WHAT IS WICCA?
Few religions are as misunderstood as Witchcraft. If you are unfamiliar with it, you may be suprised to learn that Witchcraft is a religion. It is also called WICCA or THE CRAFT, it takes its inspiration from the oldest known religions in Europe. Witchcraft is an ancient religion.. It goes back through the mists of time to the ancient prehistoric times. WICCA is an Anglo Saxon word that means seer, or someone who can divine information by the use of magick. This word also means : turn, bend, and shape. Witchcraft itself is over 20,000 years old in it's roots.
The holidays, beliefs, magickal traditions, and Gods are very similar to those of Pagan folk from long before the coming of Christianity.
I think to really understand the similarity, we need to look at what Pagan means and has meant through history. Pagan once meant "country-dweller". The folds who lived in the out-of-the-way places were a little more resistant to religious conversion. Pagan once a simple statement of location, became an insult, synonymous with someone who was backward and uncultured. A Pagan became either a barbarian with no religion, or someone whose religion was based on superstition and the bizarre.
The Old Religion did not survive intact. Between the years 300-1000c.e. through preaching, politics, and often violence, the new relgion all but demolished the old ways of the European people. It has been said that the "Gods of the old religion became the devils of the new". If you want to convert large numbers of people to your religion, you have to not only show, then what you belive but you must convince them that what they believe is wrong. Over time, the old Gods and the old ways were no longer sacred yet, seen as the very definition of pure evil.
With the coming of Christianity, the old religion was almost completley dead. It remained underground and hidden for hundreds of years. But as in Nature, when things die, they find a way to return, sometimes just manifested in a different way. Witchcraft was no exception. In the 1930's an inventive and inspired English man named Gerald Gardner sincerely wanted to bring back the old ways of his native land. He borrowed inspiration from Jewish mysticism, ceremonial magick, British folklore, and historians. He then added a bit from his own imagination and created the modern day religion we know as WICCA.
So what Gardner began, the rest of us WICCANs continue. Witchcraft is a religion created by thoe who practice it. Therefore, it stays diverse and is constantly changing and evolving. While some Covens trace thier lineage in an unbroken line back to Gardner, the majority of Witches today are those who pick up a book or two at the library or bookstore and begin reading, learing and practicing for themselves. These people are reinventing the old traditions, drawing inspiration from those who went before them, and from themselves. In other words, they are forming thier own sect of thier faith. Not unlike Gardner!
There is a broad spectrum of "Neo-Paganism". This includes all the various traditions of WICCA, some types of Folk Magick, Native American Shamanism, Goddess Worship, Ceremonial Magick, and many other different traditions. It is much harder to really define Neo-Paganism than it is to define Witchcraft because it is so diverse.
Neo-Pagans agree on the Sacredness of life and on the fact that each one of us are responsible for the effect of our actions on the rest of the world. There are people who diffine themselves as Neo-Pagan but are not WICCAN. I use these terms fairly interchangeably because to me, they are almost one in the same.
This is just the textbook definition of WICCA. If you go for a deeper, more spiritual meaning, you have to look into yourself for that. I belive that it is being kind to my fellow man, loving and worshiping my Goddess and God, and remainging strong in my faith.
If you would like further study on this, I suggest you read someting related to Garderinan Withcraft for those who are strickly textbook WICCAN and for those who are Eclectic, there are alot of wonderful webpages and books to strum through. Happy Findings!
Some info taken from: 21st Century Wicca, by Jennifer Hunter 1998
