Wicca VS Christianity

Oh, and to put the misconceptions in perspective:

Imagine being told by a Buddhist that the Last Supper is clear evidence that Christians practice a form of ritual cannibalism each Sunday. When you attempt to explain to them the actual meaning of the Last Supper, they interrupt you to say, "It says right in the Bible that Jesus himself said 'Eat, this is my body' and 'Drink, this is my blood.' Eating a man's body or drinking their blood to take on their attributes is a common idea among savage peoples that practice cannibalism!" They then tell you that you may think that the Last Supper has a deep spiritual meaning, but that it's actually a barbaric rite and quote teachings from the Buddha that "prove" it.. When you press them to tell you exactly how they could possibly "know" such a thing - obviously you, as a practicing, believing Christian, should know far more about the subject than they possibly could - they reply that they read it in a pamphlet called "How to respond to the Christian missionaries" by a well-known Buddhist proselytizing organization.

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Nice read. Now I know more about Wicca than before. I used to thought they were just witches. Now, they are victimized witches with moral.

Oh, and, any Wiccans care to comment? If I got anything wrong, just let me know! I'll be glad to change it.

While christians do (claim) to worship a single deity (in various forms - tho if you trace the history of said deity and that worship you find the holy ghost was actually Sophia, a female spirit/goddess of wisdom, which patricide thru the ages neutered and watered down and mushed together into a single deity), Wiccans DO believe in multiple gods and goddesses....not just one with different masks/names/genders to suit the occasion, but more than one. That is the biggest difference.

ANother addendum to that is there are different 'paths' to Wicca. Some will select a single god and goddess to focus their worship on during ceremony, some change it based on the season and ceremony. Wiccans do believe in reincarnation, not in the same way as hindu's do (do bad, come back as an ant, do good, come back as a rich industrialist, whatever), just that they embrace the cycle of rebirth - youre born, live, you die, your spiritual energy will come back again, in some form, somewhere, sometime.

The two big tenets of Wiccan belief you will find across all paths of the practice (each path usually has additional tenets of its own) are
1) The Wiccan Rede: An' it harm none,
Do what ye will.
Love is the law.
2) The Law of the Three (this is symbolised/taught to acolytes with a visual aid of pointing with your forefinger, and noting the middle, ring and pinkie finger, folding back closed against the palm, pointing at you - so as you point 1 finger away, 3 of your fingers point back at you) - What you 'put out' will come back to you three-fold. (This is also the historical significance of why it is rude to point - pointing is a way to magically focus energy, to direct that energy, good or bad at someone, a blessing or curse, hence it is rude to point in case you aren't paying attention and might direct negative energy at someone inadvertantly - you hurt them, and moreover, yourself as well).

And yes, contrary to popular belief, Wiccans are highly moral. They're open minded about folks beliefs (one of my best friends is Catholic, devoutly, a praciticing catholic), but Wiccans pretty much believe if you are a good person, try to respect nature and others and hurt none, that's the most important thing - what name or names you pray to are secondary.

Wiccan DO pray - our religious ceremonies are as detailed, devout, and beautiful as any out there (our handfastings more so I think, when it comes to marriages). Magick is more prayer-for-a-purpose...working a spell is praying for something specific to happen/hoping for something to happen. Magic is not viewed as a scientific forumla of "if you do this and say this, THIS occurs..", but rather a *hope* of focusing energy to a cause or event or person and trying to gently influence things in that direction. 'Black' magic is magic that defies a persons free will or is destructive in nature, and is frowned upon because you are pushing against energy that will push back, it is believed, and beyond it being hurtful to others, it will risk hurting yourself as well. For this reason, any true wiccan won't even try to do a 'love' spell because love either is or isn't there - you do not try to force one's will onto another, period.

An excellent read for any that wish to know more from an introductory level are the following books:

The Spiral Dance, by Starhawk (and very poetic view of wiccan)

Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler - a detailed collection of various paths of wicca and other forms of neo-pagan belief, very encyclopedic and informative.

A Woman's Encyclopedia of Myth;s and Secrets - travesty of a title imo - has nothing to do with "women' per se and more to do with the feminine aspects of religious and social history that have been hidden and sublimated by western patriarchal traditions. It's VERY informative in explainng where many christian traditions, saints, holiday come from in terms of their pagan roots. Excellent read over all.

Good job trying to educate folks - the more that were educated, the more that would realize Wiccans are harmless - sure, they might wish to 'save souls' and convert us, but they would know we are no danger to any ones body, soul or property

PS - Wiccans dont believe in a heaven or hell, and don't believe in a concept of a devil, or satan figure , they consider satan to be a scapegoat for the evils humans create themselves. They believe you work out your karma thru reincarnation by reliving certain life lessons til you get it right - i.e. if you were a mass murderer, you will come back, and perhaps in some role that would teach your spirit the value of life, perhaps as a health care worker, perhaps as a victim of some genocidal regime, all depends, there is no science to it, it is as religion after all (from religio meaning 'to relink').

There's so much more I could try to say, add , correct, whatever but you can't sum up Wicca in one or two posts anymore that you can sum up Buddhism or Judaism or Islam...it's too big, has too much history to it, but those books are there for those that want to know more and beyond that all I can say is Wiccan's aren't the satan worshipping, orgy having, hedonists some make us out to be. (Oh and its a religion of the priesthood - you start as an acolyte and train to be a priest or priestess - all fully trained wiccans are priests or priestesses, capable of holding marriage ceremonies, laying-outs, whatever. Wicca is a religion of self-responsibility. THere is no one above you , between you and your gods, that knows them better or intercedes on your behalf - your connection is direct, your responsibility is total, there is no passing of blame or asking for intercession. The only partial exception to this is when a priest or priestess takes on an acolyte to train, they make a spiritual contract wherein the Priest(ess) takes spiritual/karmic responsiblity for the actions of the student i.e. if the student commits dark magic while under their tutelage, the karmic backlash lands on the teacher. This is done to make sure the teacher is careful in what the teach and *who* they teach...not everyone that is a Seeker will be accepted as a student, if it is felt they are not spiritually or emotionally prepared or responsible enough to handle the consequences).

Happy Halloween/All Saints Day/ Samhain, Blessed Be, y'all

So Mote It Ever Be (so might it every be, which we say instead of amen).

@Naruko I'll edit to include the corrections, and speak more of differences that you've mentioned. It'll take me a bit to integrate all that, but, I want it to be as accurate as possible.

-done-

You rock

Thanks. You rock for the revelations. Thanks for the help.

I was slightly afraid to read what you were going to say about wiccans (being one) but I am impressed you did your homework.

Thanks, SaikoFujin. I try to be as precise and exact as I can be.