The correct spelling is Wicca
Wicca
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Core concepts
Because there is no centralised organisation in Wicca, and no single "orthodoxy", the beliefs and practices of Wiccans can vary substantially, both between individuals and between traditions. Typically, the main religious principles, ethics and ritual structures are shared, since they are key elements of traditional teachings and published works on the subject.
Wicca as a magical religion
Wicca is a religion, and although its adherents often identify as witches, Wicca and witchcraft are not necessarily the same thing.
Wiccans worship a goddess and a god; they observe the festivals of the eight Sabbats of the year and the full-moon Esbats; and they have a code of ethics that most live by. Wicca is thus distinct from witchcraft, which may or may not imply any specific religious, ethical or ritual elements, and is practiced in various forms by people of many religions, as well as by some atheists.
Wicca incorporates a specific form of witchcraft, with particular ritual forms, involving the casting of spells, herbalism, divination and other forms of magic. Wiccan ethics require that magical activities be limited to good purposes only.
According to Gerald Gardner, the religion derives from a secret but widespread witch-cult of early modern Europe, which incorporated all of the key religious beliefs and ideals and the distinctive ritual structures found in modern Wicca. While this historical interpretation is now much criticised, it is difficult to conclusively say whether Wicca is a religious form of witchcraft or a religion incorporating witchcraft.
While most Wiccans practice magic, a few neither practice magic nor identify as witches. Similarly, many Wiccans, though not all, call themselves Pagans, though the umbrella term Paganism encompasses many faiths that have nothing to do with Wicca or witchcraft.
Wiccan views on divinity
Wicca as a religion is primarily concerned with the priestess or priest's relationship to the Goddess and God. The Lady and Lord (as they are often called) are seen as primal cosmic beings, the source of limitless power, yet they are also familiar figures who comfort and nurture their children, and often challenge or even reprimand them.
According to Gerald Gardner the gods of Wicca are ancient gods of the British Isles: a Horned God of hunting, death and magic who rules over an after-world paradise, and a goddess, the Great Mother (who is simultaneously the Eternal Virgin and the Primordial Enchantress), who gives regeneration and rebirth to souls of the dead and love to the living.[3] Gardner explains that these are the tribal gods of the witches, just as the Egyptians had their tribal gods Isis and Osiris and the Jews had Elohim; he also states that a being higher than any of these tribal gods is recognised by the witches as Prime Mover, but remains unknowable, and is of little concern to them.[4]
Gardner's explanation aside, individual interpretations of the exact natures of the gods differ significantly, since priests and priestesses develop their own relationships with the gods through intense personal work and revelation. Many have a duotheistic conception of deity as a Goddess (of Moon, Earth and sea) and a God (of forest, hunting and the animal realm). This concept is often extended into a kind of polytheism by the belief that the gods and goddesses of all cultures are aspects of this pair (or of the Goddess alone). Others hold the various gods and goddesses to be separate and distinct. Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone have observed that Wicca is becoming more polytheistic as it matures, and embracing a more traditional pagan worldview.[5] Many groups and individuals are drawn to particular deities from a variety of pantheons (often Celtic, Greek, or from elsewhere in Europe), whom they honour specifically. Some examples are Cernunnos and Brigit from Celtic mythology, Hecate, Lugh, and Diana.
Some Wiccans, particularly in feminist traditions, have a monotheistic belief in the Goddess as One. Still others do not believe in the gods as real personalities, yet attempt to have a relationship with them as personifications of universal principles or as Jungian archetypes.[6] A unified supreme godhead (the "Prime Mover") is also acknowledged by some groups, referred to by Scott Cunningham as "The One";[7] Patricia Crowther has called it Dryghten.[8]
According to current Gardnerians, the exact names of the Goddess and God of traditional Wicca remain an initiatory secret , and they are not given in Gardner's books about witchcraft.[9] However, the collection of Toronto Papers of Gardner's writings has been investigated by American scholars such as Aidan Kelly, leading to the suggestion that their names are Cernunnos and Aradia. These are the names used in the prototype Book of Shadows known as Ye Bok sic of Ye Arte Magical.[10]
For most Wiccans, the Lord and Lady are seen as complementary polarities: male and female, force and form, comprehending all in their union; the tension and interplay between them is the basis of all creation. The God and Goddess are sometimes symbolised as the Sun and Moon, and from her lunar associations the Goddess becomes a Triple Goddess with aspects of "Maiden", "Mother" and "Crone" corresponding to the Moon's waxing, full and waning phases.
Some Wiccans hold the Goddess to be pre-eminent, since she contains and conceives all (Gaea or Mother Earth is one of her more commonly revered aspects); the God, commonly described as the Horned God or the Divine Child, is the spark of life and inspiration within her, simultaneously her lover and her child. This is reflected in the traditional structure of the coven, which is led by a High Priestess and High Priest in partnership, with the High Priestess having the final word. In some traditions, notably Feminist branches of Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is seen as complete unto herself, and the God is not worshipped at all.
Since the Goddess is said to conceive and contain all life within her, all beings are held to be divine. This is a key understanding conveyed in the Charge of the Goddess, one of the most important texts of Wicca, and is very similar to the Hermetic understanding that "God" contains all things, and in truth is all things.[11] For some Wiccans, this idea also involves elements of animism, and plants, rivers, rocks (and, importantly, ritual tools) are seen as spiritual beings, facets of a single life.
A key belief in Wicca is that the gods are able to manifest in personal form, either through dreams, as physical manifestations, or through the bodies of Priestesses and Priests. The latter kind of manifestation is the purpose of the ritual of Drawing down the Moon (or Drawing down the Sun), whereby the Goddess is called to descend into the body of the Priestess (or the God into the Priest) to effect divine possession.
The elements
The classical elements are a key feature of the Wiccan world-view. Every manifest force or form is seen to express one of the four archetypal elements — Earth, Air, Fire and Water — or several in combination. This scheme is fundamentally identical with that employed in other Western Esoteric and Hermetic traditions, such as Theosophy and the Golden Dawn, which in turn were influenced by the Hindu system of tattvas.
There is no consensus as to the exact nature of these elements. Some hold to the ancient Greek conception of the elements corresponding to matter (earth) and energy (fire), with the mediating elements (water, air) relating to the phases of matter (fire/earth mixtures). Other exponents of the system add a fifth or quintessential element, spirit (aether, akasha).
The five points of the frequently worn pentagram symbolise, among other things, the four elements with spirit presiding at the top.[12] The pentagram is the symbol most commonly associated with Wicca in modern times. It is often circumscribed — depicted within a circle — and is usually (though not exclusively) shown with a single point upward. The inverse pentagram, with two points up, is a symbol of the second degree initiation rite of traditional Wicca.[13] In geometry, the pentagram is an elegant expression of the golden ratio phi which is popularly connected with ideal beauty and was considered by the Pythagoreans to express truths about the hidden nature of existence.
Each of the four cardinal elements (air, fire, water and earth) is typically assigned a direction, a color, and an elemental race. The following list shows a common categorisation, but different traditions of Wicca may use different "correspondences":
Air: East, Yellow, Sylphs
Fire: South, Red, Salamanders
Water: West, Blue, Undines
Earth: North, Green, Gnomes
Some variations in correspondences can be explained by geography or climate. It is common in the southern hemisphere, for example, to associate the element fire with north (the direction of the equator) and earth with south (the direction of the nearest polar area). Some Wiccan groups also modify the religious calendar to reflect local seasonal changes; for instance, most Southern Hemisphere covens celebrate Samhain on April 30th and Beltane on October 31st, reflecting the southern hemisphere's autumn and spring seasons.[14]
Morality
Wiccan morality can be summarised in the form of a text that is commonly titled The Wiccan Rede. The core maxim of that text states "An it harm none, do what thou wilt." ("An" is an archaic word meaning "if".) The origin of the Wiccan Rede is ambiguous, its earliest mention being at a meeting held by the witchcraft magazine "Pentagram" spoken by Doreen Valiente.[15] Gerald Gardner suggested[16] that it was taken by witches from the legendary ethic of the fabled King Pausol[17] which was "Do what you like so long as you harm no one". Nevertheless, the similarity of the phrasing of the Rede (and explicit and verbatim phrasing of other texts) suggests that this statement is partly based on the Law of Thelema as stated by occultist Aleister Crowley.[18]
Many Wiccans promote the Law of Threefold Return, a belief that anything that one does will be returned to them threefold. In other words, good deeds are magnified in like form back to the doer, and so are ill deeds.
Gerina Dunwich, an American author whose books (notably, Wicca Craft) were instrumental in the increase in popularity of Wicca in the late 1980s and 1990s, disagrees with the Wiccan concept of threefold return on the grounds that it is inconsistent with more than one law of physics. Pointing out that the origin of the Law of Threefold Return is traceable to Raymond Buckland in the 20th century, Dunwich is of the opinion that, "There is little backing to support it as anything other than a psychological law."[citation needed] Her own personal belief, which differs from the usual interpretation of the Threefold Law, is that whatever we do on a physical, mental, or spiritual level will sooner or later affect us, in either a positive or a negative way, on all three levels of being.
Many traditional Wiccans also follow, or at least consider, a set of 161 laws, commonly called the Ardanes. A common criticism of these rules is that they represent outdated concepts and/or produce counterproductive results in Wiccan contexts. Modern authors have also noted that these rules were the byproduct of inner conflict within Gerald Gardner's original coven over the issue of press relations.[19]
Many Wiccans also seek to cultivate the Eight Wiccan Virtues as a guideline for their deeds. These are Mirth, Reverence, Honour, Humility, Strength, Beauty, Power, and Compassion, and are found in a phrase from Doreen Valiente's Charge of the Goddess,[20] where they are ordered in pairs of complementary opposites, reflecting a dualism that is common throughout Wiccan philosophy.
Homosexuality is accepted in most traditions of Wicca: see Homosexuality and Wicca.
A recurrent belief amongst Wiccans is that no magic should be performed on any other person without that person's direct permission (excepting pets, which obviously cannot give explicit permission for such an act). This may stem from the Rede's declaration of "An it harm none, do what thou wilt", in that a person may not wish to have a spell cast upon them, and doing so without first obtaining permission interferes with their free will, which falls under the Rede's conception of "harm". This especially applies to love spells. Most Wiccans do not believe in performing magic on anyone in any circumstance without permission, although some believe that white magic may be performed with or without permission (healing spells, etc).
Secrecy and initiation
Some practitioners of traditional initiatory Wicca consider that the term 'Wicca' correctly applies only to an initiate of a traditional branch of the religion (Gardnerian or Alexandrian Wicca, or their offshoots such as Black Forest Wicca) because solitary Wicca or eclectic Wicca are different in practice from the religion established by Gardner. However, the term has increasingly come to be adopted by people who are not initiates of a traditional lineaged coven. These non-initiatory Wiccans may undertake rituals of self-dedication, and generally work alone as solitary practitioners or in casual groups, rather than in organised covens. Thus non-initiatory Wicca shares some of the basic religious principles, ethics and the ritual system of 'traditional' or 'initiatory' Wicca, but not the organisational structure, or the belief that Wiccan initiation requires a transferral of power from an initiator. Therefore, some practitioners of traditional initiatory Wicca have adopted the term 'British Traditional Wicca' to differentiate themselves from this movement.
Within traditional forms of Wicca there are three degrees of initiation. First degree is required to become a witch and gain membership of a coven; those who aspire to teach may eventually undergo second and third degree initiations, conferring the title of "High Priest" or "High Priestess" and allowing them to establish new covens.
Organisation within Wicca
Initiatory Wiccans are most often initiated and trained in a coven environment, while "eclectic" Wiccans are more often solitary practitioners. Some solitaries do, however, attend gatherings and other community events, but reserve their spiritual practices (Sabbats, Esbats, spell-casting, worship, magical work, etc.) for when they are alone. Some Wiccans work with a community without being part of a coven.
A commonly quoted Wiccan tradition holds that the ideal number of members for a coven is thirteen, though this is not held as a hard-and-fast rule. Indeed, many U.S. covens are far smaller, though the membership may be augmented by unaffiliated Wiccans at "open" rituals.[citation needed] When covens grow beyond their ideal number of members, they often split (or "hive") into multiple covens, yet remain connected as a group. A grouping of multiple covens is known as a grove in many traditions.
When someone is being initiated into a coven, it is also traditional to study with the coven for a year and a day before their actual initiation into the religion. Some solitary Wiccans also choose to study for a year and a day before dedicating themselves to the religion. Wiccans can also be "promoted" into higher ranks such as head priestess or head priest. Rank may be shown through coloured cords[citation needed]. Initiation ceremonies can include a dramatic aspect, such as a dramatic re-enactment of a myth (also known as sacred drama), a pageant, or a dramatic reading.[citation needed]
Ritual
In typical rites, the Wiccans assemble inside a magic circle, which is marked using various means, in a ritual manner followed by a cleansing and then blessing of the space. Prayers to the God and Goddess are said, and spells are sometimes worked. At the start of a ritual of spell or even just a meeting and tradition is to cast a circle, wherein one asks for blessing from the Goddess and God and envokes the Guardians of each direction (the Guardians of the North, South, East and West), to be conveyed through pointing (usually using a wand or Athame) An altar is usually used during a meeting, ritual or spell, on which items that represent the need for circle are placed. Before entering the circle, some traditions[name a specific person/group] fast for the day, and/or have a ritual wash. After a ritual, spell or meeting has finished, the God, Goddess and Guardians must be thanked, the circle must be cleaned, and the area used is to be left the way it was prior to ritual.[
Tools
Many Wiccans use a special set of altar tools in their rituals; these can include a broom (besom), cauldron, chalice (goblet), wand, Book of Shadows, altar cloth, athame (used in rituals to channel energy; it can be pronounced as AH-thom-AY, a-THAY-me, etc.), boline (or a knife for cutting things in the physical world), candles, stones, crystals, pentacle and/or incense. Representations of the God/Goddess are often also used; these may be direct, representative, or abstract. The tools themselves are just that — tools — and have no innate powers of their own, though they are usually dedicated or charged with a particular purpose, and used only in that context. For this reason, it is usually considered rude to touch another's tools without permission.
Ritual attire
A sensationalised aspect of Wicca, particularly in Gardnerian Wicca, is that some Wiccans practice in the nude, also known as skyclad. Though many Wiccans do engage in rituals while skyclad, others do not. Some Wiccans wear a pure cotton robe, to symbolise bodily purity, and a cord, to symbolise interdependence and rank.[citation needed] Others wear normal clothes or whatever they think is appropriate. Robes and even Renaissance-Faire-type clothing are not uncommon. Still others wear robes with stoles which represent their tradition and/or standing within the tradition.
Ritual occasions
Wiccans typically mark each full moon (and in some cases new moons) with a ritual called an Esbat. They also celebrate eight main holidays called Sabbats. Four of these, the cross-quarter days, are greater festivals, coinciding with old Celtic fire festivals. These are Samhain (pronounced sow-en or sow-ain), May Eve or Beltane (or Beltaine), Imbolc (AKA Imbolg, Oimelc) and Lammas (or Lughnasad, which is pronounced LOO-nah-sah). The four lesser festivals are the Summer Solstice (or Litha) and Winter Solstice (or Yule), and the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, sometimes called Ostara (or Eostar or Eostre) and Mabon. See also the Wheel of the Year.
The names of these holidays are often taken from Germanic pagan and Celtic polytheistic holidays. However, the festivals are largely only similar in name, as they are not reconstructive in nature nor do they often resemble their historical counterparts, instead exhibiting a form of universalism. Ritual observations may display cultural influence from the holidays from which they take their name as well as influence from other unrelated cultures.
Wiccan weddings can be "bondings", "joinings", or "eclipses" but are most commonly called "handfastings". Some Wiccans observe an ancient Celtic practice of a trial marriage for a year and a day, which some traditions hold should be contracted on Lammas (Lughnasadh), although this is far from universal. This practice is attested from centuries ago in the fourth and fifth volumes of the Brehon law texts, which are compilations of the opinions and judgements of the Brehon class of Druids (in this case, Irish). The texts as a whole deal with a copious amount of detail for the ancient Celtic tribes in the Isles.[21]
Some perform a ritual called a Wiccaning, analogous to a Christening for an infant, the purpose of which is to present the infant to the God and Goddess for protection. In accordance with the importance put on free will, the child is not necessarily expected to choose a Pagan path until growing older.
History of Wicca
Origins
The history of Wicca is much debated. Gardner claimed that the religion was a survival of matriarchal Pagan religions of pre-historic Europe, taught to him by a woman known either as "Dafo" or "Old Dorothy". Doreen Valiente identified these as a single person, Dorothy Clutterbuck,[22] however modern researchers such as Philip Heselton have theorised that Dafo and Clutterbuck were two separate individuals.[23] It has been posited by authors such as Aidan Kelly and Francis X. King that Gardner himself invented it, following the thesis of Dr. Margaret Murray and sources such as Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches by Charles Godfrey Leland,[24] and incorporating practices of ceremonial magic. While Clutterbuck certainly existed, Ronald Hutton concluded that there was no evidence for her involvement in Gardner's Craft activities.[25] Philip Heselton, citing more recent evidence, concludes that while Gardner may have been mistaken about the ancient origins of the religion, his statements about it were largely made in good faith. Gardner's account is as follows: After retiring from adventuring around the globe, Gardner encountered Clutterbuck and her New Forest coven in the region, and was initiated into the coven in 1939, where he stayed for years until England's witchcraft laws were repealed. At this point, and later claiming to fear that the Craft would die out,[26] he worked on his book Witchcraft Today, releasing it in 1954, followed by The Meaning of Witchcraft in 1960. It is from these books that much of modern Wicca is derived.
While the ritual format of Wicca is undeniably styled after late Victorian era occultism (even co-founder Doreen Valiente admits seeing influence from Crowley), the spiritual content is inspired by older Pagan faiths, with Buddhist and Hindu influences.
Due to historical suspicions, it is seems very likely that Gardner's rites and precepts were taken from other occultists and was not in fact anything new to the world. There is very little in the Wiccan rites that cannot be shown to have come from earlier extant sources. The original material is not cohesive and mostly takes the form of substitutions or expansions within unoriginal material. Roger Dearnaley, in An Annotated Chronology and Bibliography of the Early Gardnerian Craft,[27] describes it as a patchwork.
Philip Heselton, writing in Wiccan Roots and later in Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration[23], argues that Gardner was not the author of the Wiccan rituals but received them in good faith from an unknown source. (Doreen Valiente makes this claim regarding the "basic skeleton of the rituals," as Margot Adler puts it in Drawing Down the Moon.) He notes that all the Crowley material that is found in the Wiccan rituals can be found in a single book, The Equinox vol 3 no. 1 or Blue Equinox. Gardner is not known to have owned or had access to a copy of this book, although it is certain that he met Crowley towards the end of the latter’s life. Gardner admited "the rituals he received from Old Dorothy's coven were very fragmentary, and in order to make them workable, he had to supplement them with other material."[28]
Some, such as Isaac Bonewits, have argued that Valiente and Heselton's evidence points to an early 20th century revival predating Gardner, rather than an intact old Pagan religion. The argument points to historical claims of Gardner's that agree with scholarship of a certain time period and contradict later scholarship. Bonewits writes, "Somewhere between 1920 and 1925 in England some folklorists appear to have gotten together with some Golden Dawn Rosicrucians and a few supposed Fam-Trads to produce the first modern covens in England; grabbing eclectically from any source they could find in order to try and reconstruct the shards of their Pagan past." Crowley published the aforementioned Blue Equinox in 1919.
The idea of primitive matriarchal religions, deriving ultimately from studies by Johann Jakob Bachofen, was popular in Gardner's day, both among academics (e.g., Erich Neumann, Margaret Murray) and amateurs such as Robert Graves. Later academics (e.g. Carl Jung and Marija Gimbutas) continued research in this area, and later still Joseph Campbell, Ashley Montagu and others became fans of Gimbutas' theories of matriarchies in Old Europe. Matriarchal interpretations of the archaeological record and the criticism of such work continue to be matters of academic debate. Some academics carry on research in this area (such as the 2003 World Congress on Matriarchal Studies). Critics argue that such matriarchal societies never actually existed and are an invention of researchers such as Margaret Murray. This is disputed by documentaries such as "Blossoms of Fire" (about contemporary Zapotec society).
The idea of a supreme Mother Goddess was common in Victorian and Edwardian literature: the concept of a Horned God — especially related to the gods Pan or Faunus — was less common, but still significant.[29] Both of these ideas were widely accepted in academic literature and the popular press at the time.[30]
Later developments
Wicca has developed in several directions since it was first publicised by Gerald Gardner. Gardnerian Wicca was an initiatory mystery religion, admission to which was limited to those who were initiated into a pre-existing coven. The Book of Shadows, a workbook that contained the Gardnerian rituals, was kept secret and was only obtainable from a coven of proper lineage. Despite the fact that several versions of the Book of Shadows have now been publicly published, many traditions of Wicca still maintain strict secrecy regarding the book and certain other aspects of the religion.
Raymond Buckland introduced modern Wicca to America after moving to Long Island. Buckland enlarged the Book of Shadows, adding further degrees of initiation which were required before members could found their own covens. Interest outstripped the ability of the mostly British-based covens to train and propagate members; the beliefs of the religion spread faster by the printed word or word of mouth than the initiatory system was prepared to handle.[31]
Other traditions appeared that gradually brought more attention and adherents to the extant Neopaganism movement.[citation needed] Some claimed roots as ancient as Gardner's version, and were organised along similar lines.[citation needed] Others were syncretic, incorporating aspects of Kabbalah, romanticised Celtic Pagan concepts, and ceremonial magic. In 1971 "Lady Sheba" (self-styled "Queen of the American Witches") published what she claimed was a version of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, although the authenticity of this book has never been validated. Increasing awareness of Gardner's literary sources and the actual early history of the movement made creativity seem as valuable as Gardnerian tradition. [citation needed]
Another significant development was the creation by feminists of Dianic Wicca, or feminist Dianic Witchcraft. This is a specifically feminist, Goddess-oriented faith that had no interest in the Horned God, and discarded Gardnerian-style hierarchy as irrelevant. Many Dianic Wiccans felt that witchcraft was every woman's right and heritage to claim. This heritage might be best characterised by Monique Wittig's words on the subject: "But remember. Make an effort to remember. Or, failing that, invent." This tradition was comparatively (and unusually for that time) open to solitary witches. Rituals were created for self-initiation to allow people to identify with and join the religion without first contacting an existing coven.[citation needed] This contrasts with the Gardnerian belief that only a witch of opposite gender could initiate another witch.[citation needed]
The publications of Raymond Buckland illustrate these changes. During the early 1970s, in books such as Witchcraft - Ancient and Modern and Witchcraft From the Inside, Buckland maintained the Gardnerian position that only initiates into a Gardnerian or other traditional coven were truly Wiccans. However, in 1974, Buckland broke with the Gardnerians and founded Seax-Wica, revealing its teachings and rituals in the book The Tree: The Complete Book of Saxon Witchcraft. This tradition made no claims to direct descent from ancient Saxons; all of its then-extant rituals were contained in that book, which allowed for self-initiation. In 1986 Buckland published Buckland's Complete Book of Witchcraft (colloquially known as "Uncle Bucky's Big Blue Book" or simply "The Big Blue Book"), a workbook that sought to train readers in magical and ritual techniques as well as instructing them in Wiccan teachings and rituals. Unfortunately, even after Buckland wrote his revised edition of this book there were still many errors from his original work that were never updated.
The first Wiccan Wedding to be legally recognised in the UK (by the Registrars of Scotland) was performed in 2004.[32]
Etymology
Gerald Gardner is credited with re-introducing the word Wicca into the English language, although he himself used the spelling 'Wica' in his published work of 1954[1], and that only sparingly, usually just calling his religion 'witchcraft'. The spelling 'Wicca' is now used almost exclusively, Seax-Wica being the only major use of the four-letter spelling. The word's first appearance within the title of a book was in Scott Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner in the late 1980s.
Wicca was previously an Old English word (pronounced 'witcha'), meaning a male witch or wizard; wicce was a female witch (see also Völva), wiccan a plural equivalent to "witches", and wiccecræft was witchcraft. Its earliest known use is in the circa 890 Laws of Ælfred.[33][34][35] Pre-Germanic origins of the word are uncertain, however, and are much disputed.[36]
The Old English terms most likely derive from the Indo-European root *weg- 'to be lively', 'to be wakeful or alert'.[37][38] A suffixed form of this root, *weg-yo-, would produce a Germanic *wikkjaz, meaning 'necromancer', literally, 'one who wakes the dead'. Other modern English descendants of the root *weg- are watch and wake.
Gardner and other writers on Wicca have proposed a relationship with the Old English words wita 'wise man' and witan 'to know', asserting that witches had once been regarded as the "wise" people;[39][40] Wicca is often called the "Craft of the Wise" in allusion to this derivation. However, this is highly unlikely as there is no explanation for the change of the "t" of wita to the "cc" of wicca.
Still others claim a derivation from the Indo-European root *wei- which connotes bending or pliance (from which we get the words 'wicker' 'willow' and 'witch-elm'), suggesting the concept of magic as a "bending" of forces of nature.
The word wicca is associated with animistic healing rites in Halitgar's Latin Penitential where it is stated that
Some men are so blind that they bring their offering to earth-fast stone and also to trees and to wellsprings, as the witches teach, and are unwilling to understand how stupidly they do or how that dead stone or that dumb tree might help them or give forth health when they themselves are never able to stir from their place.
The phrase swa wiccan tæcaþ ("as the witches teach") seems to be an addition to Halitgar's original, added by an eleventh-century Old-English translator.[41]
Discrimination and persecution of Wiccans
Religious persecution
By persecuting group:
Christians
Muslims
Soviet Union
By victimized group:
Ancient Greek religion
Atheists
Bahá'ís
Buddhists
Christians
Germanic pagans
Heathens
Hindus
Jews
Mormons
Muslims
Pagans
Roman religion
Wiccans
According to the traditional history of Wicca as given by Gerald Gardner, Wicca is a survival of the European witch-cult that was persecuted during the witch trials (sometimes called the Burning Times), and the strong element of secrecy that traditionally surrounds the religion was adopted as a reaction to that persecution.
Since then Margaret Murray's theory of an organised pan-European witch-cult has been discredited, and doubts raised about the age of Wicca, and many Wiccans no longer claim this historical lineage. However it is still common for Wiccans to feel solidarity with the victims of the witch trials, and being witches, to consider the witch-craze to have been a persecution against their faith. [42]
In modern times, Wiccans have been incorrectly associated with black magic and Satanism, especially in connection with Satanic Ritual Abuse hysteria.[43] The Bible (Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them[44] and Exodus 22:18 Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live[45]) may incite Christians to be less than sympathetic toward neo-Pagans in general. Wiccans also experience difficulties in administering and receiving prison ministry, although not in the UK of recent times. [46]
Because of the popular negative connotations associated with witchcraft, many Wiccans continue the traditional practice of secrecy, concealing their faith for fear of persecution. Revealing oneself as Wiccan to family, friends or colleagues is often termed "coming out of the broom-closet".
[edit] United States
In 1985, as a result of Dettmer v. Landon, 617 F. Supp. 592, the District Court of Virginia ruled that Wicca is a legally recognised religion and is afforded all the benefits accorded to it by law. This was affirmed a year later by Judge J. Butzner of the Federal Appeals Court fourth circuit (799 F 2d 929, 1986).
Nevertheless, Wiccans can still become the object of stigma in America, and many remain secretive about their beliefs. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs has not approved use of the pentacle in military cemeteries, although symbols of many other religions are permitted. This policy came under renewed attack when Sgt. Patrick Stewart, a Wiccan soldier, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2005. His widow has pressed for the inclusion of a pentacle to memorialise him at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.[47] Americans United for Separation of Church and State gave the Department of Veteran's Affairs 30 days from June 7, 2006 in which to respond to the request or face litigation,[48] and in September 2006 state officials ruled that the symbol could be used, concluding that state veterans' cemetaries were not under federal authority.[49]
James Clement Taylor, a member of an Eastern Orthodox Church, has commented on the subject of persecution of Wiccans that "these people of Wicca have been terribly slandered by us. They have lost jobs, and homes, and places of business because we have assured others that they worship Satan, which they do not. We have persecuted them..."[50]
In 1999 a group of conservative Christian groups was formed on the initiative of representative Bob Barr (R-GA), in response to Wiccan gatherings on military bases. The group asked US citizens not to enlist or re-enlist in the U.S. Army until the Army terminates the on-base freedoms of religion, speech and assembly for all Wiccan soldiers.[51] The boycott has since become inactive. George W. Bush stated "I don't think witchcraft is a religion. I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made" [52].
In September 1985 some conservative Christian legislators introduced three pieces of legislation designed to take away the rights of Wiccans. The first one was House Resolution (H.R.) 3389 introduced September 19 by congressman Robert S. Walker (R-Penn.)
Senator Jesse Helms (R, NC) made an amendment, Amendment 705, in the House Resolution 3036, The Treasury, Postal, and General Government Appropriations Bill for 1986, specifying that organisations that promote "witchcraft" should not be given tax-exempt status.
After being ignored for a while it got attached to HR 3036 by an unanimous voice vote of the senators. Congressman Richard T. Schulze (R-Penn) introduced substantially the same amendment into the Tax Reform Bill of 1985. When the conference committee met on October 30, the Helms Amendment was thrown out since it was not considered germaine to the bill. Following this Schulze withdrew his amendment from the Tax Reform Bill. Leaving only HR 3389, the Walker Bill. It managed to attract Joe Barton (R-Tex) who became a co-sponsor November 14. The Ways and Means Committee set aside the bill and quietly ignored it and it died with the close of the 99th session of Congress in December 1986.[53][54]
[edit] Wiccan traditions
A "tradition" in Wicca refers to a branch of the religion with specific teachings and practices, often involving the concept of a lineage that is transferred by initiation. There are many such traditions, sub-traditions and lineages; there are also many solitary Wiccans who do not align themselves with any particular lineage. Some of the well-known traditions include:
Alexandrian Wicca
Blue Star Wicca
Celtic Wicca
Christian Wicca
Correllian Nativist Church (Correllian Wicca)
Dianic or Feminist Wicca
Eclectic Wicca
Faery Wicca
Feri Tradition
Gardnerian Wicca
Kemetic Wicca
Odyssean Wicca
Reclaiming (neopaganism)
Seax-Wica
Stregheria
Uniterranism
Welsh Wicca
Two generally accepted and informative books describing the various "paths" within the North American pagan community are Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today and Starhawk's The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess.
Wicca in popular fiction
Various novels, television shows and movies have depicted Wicca, including The Craft, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Charmed. Popular fiction, such as Cate Tiernan's Sweep series, and Isobel Bird's "Circle of Three" also makes references to Wicca. Such fictional depictions usually do not present an accurate picture of Wiccan beliefs and practices, and should, for the most part, not be taken as fact.
Notes
^ a b Gardner, Gerald B. Witchcraft Today. Lake Toxaway, NC: Mercury Publishing.
^ American Religious Identification Survey 2001, City University of New York.
^ Gardner, Gerald [1959] (1988). The Meaning of Witchcraft. Lakemont, GA US: Copple House Books, pp. 260-261.
^ Gardner, Gerald [1959] (1988). The Meaning of Witchcraft. Lakemont, GA US: Copple House Books, pp. 26-27.
^ Farrar, Janet and Bone, Gavin Progressive Witchcraft
^ Adler, Margot (1979). Drawing Down the Moon. Boston: Beacon Press, pp. 25, 34-35. ISBN 0-8070-3237-9.
^ Cunningham, Scott. Wicca: A Guide to the Solitary Practitioner.
^ Crowther, Patricia (1974). Witch Blood!.
^ Heselton, Philip Wiccan Roots
^ Hutton, R. The Triumph of the Moon.
^ Scott, W. (transl.) (1993). Hermetica Libellus IX, p. 185. Boston:Shamballah.
^ Valiente, Doreen (1973). An ABC of Witchcraft Past and Present. Custer, Washington: Phoenix Publishing, Inc, 264. ISBN 0-919345-77-8.
^ Crowey, Vivianne Wicca: The Old Religion in the New World.
^ Batten, Juliet. Celebrating the Southern Seasons. Auckland: Tandem Press.
^ Holzer, Hans "The Truth about Witchcraft Today"
^ Gardner, Gerald "The Meaning of Witchcraft"
^ King Pausol was actually a fictional character from a French novel by Pierre Louÿs (1870-1925): Les Aventures du roi Pausole : Pausole (souverain paillard et débonnaire) published in 1901
^ Sutin, Lawrence, Do What Thou Wilt: A Life of Aleister Crowley, p. 410. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25243-9.
^ Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon.
^ Farrar, Janet & Stewart, Eight Sabbats for Witches.
^ O'Donovan, J., O'Curry, E., Hancock, W. N., O'Mahony, T., Richey, A. G., Hennessy, W. M., & Atkinson, R. (eds.) (2000). Ancient laws of Ireland, published under direction of the Commissioners for Publishing the Ancient Laws and Institutes of Ireland. Buffalo, New York: W.S. Hein. ISBN 1-57588-572-7. (Originally published: Dublin: A. Thom, 1865-1901. Alternatively known as Hiberniae leges et institutiones antiquae.)
^ Valiente, Doreen (1984). The Search For Old Dorothy. In Farrar, J. & Farrar, S. The Witches' Way. London: Hale.
^ a b Heselton, Philip (2003). Gerald Gardner and the Cauldron of Inspiration. Somerset: Capall Bann Publishing. ISBN 1-86163-164-2.
^ Leland, Charles G. [1899] (1998). Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches. Blaine, Washington: Phoenix Publishing. ISBN 0-919345-34-4.
^ Hutton, Ronald (1999). The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-285449-6.
^ Gardner, G. (1954), pp.18-19.
^ Dearnaley, Roger. An Annotated Chronology and Bibliography of the Early Gardnerian Craft. Kou Ra Productions. Retrieved on December 9, 2005.
^ Julia Phillips, "HISTORY OF WICCA IN ENGLAND: 1939 - present day." Lecture at the Wiccan Conference in Canberra, 1991
^ Hutton, R. (1999), pp. 33-51.
^ Hutton, R. (1999), pp. 151-170.
^ Accounts of would-be Wiccans who compiled rituals out of published sources together with their own imaginative reconstructions, without formal initiations, appear in Hans Holzer's The New Pagans (Doubleday, New York: 1973)
^ Wiccan celebrant George Cameron ("The Hermit"), Grand Master of the Source Coven said: This is the most important event since the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951. I am delighted because I have been trying to make this happen for many years. It is the biggest thing to hit pagan witchcraft for years. This is very significant as the ceremony is classed as a religious ceremony, which gives credence to the Craft and recognises it as a religious faith. (A nice day for a witch wedding, The Scotsman Evening News, 16 September 2004.)
^ Oxford English Dictionary Online, 2nd Edition (1989).
^ Bosworth, Joseph & T. Northcote Toller. (1998) An Anglo-Saxon dictionary, based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth; edited and enlarged by T. Northcote Toller. Oxford: Oxford University Press (reprint of 1898 edition). ISBN 0-19-863101-4
^ Online Etymology Dictionary - witch
^ Wicca, Witchcraft, or What? Defining Pagan Terms. Accessed 3 May 2006.
^ Online Etymology Dictionary: witch. Accessed 3 May 2006.
^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4th Edition, online (2000): witch and *weg-. Accessed 3 May 2006.
^ Draeconin's etymology page. Accessed 3 May 2006.
^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language 4th Edition, online (2000): *weid-. Accessed 3 May 2006.
^ Petterson, David C. Hostile Witnesses: Rescuing the History of Witchcraft from the Writings of Scholars and Churchmen. PO Box 62266, St. Louis Pk, MN 55426: David C. Petterson.
^ Buckland, Raymond [1971] (2002-09-01). Witchcraft from the Inside, 3rd edition, Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 1-56718-101-5.
^ Prominent claimants of Wiccan involvement in a Satanic conspiracy include Jack Chick (see Cuhulain, Kerr (2002). Jack Chick. Retrieved 1 November 2006) and, in the late 1980s, Larry Jones, a Lieutenant in the Boise Police Department (The Vile "File 18". Retrieved 1 November 2006). A hoax document quoted by Jones and others is "The Seven W.I.C.C.A. Letters" (strongly resembling the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" hoax), which details the supposed Satanic conspiracy (The Seven W.I.C.C.A. Letters. Retrieved 1 November 2006).
^ King James Bible. Translated from the Hebrew Bible this would read And a man or a woman who has the sorcery of Ov or Yid'oni, shall surely be put to death; they shall pelt them with stones; their blood is upon themselves. (Vayikra 20:27. Retrieved 16 May 2006.)
^ King James Bible. Translated from the Hebrew Bible this would read You shall not allow a sorceress to live. (Shemot 22:17. Retrieved 16 May 2006.)
^ Prison Service Instruction 2005-033 "Paganism". Retrieved 14 September 2006.
^ VA to decide on use of Wiccan symbols by Lisa Hoffman (San Angelo Standard-Times). Last accessed 21 April 2006.
^ Veterans Affairs Department Must Accommodate Wiccan Symbol On Memorial Markers At Government Cemeteries, Says Americans United. Retrieved on 2006-06-26.
^ Nevada: Wiccan Symbol Allowed on Memorial, New York Times Sept 15 2006
^ Taylor, James Clement, A Christian Speaks of Wicca and Witchcraft. Last accessed 21 April 2006.
^ The boycott is chronicled in several articles: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]
^ [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
^ Adler, Margot, Witches, Pagans and the Media. Last accessed 21 April 2006.
^ Witch Busters: A summary of anti-witchcraft activity in the 99th Congress. Last accessed 21 April 2006.
[edit] Bibliographical and encyclopedic sources
Raymond Buckland, The Witch Book: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft, Wicca, and Neo-paganism (Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2002).
Anne Carson, Goddesses and Wise Women: The Literature of Feminist Spirituality 1980-1992 An Annotated Bibliography (Freedom, California: Crossing Press, 1992).
James R. Lewis, Witchcraft Today: An Encyclopedia of Wiccan and Neopagan Traditions (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1999).
J. Gordon Melton and Isotta Poggi, Magic, Witchcraft, and Paganism in America: A Bibliography, 2nd ed., (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1992).
Shelly Rabinovitch and James R. Lewis, eds., The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism (New York: Kensington Publishing, 2002).
[edit] Academic studies
Nikki Bado-Fralick, Coming to the Edge of the Circle: A Wiccan Initiation Ritual (Oxford University Press, 2005)
Chas S. Clifton, Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America (AltaMira Press, 2006)
Ronald Hutton, The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft (Oxford University Press, 1999)
Helen A. Berger, A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999).
Jon P. Bloch, New Spirituality, Self, and Belonging: How New Agers and Neo-Pagans Talk About Themselves (Westport: Praeger, 1998).
Graham Harvey, Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth (New York: New York University Press, 1997).
Lynne Hume, Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1997).
James R. Lewis, ed., Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996).
T. M. Luhrmann, Persuasions of the Witch's Craft: Ritual Magic in Contemporary England (London: Picador, 1994).
Sabina Magliocco, Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004)
Joanne Pearson, Richard H. Roberts and Geoffrey Samuel, eds., Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998).
Sarah M. Pike, Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community (Berkeley/Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001).
Kathryn Rountree, Embracing the witch and the goddess: Feminist Ritual-Makers in New Zealand (London and New York: Routledge, 2004).
Jone Salomonsen, Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco (London and New York: Routledge, 2002).
Allen Scarboro, Nancy Campbell, Shirely Stave, Living Witchcraft: A Contemporary American Coven (Praeger Publishers, 1994) [20]