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There are probably as many definitions of Wicca (also known as "the Craft", Witchcraft, or the Old Religion) as there are practitioners --one of the joys of this path is that there is no "one, true way"; intuition is as valuable as teaching. This then is my personal definition of what Wicca is to me.

First, because there are so many misconceptions about Wicca, let me define that what Wicca is not is Satanism or devil-worship. Wiccans don't believe in an all-evil entity.

Wicca is a religion based on experience of Deity as male and female. It is panentheistic--seeing all things as part of God/dess, and seeing the Earth Herself as a living organism of whom we are part. It is also a religion of immanence--seeing God/dess present here and now, within all things, not "out there somewhere" but part of daily life.

Wiccans reverence Nature in all her forms, and often are active environmentalists. Wiccans celebrate eight major holidays, the beginning and midpoint of each season. Wiccans also celebrate the phases of the moon. Each of these rituals or observances helps us attune with the ever-changing cycles of Nature.

Wicca is also a Craft. We practice magic using meditation, chants, visualization and spells to help focus our will on what we want to happen. Wiccans believe that everything we do, good or ill, comes back to us tripled, which is why we don't hex or curse anyone. We also believe that many psychic talents are real and simply haven't been studied enough by science to be catalogued as such.

Wiccans for the most part accept reincarnation, not as dogma to be believed, but as fact based on personal experience. Many of us remember past lives. As one who has studied science, I know that every atom of my body once was part of something else, and I am continually losing atoms that become part of others. Knowing this, it makes sense that my soul also is "recycled".

Wicca is a positive philosophy. The only law is "An it harm none, do as ye will": Enjoy life to the fullest, and remember to help everyone else enjoy it as well. Wiccans don't preach; Wiccans don't evangelize. Everyone has to find his or her own path, and we welcome the diversity this brings.

So the next time you hear someone called a "wicked witch", think instead of Wiccans all over the world, celebrating the cycles of Nature through the dance of the Lord and the Lady, trying to brighten the world we all share through our cauldron fires in the darkness. Know we are not out to convert you; know we mean you no harm. All we ask for is tolerance, understanding, and the freedom to practice as we choose.

The Five Points of Wiccan Beliefs

(The moral/ethical code of most Wiccan Traditions)

The Wiccan Rede

The Central belief in Wicca, the Wiccan Rede is the oldest of known ethics although it hasn't always been called anything more than common sense. The most common phrasing of The Rede is "An' it harm none, do as you will," Which is often reduced to "Harm none." In Universal Eclectic Wicca we also have an expanded reading of the Rede which is especially helpful when describing it to people who believe in commandments and long lists of rules. It states: "If an action will cause harm, physically, emotionally, or mentally, to another person or one's Self, refrain from doing it. Strive to always be helpful and never willingly cause strife or harm to befall someone. Weigh your actions against each other, would you wish your actions taken against you? Take no action you would not wish to receive."
There are several poems also called "The Wiccan Rede" but it is still only the eight little word "An it harm none, do as ye will."

The Law of Return

The Second of the Five Points, the Law of Return (also known as the karmic law, law of three, law of ten,etc.) means, quite simply, that what you do affects what happens to you. If you do good, good is going to happen to you; if you do evil, that'll happen too. Metaphors for the Law of Return exist in every religion, there are ancient ones and modern ones.
In some traditions, the Law of Return is given a multiplier, good and bad are said to come back upon you three- or tenfold, but even those traditions admit that an exact retribution ratio is impossible to come up with.

The Ethic of Self-Responsibility

More than any of the other points, The Ethic of Self-Responsibility turns people (especially those with damaged Wills or reduced sense of Self,) away from Wicca. It can be a scary thing for anyone not raised with it. It means, quite simply, when you mess up, it's your fault. In Wicca, there is no "The devil made me do it." We don't believe in devils, and even if we did, we don't believe any extraplanar creatures could control us, not even the gods. The Ethic of Self-Responsibility also relates to The Law of Return. With this ethic you are accepting the karma or "stuff" you give yourself, good or bad. Put together, The Law of Return and the Ethic of Self-responsibility expect us to change positively, thus necessitating the fourth of our points, The Ethic of Constant Improvement.

The Ethic of Constant Improvement

In Wicca, we seek be ever growing, the basest of these improvements are taken care of by the Ethic of Self-Responsibility, but extending that responsibility beyond the self is what this is about. Scott Cunningham talks of Earth Stewardship in Living Wicca, an important facet of Constant Improvement. Ecology is vital in a religion that reveres nature as divine, and even the simplest of chores can be turned into an act of holiness when done ecologically. Teaching and preaching tolerance, racial harmony and reverence for art and history are also a part of this ethic, and living one's life toward peace is vital. Only by being constant in our learning, and eclecticism, do we prevent intolerance.

The Ethic of Attunement

Attunement, the act of becoming in-tune with divinity is the purpose behind the majority of ritual. In Wicca, we believe in three groupings of divinity:
1. The Self is divine.
2. The Gods/other powers are divine.
3. The Universe itself is divine.
1. The Divine Self (thou art god) is expressed within The Ethic of Self- Responsibility. No one is in control of the Self except for the creator of the Self, the person that "owns" the body Our rites of Attunement to the divine self include the practice of Ritual, and occasionally, High Magick, but also includes meditation, dance, drumming and anything else that makes us feel "in touch" with our Selves.
2. The Divinity of the Gods, or the "Other Powers" defies immediate explanation as do the gods themselves. In Wicca, our gods are more like parents, the Divine Father and the Great Mother, and less like the fury-fueled jealous God of Christianity. Our rites of Attunement to the Gods are nearly all celebratory in nature, with the more intensive rituals combining the divinity of the gods with the divinity of the Universe in worship of the lunar and harvest cycles.
The Divinity of the Universe is subdivided into three groups. In Gaeism, the Planet Earth is a creature and each individual being, plant, animal or mineral is a part of that being, which is usually, but not always, named for the Goddess Gaea or Gaia. In Animism, each thing be it a windstorm or a rock, has a spirit of its own. In Cyclic Totality, or Cyclicism, it is the laws of the Universe which are divine, be they the cycles of celestial decay, or the harvests, or the birth-death-rebirth of the nitrogen cycle. The combination of these three forms of Universal divinity are used in Wicca in varying degrees with lipservice, if not full ritual given to every subgrouping.

This article is from copyrighted material by KaatrynMacMorgan,

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