WHY WICCA? By Lisa Arndt, M.A.
Chances are you are reading this because you have already been to my web site, the Anorexic Web, and you may have noticed me saying things such as "Blessed Be" and taking the time to note both the Goddess and God. I do believe the Divine is both male and female, black and white, good and evil (not in the traditional sense, though). I practice an ancient Nature-worshiping religion called Wicca. It is the oldest religion known to humankind and has been practiced ever since! This religion is based on Nature, based on the Earth and based on the simple basics of Life. When it was first "practiced" it was during hunter-gatherer times, when our ancestors knew only what they witnessed in the mysterious wonderful world around them. They did not know that each season would give way to another season, and so they celebrated each season and each new day (they did not have calanders to promise them that the wheel of time would keep turning) as a gift. Their "ignorance" lead them to worship women, whose bodies would sometimes grow large and then deliever a new born child! This was such a blessing and women were hailed as having access to the Divine (they did not know that sex was responsible for pregnancy). As a result, the Goddess was considered to be just as significant, if not more so, than the God (ultimately I think both the male and female have divine characteristics and offerings to this existance). Goddess-worshipping societies were the norm, unlike today. I believe that this helped foster self-esteem in females, as young girls knew they were connected to something incredible. I am sad that we don't have this today, and I do believe that the lack of self-esteem that girls have results in things like eating disorders, cutting, and self-depreciation. It makes me very sad to bear witness to the on-going decline of self-love. I am pleased that the God, the male aspect, has not meet a similiar doom, and I think the divinity of the male should continue, as it has for quite some time now. My hope is simply to add the female to this Divine picture! I believe it could be rather simple, if we could take our cues from the Natural world around us, in which both sexes play a part (no one "better" than another). As natural humans, I believe we have natural desires and instincts that ought not to be "judged" because they are simply a part of our natural being. The idea of sins, as far as I can tell, has not been helpful except in making people feel badly about their natural feelings.
In Wicca there is only one thing you could call "law" (or commandment or rule) and this is it: Harm No One, Do What You Will.
The harm NO ONE includes YOURSELF, and includes everyone. Actually, a lot of people seem to follow this "creed" fairly naturally (though in our low self-esteem society many people think it is okay to harm themselves, which is sad though I understand it, having once been self-destructive). Wicca does not have any other "laws" or rules to follow. Wicca does celebrate many things... the seasons (as I mentioned), the passing of time as a gift from the universe, the awe & wonder of nature (weather alone mystifies me!), and the beginnings & endings in our lives. Rather than fear death, for example, Wicca considers death to be a natural part of things and though it is not "understood" it is natural and therefore a part of something Beautiful. This is where the ceremonies come in (don't be scared by that word, marriage is a ceremony, funerals are too). Wiccans have celebrations all the time, to recognize the ever-changing world we live in. Most of our holidays today are rooted in Wicca. Christmas is a return to light, the winter months have taken over the globe, yet there is hope for the sun to come back. Jesus Christ fits into this perfectly, being both the Son and the promise of Light. For Wiccans it is not a difficult departure to make, nature offers us hope as after the Winter Solstice (the shortest day of sunlight) there is a gradual (at first only by minutes) return of daylight. Ah-ha! Christ/the Sun is born! Wicca was around for thousands of years before the actual genius Jesus Christ walked the earth, but it is the same concept (surprise, surprise). There are MANY parallels just like this, and not only to Christianity and Catholicism, but to Buddism, Judaism, Paganism, and every religion that has since come into being. Wicca embraces ALL religions. Being the "oldest" religion allows Wicca to have influenced every religion in some small way.
There is much, much more to say about Wicca.
Before I stop, I want to address the topic of Magic and Ritual because it is a vastly misunderstood part of Wicca and it is important to me (and if you are still reading this I assume you are slightly interested) to "clear up" the misconception. Magic is nothing to fear. It is not "spooky" and it does not claim to be responsible for the cartoon-images of flying broomsticks (though I'd love to be able to fly!). Magic, actually, is the SAME THING as prayer. It is simply the belief in something bigger and mysterious that humans can not see or fully comprehend. This divinity is evident in the amazing natural world around us. To me, it is a form of Magic that a caterpillar curls up, spins a cocoon, and after a chrysallis (transformation), emerges as a Butterfly!! That is Magic. I don't understand it, but it is evidence, to me, that there is something wonderful and powerful going on in the Universe. So other than witnessing Magic in the world around me, I can also "practice" magic. Just like prayer, it is based on my belief of a connection of some kind to the divine. Like prayer, Magic is simply a series of actions I chose to take in an effort to communicate with God/dess. I can make all the action steps up myself or I can choose from the many rituals that have been written by people over Time. Prayer, for example, may ask that one puts their palms together and rest upon one's knees. These are simple, little actions that set the moment aside from daily life (as we don't do other things on our knees with our palms pressed together). Magic does the same thing. So instead of resting on my knees, I may sit on the sand at the beach and light a candle, setting this moment aside from my normal daily activities. Then I feel like I've created a special moment and can turn my attention to the spiritual for a bit. In prayer, I may be asked to recite a prayer written years ago, with the intent of something specific (such as forgiveness or healing a sickness). In Magic, it is the same. I may decide to say outloud an ancient poem that is considered to be about forgiveness. Or maybe I light a candle in a color that is associated with healing. Or perhaps I collect stones from the beach that shine and grab my attention (for whatever reason) and gather the stones and put them around my candle with care (again, just an action to separate that moment from daily life). It is my focus, my meditation on the candle that is the "magic". It is me giving special attention to a particular topic that is the act of prayer/magic/ritual or whatever you want to call it. All religions have a version of this. I do not think one version is "better" than another. I do think that whatever version a person feels comfortable with is probably the "best" simply because they feel comfortable! What I love is that there are so many ways to practice this, and so many suggestions from history. You can do a complete Catholic mass, for example, following the same action steps that people have been following for centuries and it feels very powerful (because of the history alone, not to mention the attention you put in it in the here-and-now). In watching a full Catholic mass, actually, I am reminded of several Wicca rituals (of course the Catholic church took many, nearly all, of it's rituals from the Wicca suggestions and practices). Candle lighting, singing, meditating, chanting, robe-wearing, ritual food & drink, incense burning, and charm holding (beads, crosses, etc.) are all forms of Ritual Magic. And all of it is wonderful and I embrace all the various forms of prayer/magic that we have on our planet now. The only part of "religion" that I take "issue" with is when harming someone is brought into the mix. Once this is added, it is no longer "religion" (in my opinion) because it is no longer divine and it is no longer done with love.
If you remove Love from the equation, you remove the God, the Goddess and whomever you see as Divinity.
One last thing before I stop writing... people who practice the nature worshipping religion of Wicca are called Witches. But the gross misrepresntation of this word has hurt us (though we are slowly taking the word "back" and making it positive as it once was, long long ago). I'm sorry to disappoint in that I don't have powers to turn anyone into a toad (though I can think of some ex-boyfriends that might have worked on...) nor do I have green skin and a scary face (so much for body image, eh?) nor can I do a love spell (oh, by the way, spells are just another word for magic/ritual practice) for you. I am a witch, though. Happily so! But it will take another thousand years before that term is associated with what it really means. And yes, people practicing Wicca Craft and people who weren't, were burned alive and this is the Wicca version of a holocaust and is not okay. Any kind of murder because one doesn't understand another is not okay and it is quite upsetting to me that if I spoke about my beautiful and loving beliefs I could have been burned alive.
Okay!! I'm finally finished! Thank you for reading!! I so appreciate it!! If you want to learn even more about Wicca, please do an internet search, or go to this Wicca search engine to delve deeper... because we are everywhere!!
Blessed Be.
please note: THIS WEBSITE IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION, RELIGIOUS GROUP, OR TREATMENT CENTER; and it is a personal site, personally paid for by me... so you don't have to deal with ads!
An on-going official WARNING... this section, as with my entire website (and everyone elses for that matter), some people may find disturbing... so beware. (and trust me, I would stop writing warnings if people would accept that they have free will to turn their computers, televisions, radios off)
But really anyone can find anything disturbing.
Trinity Copyright 2003 - this website is a creation of Lisa Arndt, M.A.
