Site hosted by Angelfire.com: Build your free website today!

Wicca! A Way to Life!
~Navigation~

Brief History of Wicca

Modern Witches

Principals of Wicca

Deities
-Celtic
-Greek

Your Power

Invoking the Goddess

The Goddess in Daily life

Wiccan lifestyle

Word List

Tools

Your Altar

Correspondances

Sabbats
-Samhain
-Yule
-Imbolc
-Ostara
-Beltain
-Litha
-Lammas
-Mabon

Values

Crafts

Earth Spirits and Faeries

Rituals

Spells

A Brief History of Wicca and the Rede.

Wicca is the new form of Witchcraft and it is based on pre Christian religions practiced in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Its origins can be traced even further back to Paleolithic peoples who worshipped a Hunter God and a Fertility Goddess. Cave paintings found in France (and dated at 30,000 years old) depict a man with the head of a stag, and a woman with a swollen, pregnant belly. Today's Wiccans also worship a male and female Deity who look very similar to the cave paintings.

The words "Wicca" and "Witch" has the same root ("wicca"-masculine form and "wicce"-feminine form) meaning either "wise one" or "to bend." People who fit into the "wise one" category in history were often the healers, scholars, and early astronomers.

Finally (!!) in 1951 the laws against Witchcraft were lifted. It was no longer illegal to be a Witch in England. Gerald Gardner was the first man to come with a description of what modern witches were practicing. He was a member of the New Forest Witches and he published their ways of practice and their rituals. He began what is now called the Gardnerian Tradition of Wicca. Dr Leo Ruickbie concluded that Aleister Crowley played a crucial role in inspiring Gardner to establish a new pagan religion. A paper by Gardner published by Ripley's Believe it or Not disclosed that Gardner took the magical resources he acquired in Asia and a selection of Western magical texts and created a new religion centered upon the worship of the Mother-Goddess. From Gardnerian came Alexandrian Tradition, and a host of other offshoots that today number in the hundreds.

Wicca, as you practice the religion today, is a new religion, barely fifty years old. The techniques you use at present are not entirely what your elders practiced even thirty years ago. It is constantly changing and evolving with the times and can easily be adapted to suit your needs.

The Wiccan Rede is a Poem that was written to sum up Wiccan Ethics. The most Popular lines from the rede is "An it harm none, do what ye will." The rede in its best known form was used by Doreen Valiente in several writings. No one knows exactly when this poem was written but many Wiccans live by the "An it harm none, do what ye will" rule today. The Rede is very important to us Wiccans because it sates that Wicca does not dictate us and force rules and laws opon us. It requires responsibility of the individuals and a lot of respect for others to follow the Rede.

Your Homework

Find a copy of the Rede and write it in your Book of Shadows. It can be on the first page if you want or you can put it in a "Poem" section. Its a nice thing to have in the beginnen of your BoS though.

Secondly, write how you think Wiccans practice the craft today. Is it very different from how Gardner practiced? It doesn't have to be long, but put it in your own Book of Shadows. When you come back to it years later, you might will see how your own opinions have changed.


In magic realms,
There exists a truth,
We forever searching,
In realms above,
Looking for this truth perfect,
Our mortal lives to reflect,
Upon the past,
We must let go,
To be re-born in the present,
The here and now,
Our journey through life,
Is all but a dream,
A blink of an eye,
In the great cosmic scheme,
In outer realms,

Email Me


© Copyright of AutumnFire unless stated otherwise. Nothing on this site may be re-published in anyway or form for commurcial purposes. All art on this site is copyrighted by law and if found republished anywhere with out written permission of the artist will be removed. This is a profit FREE site, providing free information. 2007©