gemini-witch:

Ok, so I was asked today about Wicca, Paganism, and Witchcraft and I kind of liked the response that I gave. So I thought I would share my ideas with the rest of you.

These are my definitions and understandings of the topics mentioned below, just know that, even though my views mostly line up with the accepted terminology, that there can be many other interpretations as well. 

Wicca: Wicca is a branch of modern Paganism that was founded in the early 20th century by Gerald Gardner. It is an earth-based religion with a huge emphasis on fertility.

Despite many people believing that Wicca is an ancient religion, it most certainly is not as there is not enough factual evidence to prove that Wicca—or a Wiccan-like practice—was practiced in ancient times. It is a modern creation that does, though, tie in with some ancient mysticism, particularly Celtic mysticism—and is just as credible as any other religion despite its youth in my opinion; it also has a large focus on the practice of witchcraft, but it is not required to be Wiccan.

The religion is based upon a set of basic principles, or rules, that are summed up in the poem known as the “Wiccan Rede”. 

The beliefs are primarily duo-theistic, focusing on the aspects of the divine feminine and divine masculine figures—the existence of a God and a Goddess. However, the beliefs are not limited to only these two deities, but can also extend to other pantheons/non-pantheons. Typically, Wiccans tend to worship multiple deities.

Paganism: Classical Paganism is long gone (i.e. classical Hellenism, Heathenism, Scandinavian mysticism, Classical Kemeticism, etc. etc. etc.)—unless you’re referring to Hinduism or aboriginal beliefs that are still practiced today and have been practiced traditionally since ancient times—and therefore a new term has been coined to define Modern Paganism: Neo-Paganism (but personally it is so much easier to simply say “pagan”, because typically most people will know what you mean). 

This term is a blanket—also known as “umbrella”—term for all religions that tie in ancient wisdom—and are non-Abrahamic (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.)—into their practices. Such religions include but are not limited to: Wicca, Celtic Reconstructionism (CR), Modern Druidism, Asatru, Hellenismos, Religio Romana, Kemeticism, etc. (those are the better known one’s anyway). They all share one characteristic and that is that they are, in some way, attempting to revive an ancient spirituality/life-style or bringing some sort of ancient mysticism into their spiritual lives.

Note: Modern Pagan religions do not have to be polytheistic. Especially in more Eclectic beliefs, you will find atheistic, monotheistic, duo-theistic, pantheistic, polytheistic (etc.) Pagans.

Witchcraft: Witchcraft is a practice, not a religion. Witchcraft and religion can and do often times work hand in hand though—obviously not always in Christianity or Witchcraft-shunning religions of course. Often times in Modern Paganism, you will find many people who do practice Witchcraft. There are also a lot of Pagans who do not practice witchcraft which can be due to personal preference/beliefs, and some Pagan religions simply don’t even believe in/allow witchcraft.

Really, you don’t even have to follow a Pagan path to practice Witchcraft; even some Christians, Atheists, etc. practice the Craft.

Witchcraft is simply an ancient art that utilizes the internal and external energies that manifest in our world and in our universe to receive desired results. The concept of Magic(k) can mean many different things to many different people, so it really just depends on what you believe.

edit: thanks Jaylyons for correcting me! I was using the wrong terminology—silly me! Instead of “Kemiticism”, the proper term is “Kemetism”. My apologies!

Blessings~

That sentence I bolded.

How curious that I should read this after our chat the other day. :)

(Source: the-rite-of-spring)

faceofthewitch:

I’m getting really sick of Wiccans/Neo-Pagans in general going very far out of their way to differentiate themselves from Satanism.

“Putting someone else down to make yourself seem better in comparison” has been around since before the invention of dodgeball and playgrounds. Satanism is essentially the most misunderstood belief system that comes to mind at the moment, because it stemmed from a rejection of the religious ideas of one of the large “world religions,” and as such gained a lot of bad stigma… even though there are plenty of other religions and faith systems that defy Christian values and views.

There are, of course, people who use Satanism to get attention, seem “alternative” or “edgy,” or rebel against parents/authority figures/their community, or to try to garner fear. Compare these people, the showy ones who show up on news channels and in interviews, to Christianity’s evangelists… “pedophilic priests”… Westboro Baptist Church. The vast majority of the people who actually genuinely follow that path are not like that.

Do your own research and formulate your own opinions, and encourage others to do the same, but do not dismiss others out of hand simply because they don’t agree with something you might not agree with. After all, isn’t that how a lot of people got here?

On a slight side note, I’d also like to point out that a lot of Pagans say something akin to “all gods are real on some level,” but very few of them seem to count the Christian God, Allah, etc. among them. Why not? Ask yourself this. Question everything.

All of this, yes. <3