Wicca: Encyclopedia II - Wicca - Beliefs and practices

Wicca - Beliefs and practices

There is some difficulty in describing beliefs and practices because of the fact that there is a great deal of diversity within the religion: between individuals and between traditions. It is commonly understood that most Wiccans worship two deities: the Goddess and the God (sometimes known as the Horned God). Some traditions, such as the Dianic Wiccans, mainly worship the Goddess. In those traditions, the God plays either no role, or a diminished role. Many Gardnerian Wiccans do not claim to be dualist. They may practice some form of polytheism, often with particular reference to the Celtic pantheons. They may also be animists, pantheists, or indeed anywhere within the broad spectrum of Neopagan forms of worship.

Wiccans typically mark each full moon (and in some cases new moons) with a ritual called an Esbat. They also celebrate eight main holidays called Sabbats. Four of these, the cross-quarter days, are greater festivals, coinciding with old Celtic fire festivals. These are Halloween or Samhain (pronounced sow-en or sow-ain), May Eve or Beltane (or Beltaine), Candlemas (or Imbolc, Imbolg, Oimelc) and Lammas (or Lughnasad, which is pronounced LOO-nah-sah). The four lesser festivals are the Summer Solstice (or Litha) and Winter Solstice (or Yule), and the Spring and Autumn Equinoxes, sometimes called Ostara (or Eostar or Eostre) and Mabon. See also the Wheel of the Year.

The names of these holidays generally coincide with (or directly draw upon) ancient pan-Germanic and pan-Celtic holidays held around the same times.^{[citation needed]} Ritual observations may include mixtures of those holidays as well as others celebrated at the same time in other cultures- there are several ways to celebrate the holidays. These eight holidays (or festivals in some cultures) tend to be found in more than a few European culture groups before the invasion of monotheist missionary efforts. In this respect, Wiccans have a link, albeit tenuous, with their ideological ancestors.^{[citation needed]}

Some Wiccans join groups called covens. Others work alone and are called "solitaries". Some solitaries do, however, attend "gatherings" and other community events, but reserve their spiritual practices (Sabbats, Esbats, spell-casting, worship, magical work, etc.) for when they are alone. Some Wiccans work with a community without being part of a coven.

Many Wiccan traditions hold that the ideal number of members for a coven is thirteen, though this is not held as a hard-and-fast rule.^{[citation needed]} When covens grow beyond their ideal number of members, they often split (or "hive") into multiple covens, yet remain connected as a group. A grouping of multiple covens is known as a grove in many traditions.

Wiccan weddings can be "bondings", "joinings", or "eclipses" but are most commonly called "handfastings". Some Wiccans observe an ancient Celtic practice of a trial marriage for a year and a day, which some traditions hold should be contracted on Lammas (Lughnasadh), although this is far from universal. This practice is attested from centuries ago in the fourth and fifth volumes of the Brehon law texts, which are compilations of the opinions and judgements of the Brehon class of Druids (in this case, Irish). The texts as a whole deal with a copious amount of detail for the ancient Celtic tribes in the Isles.(O'Donovan, 2000) When someone is being initiated into a coven, it is also traditional to study with the coven for a year and a day before their actual initiation into the religion, and some Solitary Wiccans choose to study for a year and a day before dedicating themselves to the religion. Wiccans can also be "promoted" into higher ranks such as head priestess or head priest. Rank can be shown through coloured cords^{[citation needed]}. Initiation can include a dramatic aspect, like the re-enactment of a myth which is most common in the initiaion into the coven^{[citation needed]}.

A sensationalized aspect of Wicca, particularly in Gardnerian Wicca, is that some Wiccans practice naked. Though many Wiccans do engage in rituals while skyclad others do not. Some Wiccans wear a pure cotton robe, to symbolise bodily purity, and a cord, to symbolise interdependence and rank.^{[citation needed]} Others wear normal clothes or whatever they think is appropriate. Robes and even Renaissance-Faire-type clothing are not uncommon.

In typical rites, the Wiccans assemble inside a magic circle, which is marked using various means, in a ritual manner followed by a cleansing and then blessing of the space. Prayers to the God and Goddess are said, and spells are sometimes worked. Traditionally, the circle is followed by a meal.^{[citation needed]} Before entering the circle, some Traditions fast for the day, and have a thorough wash.

Many Wiccans use a special set of altar tools in their rituals; these can include a broom (besom), cauldron, chalice (goblet), wand, Book of Shadows, altar cloth, athame (used in rituals to channel energy; it can be pronounced as AH-thom-AY, a-THAY-may, et cetera.), boline (or a knife for cutting things in the physical world), candles, and/or incense. Representations of the God/Goddess are often also used, which may be direct, representative, or abstract. The tools themselves are just that — tools, and have no innate powers of their own, though they are usually dedicated or charged with a particular purpose, and used only in that context. It is considered rude to touch another's tools without permission.

There are different thoughts in Wicca regarding the Elements. Some hold to the ancient Greek conception of the classical elements (air, fire, water, earth), while others recognize five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and spirit (akasha). It has been claimed that the points of the frequently worn pentagram symbol, the five pointed star, symbolise five elements.^{[citation needed]}

The pentagram is the symbol most commonly associated with Wicca in modern times. It is often circumscribed — depicted within a circle — and is commonly labeled a 'pentacle' in this form, though that name is disputed [2]. The pentagram is most often shown its point facing upward in specifically Wiccan contexts. A common belief held by Alexandrian Wiccans is that the upper, most important point represents spirit, and the four remaining points symbolise earth, air, fire, and water.^{[citation needed]} This concept, as applied to pentagonous symbols, has slowly worked itself into other traditions, such as Solitary Wicca and Seax-Wica.^{[citation needed]} A notable exception is Gardnarian Wicca, whose adherents will usually deny that the points of the pentagram actually represent anything at all.^{[citation needed]}

Another view, though less common, on the symbolism of the pentagram is that upright it is a charm which protects its wearer through passive energies, such as good will or pleasing emotions, and that if it is inverted, it will protect its wearer in the form of aggressive energies, such as curses or angry emotions (the contrast between the upright "good" pentagram and inverted "bad" pentagram seems to have been invented by Eliphas Levi). [3]

In either case, these are the elements of nature that symbolize for Wiccans the different places, emotions, objects, and natural energies and forces. For instance, crystals and stones are objects of the element earth, and seashells are objects associated with the element of water. Each of the four cardinal elements (air, fire, water and earth) are commonly assigned a direction and a color. The following list is not true for all traditions or branches of Wicca:

• Air: east, yellow
• Fire: south, red
• Water: west, blue
• Earth: north, green

These correspondences may vary between traditions. It is common in the southern hemisphere, for example, to associate the element fire with north (the direction of the equator) and earth with south (the direction of the nearest polar area). Some Wiccan groups also modify the religious calendar to reflect local seasonal changes; for instance, in Australia Samhain might be celebrated on April 30th, and Beltane on October 31st to reflect the southern hemisphere's autumn and spring seasons.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Beliefs and practices", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki