct, self-aware being, as Christians do. Instead, they worship their own ego, or higher self, as divine, and merely use Satan as a metaphor, since he, according to the Biblical story handed down to us by the Christians, was a rebel against the Judeo-Christian God's rule over the cosmos. Thus, calling themselves 'Satanists' symbolizes their rebellion against the prevailing Christian mindset that currently dominates Western society.
Satanists also practice a form of dark magick that Pagans generally do not perform, and they use an inverted pentagram with the face of the notorious goat-headed, demonic god-form known as Baphomet inscribed within, and this being seems to be a bizarre, non-Pagan permutation of the Pagan Horned God, and Baphomet appears in the mystical teachings of the radical Christian sects such as the Knights Templar and the Freemasons (among other mystical underground sects throughout the Middle Ages), and this being is not recognized by Wiccan theology at all (except in its "normal" form as the Horned God). Further, the Satanists also use an inverted Christian cross as a symbol of their religion, whereas the only type of cross utilized by Pagans is the Celtic cross (which looks like an upright Christian cross with a circle surrounding the middle, and is often used by Neo-Druids and Celtic Wiccans as a symbol of protection and spirituality).
Satanism was a child of the New Age explosion of the late 20th century (Wicca actually appeared on the scene 12 years earlier then Satanism), which also brought with it the resurgence of Pagan religions, the renewed interest in the practice of Ceremonial Magick, the return of many other pre-Christian religions, huge interest in the martial arts, Yoga and other esoteric arts and disciplines from the East, spirituality, astrology, the reading of Tarot cards and other forms of divination, U.F.O.'s and "Space Brother" contacts, the quasi-spiritual social counterculture movement of the hippies and "flower children" and a general interest in the paranormal, none of which were directly connected to each other. Thus, Satanism is generally recognized by most New Agers as a true religion, and as such is legally protected under the U.S. Constitution (the Church of Satan claims to have been offered tax exempt status but to have refused it on moral grounds, and the U.S. military officially recognized Satanism as a legitimate religion in 1999), but it has sometimes been stated, including by Anton LaVey, that the genuine religion of Satanism is simply a rebellious parody of Christianity (though most of its members seem to take the religion very seriously).
Paganism, however, long predates both Christianity and the conception of Satan. Satanists also believe in a lot of harsh metaphysical tenets that are considerably different from what most Pagans believe (which the Satanists refer to as the Nine Satanic Statements and the Eleven Satanic Rules of the Earth, which are far different then the Wiccan's single tenet for moral conduct, the Wiccan Rede) and the "dark" magick practiced by Satanists is very different from the loving nature-friendly magick practiced by Pagans (though the Satanists have borrowed some of the same ideas for ritual structure used by modern Pagans, but these were largely culled from Ceremonial Magick, which dates back to the Middle Ages). For example, the Satanists do not adhere to the same ethics in practicing their brand of magick as Wiccans are in practicing Witchcraft, such as the Law of Threefold Return (an ethic which the Satanists are openly critical of), and Satanists are therefore free to place curses upon people they consider to be their enemies (individuals adept at magick, however, can cast protection spells to very effectively block the magickal attacks of others, and even to deflect it back upon them). The devil-worshipping cults that murder children and virgins are almost entirely an urban myth popularized by American culture to justify attacks on non-Christian religions by the law. They have little basis in fact, and do not apply to the genuine religion of Satanism.
In conclusion to this point, Satanism is not a Pagan religion, but is instead in a class all its own, and is thereby not connected to Paganism despite the fact that it was born during the same New Age explosion of interest in the occult that first appeared in the late 20th century (as described above). For anyone interested in learning more about Satanism, the Church of Satan has a web site, and I advise you to go there, since I am not an expert on Satanism, and my site is not about the latter religion, or to pick up one of LaVey's several books, all of which, I believe, are still in print and can be found in the New Age section of any bookstore or catalog alongside books on Ceremonial Magick, Wicca, U.F.O's, astrology, the paranormal, and other New Age topics (but will not be found in stores which cater exclusively to Wicca or Paganism in general, for reasons explained elsewhere in this section). It should be noted that Wiccans greatly resent Satanists sometimes referring to themselves as "witches," or calling their groups "covens" (the word for a Wiccan prayer group) since there is actually no such thing as a 'Satanic witch' (despite many arguments to the contrary made by Satanists...their definition of "witch" appears to be anyone that practices any type of magick or magickal system, which is not accurate...witches are practitioners of Witchcraft, a particular type of magick...Satanic magick is quite distinct, as is Ceremonial Magick, Shamanism, etc.). Actually, Satanists still following the teachings of LaVey refer to their groups as grottos, but the members of a growing splinter group led by LaVey's former disciple Lord Egan, who call their organization the First Church of Satan (go to their web site to see their views and how they differ from LaVey's organization) still refer to their groups as "covens," and some of the writers of this group attempt to link themselves to Wiccan history in certain ways, and insist that the word "witch" isn't exclusive to Wicca, and emphasize the argument that Witchcraft and Wicca aren't analogous (the web site Religious Tolerance describes Wicca and Witchcraft as being separate due to all of the confusion over the connection between the two). I'll address this popular issue of whether or not Witchcraft and Wicca are directly connected in more detail below.
It should be further noted that the beliefs of Wicca and Satanism are considerably different from each other, and one was not inspired by the other in any way, though both groups are indeed linked to magickal practices from the past, such as Ceremonial Magick, a fact which Satanist author Diane Vera attempts to use to prove that there is indeed a "connection" between the two religions (see below for a link to a detailed critique of Ms. Vera's essay by this author, which appears elsewhere on this site). They are not, in fact, directly connected to each other, but were influenced by similar movements and did indeed borrow their magickal practices from some of the same sources, but their ethics and beliefs are quite distinct from each other. I am not attempting to imply that Satanists are "evil," or that their religion is invalid to those who adhere to it any more then Buddhism, for example, is invalid to Buddhists (as Vera suggests many Wiccans do when they declare "We are not Satanists!"), and I fully admit that their religion is misrepresented by the public the same as Wicca often is. I am merely stating that Wiccans do not worship the concept of "evil" (actually, contrary to popular belief, and as I said before, neither do Satanists, though as also stated above, they do believe in some rather harsh tenets that in no way, shape or form resemble Wiccan beliefs), but is a loving nature based religion. It should also be noted that Satanism makes no attempt to connect their beliefs to nature.
Furthermore, Satanism originated in America, and remains almost entirely an American phenomenon, and was never based on any Pagan religion (despite certain ritual ideas they borrowed from various sources that Wiccans also borrowed from; see above). Wicca, on the other hand, emerged in England a decade earlier then Satanism before moving to the U.S., and it has rapidly become a world-wide religious phenomenon, though mostly centered in the Western nations, and is not confined to just one country as Satanism essentially is.
There is also the social conflict concerning the Satanists' usage of the pentagram (albeit an inverted version of it with the face of Baphomet in the center, which does not appear in the original version of the pentagram from ancient times that is now utilized by Wiccans), which denigrates the symbol as "Satanic" when its original, upright version is used by the Wiccans and Ceremonial Magicians as a powerful symbol of protection from evil, and to represent the five mystical elements of antiquity. Look elsewhere in this section for further info on the pentagram controversy.
It should also be noted that the terms "Witchcraft," "witch," "Satanist," and even "Christian" are often used in numerous different ways by different authors who are simply utilizing their own personal interpretation and/or bias concerning such words, rather then the 'official' defination of each. To see what Religious Tolerance has to say about the false linkage of Wicca with Satanism, refer to their article Is Wicca A Form of Satanism? about this subject.
For those who would like to read a very detailed response of mine to an article written in 1992 by Satanist Diane Vera, who attempted to connect Wicca to her religion, please go here.
Do Wiccans cast spells to hurt or manipulate people like we see on shows like Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or in recent films such as The Craft?
Absolutely not. First, I'll talk about the shows, then move on to the films.
Those shows, despite doing a bit of good to portray some of the witches featured in them as decent human beings, are still far from accurate in their depictions of magick in general and Witchcraft in particular, and the characters featured in each of the shows in no way, shape or form resemble real people who practice Wicca, and in fact these shows cater to fictionalized misperceptions of both witches and Witchcraft.
Bewitched, at least, had some sociological benefit as being a slightly disguised attempt to provide a metaphor for a "mixed" couple struggling to live in a disapproving society, which was a bold move to make in the oppressive, right-wing and tightly controlled television atmosphere of the 60's (which was not lost on the late star Elizabeth Montgomery, who was an excellent social activist that openly fought for issues such as gay rights), whereas Sabrina, the Teenaged Witch has no redeeming qualities whatsoever outside of simply entertaining us, as it fails to realistically portray teen issues as well as Witchcraft [which puzzles me as to why the star Melissa Joan Hart, who is actively involved with the production of the show and presumably has at least some say over the quality of the scripts, has become such a role model to teen girls; however, in all fairness, she and the rest of the production crew is probably at least to some degree stifled by the partial control Archie Comics has over the show, which originated the character of Sabrina and owns the copyrights, and whose socially "harmless" stories and characters have always upheld and reflected "traditional" values of America, which does not include Paganism; one should have seen those dubious Christian propaganda comics featuring the Archie characters that Archie Comics collaborated with Spire Christian Comics to publish during the 70's, so it's perhaps remarkable that the comics company even included a "witch" in their books at all, since witchcraft is supposed to be "anti-Christian" according to the Bible).
Charmed, unlike the other two shows, is at least serious in tone, and is actually enjoyed by several Wiccans I know, and has a following among those who have a purely aesthetic interest in the mystic arts, including the Pagan crowd; however, though better then the other shows, it still in no way portrays magick and witches accurately, and in fact doesn't even pretend to do so (it likewise never mentions the three female stars of the show as being "Wiccans," though it does call them witches), but despite the amusing storylines of the show, any Wiccan will tell you that they watch it purely for entertainment purposes, and many others, such as myself, have serious reservations about watching it at all, since many folks outside of the New Age crowd who watch it probably assume that it's an attempt to accurately portray magick and Witchcraft (which it isn't), or are turned off from magick completely due to the show's obvious fantasy elements. Some Wiccan fans of the show have defended its unrealistic depiction of Witchcraft by saying that an accurate portrayal of magick and Wicca would be considered too boring by the public, something the producers of such shows would undoubtedly agree with. I, however, disagree, as I believe a good writer with an accurate understanding and respect for Wicca and real magick could produce a very worthwhile series about real Wiccans, which would be informative in its portrayal of an alternate, non-mainstream religious philosophy, as well as depicting the millennia old art of magick as it is actually practiced by us, as opposed to simply providing cotton-candy entertainment for the masses, and meeting all of their unrealistic expectations. Further, I believe that the aforementioned inaccuracies, despite the assertion that it is "less boring" then the reality, is still a bad excuse for any Wiccan to support the show, since it spreads misinformation to the public and encourages ignorance and stereotypes about both Wicca and the practice of magick in general to the less informed members of the public, and could easily end up working against us if a new hysteria against our religion should crop up in the future [something our good buddy Pat Robertson has been attempting to do with his right-wing attempts to officially turn the U.S. into a "Christian nation," and denouncing the Pagan religions for attacking the "traditional" values of this country by encouraging women to fight for equal rights, accepting homosexuality and providing a threat to Christian authority figures and their economic power]. We need to get the truth out, and not cater to popular stereotypes just to make a more entertaining product.
For example, I'd love to see how many contemporary African-Americans would be entertained by the portrayal of black people in that old 50's sitcom Amos and Andy should it be re-run today, which displayed every stereotype about blacks that existed at the time in the name of entertainment, or how they would react to people suggesting that depicting these stereotypes outside of satire could possibly be considered entertaining to the people and culture it misrepresents (in fact, many black activists, including filmmaker Spike Lee, have complained that modern black sitcoms are still inaccurate in their portrayal of black Americans).
The same can be said for other popular shows which extensively feature magick, and purport to depict Witchcraft in particular, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which also boasts very inaccurate depictions of the mystic arts, and even though the show isn't about witches in particular, Buffy's friend Willow is a witch who often uses Witchcraft, and witches and Witchcraft in this show are depicted just as inaccurately as they are in Charmed, and has likewise led some of its less enlightened teen viewers to the study of real magick and Wicca with the wrong expectations, though I imagine fewer people take this show seriously then the others, and do not consider this series to be anything more then pure fantasy.
In fact, this situation recalls a similar problem once addressed by the well-known American ninja Shidoshi Stephen Hayes concerning the public misperceptions of the famous and sometimes maligned esoteric martial art of Ninjitsu (also of great interest to, and popularized by, the same New Age movement that brought Wicca to the public consciousness). Hayes pointed out how the many ninja films produced during the ninja craze of the early 80's (such as the American Ninja film series and the several films featuring Sho Kosugi, perhaps the most popular and memorable of the latter being Revenge of the Ninja, not to mention the enormous amount of direct to video dreck produced during this time) very inaccurately depicted ninjas and Ninjitsu to the public and fueled many stereotypes about ninjas being mindlessly violent and bloodthirsty, most of them being connected to crime syndicates and misrepresented both ninja philosophy and Japanese culture in general (among several other things) for the purpose of providing mindless entertainment to the public, and he personally refused to be involved in any of these film projects, despite several financially lucrative offers, and many other practitioners of the art have said they were glad when the ninja craze faded from the public limelight completely by the end of the 80's decade and returned the art to "the shadows" where it was safer from being misrepresented.
The recent movies dealing with Witchcraft and witches are even worse then the TV productions. The Craft was an absolute atrocity, as it in no way accurately depicted Wicca (and happily, never mentioned it) and portrayed several young girls using magick to seek revenge and to hurt and manipulate other people. The latter film unfortunately gained a cult following and encouraged lots of young people to seek out Wicca, thinking they could find a means of achieving control and power over other people, only to be shocked (and thankfully disappointed) once they realized the truth about Wiccan beliefs and magickal ethics, such as the Law of Threefold Return (which, surprisingly, was actually described in the film!), that would have quickly destroyed the vengeful practitioners seen in the movie if they were attempting to use magick in real life as they did on the screen; the fact that a version of the Law of Threefold Return was shown onscreen did little to deter many people from their desire to learn magick for power and manipulative purposes. The film should be viewed strictly as mindless and puerile entertainment, and not as a study of Wicca and Witchcraft. In fact, the film was condemned by the Wiccan community as encouraging fear and negative stereotypes against magick in general and Wiccans in particular, even if this wasn't the filmmakers' intentions (which I presume was simply to make lots of money off of a popular if very misunderstood subject by playing off of those public misperceptions).
Even the more recent and popular independent production The Blair Witch Project in no way portrayed Witchcraft accurately, and once again fueled public misconceptions of a "witch" as a mysterious and deadly entity to be feared, although at least the producers left a disclaimer in the title credits which stated that the film was entirely fictional and in no way was meant to depict the religion of Wicca with any type of accuracy, and was intended as pure entertainment. The producers of The Craft should have done the same thing, since even though the word "Wicca" was never used in the film, the type of magick we practice is commonly referred to as "the Craft," so they were likely aware of Wicca, but either failed to do accurate research on the subject or, worse, simply ignored the truth as being less entertaining then the stereotypes, and figured no one would care, which displays even more irresponsibility on their parts.
Not only is no aspect of the Wiccan religion displayed with any accuracy in these shows and films, but the portrayal of magick and Witchcraft leaves much to be desired. Never mind the fact that most spells cannot be accomplished right away, or to enact such blatant changes on matter and energy. As any witch or magician can attest, spells do work, but contrary to what we see in movies and on TV, most of them take time to manifest on the physical plane, and usually do so in a mundane manner rather then in spectacular fashion (although the latter does occur in very rare instances). This is because magick always takes the path of least resistance when it manifests on the physical plane. Also contrary to what we often see in fiction, it is the will and intent of the witch, magician or priest/ess that causes magick to occur, and it is not embodied in physical objects such as wands or daggers, these being but tools for the practitioner to use in summoning or directing the flow of magickal energies, though constant use of such objects will indeed saturate them with the personal energy of the user, and objects such as jewelry can be "enchanted" so as to attract or repel certain influences about the person wearing them (i.e., love, protection, money, etc).
Magick is usually defined as using the power of the mind, combined with tapping into natural energies inherent in nature, to make changes on the physical plane in accordance with one's will. Healing, money, love, happiness and friendship can all be acquired through magick, and ethically at that. Wiccans do not believe in casting spells to cause harm to another, and we explicitly believe in the Law of Threefold Return, which greatly discourages harmful or controlling hexes to be cast by Wiccans, something that doesn't seem to bother the practitioners of magick in the shows and the films (the Law of Threefold Return is described in detail in its own section elsewhere on this site). For example, Wiccans will not place curses on people, or use those ever famous love spells to win the love of a specific person against his or her will. However, to answer a very popular question about the use of magick, Wiccans can use spellwork very effectively in self-defense, but all such spells will be defensive, not offensive. We will cast a binding to prevent someone from hurting us, such as simply deterring them from doing so, or to deflect another person's intended harm back on them; these bindings aren't even carried out unless our adversary willingly chooses to harm us in an unjust manner. Responsible Wiccans will never cast such spells unless it is absolutely justifiable and we in no way knowingly incited the problem with the other person, as our ethics forbid us to abuse magick by using it for petty revenge, or to annoy or hurt people who we dislike or who bother us in minor ways (the Law of Threefold Return is a further incentive to not abuse magick). However, it is perhaps important to point out that Wiccans are not pacifists or easy victims by any means, and we are certainly not door mats when it comes to protecting ourselves and our loved ones from unjust attacks, either physically or by spellwork. However, if we do deem it necessary to cast spells for protection, such spells are used only with great caution, and are generally only performed in emergencies.
In conclusion, those aforementioned TV shows and films do nothing to teach people the reality of the Wiccan religion or the practice of Witchcraft, and should be considered as works of pure fantasy by those who choose to watch them.
How old is Wicca? Some witches claim to be part of hereditary covens that can trace its lineage back for centuries.
Paganism itself, and the tenets under which most Wiccans practice, do indeed go back for millennia, even as far back as the dawn of the human species. However, thanks to the bloody one-two blows of the Crusades and the Inquisition, both of which were initiated by the Roman Catholic Church, the Pagans became effectively extinct from world affairs for several centuries. The Crusades, which occurred from roughly the 11th to 13th centuries, was an event in which Christian knights and missionaries forcibly converted the majority of Pagans to Christianity through brutal violence and warfare, and wiped out the several great Pagan cultures that existed at the time in the Western and Northern world, thus eliminating most of their beliefs, culture, literature and philosophy from the global arena, only to later re-write these things from a Christian viewpoint. The Inquisition, which ensued from the late 15th to mid-17th centuries, and which modern Pagans refer to as "The Burning Times," officially made Paganism illegal under Catholic theocratic law and people caught or simply even accused of practicing Witchcraft (usually the latter; all magick was incorrectly referred to as "Witchcraft" by the Christian authorities at the time, a mistake that continues even today) were subject to punishment consisting of brutally sadistic methods of torture and death via being burned at the stake (and sometimes by hanging or further torture), and this caveat drove the small and scattered remaining segments of Paganism so deeply into hiding that they effectively vanished from public awareness, and created the numerous vicious stereotypes against Paganism that insured that they remained in "permanent" hiding even after the laws against Witchcraft were repealed. Thus, thanks to the latter two "holocaust" events, Paganism was more or less successfully wiped out of existence until its re-emergence in the mid-20th century (for more details on this, see the History of Paganism and Wicca section elsewhere on this site). This was after the two opposing religious factions co-existed, often less then peacefully, all through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages.
Strictly speaking, Wicca is a modern version of an ancient religion that was first mentioned in Gerald Gardner's 1954 book Witchcraft Today. It grew immensely during the occult explosion of the 1960's to the present. There is no hard evidence that any coven or tradition of Witchcraft survived the Inquisition and continued to secretly exist in a hereditary fashion for centuries to the present day, despite certain scholarly claims made by Dr. Margaret Murray in her 1921 book The Witch Cult in Western Europe, and similar claims made by Gardner himself in his books on the subject (not to mention several other witches). Hence, all Wiccan traditions are basically new religions that are modern re-creations of the "old" Pagan tenets and traditions, but our contemporary ritual structure has also been influenced heavily from Ceremonial Magick from the Middle Ages (such as our usage of the Five Elements and the casting of a circle of power, as well as the usage of the pentagram, which is a universal mystical symbol of protection in magick). Further, our adoption of the belief in karma, which is expressed by us as the Wiccan Law of Threefold Return, is largely culled from Eastern sources, such as Buddhism and Hinduism. As a result, all Wiccans are often referred to as Neo-Pagans for this reason (i.e., “new" Pagans).
Thus, in short, Wicca is a new religion based on very old religious and magickal traditions, which borrows some elements from elsewhere.
If Wicca has no connection to Satanism, then why do Wiccans wear a "Satanic" icon like the pentagram as the symbol of their religious beliefs?
This question or statement is one of the most blatant displays of ignorance that Wiccans are routinely subjected to, and people who ask this question are suffering from a total lack of knowledge about the history of this ancient magickal symbol, perpetuated by an irresponsible media.
The pentagram is a very old magickal symbol that has been used by ancient Pagans, Ceremonial Magicians and even by early Christians (who later abandoned the use of this symbol) during the Dark and Middle Ages. It has symbolized protection from evil and utilized as a means of summoning and controlling magickal energy, and also symbolizes the element of earth to modern witches and magicians during ritual (the other three commonly known elements of antiquity are fire, symbolized by the sword, water, symbolized by the cup and air, symbolized by the wand; the fifth, less commonly known, element is spirit, which is often symbolized by the altar itself in ritual). When not used in ritual, the five points of the pentagram represent each of the five elements of antiquity used by ancient magicians (most of whom belong to a minority Jewish sect of worship, and call upon the Jewish conception of Deity in Hebrew, but can actually be of any religion) as well as by modern Wiccans, with the top point representing the element of spirit, the dominant magickal element in the universe from which the other four are derived. To the early Christians, the five points of the pentagram represented the five wounds of Jesus Christ that the latter received during his crucifixion. Several ritual elements of Wicca, including the use of the pentagram (which has become the pentacle with the addition of a disk surrounding the symbol), have been borrowed from Ceremonial Magick, due to the proven efficiency of such symbols and techniques in directing magick effectively. Also, in modern Norse Wicca, the pentagram is the personal symbol of the goddess Freya (those of the Asatru religion do not use the pentagram at all in their rituals, and have instead adopted the Hammer of Thor as their symbol, which resembles an upside down upper case letter 'T').
The pentagram disappeared from popular consciousness by roughly the 15th century, since the practice of magick was very much on the decline due to intense pressure by the Roman Catholic Church, and the Inquisition effectively drove all of the few remaining practitioners of the mystic arts, whether Pagan or otherwise, very deeply into hiding. When Ceremonial Magick began slowly returning in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the formation of such magickal (albeit non-Pagan) sects as the relatively short-lived but extremely influential Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (many of their magickal practices and teachings are still in use by magicians, and even Wiccans, to this day), and also due to the appearance of such colorful practitioners of the mystic arts such as the infamous and misunderstood Aleister Crowley [who had no direct connection to either Wicca or Satanism, and in fact his illustrious career predated each of them, despite incorrect references in the past claiming otherwise, though his work certainly influenced the New Age movement of the late 20th century, which spawned both of these very disparate religions], symbols like the pentagram slowly began to be utilized again, although the general public wasn't largely made aware of this. Wiccans have used the upright version of the pentagram known as the pentacle (surrounded by a disk) since the religion's earliest days in the public eye during the 50's, and utilized it for the same magickal purposes as the Ceremonial Magicians did, as well as declaring it the official magickal symbol of this new version of the "old" religion. However, this was hardly noticed by the press in England, let alone America, as books on Wicca didn't start hitting the U.S. in significant numbers until the late 60's, during the same time that Satanism was conceived and making headlines, and the "old" religion didn't get any coverage in the mainstream media as Anton LeVay's brainchild did.
Thus, when Satanism was formed by Anton LeVay in the New Age explosion of the 60's, he coveted the previously very rarely used inverted version of the pentagram to symbolize his religion and added the face of the goat-headed god-form Baphomet to the symbol. Due to the popular coverage of the early days of Satanism in the press of the time, the image of the pentagram has been connected to Satanism and black magick in the eyes of the general public for the past thirty years or so, who assumes that Satanism, which the public mistakenly connects to the fictitious Satanic cults who supposedly murdered children and virgins, had originated and always used the pentagram as their symbol, and that the pentagram is the symbol of Satan himself (actually, as described above, true Satanists don't even believe in Satan as a sentient being of absolute evil as the Christians do, but simply as a non-living symbolic principle representing the human ego). In reality, the pentagram has never had anything whatsoever to do with the Judeo-Christian conception of Satan, and amazingly, a connection between the pentagram and Satan wasn't even claimed by the Roman Catholic Church during the Inquisition, but is strictly an assumption of the American general public that began as recently as the late 1960's; hence, this belief didn't even exist one century ago, let alone for millennia, which shows how ridiculous this notion is!
Hence, a symbol that has existed as a universal icon of magick by mystics for many centuries has been perverted a mere thirty years ago by assumptions of the public based on press reports concerning the appearance of Satanism and its usage of an inverted pentagram (Anton LeVay actually became quite a media darling as a result, attracted the attention of several movie stars interested in his religion and even won a brief role as an evil priest in the horror film Rosemary's Baby, one of several such films made at the time to exploit the renewed Christian fear of their conception of Satan; thus, ironically, Satanism has actually been given more respect and credibility in the past then Paganism has in the present). The pentagram has never had any connection whatsoever to Satan in the past centuries, and actually represents protection from evil, not adherence to it.
Curiously, during the early 1940's the pentagram was similarly misused in the classic Universal horror film The Wolfman, which utilized the symbol to represent werewolves (Lon Chaney Jr.'s character, Larry Talbot, would precognitively see the symbol appear on the hand of his next victim), despite the fact that the symbol has never had anything whatsoever to do with lycanthropy. The symbol was misused again in a very similar manner in the USA network's early 1990's horror film Werewolf, as well as the short-lived TV series spun off from it (the title character saw a bloody pentagram on his hand which indicated he would transform into his hairy alter ego that evening, which shows how little things have changed over the decades). These things no doubt help cement the incorrect idea in the general public's mind that the pentagram was and is a symbol of evil. In fact, Satanists also use an inverted version of the Christian cross as a symbol, yet this fact has mysteriously gotten very little mention in the American media. However, since the cross is a well-known Christian religious symbol in American society, unlike the pentagram, it didn't get reported, much less denigrated, as a result of its perverted usage by the Satanists.
The swastika is another ancient mystical symbol that has been terribly denigrated in the modern world, since most people very incorrectly believe that the altered version of this very old symbol used as the national icon by Adolph Hitler for Nazi Germany was the exclusive creation of the infamous leader to symbolize Nazism, and, sadly, modern Neo-Nazis continue to use the symbol to represent their racist social and political beliefs, thereby continuing to pervert its original meaning. The symbol was originally used to represent the sun, and as a magickal ritual symbol to attract or repel various forces, and was never associated with any political or racial ideology. Further, this symbol has been used by many different cultures in the past, from the Tibetans, the Native Americans, the Japanese and the Greeks, among others. However, despite the symbol's very long history, almost everyone in modern America who see the swastika is simply disgusted by the symbol, and have absolutely no idea of the original mystical meaning of this ancient Norse/Germanic symbol, once commonly referred to as the "Hammer of Thor" by the followers of the Norse religion, and considered sacred to the legendary god of thunder (but is not to be confused with the Hammer of Thor symbol more commonly used by Asatruar and Norse Wiccans today, which is described above). The Germanic origin of the swastika has also been used by various Christian groups to unjustly attempt to connect modern practitioners of the Norse religion, such as Asatru, to Nazism and racial supremacist ideals, not realizing that the usage of the original version of the swastika by their Germanic ancestors in the distant past (which was the reason Hitler used it) had nothing to do with the current non-religious political ideas associated with the symbol by the public (as a result, the current Norse religions have, for the most part, dropped the use of this ancient mystical symbol). The Norse author Freya Aswynn has attempted to restore the unjustly tarnished image of the swastika, stating "The swastika is one of the most potent signs in the collective human experience, and it is high time that this sign regained its rightful place and was redeemed from its negative implications." Obviously, modern Pagans and other members of the New Age movement still have many stereotypes to overcome due to public ignorance of these basic facts.
Do Wiccans believe in an afterlife? And what exactly do Wiccans believe concerning reincarnation and the fate of the soul after death?
Yes, Wiccans absolutely believe in an afterlife.
Wiccans believe in a beautiful afterlife realm commonly referred to as Summerland due to its beauteous astral landscape that conveys the appearance of perpetual summer to its temporary inhabitants. Since Wiccan theology believes heavily in reincarnation as a necessary means of evolving the soul, Summerland is basically an astral "resting place," or way station, for souls in between physical incarnations, where they have time to not only rest, but also to reflect on both the triumphs and failures of the previous life, as well as evaluate the level of their success and plan the circumstances of the next life. Some Wiccans have suggested that Summerland may be the same place as Avalon (sometimes called Otherworld) both the home of the gods and the afterlife realm in Celtic mythology, and there are some similarities between the two realms. How "long" an individual remains in the Summerland (since time probably has a completely different meaning there then on the physical plane) most likely varies, depending on various factors, such as how close to "perfection" the soul is, or how many lives he/she has so far led, what type of life experiences he/she endured on the physical plane, how successfully they accomplished what they set out to do in this respective incarnation, and probably other factors as well. It has been stated in Wiccan belief that at least some souls, as part of their spiritual evolution, spend time in the "interlife" experience assisting a different soul in physical form through their life experience; such souls are often called "spirit guides" by New Agers, and it is believed by some that everyone in physical form has such an unseen "mentor" (Christians believe in such beings as well, and commonly refer to them as "guardian angels"). Otherwise, souls spend their time in the "interlife" period doing various activities that interest him/her, such as studying, socializing with other spirits, visiting other astral realms, or anything else he/she wants to do in the interim.
It is believed by Wiccans, in a manner similar to that of Buddhists and Hindus, that the soul goes through numerous different lives, each with different experiences and obstacles to overcome, depending on different experiences and knowledge that the soul needs to acquire in order to achieve eventual spiritual perfection (a state that the Buddhists refer to as Nirvana), and the person will incarnate within a life with the basic framework of circumstances and obstacles set up for him/her to experience, though we believe that free will is a very real and important concept, and that the individual is free to make their own choices as to how they will deal with these experiences, and the choices they make will obviously affect both the range and the severity of the experiences they will face. Should a soul fail to overcome a certain needed experience or obstacle, or fail to learn required knowledge, they will have another go at it during another life, and will keep doing so until they are successful. There is no set number of lives for a soul to achieve this perfection, as he/she has all eternity to do so, and the number of physical lives an individual soul will experience obviously varies greatly with the individual. It is also believed by many that each time a physical incarnation dies and the soul returns to the afterlife realm, if he/she has learned and evolved significantly, he/she will move on to a "higher" realm, each time coming closer to the One, the source of all life and creator of souls in the universe, until that individual achieves the state of perfection. Once the state of Nirvana is finally achieved, the soul is believed to forever "escape" the cycle of reincarnation, having learned all it needs to learn and experienced all it needs to experience to achieve spiritual perfection, and the soul is then believed to merge back with the spiritual life force of the universe (sometimes referred to as the One or All by Pagans, which manifests itself into two distinct universal genders as the God and Goddess in Wiccan belief), where the soul's accumulated knowledge and experience through numerous lifetimes will be shared with the collective life force of the universe for the benefit of its growth as well. What exactly happens to a soul after this happens, such as what level of "individuality" he/she will retain (the soul at its core is genderless, so it may no longer have a distinct gender identity at this point any more, yet can probably still manifest itself as such, since the One can do so as the Goddess and God), though achieving this "oneness with the universe" is said to be the goal of each and every soul.
Whether or not souls routinely change genders is a matter of much conjecture. Although souls are truly genderless at their core, and probably can and do change genders when the life experience truly needs it, much past life regression techniques seem to suggest that most souls appear to have a preference for usually incarnating into a specific gender, with more souls preferring to manifest as females. Thus, souls may indeed be "predisposed" to usually manifest as the same gender. It is also a matter of conjecture whether souls meet reincarnations of people that they loved in a past life; much evidence seems to suggest that they do, and that souls may actually exist in spiritual "family units" who are connected to each other in various ways throughout each and every lifetime.
Most Wiccans do not believe in an afterlife of brutal punishment as the Christians do with their "Hell," which was probably originally conceived as a political means of terrifying the masses into accepting the new religion and to follow the dogma written by the ruling hierarchy, and to not challenge their authority [ironically, however, since the astral plane is infinite in the diversity of its realms, and since it is very fluid and responds to strong human beliefs, an astral reality resembling the Christian conception of "Hell" may very well have actually been created by nearly two millennia of heavy Christian belief in such a realm, but it is believed to be exceedingly difficult to actually get stuck in this fiery reality, and only then by strong adherents to Christian dogma who strongly believe, at least subconsciously, that they will end up there, but probably even then they will not be trapped there permanently; experts who have performed past life regression studies, psychics who can naturally perceive the afterlife realms and experts who have studied those who have been briefly declared clinically dead and made short visits to the afterlife realities, have very rarely reported such a realm as the Judeo-Christian "Hell," and even when they did they often felt that the individual reporting it personally created such an experience due to a deep-rooted fear of ending up in "Hell" for the most trivial of reasons that the Christian mindset has imposed upon us, such as not going to Church often enough, not accepting Jesus Christ as their "savior" or committing too many "sins"; thus Hell itself may actually be more a state of mind then an actual realm of existence, though it can probably exist as the latter at various times if enough people believe this to be the case].
Rather then a belief in Hell, Wiccans, like the Eastern religions, believe in the principle of karma (further described in the section on the Wiccan Rede), that has been described as a cosmic form of points earned for and against the soul. If one lives a life of cruelty and debauchery, they will build negative karma against themselves, and will have negative events, possibly magnified in nature, reflect back on them in either this lifetime, or possibly have to make up for such "evil" actions by living their next life fraught with negative experiences, and have to somehow make up for their past negative acts with positive acts, and even being forced to help individuals whom they injured in some way in a past life. Hence, Wiccans do indeed believe in a form of retribution for "evil" acts, but just not in a form of eternal punishment in a horrific netherworld. A small minority of Wiccans, however (among them, Wiccan author A.J. Drew), do indeed believe in a negative astral realm for Wiccans who may be exceptionally wicked, and the realm is sometimes referred to as Winterland (which is presumably perceived by its unfortunate inhabitants as a barren and perpetually cold and frozen realm, much like Niflheim, the realm of the dishonored dead in Norse mythology ruled by the goddess Hela, and it may indeed be the same place as Winterland, or a near astral equivalent). Most Wiccans do not seem to believe in Winterland, though it may indeed exist, but even the believers suggest it is populated only by individuals of our faith who were exceptionally cruel and wicked without remorse of any kind, and not for minor or silly reasons such as not believing in a specific set of dogma or proclaiming a certain individual as their personal "savior" (as many Christians would have us believe). Even then, it is probable that such souls wouldn't be condemned to spend all eternity in this Winterland, but would have ample opportunity to redeem themselves, but it would be a difficult road ahead to do so.
The Wiccan realm of Summerland is believed to be a different astral realm then that known as Heaven by Judeo-Christian theology.
Is it true that Wiccans don't believe in God?
This question really annoys me, as it displays how much the Christians have altered the word "Pagan" so that it is synonymous with the word "atheist." Yes, Pagans believe in a sentient creator-force in the universe. However, unlike the three major patriarchal religious tendencies in the world today, we do not believe in an all-male Deity. We believe in a God and Goddess, and some Pagan religions, like Asatru, and even many Wiccans, believe in several deities. So, yes, Wiccans do believe, very strongly in fact, in Deity.
There are indeed individuals who do not believe in any conception of Deity, or adhere to any religious doctrine, and they are called atheists. Pagans do believe in Deity, just not the same conceptual interpretation of it as do the three major monotheistic religions in the world today. No more confusion here, please.
As I said above, keep asking me questions, and more will be added here. Also, you can find answers to many more Wiccan questions elsewhere on this site, so keep reading.
