A Brief History of Wicca

Wicca has been around as a religion for thousands of years, some say even longer than Christianity. Whenever it came to be is not as important as where it has come to now. The biggest difference between Wicca of the past and Wicca of the present is inclusiveness. Until Raymond Buckland and Scott Cunningham came along, you did not learn about Wicca unless your family descended from witches or you were invited. Now, Wicca is an open religion that accepts all new members as family (for the most part).



Who you worship and how you worship is also more open than it used to be. In ages past, a Coven worshiped a certain god(s) and goddess(es) based on the High Priestess's preference. Today you can worship whatever deity or deities you feel drawn toward. This may change personally with time. You might feel drawn to the Norse deities one year, and the Celtic deities the next. Your ancestry may include heavy Greek ties, so you might choose that. Whatever pantheon you choose (or don't) is up to what feels right for you.

Wicca is and has always been reverent of Nature itself, and the masculine and feminine aspects of all living things. As with all religions, everything stems from the original wise man: the shaman. In tribes, the shamans spoke with spirits and nature seeking divination and guidance for tribal leadership, wartime strategy, and even healing. They utilized herbs and fasting periods to create hallucinations to gain knowledge and deeper understanding. Today we seek similar knowledge but utilizing modified, safer techniques to get there.

What Wicca Is

Wicca is a spiritual journey for an individual. It is also unique to each person. For some, Wicca is a means to connect to the world around them. For others, Wicca is a path to magic and personal gain. Whatever your personal reasons for journeying down this path, may they grant you the wisdom and understanding you seek.

Wicca is first and foremost a connection with nature. Nature includes the living force within all of us, and the universe as a whole. In Wicca, we acknowledge that everything has a masculine and feminine side. This is represented somewhat in the worship of gods and goddesses. Is it a requirement to pick a deity or pantheon? Absolutely not. However, doing so can bring you closer to understanding yourself as well as the world you live in. Taking time to listen to the world around you, letting your bare feet touch the earth, and sitting without purpose in silence with nature are ways to practice Wicca.

Wiccans also believe in reincarnation. True, this is not unique to Wicca, for there are many religions that believe in reincarnation, but Wiccans believe we only reincarnate as humans. Wiccans strongly believe that after the body's death, the spirit crosses into the spiritual realm for a period of rest. Once rested, the spirit returns to the living for a new adventure. If a spirit feels it has fulfilled its purpose, it stays in the spirit realm until it feels called to inhabit a body again.

Some Wiccans believe in the Rule of Three, which basically states that whatever intention or energy you put out into the world is returned to you threefold. Therefore when you do good things with positive energy, good things will return to you in abundance. When you do harmful things with negative intention, then they return to you with more ill intent. That's where the term karma comes in, and it is very much alive in the world of Wicca.

What Wicca Is Not

The biggest misnomer about Wicca is that it is devil worship. Satan does not exist in our religion. Satan is a product of Christianity used to create fear. Wicca deals with the energies of the universe as a whole. When embodied in representations of a god and goddess, we accept the male and female aspects of the living world giving no particular favoritism to one or the other. At the same time, there is no heaven or hell.

Wicca is also not magic or witchcraft, and witchcraft is not Wicca. Wicca is a religion. Magic is another term for witchcraft. All who practice witchcraft are not Wiccan just as all who are Wiccan do not practice witchcraft.

Witchcraft itself is not a force that you make do whatever you want. You do not conjure something out of nothing. Witchcraft is a gentle force that you mold, shape, and wish into an existence that hopefully fits the intended outcome. Magic is the universal energy around you being guided to do things that it could otherwise do on its own but you are manipulating.

The Wiccan Rede

There are many different phrases for the Wiccan Rede, also known as the witches rede, very much like the golden rule you may have heard of in school.

Do as you will as long as it harms none.

This means whatever form your spiritual path takes, as long as you are not causing harm to yourself or others, you may do so freely. However, this does not mean that you cannot protect yourself or those closest to you.

Something else to remember about Wicca and witchcraft is that as a Wiccan, everyone has free will. You should not cast magic intending to take free will from another person. In fact, when crafting spells for other people, it is considered common courtesy to ask for their permission.