MY VIEW OF WICCA
Someone sent me an e-mail asking for more information about Wicca to help them decide if it was the religion for them. The following is what I sent them and it felt so right to me I had to include it on this page.
"Wicca is a religion that has been around this world hundreds of years before Christ. Those who say you have to give up god know nothing about the religion. There is only one rule or commandment in wicca, harm none. How can anything that requires you to do no harm to anyone, including yourself, be evil?
When Christianity first became a religious power and sought converts, they needed a way to turn pagans of all sorts from their religion to the worship of Christ. Many methods were tried, but the success came from adopting wiccan religious days and making them into Christian holidays. They also made the male god of wicca into the devil.
Wicca revolves around the duality of man and woman, day and night. The god is a hunter who bears the horns of the stag and is often referred to as the golden lord for the sun. The goddess is referred to as the silver lady for the moon. These names should be recognized by most pagans, although different groups have their own names for the gods. There is good and evil embodied in both deities, as a reflection of man's own nature, the test lies in resisting the lure of evil and following the good impulses. As for the claims of wiccans using "evil witchcraft" as part of their religion, this was another way that early Christians attacked the beliefs of pagans to get converts.
Some Wiccans do cast spells, but it is much more like a prayer than the kind of stuff you usually see on tv. Spells are not powered by Satan, but by the caster. You draw upon your inner strength and the energy that the world, especially large oak trees, freely gives. The dancing in many rituals is actually used to bring the bodies own powers out for use in the spell. The spell is then cast with the release of the energy in the form of a prayer to the gods. The caster builds the energy and the will behind it and gives it to the gods, just like praying in church, to bring the desired result. The rule of three applies here. If you wish for something that harms none and does good, than good things return to you threefold. Evil wishes, like wanting someone to fail or die, also return threefold if the form of bad luck or ill health.
If you like to read, books by Scott Cunningham are the best I have found for someone who wants to be a wiccan, particularly a solitary wiccan. `Wicca, a guide for the Solitary Practitioner' is the best one to start with."
