Help me wiccans and witches?

Question

I love the Wiccan religionit is beautiful. I wish to offend no one but I am finding it difficult to believe in a god and goddess which as I am led to Beleive is an essential part of being a Wiccan. I understand Wicca is a religion therefore a lifestyle as well but I know who I am and I don't Beleive in deities or gods or goddesses. I'm not trying to offend but I follow the morals and the laws of it, I do Beleive in the power of nature and the strength of this planet and universe but not in the form of a god or goddess. So not as to humiliate myself and anger the true wiccans I ask if I am a Wiccan or a witch or neither. I do use my own energy and will power for self strengthening spells and such. Please understand I don't wish to cause anger or frustration I just want somebody to help me with my situation as not to annoy and wiccans by calling myself one If I am not.

Answer 1

Okay.

Let me try to understand this:

You believe in the power of nature, which has nothing to do with Wicca.

You believe in spells, which have nothing to do with Wicca.

You don't believe in the gods, which are part of Wicca...



What are you doing that's Wiccan? Anyone, of any religion, can do "spells" or "energy work," so those don't make you Wiccan...so what does?



Name one thing you're doing that's *Wiccan,* specifically. If you can't, then why would you use that term?

Answer 2

Here's the neat thing about Wicca. Wicca is orthopraxic and is therefore defined by practice and not by belief in dogma. That would mean that you actually practice what Wiccans would recognize as Wicca. Do you celebrate the Sabbats? Do you practice the Erecting the Temple rite? What do you do that is Wiccan?



Each Wiccan has the right to define her or his relationship with Divine. If the God and Goddess are concepts to you and not anthropomorphic beings, then so be it. Some Wiccans are Panentheists and believe that all Divine is imminent in the natural world. Others believe that the Gods are individual beings. It's all good.



Understand that studying the myth cycles of the various Deities with Whom Wiccans work can help you realize that there are many layers to those stories. Did Bloddeudd really slay Her husband or is the story of Bloddeudd and Lugh really a story that illustrates the Sun's "journey" through the astrological houses? Did it really happen or is Her story a metaphor for the life process where by a young woman "births" herself and becomes a "wise owl?" Did Aphrodite really have a baby with Ares, the God of war to produce Harmonia (harmony), Their daughter, or is this a metaphor for something else? Remember, the Goddess and the God in Wicca are not just two Beings. They are infinitely mysterious.



I'm betting that you don't have a clear picture of what Wicca actually is. Before you rule it out, I'd study more. And if you aren't Wiccan, that's fine.

Answer 3

First off... you're not offending people by asking questions. People are trying to clarify what Wicca is and what it's about. That doesn't mean they're angry.



Secondly, Wiccans aren't offended if you don't believe in our Gods; but we would ask, if you don't believe in or worship our Gods, what exactly does make you Wiccan?



Wiccan rituals, rites, holidays, etc... it pretty much all revolves around God and Goddess. To take the Gods out of everything pretty much leaves little that is specific to Wicca.



You can think a religion is wonderful and inspiring and all-- that doesn't mean you have to be that religion. If you don't agree with the major tenets (like the Gods!) of any religion, why would you even want to be that religion?



I agree with many moral laws of Hinduism or Judaism-- that doesn't mean I'm Hindu or Jewish.



There is nothing wrong with not being Wiccan if it doesn't fit your beliefs... you can still go off and do spells and love nature and whatever else it is you want to do. Maybe you just need to keep looking and find a religion that does fit your beliefs.

Answer 4

I'd say you're neither considering you don't actually know what either is.



Wicca doesn't subscribe to the belief in "power of nature". Nature is nature.

Wicca also does not hold monopoly over spells. It's ignorant beliefs that get people confused into thinking Wicca is all about spells. Wicca is as much about spells as Christianity is all about writing poems.



Wicca is ALL about God AND Goddess worship. If you can't do that, then there's really no point in following Wicca.



You can by all means be an eclectic Pagan, in which you borrow elements from several systems including Wicca, and Witchcraft, but you would neither be a Witch nor a Wiccan inherently.



ETA: if you want to look into Traditional Witchcraft, your best bet is to look here:

http://www.traditionalwitch.net/forums/topic/6500-traditional-witchcraft/



But know that traditional Witchcraft is not about Rede's, nature, threefold laws, etc. It can be a pretty crude form of Witchcraft, especially by this groups standards.

Answer 5

Grey-and-grey morality (which is what I like to call how I perceive the wiccan morality), power of nature and spells are not innately wiccan. It's the belief and incorporation of worship of the God and Goddess which makes them wiccan.



You are most likely some sort of witch, but you're not wiccan. You might want to look into Traditional Witchcraft - it's based on some similar ideas to wicca, but is non-religious and will probably suit you better.

Answer 6

Heylooo Random, and welcome to the dark side-I mean congrats! *chuckles* To pick apart your question, yes, belief in some sort of deity is an essential part of Wicca, but which one(s) depends entirely on the tradition.



I'm going to give you the short of it, since I don't have time at the moment for the long of it. I'll try to make it short, anyways. Wicca was originally founded by Dr. Gerald B. Gardner and his partner Doreen Valiente. I don't remember when, but it shoujldn't be too hard to find online. Since then, there have been offshoots of it, and the original tradition is now commonly referred to as Gardnerian Wicca. Alexandrian Wicca was, if I remember correctly, founded by one of Gardner's students. There is also Correlian Wicca, Lycian Wicca, and a few others I don't remember off the top of my head, that were established by spiritual descendants of Gardner.



Hardcore traditionalists of any Wiccan tradition say that to be a Wiccan, you must be initiated into a lineaged coven. A lineaged coven is a coven that can trace its history back to Gardner, and isn't referring to genetic relation at all. There are a small handful of Wiccans (there may be more, don't quote me) that believe that you must be initiated into a lineaged Gardnerian coven in order to call yourself Wiccan.



Ok, enough with the history lesson, I think. Paganism is an umbrella term that alot of polytheistic (and a few monotheistic) religions fall under. That is an extremely loose definition, as there are too many differences in traditions and paths to accurately define what "Paganism" is, and there are some that do not ascribe to the term "Pagan" because they hold to older ways that have suffered little or no change from the advent of patriarchal monotheistic religions. You, at the moment, would be considered a Pagan, and as you progress on your spiritual path, you may either find the path you were meant to walk, walk your own path and find that many others walk it too, or walk your own path and occasionally cross paths with others.



Ah crud, need to go cook supper. Feel free to add (I think that's the word?) me, or email me, for more info. ^_^



http://www.paganspace.net is an online social network filled with people of various traditions, and there are even some non-Pagans there who either enjoy the company or are there for scholarly reasons. You'll find Wiccans of all flavors, Asatru, a few Druids, some Shamanic practitioners, demonolators, satanists, atheists, christians, etc. The message boards are stuffed full of information and fun, or if you can't find the answers you seek, feel free to ask. :-)



*hugs* Blessed be. :-)

Answer 7

I think you will find that the concept is one of a reflection of the inner Goddess and Lord within us all ... the theory is one of reincarnations so human beings become empowered by the heightened awareness of past lives and/or the feelings of traveling a spiritual pathway that is actually going somewhere and reflections of the other side do shine through so the earth itself becomes the pathway and the words used are just phrases ... like the Bible phrases.

Wicca is just a branch of the Occult.

People are afraid of words like that so a twig is a symbolic token of the art.

Spiritual enlightenment is personal.

The mind unfolds and opens after the door has been knocked on.

We are the Gods.

We are the humans.

We are the ones who make a netter life ... so lets start giving.

Anger? ... lol.

Anybody can study anything these days.

Answer 8

Depends.



Some Wiccans consider the God and Goddess to be archetypes rather than entities. Some covens require a belief in them as deities.

Answer 9

You're probably not a Wiccan. That's not a bad thing. You can still believe in everything you already believe in and still practice however you deem appropriate. You don't need to name it anything, you don't need to belong to an established religion, you don't need others to practice with your or even agree with you. It's OK to just be you and believe whatever it is that you believe.



If you practice witchcraft, you are a witch. That has nothing to do with your religion.

-Scarlet

Answer 10

properly, it relies upon on the way you check out it. in case you come from an prolonged line of witches and you enhance as much as prepare witchcraft your self, you could desire to assert you're a 'born witch'. those are regularly stated as 'hereditary' witches. even nevertheless, it is not plenty being 'born a witch' as being 'born with a predisposition to Witchcraft'. some all and sundry is definitely greater useful at issues than are others. in case you have very much or artists on your loved ones, you're in a position to benefit an paintings greater in the present day than others. in case you come from an prolonged line of fishermen, you could properly be very sturdy at swimming with out having to artwork plenty at it. it is to no longer say somebody and not using a predisposition /can't/ learn it. it is going to easily take greater attempt on their area. It in simple terms boils right down to it. Now, are there people who could desire to /no longer/ be witches, no count how stressful they tried? possibly. fortuitously, 'witchcraft' encompasses the form of great style of categories of paintings that there is a few thing almost all and sundry may well be sturdy at, from hexing to tea-leaf examining. whilst you're speaking with regard to the religion Wicca, then no, you could't be born with a spiritual decision. Ones kinfolk could instruct her or him the religion as they enhance, yet you could't be born with one. additionally understand that Wiccan=/=Witch. Witchcraft is a prepare and Wicca is a faith. Wiccans could prepare witchcraft, yet there is not any requirement for it. wish this helped!