Reincarnation
Reincarnation is the belief that we have all lived before and will live again, just in a different Physical form. The belief that our souls carry on and go on to take another form when our current body dies. The belief of Reincarnation is heavily intertiwned with Karma, as the the lessons you learn and the things you do in this life will affect you in the next. Reincarnation is also found in the Buddist faith.

Earth Religion
a religion that is based arounf the fact that the worshipper is in harmony with the Earth and with all life on the earth. Such religions oppose the idea that the world is a resource to be tamed/overcome and exploited, but rather, they beleive that we should live in hamony with our surroundings.

Pagan
a practitioner of an Earth Religion; from the Latin paganus, a country dweller.

Neo-Paganism
a modern Earth Religion which borrows and adapts from the best of pre-Christian Pagan religions, sometimes with additions from contemporary religious thinkers. Wicca is a Neo-pagan religion.

Witchcraft
a magical religion with many diverse traditions derived from various cultural sources around which covens and individual practitioners base their practices.

Tradition
Traditions are like the beleifs and the way Wicca is practiced. Each tradition will have differences to do with types of beliefs, cerimonies, rituals, deities worshipped etc. Modern Wiccan/Witchcraft traditions include: Alexandrian, Celtic, Dianic, Faery, Gardnerian, Georgian, Isian, NECTW, NROOGD, Reclaiming, Shamanic.

The Craft
another name for Witchcraft.

Coven
a congregation of Witches, usually limited to 13 members or less.

Witch
one who worships the Goddess, and sometimes also Her Consort, the God; practices magic; and considers her/himself to be following the spiritual path of Witchcraft.

Magic
a conscious direction of will to accomplish a goal.

Sabbat
one of the eight seasonal festivals equally spaced during the year, celebrated by individuals and covens of Witches. These Sabbats folloe the seasons and are different in the Sourthern and Northern Hemisphere. For a list of dates for the sabbats for both the Southern and the Northern Hemisphere click here

Esbat
monthly meeting of a coven, usually held at full moon. There are about 13 full moons each year. Some groups also meet at the dark of the moon.

THE CRAFT

The Craft, sometimes called "The craft of the wise", is Wicca. Wicca is a neo-Pagan religion, Pagan meaning NON-Christian not ANTI-Christian. Wiccans are not anti anything. Wicca is often refered to as "The Old Religion", "The Old Ways" or "An earth-based religion", as it is based on the practices of our pagan ancestors and it is the worship of The Goddess and God through the Earth, moon, sun, crops, rivers, seasons, trees, air, etc.

There is debate in some circles about the true origin of Wicca, being that it is a neo-pagan religion it is reltivly new, and many people believe that it was founded by Gerald Gardner, the founder of the Garderian Tradition of Wicca. Wicca is different ot Witchcraft is many ways but Wicca is definatly based on the practices of Withcraft or "The Old Ways"

For a long time the practice of Wicca and witchcraft was shrouded in secrecy, because of the slanders and propoganda that people who did not understand, or had sterotypical views of Wicca put out to the public. But now the time of secrecy is over and Wicca is being made more and more public and therefore more and more acceptable to the public as time goes on.

No person is ever pressured into being Wiccan, nor do we seek to recruit new members of the religion through persuasive or deceptive ways. Wicca is a very personal faith and there are many solo practitioners all around the world (A great book to read is "A guide for the solitary practitioner" by Scott Cunningham) We strongly belive that no one religion is right for everyone and believe that everyones path, whether it Christian, Hindu, whatever is a valid and true path of spirituality. Many Wiccans believe that the Goddess has many names, Mary (mother of Jesus) being one of them. The God is the same, he may be called by some God or Allah, or Jehovah. Initiates of the Wiccan faith are not "brainwashed" or badgered into entering Wicca and they inturn do not do it too others trying to "recruit" them. Wicca is not a human controlling cult masquerading as a religion.

In Covens, after the Initiatin training, which takes about a year and a day, the Wiccan may be ready for initiation to the inner circle as a Witch, after about 2 years of in depth training, from here the Witch may feel ready to ask for further advancment to a Priestess or Priest. Yet many Wiccans like to stay in the lower ranks, not feeeling comfortatble as a teacher or leader

According to the Church of Wicca, there are six ways in which Wicca differs from mainstream religions, these are:
(taken from "religious information Package"-by Lady Tamara Von Forslun)

1. WORSHIP OF THE GODDESS AND GOD
Wiccans feel that most of the modern religions are out of balance with only one all powerful male God, and only the use of male ministers priest etc. Wiccans feel that a male deity revered without a female counterpart is only half effective, hence our worship revolves around both the male and the female personifications.

2. REVERENCE FOR THE EARTH
Wiccans believe that our planet should be revered and respected as a manifestation of the Goddess and the God, and that nature signifies the process and wonders of the earth that are undetermind by humans. The earth is a living thing and therefore a gift for us from the deities and must be respested, contray to the belief of other religions where the earth is said to be a tool that humans must dominate and subdue. Wiccans are all practicing conservationists and try to do all they can through daily life and spells and ritual to give the earth every bit of energy they can find to help its struggle for suvival in todays harsh environment of pollution and damage

3. ACCEPTANCE OF MAGICK
Majik is "cause and effect by effort and will". Magick plays some role in most religions, though they would not publicly call it so, rather miracles etc! In Wicca it is not religios majik, nor is it a magickal religion. It simply embraces magick and recognises that magick is an opportunity to attune with the divine, earthly and human energies. However, because Wicca is truly a religion magick only takes a secondary role in rituals, even when a rite is performed to reach a magickal end the Goddess/God is always invoked before the power is sent. In wicca magick is viewed as a natural part of life and religion, and is availible to all, ( not just priests or saviours as in the more mainstream religions) with one cause, Oneness with deity.

4. REINCARNATION
Most Wiccans accept that reincarnation is a reality. The doctrine of rebirth is the phenomenon of repeated incarnations in the human form to allow for evolution of the sexless, ageless human soul. Reincarnation is not an exclusive Wiccan concept, but it answers many of the questions of daily life and the mysteries of birth, life, death and rebirth. In the legend of the Goddess it is said: "That to truly fulfill love you must return again at the same time as your loved one and you must meet and know and remember and love them again"

5. SELF RESPONSIBILITY
We need to be more responsible for ourselves, what happeneds to us is usually because there is something that we need to notice, and wonder what the universe is trying to teach us. It is always easy to blame someone else for what is happening oneself, but in the end it is the Self that must accept full responsibility for everything in ones life. To blame the Devil (Wiccans do not believein nor have the concept of the Devil in there system of belief's) for something that has gone wrong is futile, and to thank God for something that has gone right is also wrong. When we do something wrong or something happends to us we must blame ourselves, and listen to the lesson that it is trying to teach us. Likewise when you do something good and something goes well for you pat yourself on the back.

6. KARMA: THE LAW OF THREEFOLD RETURN
Whatever we do comes back to us three-fold, so if we do ill or harm to someone or something, or even ourselves, Karma will give us a scoulding, but threefold> When we do good, we also will be rewarded by the law of three. This Karmic debt is usually returned in this lifetime but may, if serious enough, continue into the next incarnation.

COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS OF WICCA AND WITCHCRAFT

1.Wiccans DO NOT worship the Devil. In fact the Devil is not even included in the belief system of Wicca, we believe that all things in nature have both good and evil sides, but we do not beleive that there is a Devil or "Satan" or any other personification of evil.

2.Wiccans NEVER use magick to influence others. Magick should only be used as a means of becoming closer to deity and to aid oneself in doing good things for the earth and nature and so on. Any magick that is used to harm others is a violation of the Wiccan Rede "an it harm none, do as ye will"

3.Wiccans DO NOT perform blood sacrfices. This concept is strictly prohibited and goes against all of Wicca's dictates that talk of not harming living things and respect and reverence of Nature.

4.Wiccans DO NOT turn people into toads. Need I say more?

5.Wiccans ARE NOT all old hags who ride around on broomsticks!

WICCA: WHERE? WHO? WHEN? WHAT?

Studying and preserving the Book of Shadows

Cultivating relationships with deities sacred to this tradition

The Gardnerian tradition involves a long term of study on things such as, but not limited to:
Magical practice

Oaths of secrecy

The memorization of traditional scripts.

There is no "Big leader" or central authority that all Gardnerians are lead by, each coven will have its own "leader" or "Elder". Most Gardnerians see other covens more like a large extended family.

WANT MORE INFORMATION ON THE GARDNERIAN TRADITION?
Gardner, Gerald: Witchcraft Today (1954: Rider, 1982: Magickal Childe)

Gardner, Gerald: The Meaning of Witchcraft (1959: Aquarian Press, 1982: Magickal Childe )

THE ORIGINS AND HISTORY OF THE CRAFT

Witchcraft (Wicca is based apon Witchcraft in many ways...However it is a Neo-Pagan religion)is a religion that has been around for centuries, much prior to the rise of Christianity or Judaism. That is probably why it is known as the "Old Religion" or "The Old Ways". But Witchcraft and Wicca, like many religions, as been persecuted for nearly as long as it has been around,early on it was excepted but in the middle ages it was said to be "satanic" and "evil". This then led on to 'the burning times' one of the worlds worst, yet least known of, holocusts.

THE BURNING TIMES

The persucution known as the burning times lasted for 300 years and was caused by reasons such as, people thought that the magick Witches practised was attained through a pact with Satan, and people beleived that women were particaulary prone to this "affiliation" with the devil as they were viewed at the time sexually insatiable. This was crucial to the persecuters of the burning times and an integeral part of the way people were acused of being a Witch. Another way that they would single out people or particaulaly women to denounce a Witch, was to look for any type of sickness or famine or strange death in the suspects community, this was then said to bes the work or the "evil magic" of the acused individual.
Personal revenge also played a part in the hunting down of Witches, If a even a petty disagreement could start a Witch hunt. All these factors put together then started the witch craze.

Witch hunting was also a quest for political and religious power. If an important man was seen to be "ridding the town of evil" by denouncing some one a Witch, he gained favour in the community.
Why was Joan of Arc burned at the stake for Witchcraft? Because she was standing in the way of powerful political men, and she was, convieniantly, a woman who did a number of unnatural things, talked to God, wore mens clothes, and led (or rather as the accussers put it "used her feminine wiles to trick men") into battles.

Witch hunting became a profitable proffession to be in. And some used it as there only form of income. Already many of the Pagan holidays had been replaced by the church with Christian ones, thus incriminating those who did not attend church on those days. Many handbooks were written on how to catch a Witch, how to tell if a person is infact a Witch. The Malleus Malificarum is a book writen for that purpose which sales are only rivaled by The Bible. The Malleus Malificarum describes how to catch a witch with a retractable poker. Witches were believed not to bleed, so showing that a woman could be pricked and not made to bleed would convince a crowd that she was a witch. The Malleus Malificarum instruct witchhunter to prick himself with a poker and show the crowd that it was sharp and made him bleed. Then he quickly switched this poker for a retractable one while the crowd was not looking. He poked the woman with this retractable poker and, of course, it didn't break her skin. She was all but convicted at this point.

Once accused of Witchcraft the ways used to get a victim to confess were always tourturous and most people confessed being in pacts with the devil and such out of pain. Not because it was the truth.

People became so paranoid about Witches that it was said anyone with any type off birthmark or mole was a Witch. This was because the mole or bifthmark was considered to be the mark off the devil and it was said by a proffessor at law that anyone with such a mark coyld not have lived a blameless life. It was also thought that every Witch had familiars or imps which were put there by the devil disgused as household pets. If a woman was thought a Witch they would watch her in her cell and if even a small insect came into her cell it was believed to be from the devil. This would seal the womans fate to be burned at the stake.

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