What do most Wiccans believe?

Okay, in many ways, this is probably the easiest thing to tell you about, yet it is the most complex as well.

Our religion is about honoring and worshiping the cycles in nature, life, death, rebirth, growing, fertility, the animals and plants and so on. Death is part of life, and most of us are not afraid of death because we know it's like the Summer Vacation between grades in School. You go to school, learn certain things, take tests, go for the Summer, to come back again. Most Pagans believe in Reincarnation and many chances to learn lessons and improve ourselves.

Our worship services acknowledge these cycles, celebrate the life in a mother's womb, and celebrate the life of a person who had died.

We believe that ultimately, the only person responsible for what happens in our life is ourselves. We have to take credit and blame for what happens and that no one is going to save us from the consequences of our actions. We do try, however, to help those who are out of their depth in handling their own situations through charitable works. But still, the only person responsible is ourselves, no matter how many mitigating circumstances there are.

We also, in general, believe that any actions we take will come back to us. It varies as to how much we get back, some say three times, I have heard of nine times and some believe that it's only once. In other words, good actions that I do will bring good actions and blessings to me. Negative or bad actions will bring bad actions or curses to me. So, with that in mind, we always try to make sure that we are putting out more good than bad. I mean, it only makes sense, right? Who would want bad things coming at them when it's in their power to prevent it?

Also we believe, in general, that it's okay to take whatever action we wish to so long as no one gets hurt. In that "no one" is ourselves too. However, this is one of the hottest debated things in Wicca. There are many who see this statement, called the Rede, as an absolute commandment and many who see it as a guideline.

If you look at the above, it covers just about every one of the Ten Commandments and most of what Jesus taught. It covers not murdering someone, not stealing, not trying to break up a marriage, it covers honoring your elders, it covers forgiving others that offend you, it covers being charitable to others, it covers the "Golden Rule" and many of the core beliefs of Christianity, or any moral religion. About all it doesn't cover is the Sabbath Day restrictions, and the "No other gods before me" strictures. However we have our holy days as well.

Our Holy days are on the Full Moon, in which the Lady of the Moon (sometimes referred to as The Goddess) has taken a journey where she lost strength and beauty, and she has now returned to the fullness of her beauty and strength. We call these Esbats. We also have 8 seasonal holidays, called Sabbats. Most times, these holy days are parties, get-togethers, times of celebration with each other as friends where we also do things like have weddings, say goodbye to friends who have died, welcome new babies to our groups, and enjoy life and what has been given to us.

Wiccans are polytheistic, meaning that we worship a "set" of Gods and Goddesses in our celebrations. We don't have a God who is all loving, all knowing, everywhere and all powerful, we also don't have a God of evil or temptation. Our basic mind set on this is that it takes male and female to create life, no matter how you cut it. Toward that, we honor the male and the female in our rites and celebrations, and the way they relate to the seasons and nature. A male deer and a female deer is celebrated, for example, just as much as mother and fatherhood in humans are.

Generally we have one God and one Goddess that combine every possible combination of personality traits that can be found in humans. The Goddess is just as wise as She is spiteful, gentle as much as harsh. Many of us worship specific "named" deities who embody attributes that we especially honor, such as kindness, wisdom, knowledge, fertility and so on. This "named" deity varies from group to group and from person to person. There are even some who honor and worship Jesus and Mary from Christian mythology. Some other examples are Odin, Thor, Isis, Hera, Astarte, Diana, Herne, Geb, Zeus and almost any other God or Goddess from classical mythology, and a few you didn't even know existed. But it's not the name that matters, it's the actions done by the person who worships that Name that does matter.

We draw our inspiration for our spirituality from nature, from the world around us. We meditate under a tree, gaze up at the stars, float in a lake, or stare into a campfire. At these times, there can come a flash of understanding, and another piece of the universe falls into place for us. Every Wiccan and Pagan out there has a story like this, and most times it can't be communicated in words to others. I liken it to the Goddess putting a blanket around me and hugging me, while showing me another part of how it all works. That is our "holy writ" and "scripture".

Do we worship and honor Satan? Mostly, no. There may be some out there that do, and I can't do anything about that. Mostly we don't even acknowledge his existence, other than the existence that Christian Mythology has given him.

Do we believe that Jesus died for our sins? Generally, no we don't. How can Jesus die for something I am ultimately responsible for? He can't make it right and can't pay the consequences of MY action, so his hanging on a Cross is a symbolic story for us. If I commit murder, I'm the one who goes to jail, not him. However, we have myths of a Sacrificed God as well, and we can relate to his sacrifice in that manner. Usually the sacrificed God goes to ensure the renewal of the Earth and the people. That is how we see the story of the Crucifixion, most often.

Let me repeat my disclaimer here again. I am not speaking for ALL pagans and Wiccans. I can ultimately only speak for myself. I can make some broad general statements, and I am doing so, but you must understand that those statements are not intended to speak for everyone who is Pagan or Wiccan. Because as sure as I say that THIS statement is true, 100 or more Wiccans will jump up and say "That's not how *I* believe...." You may realize that this is true for any set of beliefs, not just Wicca or Paganism.

We also have some "Bad apples" who go out and in the name of our religious and spiritual beliefs set themselves up as gurus and start recruiting. They promise anything to get the recruits, and they can also start brainwashing them. This does NOT mean that they are members of our community, acknowledged by our leaders, nor are they correct. You may see them as wannabe David Korresh's and the Branch Dividians. If you could see some of our discussions on the Internet denouncing them, you may be amazed. But all we can do is try to warn people away and get the police on them if they are hurting someone.

Do we believe in Heaven? If you mean the City with the 8 gates and the Throne of God and so on, then the answer is generally, no. We do believe in an afterlife, however. We call it the Summerlands. It is a place that is untouched by the hand of Man, usually a field or forest, with plenty of animals and plants in it where we dwell and think on what we have learned in this life. Other groups in Paganism call this place other things, like Valhalla, the Elysian Fields, Hel, Anwyn and so on. It, once again, depends on the practitioner and the path being practiced.

Then we make a decision to come back and what lessons we would like to learn in the next life. Some believe that once we die here, we move upward and learn things from the Summerlands, where we die and go to another place to learn from that place, and on and on and on, continually burning off the dark and negative until we are perfect and can be reunited with the Gods, and be with Them forever.

You heard we do magick and are worried about us because of that? Don't be. Our Magick that we use is the same force you use when you pray. The only difference is that instead of asking another person to do something for us (God) we try to do it ourselves. We are praying to the universe or the random chance or whatever you want to call it, but basically we put positive energy out into the Universe with our desire "tacked on" to that energy, trying to set up circumstances that will bring what we want to us, rather asking God to do the same thing for us.

Some Pagans do pray to the Gods for help developing qualities that those gods have. For example, a Druid may pray directly to Ogma, Celtic God of the Sun and Knowledge, to help him when he is studying for a test and to help him remember the facts studied. An Asatru practitioner (Norse spirituality) may pray directly to Odin to help him have the courage to confront someone who is being a pain at work.

Are we "lost sheep" that you MUST bring back into the fold? By your beliefs, yes we are. However, we ask for you to respect our beliefs. You don't have to accept what we believe as true for you, and we are not trying to convert you. We respect that what you believe is correct for you, and we ask that same courtesy in return. We are generally not interested in arguments about who is more right than the other, but we are willing to debate theology with you if you want.

Are we trying to convert you to our beliefs? No, we are not. We are here, not trying to convert anyone, worshiping our Gods as we see fit, and trying to live in peace with each other and the rest of the world.

Do we have a Holy Book? No there is no such thing. Modern Wicca and many NeoPagan groups were developed in the 1950's, passed down from teacher to student and added to by such things as NewAge mysticism, Buddhist beliefs, Celtic Folklore, and many other influences, and written down by us into our own Journal, or Book of Shadows. That is about as close as I can get you to the concept of a Holy Book or Scripture.

It's a book into which we put our thoughts on spirituality, our meditations, our prayers and our rites and ceremonies. It's a book of philosophy and herbalism. It is, in fact, a journal of our spiritual growth. In that, it is sacred to the person who wrote it, as a record of our progress, but what I put into my Book of Shadows will not matter as much to someone else. They may be interested in how I celebrate Yule, and copy that portion of my Book of Shadows into their own, but the rest of it they may read, but they will probably ignore it.

There are those that believe that what we practice now is a direct continuation of how Neolithic man worshiped when he first developed intelligence enough to notice that today is different from last week, and last month. However, that has been disproved by modern Wiccan Scholars. Some of the core practices are based on some of the spirituality that we know of from archeological records we have found, and in some cases, actual historical documents. However, the religion of Wicca itself was created by one man, Gerald Gardner in the 1950's, and passed down to what we know today.

Is there a central organization that can be contacted? No, there is not. We tend to be autonomous in our worship services, and one group can usually only hold 13 members. With upwards to half a million of us in the United States alone, there is no one central organization, although attempts have been made to create a central leadership. Usually those groups are ignored by the general community, although some attempts have had better results than others.

Some examples of groups that look like they are a central organization are The Witches' League for Public Awareness , The Witches' Voice, Witches Against Religious Discrimination and the Covenant of the Goddess . These are places you can go for more information, and for accurate information to get you started, but they are only the overall authority for those who have become members of these organizations.

Do we have a victim attitude? Most times, yes. In many cases, we tend to be on the short end of the stick when it comes to Equal Rights. There are those of us who have lost their jobs when it became known that we are Wiccan, there are those of us who have lost their children to fundamentalist grandparents and we have taken the brunt of the blame for that. There are cases of Wiccans being harassed and beaten by governmental officials as well as the general citizen. This is discounting the stories that we have still from the Inquisition and Salem (both of which had little to do with Witchcraft and everything to do with political power and monetary gain).

I mean, think about it. What is your FIRST reaction when someone comes up to you on the street and says "I'm a Witch"? Usually it's revulsion or horror, a desire to get away from this instrument of Satan before it corrupts you. Why is this? Look in the media to find your answer. Witches are presented as green-faced, warty nosed hags who eat children and curse crops and who kill unborn babies in the womb before birth. Why would we do something like that? We have to eat too, and we will starve just as fast if the crops die. Killing babies as they are being born would make it pretty obvious that we were around and nasty, wouldn't it?

What about that passage in the Bible? The one that says "Thou shalt suffer not a witch to live"? It's a mistranslation. King James had a real problem with Pagan practitioners and had the word changed from "poisoner" or "murderer" to "witch" and defined Witch to be anyone who practiced midwifery, herbalism (the only source of headache cures) or strange religious rites. Look it up sometime.

There have been centuries of hate and persecution and blame laid upon us, so please forgive us if some of our community are a bit sensitive about the subject. Just so you know, many of the witch hunts and persecutions are still going on. They have just changed faces from torture to "removing children from the home based on low moral standards."

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