hi!! so I'm doing a school project on Wicca and I'd love to get some insight from a practicing Wiccan so my information is as accurate and respectful as possible. would you mind talking a bit about how you personally practice, some common misconceptions you'd like to clear up, and anything else you feel is important to mention? thanks so much!!
Thank you for being so kind! And thanks for being patient. The reason I waited to respond is because I knew this would take five million years to write, and I didn’t want to half-ass this answer.
Because this is such a broad question to answer, I’m gonna divide it into topics and sections.
How I Personally Practice
Initiation
Wiccans require initiation to begin the practice. Yes, initiation is an oath. There is no form of initiation that doesn’t involve an oath (this is why my version of ‘devoteeing’ is different from other users on here).
It is my personal belief, and many others’ as well, that self-initiations aren’t actually done by the self. The Gods initiate you. Even if you are alone, they may still initiate you into Wicca.
In an initiation, you swear to worship the Gods. Some people do this before the year and a day study; others, after. Many will write it down and keep it along with the date. Others do full-body blessing ceremonies as an initiation ritual. It all depends on your tradition, and what kind of circumstances you’re practicing in.
Balance
Balance is the core of Wicca. The goal is to keep your energies as balanced as possible. Weather, seasonal changes, constellations, spirits, and even the people you interact with can all change your balance.
Sabbats, or the Wheel of the Year, serve as reminders that the season and earth are changing, and that we need to change with it. The persistent holidays force us to readjust.
Wicca does not shun darkness. We embrace it, acknowledge it, work with it, agree with it.
Working with Opposites, and the Cycle
The sheer point of Wicca is that the earth is made of opposites. This is why the God and Goddess are split into ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’, sun and moon, water and fire, etc. Nature creates and destroys. We ourselves are full of opposites.
The earth runs through a cycle of creation and destruction. We are forced to love and work with opposites. Wicca is not good vs evil; it’s good and evil, accepting that the world includes both.
The God and Goddess with other pantheons
The Wicca believe that Divinity exists, but is far beyond our human understanding. We can only connect with Divinity through its slivers that we understand, which are Gods. In this sense, all Gods exist in Wicca, and all other religions are valid.
The God and Goddess were created with archetypes, in an attempt to encapsulate as much of Divinity as possible. In this sense, They’re both new and old.
I, among many others, personally believe that other deities exist alongside the God and Goddess. I get many questions on where I think Hades lies since I’m His devotee. I believe He is connected to the God, but not a version of the God. Hades is His own entity. Same with every other deities.
Some Wiccans believe that other pantheons are all versions of the God or Goddess. There’s a ton of debate in this area (i.e., how important gender is, shoving other Gods into a box, etc). I personally don’t agree with it.
Wicca DOES NOT require you to worship a masculine and feminine deity. There are Wiccans who only worship the Goddess. There are Wiccans devoted to the Wiccan Gods and other deities.
If you’d like to talk about my personal rituals, @nevi-cat, please message me privately.
Common Misconceptions
Wicca is all “Love and Light”
Did you just read anything that I wrote about balance and opposites?
This, I believe, comes from huge “white witchcraft” movement in the ‘90s. As Wicca became more mainstream, people twisted it into something more acceptable to the public eye, converting it into healing and light and sparkles.
There is no such thing as “white witchcraft” or “black witchcraft”. Ignore anyone who says there is.
Wicca is a “fertility religion”
… . I can’t express in words how much this phrase angers me.
It is true that Wicca has holidays celebrating fertility, the most famous being Beltane. However, fertility doesn’t just involve the womb. Fertility is the prosperity of the land, new animals being born, an abundance of energies, and PROSPERITY. Money, love and success spells are often cast on these holidays.
The phrasing “fertility religion” makes it sound like you have to have babies to be a Wiccan, which is. not. true.
“Blessed Be” comes from a fertility ritual
The phrase “Blessed Be” comes from the Five Fold Kiss, which is A FULL BODY BLESSING RITUAL given during initiation in Gardnerian and Alexandrian covens. It has NOTHING to do with fertility. People only think that because genitals are involved (which I would also be uncomfortable with).
The Five Fold Kiss goes as follows: The High Priest or Priestess kisses each part mentioned in the chant, saying, “Blessed be thy feet, that have brought thee in these ways. Blessed be thy knees, that shall kneel at the sacred altar. Blessed be thy [womb/phallus], without which we would not be. Blessed be thy breasts/chest, formed in [beauty/strength]. Blessed be thy lips, that shall utter the Sacred Names.”
PLEASE PLEASE STOP SPREADING THIS MISINFORMATION
Wiccans don’t curse
Actually, Wiccans do. I’ve even heard from one Wiccan that, I quote, “The Rede is dying”.
There are many posts on Tumblr as to why the Rede has a shaky history, so I won’t go into it. One reason is that it was never officially incorporated, so some Wiccans choose to ignore it.
Solitary Wiccans are all New-Agey lazy trash that charge their Starbucks with citrine to make their parents understand them
Okay can we just stop being assholes? The problem here is people who are lazy and misinformed. It isn’t with Wicca.
Many Wiccans study their history. They know the appropriation, and were sent through many stages of study while working in a coven. They read the folklore of plants and the safety precautions of essential oils. We’re not all idiots.
I’ve never asked my followers to reblog anything. But if you’ve made it this far, can you please reblog this? I’ve mentioned before how I feel helpless being a Wiccan on Tumblr, seeing so many of these misconceptions rampage about. Please do me a solid, just this once. And thank you for those who read.
This is dearly important to me. I am not Wiccan, but this information radically changed the way I perceive one. I used to view Wicca as self-imprisonment. It sounded like a faith that wanted you to have magic and feel bad about using it. What I understood about Wicca was that you weren’t allowed to use your magic for personal gain. That there was a Sun God and a Moon Goddess and nothing else. That all you needed to be Wiccan were angst and pentacle earrings. Then I got to have a conversation with one. A long-practicing Wiccan that worships Hades and doesn’t believe in banishing the darkness. She corrected all of the misconceptions I had so effortlessly. She explained that her faith is about balance. That her faith believes you must accept the darkness and the light. That her faith never denies any Gods, and believes in all divinity. She forced me to change my mind, and its because of her that I no longer look down upon Wiccans.
TL;DR NO NO MOTHERFUCKER go back to the top and read the whole post.
