Principles Of Wiccan Belief

Provided by the American Council of Witches

• We practice rites to attune ourselves to the natural rhythms of the life forces marked by the phases of the moon, the seasonal quarters and cross quarters.
• We recognize that our intelligence gives us a unique responsibility towards our environment. We seek to live in harmony with nature in ecological balance, offering fullfillment of life and consciouness, within an evoloutionary concept of soul growth.
• We acknowledge a depth of power, far greater than apparent to the average person. because it is far greater than ordinary it is sometimes called supernatural, but we see it as lying within that which is naturally potential to all.
• We concieve of the creative power of the universe as the same creative power that lies within all people and functions through the interaction of masculine and feminine. We value neither above the other. We value sex as a pleasure, a symbol and embodiment of life and as a part of the spiritual round of death and rebirth.
• We recognize both outer worlds and inner or psychological worlds sometimes known as the spiritual world, collective unconsciousness, inner planes, etc. We see in the interaction of these two dimentions the bases for paranormal phenomina and magickal exercise. We neglect neither dimention for the other, seeing both as necessary for our fullfillment.
• We do not recognize and authoritarian hierarchy, but we do honor those that teach and respect those that share their greater knowledge and wisdom. We achknowledge those that have courageuosly given of themselves in leadership.
• We see religion, magick, and wisdom in living as being united in the way one views the world and lives within it. A world view, philosophy of life which we identify as witchcraft, the Wiccan way.
• Calling oneself a witch does not make a witch nor does heredity or the collecting of titles, degrees, or initiations. A witch seeks to control the forces within themselvesthat make life possibleto live wisely and well, without harm to others and in harmony with nature. Being a witch means living as one 24 hours a day for the rest of their lives.
• We believe in the affirmation and fullfillment of life in a continuation of evoloution and development of consciousness giving meaning to the universe we know and our personal role within it
• Our only animosity towards Christianity or towards other religious groups and religions or philosophy is to the extent that its institutions have sought to deny freedom to others and to supress other ways of religious practice and belief. We as Wiccans know that there are many pathson which to travel towards deity and don't enforce our views on others. We recognize that all gods are one and each god/goddess is but an aspect of force or energy we call god/goddess. As witches we are not threatened be debates on the history of witchcraft, the origins of various terms, the legitimacy of various aspects and of different traditions. We are concerned are concerned with our present and future. We must look deeply at the theology of that we espouse. It is important to establish the foundation of our tradition so that those that follow usare prepared for and can withstand the onset of future time.
• We don't accept the oncept of absolute evil nor do we worship any entity known as Satan, the evil, or Lucifer as defined by Christian tradition. We do not seek power through the suffering of others, be they human or our brothers and sisters in the animal kingdom, nor except that personal benefit can be derived by denial of self or others.
• We believe that we should seek within nature that witch is contributory to our health and well-being. Our religion is a joyous religion springing from our kinship with nature. It is a merging with the Goddess and the God, the universal energies witch created all in existance. It is a personal, positive, celebration of life. Our rede is: an it harm none, do what thy will.

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