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WHAT IS WICCA AND WITCHCRAFT | RELIGION | HISTORY | BELIEFS
WHAT IS WICCA AND WITCHCRAFT | RELIGION | HISTORY | BELIEFS
WHAT IS WICCA AND WITCHCRAFT | Here
we will learn the hidden secret history of Wicca & witchcraft in details
so let's go to know full details about Wicca magic, pagan, Wicca religion beliefs.
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| WHAT IS WICCA AND WITCHCRAFT |
HIDDEN SECRET HISTORY OF WICCA EXPOSED IN DEPTH
Wicca is a new religious movement based on
witchcraft that arose in England in the early to mid-20th-century scholars
describe it as a contemporary pagan religion, and in fact, it's arguably one of
the largest pagan religions in the world.
In this article, I will cover wickers origins, its beliefs,
and practices as well as some major streams of thought running through the
tradition, such as environmentalism and feminism, but Wicca is extremely
eclectic as the journalist and Wiccan priestess Margot Adler wrote
in her book drawing down the moon in this religion, there is an exception to
everything.
So as I go through this overview of Wicca I'll try to highlight the internal diversity of belief and practice in this tradition, nothing is monolithic. And because this subject is outside of my own specialty I'll be relying on these scholarly publications on Wicca and we'll be citing them accordingly.
I recommend you to
check out their scholarship if you want to learn more, let's get into it first
some basic terminology, the word Wicca derives from the Old
English word for witch
or sorcerer, which was probably pronounced which.
The term was adopted by practitioners in the early 1960s
Wiccan practitioners, both men and women self identify as witches, a term
that they reclaim as a positive title rather than the historical Christian
view that witches are evil figures now lots of people outside of Wicca use
terms like Wicca and Satanism interchangeably, but this is conflating two
different movements Satanism encompasses a diversity of groups that, as the
name suggests, look to Satan as a symbol of admiration, a symbol of
individualism non-conformity or the rejection of authoritarianism some
Satanists could be classified as theistic Satanists people who don't believe
in the supernatural at all but adopt Satan as a model for their lives.
For example, the Satanic Temple
consider themselves to be a non-theistic non-supernaturalists religious organization with Satan functioning as an icon, representing the eternal rebel.
Other Satanists are more supernaturalists, these groups do actually believe in
a supernatural being called Satan and sometimes practice forms of magic,
as part of their religious practice Wicca on the other hand is a
different religious movement, Satan doesn't even factor into the picture
for Wiccans because they view themselves as following a pre-Christian pagan
religion that survived in Europe, despite being Christianized throughout the
late antique and medieval periods, and despite witch hunts and witch trials Wicca
and witchcraft is not synonymous though.
Yes, Wicca involves practicing witchcraft and
they call themselves witches, but there are a bunch of other witchcraft based
groups who identify as witches but not as Wiccan, now that we've gotten
terminology out of the way.
What about its origins Wicca emerged in the early to mid
20th century founded by the Englishman Gerald Gardner,
sometimes called the father of Wicca gardener was avidly interested in
esotericism folklore and the occult throughout his life, he joined a Freemason
lodge earlier in life and later moved to the town of High Cliff in southern
England, where he was involved with the activities of a local group of
Rosicrucians and esoteric order.
The town of Highcliffe has located near the New Forest now an
extensive National Park and it was here that Gardner claims that in 1939, he
encountered and was initiated into a coven of witches, now known as the
New Forest coven, he claimed that he had discovered the remnants of a pre
Christian witchcraft based religion surviving in England. He got these ideas
from the English historian, MargaretMoray, one of the main champions of this so-called witch-cult survival
theory.
She was the person who provided the academic foundation for
Gardner's own beliefs decades before gardeners have an interest in witchcraft
Murray published articles arguing that a pagan religion that she called the
witch-cult survived in Western Europe.
Her work culminated in the 1921 book, The Witch cult in
Western Europe, in which she argued that witches gathered in covens to worship
the pagan horned God and practiced all manner of ceremonial magical rituals,
she argued that these groups were the target of the witch trials and witch
hunts of the medieval and early modern periods.
In fact, later in life, Margaret Murray herself wrote the intro of one of Gardner's most popular books witchcraft today summarizing his argument that the various groups of witches throughout England still practice the same rights as the so called Witches of the Middle Ages and that the rights are a true survival and not a mere revival copied out of books now Murray's theories did not hold up to historical scrutiny and by the 1970s historians such as Keith Thomas, the author of religion and the decline of magic discredited her theory as overly selective of its evidence, careful analysis of the witch trial records from early modern Europe determined that the women caught up in these mass panics were not practicing a pagan religion, many Wiccans today hold two versions of Murray's theory as a mythical origin story. Some hold to it literally others metaphorically, saying that they feel an affinity for witches and pagans of the past, even if their tradition is not a direct historical survival.
Returning now to gardeners initiation, whether or not a gardener was actually initiated into a new forest coven has not been
independently verified, one of the top biographers of a gardeners life, Philip
Heseltine argues that this coven really existed and gardener's initiation truly
took place Hamilton's arguments have convinced at least one scholar of Wicca
Ethan White, who has written an excellent history of Wicca other scholars of
modern paganism Aiden Kelly and Chaz Clifton argue that gardener invented the
encounter with the New Forest coven saying that he actually developed Wicca
in the 40s and 50s and backdated his initiation to 1939, but
ultimately we don't know since the events are based on Gardner's own accounts,
regardless of what happened or didn't happen we do know that he founded a coven
in London after world war two and went on to be a prolific popularizer of
witchcraft.
During
this time in the 40s and 50s. He was a prominent figure in
British occult circles, for example, Alistair Crowley,
the famous occultist was acquainted with a gardener and initiated him into the
esoteric Ordo Templi Orientis gardener also participated as a member of a local
Druid order as he developed his own system of witchcraft, the scholar HB urban
characterizes gardeners Wicca as an occult bricolage. In other words, a
combination of diverse elements from many different traditions in an original a new way for example gardener drew ideas from Freemasonry as well as other
occultists such as Alistair Crowley and his esoteric religion for Lima by the
16th gardener's coven grew and initiates started moving overseas to Australia,
Canada, and the United States founding new covens abroad.
And although gardener suffered a heart attack and died in
1964, his movement continued to thrive, but now as an international religion,
it might actually be the largest contemporary pagan religion in the world, but
it's difficult to get exact numbers, the scholar of paganism Patricia Yolanda
points to the US Census as an example of this difficulty.
The Census says that in 2008, there were 342,000 Wiccans,
but it confusingly only gave a few options Wiccan pagan and spiritualist,
though, you can see the problem here. Many Wiccans consider themselves
to be pagan.
So, what are you
supposed to check on this census pagan or Wiccan compare this to the UK census
which lists Wiccans Druids spiritualist even Satanism witchcraft New Age
shamanism pagan with fewer options the US Census probably skews the data, but
scholars estimate that the number of Wiccans worldwide is probably somewhere in
the low 100 of 1000s of people.
SOME OTHER BACKGROUND HISTORY OF TRUE WICCA
Okay, that's some background history of the movement
but let's move on to the beliefs and practices, remember religions are
always internally diverse and this is especially true for Wicca many Wiccans
are duo theistic, meaning that they believe in to equal deities, often
characterized as a goddess and a horned God. Sometimes they're just simply
referred to as the lady and the Lord.
The Goddess is sometimes conceptualized as a
tripartite goddess, consisting of three archetypes the maiden, the
mother, and the Crone again these ideas are drawn from the theories of Margaret
Moray argued that these gods were worshipped as far back as the Neolithic
times in Europe and that the horned God was mistaken by Christians to be the
devil gardener characterize these gods as masculine and feminine archetypes
that supported the universe, other Wiccans are monotheistic worshipping only a
goddess,
Others are polytheistic and adopt Gods from many different
paganisms and many more are atheists and agnostics in fact a prominent Wiccan
priestess Phyllis curado says that you don't even necessarily need to believe
in the supernatural to be a witch.
She characterizes witchcraft as a spiritual practice that
expands our perceptions and she likens it to yoga. In other words, you don't
need to be Hindu and believe in Hindu gods to practice yoga. You don't
need to believe in the mother goddess and the horned God to be a witch.
As for the afterlife, there are a bunch of different
opinions concerning it but reincarnation is probably the most common belief
among Wiccans, many Wiccans believe that they will be reborn as witches in the
next life gardener himself wrote in his book witchcraft today that the horned
God rules the afterlife, and that witches can be reincarnated.
He frequently spoke of his own past lives and was known to
say once a witch, always a witch reincarnation is also based on witches
actions on earth so there is an aspect of karma here, your current actions will
affect your future rebirths.
WICCAN RULES
This is summarized in the Wiccan rule of three,
which stipulates that the positive or negative energy that
you put into the universe will come back to you threefold. There is also a
diversity of traditions or denominations Gardnerian Wiccans are probably
the most prominent as they trace their lineage to the founder himself Gerald
Gardner, and lineage is a big deal for Gardnerian witches, in order to join you
must be initiated by another Gardnerian which the covens are led by high
priestesses and each High Priestess is trained by the preceding high
priestesses, again, creating a lineage, Gardnerian also tends to do a
theistic following the horned God and the mother goddess. Next, there's
Alexandria and Wicca founded by a Gardnerian initiate Alexander's in the 1960s
Alexandria and Wicca is characterized as being more eclectic than Gardnerian
Wiccans exhibiting more of a willingness to experiment with practices and
ideas, outside of the Gardnerian tradition, Dianic Wicca is a tradition
heavily influenced by second-wave feminism and has been described as a form
of feminist spirituality, Dianic Wiccans only worship the Goddess and pushed
back against Gardnerian Wicca, for example, gardeners ideal coven
comprised of six pairs of men and women, representing the Goddess, and
the God, but by the 70s and 80s, some Wiccans like Shoshana Budapest
rejected this as too heteronormative and founded a women-only coven called
the Susan Anthony coven number one, and
she stipulated that covens should only be led by high priestesses, not priests
for these Wiccans, the witch is a symbol of radical religious innovation
and political resistance to patriarchy.
Finally, there is eclectic Wicca, we
can think of this more as an open-source form of Wicca which rather than
relying on strict lineage like Gardnerian Wicca encourages practitioners to
experiment and forge their own path.
Many eclectic Wiccans are solitary practitioners,
meaning that they are independent of any particular denomination or coven the practice involves performing magical rituals, but Wiccans hold many different
opinions about magic and its efficacy.
Some characterize it as the manipulation of the natural world through harnessing cosmic or psychic energy through their willpower.
WICCANS SIMPLY MAGIC
Other Wiccans simply view magic as
a form of prayer or meditation, for example, one of the anecdotes that I
read from a practicing Wiccan online says that she might recite a spell
to herself, while driving home at night during a thunderstorm for protection,
which she likens to a form of prayer, quoting Phyllis curado, again, some
Wiccans just view magic as a spiritual practice that expands our perceptions,
and although Hollywood leads the public to think of magic in terms of evil
magic like the dark arts and Harry Potter Wiccans hold to ethical precepts
called the Wiccan read a rule that says, Do as you will.
So long
as you do no harm in Wicca there are no central texts like the
Bible and Christianity, but Gerald Gardner kept a ritual notebook called
the Book of Shadows,
which he called a personal cookbook of spells Gardner's Book of Shadows
initially relied heavily on the work of other occultists, such as Charles
Leyland and Alistair Crowley, but gardeners High Priestess Doreen Valley and
Tay edited the notebook to what we have today. Generally, the book is meant to
be kept secret and copied by hand, but copies have been made available over the
years, Wiccans today often keep their own Book of Shadows as a personal
notebook.
Many Wiccans practice in covens, which is simply a group of people who gather for their magical or religious practice, Margaret Moray the historian that inspired Gardner's theories popularized the term coven and argued that pre-Christian witchcraft practitioners met in groups of 13, which gardener tried to emulate with his own coven many Wiccans today see 12 or 13 people as the traditional size of a coven. They are generally led by a single person called a high priestess or a high priest.
This form of leadership though is controversial within the tradition, some Wiccans have reported to an anthropologist that some high priestesses and priests can basically become autocratic in their coven other covens strive to be more egalitarian rotating leadership frequently, but like I said many other Wiccans, maybe even most Wiccans are solitary witches, meaning that they don't associate with any particular coven.
Remember, in this religion, there is an exception to
everything Wiccans also observed eight seasonal festivals called sabots that
form the Wheel of the Year. Following the seasonal changes of a
Northwestern European climate to festivals are based on the autumn and
spring equinoxes to on the winter and mid-summer solstice are and for other
festivals in between. You might recognize the word UIL, which is the pagan name
for the winter solstice festival, Wiccans often use the original old Irish names
of the sabots so the Salween for October 31 famously the inspiration behind
Halloween in bulk on February 2 was stara for the spring equinox, which is
etymologically related to the word Easter.
I should also mention that many different pagan
groups celebrate these festivals, not just Wiccans, the
Eightfold Wheel of the Year is not ancient yes these festivals have ancient
roots, such as sat when, but the wheel itself as a seasonal series of festivals
was developed in the 1950s and 60s and was fully formed at least by 1962.
When the gardener's High Priestess Dorian belly and Tay started
using it in public, this focus on the changing of seasons leads us to the
characterization of Wicca as a nature religion.
Some Wiccans see their mythology and the changing seasons,
just as the seasons change from spring to summer to fall in winter, the goddess
reflects these changing seasons with her tripartite identity, changing from
made to mother to Crone many Holden almost pantheistic or animistic belief that
there is cosmic or divine energy in nature, correlated to this Wiccans have
been involved in environmental activism since the 1970s, for example, a Wiccan
initiate founded pagans against nukes in 1980.
So,I want to return to this statement that started the whole
article. In this religion, there is an exception to everything. It might have
been annoying to hear me constantly say some Wiccans believe these
others believe that.
But this is an important part of Wicca the scholar of
religion Dr.Leon von Gulick argues that we can involve two potentially
conflicting modes traditionalism and eclecticism, there is a strong
inclination towards traditionalism to preserve a lineage and to preserve ancient
knowledge, specifically to preserve pre-Christian pagan knowledge
that they believe was persecuted to near extinction.
We see this especially with Gardnerian Wicca a concern to
preserve the gardener's Book of Shadows by writing it by hand.
It is concerned to
preserve knowledge and rituals bypassing leadership from the high priestess
to High Priestess in a lineage, keeping the knowledge secret and known only by
initiated members, this leads some scholars to say that some forms of Wicca
are fairly conservative not conservative in the political sense but in the literal sense of conserving an age-old tradition for the next generation.
At the same time, Wicca is characterized by pluralism and
eclecticism, there is an ethos to find your own individualized path
practitioners are encouraged to experiment and to keep their own ritual
notebook.
This is especially true for eclectic and
solitary Wiccans who purposely avoid joining a particular denomination or
tradition. These two modes of Wicca traditionalism and eclecticism are
sometimes at odds but they are key parts of Wicca as an ever-changing
new religious movement.
If you'd like to
learn more I'm including bibliography in this article. And as always thanks
for reading and I'll see you next time.
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