faith
Junior Member
Posts: 18
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Post by faith on Sept 19, 2023 23:40:18 GMT
What do they believe in?
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Post by Mystical Forums on Sept 26, 2023 17:02:14 GMT
I am here to answer your question. What do they believe in? For the past few years, I've been enjoying an extended season of The Witch, magical proclivities having gained quite a bit of pop culture traction. While the sudden flood of amateur interest may frustrate legitimate, long-practicing witches, it doesn’t show any signs of stopping anytime soon. Which means demand for primers on the basics, like Wiccans—what do they believe? Are all Wiccans witches and vice versa? Might I be a Wiccan and not even know it? What even is Wicca, anyway? Well. Wicca, a pagan belief system centered on the worship of the natural and, often, of a God and a Goddess, emphasizes a strong connection with the earth and derives magic from it. Because magic is central to Wiccan, according to Witchcraft.org, every Wiccan is a witch but not every witch is a Wiccan.
Although Wicca is a decentralized religion often led by solitary practitioners, there are a few central tenets that dictate the Wiccan belief system, at least in the United States. At a 1973 conference of more than 70 Wiccans from different Wiccan subsets, the temporarily convened Council of American Witches hammered down 13 core principles that many U.S. Wiccans still recognize decades later. Wicca is hardly a staunch or strict belief system— and that’s a huge part of what gives Wiccan beliefs mass appeal to people of diverse religious backgrounds. It’s not uncommon for individual practitioners or covens to write their own interpretations of the Wiccan code of conduct. However, as in any religion, there are a few key rules and principles that most Wiccans stick to, whether they practice alone or in a coven. There are two key rules that are typically the most important:
{1) Wiccan Rede: Originally part of a 26-line poem, the Wiccan Rede outlines the key moral system in Wicca. It reads “An it harm none, do what ye will.” It has also been written as “That it harm none, do as thou wilt.” In most interpretations, it’s similar to the “golden rule”—treat others as you’d like to be treated. (2) Rule of Three: The Wiccan three-fold law isn’t just a tenet of Wiccan beliefs. The idea is that whatever energy you put out into the world, spiritual or otherwise, it will come back to you three times. This is also often referred to as karma.
According to ReligiousTolerance.org, there are still variations in Wiccan beliefs depending on the individual practicing. Some worship only one deity, often the Goddess alone, some worship a full spectrum of pagan gods, some see the universe itself as a god, some question the existence of a deity, and some flat-out don’t buy into any kind of God at all. One common misconception is that Wiccans worship the devil, when in fact they have no equivalent to Catholicism’s hell-bound overlord. Unifying Wiccan beliefs include gender equality, the power of human sexuality, respect for nature, and a certain latitude in personal autonomy—so long as doing what you want doesn’t harm anyone else. Practicing Wiccans also believe in the law of karma, which is to say, that whatever good or bad thing a person does will come back to them thrice as strong. I hope this helps. Have a nice day!
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