Wicca Teacher Wins the Lotto - But What is Wicca? How Does it Compare to Christianity?
But what is Wicca? And how does it compare and contrast to Christianity? Is this an example of Wiccan gods being true and present, or is this just dumb luck? I would like to give you the perspective of Wiccan beliefs from a Christian standpoint, so that as this become a piece of hot topic discussion, you are able to have a better understanding of the issues involved in what Wicca actually is.
Wicca, which is also known as the Craft, traces its origins back more than 20,00 years. These customs and beliefs are thought to be descendent from the Celtic or Druidic religions. The three main areas of this belief focused on fire, animal fertility and curing disease. Some of the early people associated with it realized there must be a supreme being involved, and created smaller, subordinate gods to worship. This became the structure of druid then Celtic belief systems.
Some of the more prominent figure in the history of Wicca involvement include Charles Leland, the author of Aradia: Gospel of Witches, which deals with the goddess Diana, Gerald Garner author of Witchcraft Today and Silver Ravenwolf author of Teen Witch: Wicca for a new generation. All of these authors have helped shaped the ancient thoughts into a new, more modern belief system.
Wicca, or witchcraft, is an earth-based religion. The focus on the lunar phases and the balance of nature and your surroundings is paramount. The celebrations of nature are called covens, and are scheduled around lunar phases.
The Wicca code of conduct states: "An ye harm none, do as ye will." Which basically says that as long as what you do doesn't hurt anyone else, go for it. Also the idea of nature being truly alive is important, the belief is that everything in nature has a spirit and should be treated like people.
So what is the attraction? For most, the idea that you are in touch with Mother Nature, controlling the natural world is alluring. Also the ability to cast spells is a draw. But he idea that you owe allegiance to no one but yourself and your surroundings is probably the strongest draw to the Wiccan belief system.
Is there similarity to Christianity? Not really. Other than the fact that Wiccans acknowledge the idea of a greater Creator, there is no connection the God Christians worship. Christians believe in a personal, loving God that you can have a relationship with. Wiccans believe in an impersonal deity that is part of the nature around them. Wiccans believe in reincarnation, Christians belief in heaven or hell as the afterlife.
So why the draw away from Christianity? The idea of Wicca plays on man's love to be greater than God. By glorifying the creation around us, rather than our Creator, you are then able to make your own set of rules and ideals for how to live.
So when conversation turns towards Wicca with this hot news story, have a greater understanding of what this religion truly entails. I hope this information will help you in your discussions and experie
Published by Olin Froid
"An influence that cannot evade our consciousness will not go very deep." -CSL View profile
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20 Comments
Post a CommentThe author obviously purposefully put out false information on Wicca because he feels negative about any non-xtian and wanted to anger the Wiccan community. Nice try Olin but your bias and falsehood can't change reality: Wiccans are peaceful, spiritual people with a respect for Life and Divinity(both Female and male) that you will never understand.
Your article is incredibly full of misinformation to the point of pure carelessness. As a Wiccan of 18 years I can spot at least 10 misconceptions or outright errors in this brief work. Perpetuating misinformation, prejudice and stereotypes helps no one-- if you want to disagree with Wicca, at least understand what you're disagreeing with and disagree with what it's actually about.
I would like to say, as a Wiccan myself, that yes a lot of the information in this article was wrong and misrepresented. However, Wiccans know that they should not feel the need to "defend" their religion to the point of name-calling and bashing, as that is intentionally causing harm. I find it more sad that the author was published, and possibly paid for, an article that contained so much incorrect information. It'd be one thing if it was an op/ed piece, but it was meant as an informational piece and it contained so much wrong info.
So April if a person defends their faith it is bashing. What if it was an uninformed Pagan speaking on your faith and had got many parts of it wrong and also implied your faith as false or empty? Now I would agree that some of the rebuttals are on the strong side and needed to be thought out a bit more but you wish to ask why do we Pagan/Wiccans feel threatened by items like this. Perhaps we wish for people to know who and what we are and not what we are not. This item has many incorrect info that can easily been righted with research.
Wow...interesting info. Also interesting to see how different people are in their beliefs and how they will start bashing anyone who doesn't agree with them.
Aside from grammar errors, I found your information biased and flawed. Your article shows you do not understand what Wicca entails, nor do you know any Wiccans.
Wiccans DO have a personal relationship with the Goddess and the natural world around them, often provoking a sense of something tangible compared to the faceless God.
If anyone were to base their 'knowledge' about Wicca upon your information, they would be seen as ignorant and uninformed.
"But he idea that you owe allegiance to no one but yourself and your surroundings is probably the strongest draw to the Wiccan belief system."
I'm fairly sure that in Wicca, you owe allegiance to EVERYTHING, including yourself. "An it harm none" means N O N E - no one, no thing, including yourself.
Unlike christianity, in which you only owe allegiance to one/three narcissistic god/s with child-like tempers who tell 'us' that we have 'dominion' over everything else on the planet.
The difference would be a system of total accountability versus singular accountability, IMHO.
I AM SO TIRED OF UNINFORMED CHRISTIANS TRYING TO EXPLAIN WICCA AND GETTING IT COMPLETELY WRONG. IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
Fascinating in its lack of validity, yes, but informative? Hardly.
Fascinating article!